How to Run Fast with a Low Heart Rate

If you really want to run faster with a low heart rate, there are some secrets about low heart rate training that you must know to improve your running endurance. Today I'm going to dive deep into uncovering 10 of the biggest low heart rate training misconceptions.

🔴 WATCH NEXT

➜ How I Ran a 30 Minute FASTER Marathon in 6 Months:

➜ How to Set Your Heart Rate Zones Yourself:

➜ 20 Years of Running Knowledge in 27 Minutes:

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ABOUT ME: I'm James Dunne, a runner, sports rehabilitation therapist (similar to physical therapist) and coach based in the UK (Norwich and London).

Since 2007 I've been working with athletes focusing specifically on helping distance runners and triathletes overcome injury and improve performance through developing their individual running technique.

Running biomechanics and physical therapy are real passions of mine. I love to help runners run strong and stay injury free.

DISCLAIMER: Some of the links included in the description above are affiliate links. If you purchase a product with the links that I provide I may receive a commission. There is no additional charge to you, and is an easy way for you to support the channel. Thank you!

#Running #JamesDunne #Fitness

[zogbric]

I was a terrible runner. I've always tried to 'push' in my every run and my legs get sore just from a 3km run. I almost gave up and believed I can never run for a half marathon.
I somehow got to know about zone 2 training and like the video said, drop your ego and keep your heart rate and that's all that matters. And I don't focus on the distance i'm running. I focus on the duration and heart rate. I start to run 30mins at zone 2 and ignore my pace. I had to walk and run like a snail at the beginning and everyone was running past me. It hurts and you might feel inferior. But this is a training for yourself. It just you and you.

My running form was poor due to the low cadance and my knees started to hurt. I then start to take shorter steps and up my cadance since i'm running slow and it reduces the impact of each step. It really helped.

I increase my run by 3min each week and now i'm running 42min everyday, around 6:30min/km pace and my legs aren't hurting.
Running slow and steady really helped built my stamina and I'm running a half marathin at the end of this year. I'm feeling confident about it.

[albibushi]

Jogging uphill has given me incredible confidence. it has literally taught me that no matter how slow and tired and fatigued I run uphill and how exhausted I feel, once the uphill segment is finished and I continue on level ground, my heart rate drops without me stopping or walking, and my body recovers while still jogging. All you need to do is practice and take it slow with small strides but consistently. Jog with your heart. Find the heart pace and do not go out of it until your physique has mastered the effort. Let your ego out of your equation and just enjoy the runner's high. No sprinting. No accelerations. Get rid of smart watches. Forget calculations. Just go jogging for fun but respect your weaknesses at first, making sure they become your strengths. After some months, you will discover your body is capable of more. Once you conquer hills you can take on any challenge.

[tomassvitorka]

Low HR running is great for starting runners but will only get you so far. I've done it for a few years, so I speak from experience. It will indeed keep you injury-free. But you'll get good at running long and slow. You're not really working on improving your Lactate thresholds and VO2 max because you don't even touch that intensity, and the physiological response to the harder runs (threshold, tempo, and intervals) is very different from easy miles. I believe it's best to follow the 80/20 rule (80 easy/20 hard runs) and develop your body and form holistically. Since I started focusing on LT2/threshold runs, all my racing times have improved dramatically.

[jfrcusson]

Merci! Great teaching! I'm focusing on heart rate from some time and I clearly see the impact on my running. This video confirms that I am on the right track. I now better understand what I'm experiencing.

[edu]

I started low heart rate training in May.. now end of Aug, ive improved my low HR run from about 9’30”/km to sub 8’/km.. my aim is to be able to do sub 6’/km pace in low HR

[goldeneagle]

started brand new to running with the MAF method 3-4 months ago. was in a really bad shape and couldent "run" quicker then 17min/mile to not blow my HR limit. now my PB at maf HR is around 12min/mile, so meaning ive improved by 5min/mile since i started, and feel great about it. low heart rate training dosent only work, but it works really well. on another note regarding the fat burning portion of the video. when i started out, and my body learned to use fat as fuel, the result was that i got a much more stable blood sugar during the day, and my overall hunger lvl went way down, and as a result of that i started eating way less, and felt overall less hungry as well so kinda weird combination. as a result of that, ive dropped about 40 lbs since i started running, and feel great about it.

