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How did you train to get your heart rate lower? (ani.social)

submitted 22 hours ago by amnesiaftw@ani.social to c/running@lemmy.world

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I’m a casual runner. Not very consistent. In 2022 I was running more and aimed for speed for 1-4 miles usually. But my heart rate was always in zone 5. 180+. Some runs were 90% in zone 5; obviously not safe.

So lately I’ve gotten back into running and I’d like to get close to what I was doing 4 years ago, but with a safer heart rate. I’m assuming I can simply run very slow 11-minute miles and keep my heart rate below 160. But perhaps you have some experience or advice on how to maximize efficiency? I’ve seen experienced runners doing sub 8 minute miles for 10 miles with an average of 140bpm. That’s so out of reach for me right now. I’m 36 and my max HR is currently 194 based on recent activity I guess.

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[–] vividspecter@aussie.zone 3 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Does it support heart rate reserve? If so, use that. Beyond that as long as your runs roughly feel like they should for each zone it's okay as it's not an exact science.

EDIT: Reading your original question more carefully, high HR isn't really dangerous if you don't have an underlying health problem, it's just not an effective way to get faster if that's all you do. Most people gain improvements from a mix of short, high intensity interval sessions, and longer low intensity runs. The general rule is 80/20 in favour of "easy" runs in terms of distance, but this matters more for people who are doing very large volumes. Nevertheless, you should be doing a greater volume of slower runs in terms of distance over a given period.

The reason is that people generally can't tolerate huge volumes at high intensity. Since high volume is a big part of improving fitness, a mix of the two intensities is important.