Start with the purpose of the run
An easy or recovery run is supposed to preserve aerobic volume without turning into another hard day, so heart rate should generally stay in your lower personalized zones. Tempo and threshold work lives higher, while intervals and racing can spend time near the top of the range. The correct heart rate is the one that matches the session you intended to run.
Why average running heart rate can fool you
One average hides the shape of the run. A steady easy 145 bpm and a workout that alternates 120 bpm recoveries with 170 bpm intervals can produce a similar average while representing completely different training. Heart-rate traces, splits, pace, and time in zone preserve the pattern that the average erases.
Heat, hills, fatigue, and cardiac drift change the number
Heart rate can climb at the same pace as a run gets longer, especially in heat, humidity, dehydration, hills, or accumulated fatigue. That is why pace and heart rate should be read together and why the same easy pace can be appropriate one day and too costly on another.
See running heart rate in the context that matters.
Import supported runs into Wellness Project to connect pace, splits, heart-rate traces and zones, Training Load, recovery, and Coach Elias in one running history.