[GJU]

Never considered myself a running guy, did my jogs once in a while. 6 years ago, I never have run further than 12km. The last 6 years, I did not run at all. Out of a whim, I started running 4 months ago and built up: couple of 10 km, then 3-4x 12-14km. My goal was half marathon distance, which I successfully did couple of weeks ago (sub 1:50h).
Now I am looking into the zone2 runs. Following your advice to not neglect running form: To stay inside the zone2, the running form is beyond evil, I would not even call it jogging, it is more a "rocking over the ankle to kind of making it look like running". I can literally walk faster and stay in zone2. But whenever I try to actually "run" (or jog), I am instantly in zone3. I ended up under the impression that it is the vertical movement of my body that causes my HR to go up that easy.
Any advice here? Or does it come down to leave the ego at home and just go walking, walking and walking?

[coatax]

i started running a year ago. i was getting too worried on my stats and kept on being disappointed. i can't keep my HR low even i run very very slow (9:30-10:00/km). and on my first day i can't even run 1 minute straight. so my recommendation if you are a beginner, just go outside and start running slow and walking without thinking about numbers, just listen to your body when to run and walk alternately. don't push yourself TOO hard. and running will hurt you ONLY in the beginning. the key here is to be consistent at least 3-4x a week of running. after few weeks/months of just running slow/walking by yourself, when your body adapted, that's when you'll start to search for trainings like interval, tempo, long runs, and other details or data you wanna learn about. i actually loved that time when i just start running without thinking about the results, that time just i go out and run. before, my HR sky rockets 1-2 mins of running not even sprinting, now i can maintain zone 2 for about 45 mins to 1 hr.

[samvoeten]

I like how you are honest about fasted running. Actually your advice is very relevant for people that combine running with strength training like me. Keep it up!

[savantGK]

The best way to run faster is to....run faster. There's just no way you're going to go out and do 10+ mile runs at a 10:00 pace for a year straight and then magically go out and run a 7:00 pace half marathon. You have to get used to regularly running the paces you intend to hit (and even faster than that) if you're going to properly train your body to hit them. I've found the people who preach low and slow, usually run sub 8:00 miles as their "easy" pace already, or are new runners, and yes, if you go from not running at all to running several times a week of course you'll be able to run further and somewhat faster over time. That doesn't mean Zone 2 works, just that you're seeing the expected benefit of an active lifestyle. But low and slow on its own simply does not develop the range of motion, strength, or stamina needed to sustain faster paces.

[TheRunningFred]

Hi James, I thought I’d share my last 10 weeks with you and your audience.

I’m an experienced runner over nearly 30 years and a regular faster too. For various reasons including injury, I’ve been largely away from running for almost 3 years and in that time I’ve added about 15kgs in weight!!

I decided to do something about it. I decided to follow my garmin daily workout suggestions and focus on making sure any base or long runs were firmly in Z2. My first “runs” were mainly walks, as my HR spiked very quickly out of Z2. I was completing the workouts in 13min miles, worlds apart from my old days of 7:30 in Z2. That was a shock! Garmin was slowly building up the time on feet from 31 mins to 56 mins today. After about three weeks I was able to run the whole duration at Z2, albeit slowly 11-12 min miles. This week I’m around 9:50 miles and Garmin has thrown the odd threshold run in too, which is actually quite nice.

I’m just over 6 Kgs down and much of that is due to running most workouts at least 16 hrs fasted and using my smart bathroom scales it would appear that most of the weight is fat loss, but there is a little lean tissue loss too. I’ve corrected that by upping my post run meal with extra protein and added some kettle bell workouts on my rest days from Garmin. Because I run typically at 1700hrs, I’m well hydrated (with electrolytes). I’ve got probably another 6kgs to lose, but that can burn off slowly now.

In conclusion, Z2 works well if you give it a proper go and workout in Z2. Too many use a number like MAF and it’s still fast. I wouldn’t recommend fasted running unless you’ve already adapted to it. It can leave people exhausted and basically cellular starved. I know it works for me because after a run, I’m not hungry or craving sweet foods. Also my bathroom scales are ok, I don’t really believe the numbers like fat, hydration, muscle and bone, but I follow the trend in these numbers. Finally my VO2 max is beginning to increase up 4 points since I restarted.
Oh and I nearly forgot my overnight resting HR has dropped from 58 to 49/50

I love for you and the audience to give me some feedback and questions on my short journey back.

