How To Run Fast At A Low Heart Rate (Olympic Marathon Coach Explains)

I have been jogging slowly and consistently for the past 3 years. There is no noticeable differences in my heart rate when i jog at the same slow consistent rate. The only difference is my HR at rest which is often below 60 and sometimes below 50.

I chart a metric I created for heart efficiency which is average feet per heartbeat. =(5280 ft/mile)/((min/mile)*(avgHR in beats/min)). For the same type of run ex Base Run it will increase as you become more efficient. Generally it will be higher for shorter more intense runs but will improve over time for the same types of runs. I have seen a 18% improvement over 4 months.

Does anyone else use this metric or another one?

30-40 minutes? You mean 30-40 seconds 😂
That's what my body allows 🤔

Step one: Have an above-average VO2max

This all sounds too good on paper... applying is the problem. something is missing in this video but thanks anyway..

Its best to not run at all. Just walk slowly instead. If slower is better maybe you shouldnt even walk. If you have any tune up race, try to finish with as slow time as possible to get the most out of the race.
What a clown

The 1,000th video repeating the same stuff. Train more, we get it. Is there some form pointers or stuff to help run more efficiently at speed that would be more useful than hearing the same zone 2 stuff over and over again?

Go out and run 30-40 minutes as hard as I can? Dude I’m still doing walk & run intervals 😂

Singing with 84% max HR? not possible?

Am not a runner. But am trying to incorporate this type of training philosophy into my workout. Am a rock climbers and any advice you can put my way would be great. Better still would be videos on how to use this training philosophy in other sports which are not predominantly aerobic based. Great content and very well explained.
10 out 10

This is Dr. Phil Maffetone’s method called Maximum Aerobic Fitness (MAF). He said this same thing years ago doing HR experiments with Ironman Mark Allen. His method is 180 minus your age as the max aerobic HR (basic).

75 to 85% is about 135 to 153 bpm for me.
I am currently doing easy runs at around 155 to 160, which feels right to me.
Hard runs are around 175 to 180 for up to 30 minutes.
(Well... more plans than anything. I've only been running for one month now)

Before I had a watch, I only ran one time. Later, I checked my heart rate for the same run and found out that I had been running at around 180 for an hour. My oxygen economy seems to be pretty good, though, as I ran with a friend, and she told me that I was talking so much that she was questioning if I was even breathing. But yeah. That was a 180run. I can do the same, one month later, at 155-160 with basically no easy run lol

been running over a decade but recently discovered zones back in february 2024. my first attempts at staying in zone 2 resulted in 17 min miles. but now in november, i can run 11 minute miles in zone 2. thing is, seems like i'm stuck here. i know this is a years process, just not sure how to improve. at this point, i'm just monitoring my heart rate. if there ever comes a time where it's 140 for all eight miles instead of the current 145, i'll know i can speed it up.

I appreciate how you discount age in your calculations.

Incredible. Nicely done. Thanks so much for sharing all this.

Run 30-40 minutes hehe 😂. This vídeo is not for beginners.

I run early morning but my HR is high specially the first 2k the it lowers a bit and stabilize.

“Easy runs” really hurt

this video is too long and too complicated !

Thanks for this

Oh yeah just run as hard as you can for 40 minutes. "Easy" way to determine your threshold. You bringing the stretcher and emotional support cat for me after?

SO IF I RUN SLOW THAT WILL BURN MORE FAT?

British dialect puts me in zone 2 instantly😂 all the cortisol

I'm in holiday from low heart rate training over summer. It's nice to just run and not be pestered by the HR

I get motivation by reading comments eg 'I run slow in Zone 2 but I prefer to increase speed when finishing' which is Zone 3 as well'. Thanks guys.

Step 1: Have remarkable fitness.

Stop running and face your problems

I need help. I'll give you an example.
I ran 10K this morning at an average heart rate of 163. I'm a 38-year-old male fairly fit but just getting into running.
Now at no point was I even remotely out of breath I was running slow to try and maintain a zone 2 but was continuously in the zone 4 and 5 range

Honestly to spend 1 hour in zone four and five and finish fresh as a daisy is very confusing.

I'm training for half marathon. It's at beginning of April. I have been running for 3 yrs. I did a long run sat I was between 155 and 170 with a sensor on. I run 4 days a week. For a 5k parkrun up to Christmas I was getting faster every week but with the longer run before parkrun it is staying same or getting slower. During the week I run slower but my fast run split is the same. Any advice. I'm under 50.

I like to improve my body’s abilities. Only have the one body - I don’t have two bodies.

This video seems to confuse the fuel and the oxidiser. I am not sure if there is any evidence that you can get any more energy out of a gram of glycogen fuel. Through you may be able to minimise the quantity of energy wasted in not producing muscle contraction. Obviously you can switch from using short term glycogen stores to using fat and ketones, but that is a different discussion. What exercise aims to do is increase the number of cells involved in muscle contraction and the number of mitochondria in each cell producing energy. Optimising the delivery of oxygen and fuel to the muscle cells and removal of the waste products of energy production by greater capillarization is also critical.

Thank you for your videos! They are very helpful. I'm in a slump and am sooo frustrated. Been a runner off and on for nearly 20 years and my HR just isn't what it used to be. I'm noticing though that I can bike ride on the same route that I run but my HR is way lower when cycling at an easy pace than when I run. I'm curious to know why this might be? My bike ride was 28 mi at an easy/ moderate pace but my HR was still way lower than when I ran 2.6 mi on the same route at an easy pace. Any tips? Thanks 👍

very informative video thanks!!. I started running a month back only and observed that at first 5-8 min my heart rate goes high (150-170) and then it lowers to 140 range for most of the duration (about 30 min). Any insights to this on how i can keep it low from the start? I do 5km in 32-33min time regularly with 5 min warmup and cool downs.

Not sure this applies to folks just getting into running who can’t “run hard” for 30 mins

I have started the process of running slow to use fat. I plod along fasted as I understand that if you eat something, insulin is released and you cant burn fat as easily with insulin in the blood stream - so I go fasted. I guess if going a long way, say over 13 miles, I may take a snack, but generally just water is fine.

Loving the accent! Great tips on top of that, thanks coach Parry!

Thank you very much for many great informative videos. I am 52 and I have run for years without knowing anything about zone 2 😢
My maximum HR is around 160BPM around 3.30-4.30 km BPM for 5K run according to my Garmin watch. According to my Garmin watch anything above 119 BPM considered Zone 3 training? Should I trust my Garmin watch for my training as it’s incredibly hard. Thank you again.

Thank you very much for many great informative videos. I am 52 and I have run for years without knowing anything about zone 2 😢
My maximum HR is around 160BPM around 3.30-4.30 km BPM for 5K run according to my Garmin watch. According to my Garmin watch anything above 119 BPM considered Zone 3 training? Should I trust my Garmin watch for my training as it’s incredibly hard. Thank you again.

Bro, I get a phone call at work and my heart rate instantly hits 180bpm

My slowest jog goes to 175bpm. Thus my zone 2 is sleeping