Heart Rate Training for Runners: What You Need to Know To Get Started

Lately there has been a lot of information floating around about using heart rate training as a tool for runners. While this can be very helpful, it can also feel overwhelming if you are not familiar with how to monitor your heart rate. There are some basic things that runners need to know to get started. Then, as you get more comfortable you can dig deeper and learn more about how to use the information from your heart rate to train better. This post will cover the basics about what you need to know to get started with heart rate training for runners.

Why Should Runners Use Heart Rate Training?

Heart rate training is a great tool for runners to objectively monitor their effort during runs. It can also help to track your overall response to training and your current health. While running by RPE (rate of perceived exertion) is helpful and an important skill to have, some runners need outside feedback to help them to see their true effort on a run.

In particular, for easy runs checking your heart rate can help keep you honest. You may think that 10 minute miles are your easy pace, but some days your body may need to run 11 minute miles to feel easy. A heart rate monitor can show you your effort on those easy runs so you can slow down to the appropriate effort.

If you wear your heart rate monitor for all your runs (and all day long) you can get a good picture of how your body is responding to training and to different workouts. You can also set your training zones if you have this information. Based on the information you get from your heart rate data you can know when to push harder or when to back off. It may even give you clues about when you are getting sick or at risk of overtraining!

Should You Use Heart Rate Training If You Are Working With a Running Coach?

It can be really helpful to wear a heart rate monitor when working with an online running coach so they can see that data. As a coach, I like to see heart rate data AND get feedback from my runners about how a run felt. This information together gives me a good idea of how their workouts are going. The objective data from a heart rate monitor will tell me if the effort on a run is where I intended it to be for that workout.

What Do You Need to Monitor Your Heart Rate While Running?

There are a few different ways to monitor your heart rate these days. Many of the newer GPS watches have a wrist-based heart rate monitor. These are not always reliable, especially if they are not worn snuggly on your wrist. Smart watches rely on optical sensors that detect light bouncing back from blood flow beneath the skin to measure your pulse. This can be affected by the temperature as well as how much the watch is moving and where it is worn on your wrist. They also may pick up on your cadence instead of your heart rate, and report that reading instead, which is called cadence lock.

There are also chest straps that pair to a watch and/or phone. These are more reliable than a wrist heart rate monitor. Some runners find these to be uncomfortable or to cause chafing. Make sure the strap is worn snug but not too tight and use body glide to prevent chafing.

Now there are also armband heart rate monitors. These are worn around your bicep and also connect to your phone or watch. I recently started using the Coros Armband Heart Rate Monitor (affiliate link) and I have found it to be very comfortable and accurate.

Should You Monitor Your Resting Heart Rate?

If you wear your heart rate monitor while you sleep it will show you your resting heart rate. For this you don’t need to wear a chest strap or arm band; wearing a wrist-based heart rate monitor will give you a decent reading. Most healthy adults will have a resting heart rate of 60-100, but for runners their resting heart rate may be on the lower end, some down to the 40s. Typically the more active you are, the lower your heart rate will be (although there are other factors to take into account as well).

How Do You Calculate Your Maximum Heart Rate?

You can calculate your heart rate zones based on your maximum heart rate. There are a few ways to figure out your maximum heart rate, the simplest being to use a formula based on your age.

The most commonly used formula is 220-your age. (So a 40 year old’s max heart rate would be 180). Other formulas are the Tanaka (208 – 0.7 x age) and the Gulati (206 – 0.88 x age, for females). None of these are perfect, but they can give you a general idea of your maximum heart rate as a starting point.

Another way to find your maximum heart rate is by doing a workout that pushes your heart rate as close as possible to your max. For example, running a mile at tempo pace with the last 400 meters at an all out effort, or running a really hard 5k. You would look at the highest measurement of your heart rate from one of these workouts and use that as your max heart rate.

The most accurate (but impractical) way to know your max heart rate is through a laboratory test. For most runners this is not necessary and not worth the time and investment, and a formula or field test will get them the information they need to calculate their heart rate zones.

How Do You Know Your Goal Heart Rate Zones?

Many smart watches like Garmin and Coros will automatically calculate your heart rate zones based on your max heart rate. It will either do this based on your readings after a few runs (or possibly by your age when you set up your watch), or you can manually enter your max heart rate. To understand your training zones you can look at the following ranges:

• Zone 1: 50-60% of max HR
• Zone 2: 61-70% of max HR
• Zone 3: 71-80% of max HR
• Zone 4: 81-90% of max HR
• Zone 5: 91-100% of max HR

This calculator allows you to plug in your numbers to see your training zones, and takes into account both resting heart rate and max heart rate.

Should You Train Only By Heart Rate?

It’s up to you how much to use heart rate training. Some runners use it as their main way of tracking their effort on runs. Others may only use it once in awhile. Personally, I like to use it for easy runs so I know I am really going easy enough. This has also helped me learn what easy should really feel like. I don’t constantly check my heart rate during a run, but I may peek at it every mile or so or I’ll just look at it after a run to make sure that my heart rate was where I expected it to be.

It can be really challenging to use heart rate as a way to do your workouts with shorter intervals. It can take a little while for your heart rate reading to display after starting an interval, and by the time it gets where it needs to be you may already be done with the interval. For these kinds of workouts its easier to stick with effort or pace.

Final Thoughts on Heart Rate Training for Runners

Heart rate training is a great tool for runners, but it can seem complicated at first. Start by understanding the basics and use it as one tool in your training. Like anything else with running, don’t become too fixated on the numbers. They are just one of many data sources to help your monitor your runs.

You may also like:
Why You Should Follow Your Training Plan and Run Your Easy Runs Easy
How To Set Yourself Up For a Breakthrough Half-Marathon Race
10 Common Running Mistakes and Simple Fixes to Run Stronger

Do you monitor your heart rate during runs?
Do you track your resting heart rate?

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