[anniwilson]

Good video. Another point about fasted running. Doing this in a calorie deficit won’t help preserve lean muscle tissue. Less muscle equals less storage for available carbohydrate. Two places carbs are stored as glycogen in the body - the liver but mostly in skeletal muscle. Runners (unless they’re hybrid athletes) are notoriously poor at strength training, which builds muscle. They also don’t consume enough protein (body breaks down muscle tissue in calorie deficit). Injuries occur when load exceeds capacity, another reason to strength train. Most runners don’t train weights whereas gym bunnies hate cardio! 🤷🏻‍♀️

[stumeads]

I do the watch trick, except my screen is HR and distance. I started around august last year and took around 6 months to adapt, but I did start losing speed, but a few months later started getting faster, and now my parkrun times are around 23min which is a speed increase of maybe 5min. I do strides at the end of a long run as well for the last k, and still achieve over 90% zone 2 on Strava. And, I’m nearly 50 and weigh 100kg, so if I can do it anyone can!

[grayson]

Good advice, my resting heart rate is 48 bpm sits around 147bpm when I'm running. I gas out if it goes above 170bpm for too long so I sit back and concentrate on slowing my breathing down. Before the smart watches I used to use Basic watch with HR monitor to manage pace by keeping eye on heart rate. It was the best way to keep steady pace.

[saikame]

15:00 I'd say, for optimal fat loss ... increasing your bmr by increasing muscle mass is probably the best possible way to lose body fat. In order to do that, you have to be doing some kind of resistance training + Zone 2 aerobic exercise. Then again, it depends on your goals. In either case, nutrition is 90% of the work, meaning it's the most important part of any athletic journey.

Edit: As for protein, I'd say take your bw and multiply it by .7 and then by .9. This is a very good range to stay within and add in creatine if you really want to. I also personally never go above 65 grams of fats in any given day. So, for me, carbs are a huge part of my diet although it's very clean carbs as I am a vegan. I have not noticed any significant muscle loss doing endurance running since I started doing this principle. I also only lift 2 times per week, 1 day upper body, 1 day lower body (stabilization and pure strength of lower body and core). I also do a core workout every day.

[thedudewithpedal]

I've tried zone 2 running exclusively before. It did work. Heart rate getting lower on the same slow easy runs. However, it did makes me a slower runner when it comes to tempo, threshold run. So, I did what most articles told me. Started doing 80% zone 2, and 20% hard weekly. I found that doing hard sessions regularly also hugely helps to cut your HR down on easy runs. I train 6 hours / week including 1x strength training / week btw.

[inatehex]

Another cracking video packed with golden nuggets of advice. Thanks!

[charlestrudell]

I just started this about a month ago and have been teaching my son this concept since he runs XC. The hardest for me right now is being over weight and my claves and legs feel the extra weight, but I have already noticed it is easy for me to keep in zone 2 without a huge flux in pace. I also try to focus on my running technique to be more efficient while learning HR running. I believe once my son really finds his correct running form (from another of your videos), he will have a better understanding of his HR and body compared to other kids his age. Not saying he will be that 15 minute 5k runner, be he will know how to be competitive. I am trying to learn what I can so I can at least stay with him for the 1st 100m. I like the mention of not everything has to be running. I have been focusing on zone 2 on the elliptical. I decided to try out a zone 3 to see how that felt and it was easier to stay in zone 3 than zone 2. That told me that staying the course is working. I used that as my Tempo training for the week.

[MichaelBravine]

There’s a large gap in my numbers. I’m 48yrs old, been running for years without much knowledge - recently used the Garmin LT test and got 185 MHR- so now my Zone 2 using MHR at 60-70% is 110-129, for HRR at 60-70% is 127-141, LT at 80-89% is 133-148. Why is LT at 80-89%?? And what should I use??? I’ve been running for years but just ran my first marathon at 4:05 in Knoxville. Should I run the lowest and increa There’s a large gap in my numbers. I’m 48yrs old, been running for years without much knowledge - recently used the Garmin LT test and got 185 MHR- so now my Zone 2 using MHR at 60-70% is 110-129, for HRR at 60-70% is 127-141, LT at 80-89% is 133-148. Why is LT at 80-89%?? And what should I use??? I’ve been running for years but just ran my first marathon at 4:05 in Knoxville. Should I run the lowest and increase weekly volume or will I be running too slow for my fitness level?

[JMach-pgig]

James, love the channel helped me loads, is there really a point to walking to keep heart rate down? If it’s easy but the heart rate is higher because you lack conditioning, what disbenefit comes from just pushing through ? I’m a 37 min 10km runner, 1:23 hm with a max of 186 (42min 10km pb a year ago but have had 9 months no injury just working at it), there is no form of running where my heart rate isn’t below 140 which would be 75% of HRM (zone 3), but could do that pace forever. If I’m not getting injured why slow down?