So after a little over a half year of doing runs based on HR, I’ve come to this conclusion: btw this is going to be very long
I’ve noticed that it will work for me, but not necessarily all runners. Some of the guys on my team tried it and would have to run their easy days at 9 min pace to have a low HR, even when they’re in 4:20 mile shape. I use my Garmin GPS watches HR (planning on getting an actual HR chest Monitor soon) and I improved my times very well through my indoor season.
I used it a little bit in XC (145 for e-z days) and I ended up running 26:30 for 8k on a flat, but muddy course. Then I got runners knee for the 3rd time and suffered out the rest of the season, running very poor races.
I noticed optimal training HR is in the 145-152 range. I stayed within those numbers on e-Z days throughout winter break, which led me to running somewhere around 6:45’s for 7-8 miles. My tempo pace for 10 milers was 5:55 and I would average around 162 for that. I would also do hill repeats (total distance would be 9 miles and I’d get nearly 2,000ft elevation gain) and my HR would hit 170 by the 2 min mark (where I would stop and turn around to go back down hill).
Just some info on me: I never had an indoor season in high school unless I go to one race for a TT purpose, and I’m more of a LD runner.
Mile time Hs: 4:54 (4:50 converted)
Mile time Coll: 4:36 (4:32 converted)
3k hs (9:38 all off of base, converts to 9:28 due to shorter than 200 meter track)
3k college: 8:46
I also ran 15:52 for 5k
I think HR training worked best for me in this situation. I will definitely be using this again!