What Heart Rate Zone Should You Be Running Your Long Run?  Learn From the Elites


If you wonder what pace you should be running your long runs, then this article may be just what you need.  I myself have struggled between slow, medium effort, and marathon-pace long runs only to come back to the beginning after reviewing the elites – again.

As a general rule, most long runs should be run at an easy effort of 70% or less of max heart rate.  The purpose of the long run is to build your aerobic capacity as you slowly build up mileage.  Running both long and hard will often not improve strength or endurance and can lead to injury.  

Below are some examples of elite marathon runners and what their training looks like.  They are clearly not running all their long runs at a marathon pace, but they aren’t all slow either.  Read on for some extra motivation to slow your pace and some new strategies to incorporate with your long runs.

Two Elites marathoners weekly training runs

Eliud Kipchoge (see article here)

Eliud Kipchoge is the greatest long distance ever with multiple world records and the fastest man ever to run a marathon race.  If you research famous people who run it won’t take long before you will come across Eliud’s name.

He is from Kenya and has a long and dedicated career.  He broke the marathon world record at the age of 37 at the 2022 Belin Marathon.  You can’t get more elite than him so it’s interesting to review his training schedule.

Eliud trains 85% of his runs in an aerobic zone and 15% in threshold and hard intensity zones.   This means that most of his runs are at an easy, conversational pace.  

Eliud usually only runs at 80% effort 3 times a week and 50% on the four other days.  One of the 80% effort days is the day he runs his long run.

Patrick Sang, known for guiding Eliud’s career for more than 20 years, feels that the long run should be controlled yet challenging.   It’s good to keep in mind that he prefers his athletes to go off perceived effort rather than GPS watches or heart rate monitors. 

Most important for his athletes is that the long run build progressively.  Each run should get progressively faster within your fitness level.  He sees many running too hard in the first half of a long run where they can’t maintain the pace.

For many of us non-elite athletes without a coach, a heart rate monitor can be a good guide.  Running too hard is all too easy and common. 

Keeping an eye on your heart rate can help you slowdown in the first half.  Over time you should be more in tune with your body and get better at gauging your effort without looking at a watch or heart rate monitor.   

Molly Seidel (see article here)

Molly Seidel is an elite woman endurance athlete who came in third at the 2021 Olympics marathon event.  She tracks her training runs on Strava which allows others to analyze how she trains.

Reviewing her weekly runs in total shows that most of her runs are done like Eliud’s, at a very easy pace.  While Eliud describes half of his runs at 50% effort, half of Molly’s runs can be seen as 50% of her 5K pace.

Only 3% of her average run time is devoted to speed work which is typically a 5k pace.  A larger percentage of about 13% was done at race pace and the remaining 84-85% was done at an easy pace. 

An easy pace tends to be at or below 70% of max heart rate.  For Molly, more than half of her runs were run at pace that was below 70% of her 5K pace.

Most of the success Molly has achieved is due to logging a lot of easy miles.  She needed to avoid faster than 5K race paces and reduce speed work overall to remain injury free.

Strategies a lot of elite athletes use for the long run

Besides lots of easy running, there is another strategy a lot of elite athletes use in long run training.  Others may benefit from this type of strategy as it balances race pace with easy runs to keep them fresh.

Many switch things up with a progression long run one week followed by an easy long run the next.  When they do run a marathon pace long run, they tend to run less miles and/or run slightly less than a marathon pace.

Another strategy that seems to be working for many elites is doing fewer long runs.  Some use a two-week schedule instead of a weekly long run and reap great benefits. 

This is the strategy Camile Herron uses as she only does one or two long runs a month!  In case you don’t know the name, Camile is the female world record holder for fastest 48-hour race in history.

What heart rate zone should YOU be running the long run?

In general, most runners should be running long runs at or below 70% of max heart rate.  This will keep legs fresh for the next workout and reduce the risk of injury. For more on heart rate zones and max heart rate calculations see my article here.

Depending on your fitness level, you may want to mix things up with some long runs at a faster pace.  Just be careful not to overdo it as even most elites keep runs under an 80% max heart rate.

 I recently ran my long run at slightly less than marathon pace and paid the price later that week.  I ended up with some painful shin splints.  In retrospect, I had not run any long runs at a slower pace as I had in other training periods.

What I really like about heart rate training is that your easy pace isn’t determined by how your think you feel.  You can’t cheat and run harder as your heart rate will tell you very objectively what a 70% easy pace is for you. 

In addition, learning from the elites, build the long run and do most runs at or below 70% max heart rate.  Adding in smaller doses of speed workouts and some ending miles at marathon pace or near 80% may benefit you more than too many fast miles.

Key Takeaways

Long runs are the bread and butter of endurance athletes and it’s important to gain all the benefits long runs afford.  Running at an easy pace or 70% or less of max heart rate tends to be the ideal zone for most runners. 

Running by pace does have benefits but learning to run in different heart rate zones helps you dial in the intensity of each run.  Everyone’s abilities, genetics, and fitness level vary so running the long run at your easy pace will provide the most benefits.

For more on the benefits of a long run see my article here.

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