High heart rate on easy/recovery days

Remember, your watch gives you an indication only. It's not like medical equipment and there are a lot of variables. Don't get too hung up on data you get.

Did you eat the same stuff before runs? For me, an empty stomach and an afternoon run is recipe for a high HR. Conditions can make a difference too.. If you have a wrist model, maybe contact is off a bit. Also could be sign of over training, but at that pace seems unlikely.

JamieO wrote:

I recently upgraded my watch to a heart rate model. I've also gotten back to running a bit more seriously- I was just running 3-4 miles a few days a week (easy) but am now training for an upcoming half.

I've noticed that my heart rate is unusually high on my easy/recovery days, sometimes even higher than on a long run or tempo run. For example, average during a long run yesterday (9 miles at 8:28 avg page) was 136. Today, I did an easy run (2.76 miles at 9:39 pace) and average HR was 147 (but jumped all the way up to 170).

When I see the HR going high, I have tried slowing to as slow as I can run and it still doesn't seem to go down unless I actually walk.

I'm a 38-year-old male in good shape.

Any ideas?

Had this same problem a few month so ago. First things first, are you using a cheststrap( don’t trust wrist based sensors, they are wildly inaccurate)?

If so ,you just have to slow down.

I went from running 5:20 per kms consistently on easy days all the way down to 6:30 when I started trying to keep my HR under 155 ( my upper limit for easy days) now to running 5:30s consistently in about 3 months and I am getting faster still. I would say to include some harder runs instead of just training exclusively be heart rate.

JamieO wrote:

I recently upgraded my watch to a heart rate model. I've also gotten back to running a bit more seriously- I was just running 3-4 miles a few days a week (easy) but am now training for an upcoming half.

I've noticed that my heart rate is unusually high on my easy/recovery days, sometimes even higher than on a long run or tempo run. For example, average during a long run yesterday (9 miles at 8:28 avg page) was 136. Today, I did an easy run (2.76 miles at 9:39 pace) and average HR was 147 (but jumped all the way up to 170).

When I see the HR going high, I have tried slowing to as slow as I can run and it still doesn't seem to go down unless I actually walk.

I'm a 38-year-old male in good shape.

Any ideas?

Track your HR

a.m. Laying down

1 minute recovery & 2 minute recovery

(Exp: Rec1min 160>130 = 30bpm, Rec2min 160>120 = 40bpm)

p.m. Laying down

Also track:

Prone, sitting, standing HR

Dehydration or still recovering will elevate your heart rate.

My heart rate is always a little high after a "Quality" day.

Once in a while I get something 20 beats above what I expect and I just attribute it to a malfunction (sensor smudge?) of some sort.

The monitor wasn't working 100%.

The sensors in the wrist based watches aren’t so accurate from my experience. I too have had stupid high HR reading when running easy. Unless you really feel like your working hard when you shouldn’t be just ignore it.