Heart Rate Base Run

It depends on your goals - running faster, further, easier or a combination of them all. Garmin, for these Base runs, give you a bpm number which they estimate to lie in the middle of a very specific area (the green bit on the gauge). The upper border to the red area, on my watch ca 7 bpm from the base number, is what in sports science terminology is called Aerobic Threshold (AeT) or First Lactate Threshold (LT1). The lower border, also ca 7 bpm from the base number for me, is the considered minimum for aerobic development. Even Matt Fitzgerald (the popularizer of the 80/20 principle of training) admits that 'Easy' running should not go below 70% of your Max Heart Rate. We must put a certain pressure on our cardiovascular system to enhance it. The closer you hold your pulse to the upper limit here, the faster you develop. BUT, it also puts more strain on your body... I would say: Let Nature Decide. How do you feel on this specific day? Which route are you taking - hilly, flat, rocky etc? Food properly digested? Also, you can never go wrong by setting out at the low end and finishing after an hour or two at the high end. Disclaimer: I am not a coach. Just been endurance running for 11 years, trying different training techniques and read many, many books...

Regardless of the watch, you should be able to have a normal conversation during an easy run.

The watch estimates a target for easy based on your running VO2 Max (not your running heart rate zones). To have a VO2 Max as accurate as possible on the watch, use a chest strap, use the best GPS setting for your running areas or a foot pod.

Most importantly, input the right Max HR in the watch. Recent firmware versions do a great job at estimating your Max HR even with sub-maximal efforts.

BENCHHARP said:

Do i need to rigidly stick to the recommended heart rate - slowing down when going above?

Kind of, yes. Remember, if you cannot chat, you are going too hard. Brief spikes are OK.

BENCHHARP said:

Is it enough to be within the green range on the red-green-red gauge?

Kind of, with 2 caveats: HR lag and HR drift. For longer runs, after 15mn, maintain your HR in the green zone but don't be obsessed with it. Running in Zone 2 can feel slow, in particular at the beginning. 

There are 2 dynamics of HR you need to keep in mind:

- HR Lag: your HR will slowly rise if you keep a Zone 2 effort. Through experience, you will see what pace on flat ground corresponds to the HR Zone 2. When you start your run, start at that pace or lower, even if your HR takes 15mn+ to get to Zone 2.

- HR Drift: running a long time in Zone 2 (1:30mn+) may lead your HR to drift into Zone 3 even if your maintain speed. Endurance training should help you delay that inevitable drift.

BENCHHARP said:

Or should i focuse on the average heart rate for the entire run being 142bpm? (Clearly without massive ramps up and down)

If you stay in the target zone/gauge, your average HR should also be there and it doesn't need to be exactly 142bpm.

Note: soptunna is right. You could have a more refined training strategy by using actual ventilation thresholds, or lactate thresholds. Relying on the HR-based models of the watch that estimate these pivotal data points, assuming they have been fed with good data, is plenty good enough.

For running, I prefer using power targets. Pace is like power when you run on flat grounds. If you switch to a pace-based plan , you will easily see whether the models the watch has built for you are accurate: the base pace target should get your HR in zone 2 for the vast majority of the workout duration.

Thanks Etupes25 and soptunna

I will pay a bit more attention - it sounds like staying within the green throughout the run - likely starting at the low end and drfiting above the central point and the drift kicks in will result in an Ave heart rate of the target (give or take a few beats)

This is my experience, i often end up with an ave of 140bpm.

It's interesting Etupes25 what you say about power and pace. For the "easy" runs i change the setting to "heart rate" and do any tempo, threshold, VO2 max, anaerobic with the setting on "pace"

I had found that the pace suggestion, which i could see before flicking it to heart rate, was initially too fast for me to control my heart rate at the suggested bpm - now that i have built up fitness i would say that most days it is opposite, i could run faster than the suggested pace at the suggested heart rate,

Any thoughts on that.

PS. i just got a 10k pb yesterday after following the Garmin DSWs for 10 weeks - so i feel like something is working at least :-) just interested in getting the most efficiency out of my runs.

BENCHHARP said:

Any thoughts on that.

The watch models the relationship between HR and pace. This requires quite a bit of data filtering and qualification since most of our runs are not carefully calibrated in a lab. This is where Garmin/Firstbeat’s IP is.

As you train with a balanced focus, you expose the watch to a variety of efforts and over time the modeled relationship reflects your capabilities more accurately. If you don’t, there could be a bias  due to too much focus on slow or high efforts and the watch has to « extrapolate »

Nice, I think the 10 week training window has given me a good insight into how to balance efforts - also understanding what contributes to anaerobic - there's a good screen that shows the impact live rather than having to wait until the end to see if you've impacted it. 

In my next training phase i'll try harder to achieve balanced focus - i wasn't far off but always short on anaerobic.