Running with a high heart rate is often a clue to overtraining or needing to take a step back in the base building process. But it could also be a gear issue or a deeper health signal. Let’s talk about when to worry and how to know what’s right for you.
Over the last 13 years of run coaching, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the benefits of low heart rate training. Which has lead a lot of you to wonder if your heart rate is too high when running.
You’ll message me that on easy days you find your HR at 160 and sometimes even hitting 180.
Since most guides consider 180 a max HR, this always leads me to some immediate questions.
Are you training with a chest strap or a wrist based optical HR monitor? We know that wrist based is quite frequently incorrect. So the first thing to do is get a good HR monitor for running and make sure you’re working with accurate numbers.
Is it Bad to Run With a High Heart Rate?
If you’ve confirmed that the HR reading your getting is accurate, then it’s time to look at what we consider normal and determine if that’s also normal for you.
In general, runners have a lower resting HR than the average population. Which is another reason that we should have a bigger gap from our relaxation rate to our running BPM and shouldn’t go…
