Easy running by heart rate: how to find the right pace
Successful endurance athletes spend most of their training time at an easy effort, 68 to 84 percent, and elite runners even more. Easy means below your first threshold, so you can still talk comfortably. The most common mistake is running easy runs too fast.
How much easy, how much hard
Whether you spend the rest of your time mostly at a moderate effort or concentrate it in a few very hard sessions makes little difference to race performance. Only those who spend most of their time in the moderate range do worse, meaning runs that feel brisk but not hard. A good starting point is at least 70 percent easy, at most 20 percent moderate and at most 15 percent hard.
Setting your heart rate zones
The well-known formula 220 minus age is off by about 12 beats per minute on average for an individual, and by more than 20 in extreme cases. It overestimates maximum heart rate in younger people and underestimates it in older people. 208 minus 0.7 times age is somewhat more accurate, but its typical error is still about 10 beats. A maximum heart rate you have measured yourself is therefore better than any formula.
Heart rate or pace: what counts when
Heart rate and pace don’t always tell the same story. On hot days, on hills or on the treadmill, your heart rate rises even though you aren’t getting faster; then heart rate is the more honest guide. On flat ground in normal weather, running by pace works well. If you keep an eye on both, your easy runs stay truly easy even when conditions are tough.
How Pulsecho helps
Pulsecho sets your zones from your own runs instead of a formula, and they grow with you as you get fitter. Looking at the past four weeks, it checks how your time was actually distributed and tells you when your easy runs weren’t easy, with a concrete heart rate or pace figure for the next week. And if you want to know more, just ask: “How much time did I spend in zone 2 this month?” The answer comes with a chart.
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