My 16 year old daughter is a high level soccer player (d1 committed). We recently looked at her preseason training requirements for next summer and concluded she needs to improve her speed/stamina over longer distances (2-3 miles) to meet team requirements.
She typically has 4 fairly intense 90 minute training/game sessions per week so I can't imagine she is in horrible shape but that isn't born out by her running time (2 mile test in 16:26).
She hates running slowly but I know enough to get her to work on her base through easy runs while we get her mileage up. She wears an HRM during her games so we're fairly confident her max HR is around 211.
Over the last couple of weeks I've convinced her to run more slowly but her heart rate at easy paces (10:40/mi) is high (85% of max). Out of curiosity, this morning I had her try and keep her lower. She averages 12:10/mi at 76%.
So, for her easy runs, is it ok for her to let pace be her guide (at say 9:55-10:50/mi) or is her heart rate an indicator that she is going too far into the anaerobic range?