What's a Good Resting Heart Rate for a Runner?

Your resting heart rate is one of the simplest signs of your fitness, right there on your watch every morning. From that number, you can read your form and recovery, and even catch the first hint of a cold.

This article covers what a good resting heart rate is for a runner, how to measure it right, and how to use it in your daily training.

What resting heart rate is, and why it matters for runners

Your resting heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute when you are fully at rest, doing nothing. It reflects how hard your heart has to work to keep blood moving when there is no demand on it.

For runners, it is a useful number for two reasons:

1. It tracks your fitness. As your heart grows stronger through training, it pumps more blood with each beat, so it needs fewer beats to do the same job, and your resting rate drops.
2. It signals your recovery. A resting rate that climbs above your normal can be an early sign that you are tired, stressed, overtrained, or getting sick.

A lower resting heart rate is also tied to better long-term health. Large studies link a higher resting rate to a greater risk of heart disease and early death, even in people without heart problems. Running lowers your resting heart rate and improves your health at the same time, so the two move together. Your resting rate is a marker of that health, though not a guarantee on its own.

Related: What Heart Rate Should You Run At? A Guide to the Five Zones

What's normal for most adults

For the general adult population, a normal resting heart rate is 60 to 100 beats per minute, with most people averaging somewhere in the 70s.

For the most part, this range barely changes with age. A healthy 25-year-old and a healthy 65-year-old fall in much the same place, because resting heart rate is driven much more by fitness than by age.

What's normal for a runner

A runner's number is lower, because regular endurance training reshapes the heart so it fills more and pumps more with each beat, and the resting rate falls to match. Where a typical adult rests in the 70s, a fit runner often rests in the 50s, and a highly trained one lower still.

A resting heart rate in the 40s or low 50s, which would raise eyebrows in a doctor's office, is good and healthy for a well-trained runner.

This is often called athlete's heart, or athletic bradycardia—a slow resting rate that comes from a strong, efficient heart. In other words, it is a sign of fitness, not a problem.

Related: What's a Good VO2 Max for Your Age?

How to measure your resting heart rate accurately

Because your resting rate changes with your activity and stress, when and how you measure it matters. For the truest number, take it first thing in the morning:

• Measure right after you wake up. Stay lying down, before you sit up or reach for your phone. This is when your body is most fully rested.
• Count for a full minute. Find your pulse at your wrist or neck, and count the beats for 60 seconds, or count for 30 seconds and double it.
• Use a monitor if you have one. A chest strap is most accurate, but a watch or fitness band worn all the time, even during sleep, records your resting rate automatically and shows when it drifts from your norm.
• Average several days. Any single reading can be off, so take it over a few mornings and use the average as your baseline.

Once you know your normal, what matters is how future readings compare to it.

What affects your resting heart rate

Your resting heart rate is not fixed and it rises and falls with a range of factors, some within your control and some not:

• fitness
• lack of sleep
• mental and emotional stress
• dehydration, caffeine and alcohol
• hot weather
• illness
• hard training
• lack of recovery

Because so many things move it, do not judge by one high or low morning. Follow the pattern over time.

Is a low resting heart rate dangerous?

For a runner, almost never. A low resting heart rate is usually a sign of a strong, well-conditioned heart, and rates in the 40s and 50s are common and healthy among endurance athletes. On its own, a low number is a good sign.

However, if it comes with symptoms like dizziness, fainting, unusual weakness, breathlessness, or chest discomfort, a low heart rate becomes a concern. Those signs, especially at rest, are worth a visit to a doctor, since they can signal a rhythm problem that has nothing to do with fitness.

Some medications, such as beta-blockers, lower your resting heart rate on their own. If you take one and see a low number, that reflects the drug as much as your training.

6 reasons your resting heart rate is high even though you run

If you run regularly but your resting heart rate stays higher than you would expect, one of these is usually behind it:

1. You are new to running. Your heart has not yet made its adaptations, which take months of consistent training.
2. You are overtraining. Too much hard work without recovery can push your resting rate up, the opposite of what you want.
3. You are short on sleep. Poor or too little sleep keeps your resting rate up.
4. You are stressed. Ongoing mental or emotional stress raises it.
5. You had caffeine or alcohol. Both lift your resting rate, alcohol especially the next morning.
6. You are dehydrated. Low fluids make your heart work harder at rest.

Some people also have a naturally higher resting rate, set by genetics, even when fit. If your number stays high despite good habits, it is worth mentioning to a doctor.

How to use resting heart rate to guide training

Watching your resting heart rate is one of the simplest ways to avoid overtraining. Checked each morning, it tells you when your body is ready for a hard session and when it needs rest, often before you feel run down.

Compare each reading against your own baseline.

If it is near normal, train as planned.

If it is up by 5 to 10 beats, especially for more than a day, treat it as a sign you are not fully recovered, from hard training, poor sleep, stress, or a cold coming on. Swap the hard session for an easy run or take the day off, and hold back until it settles.

Does resting heart rate go down as you get fitter?

Yes, and it is one of the clearest signs your training is working. As your aerobic fitness improves, your heart gets stronger and pumps more blood per beat, so it needs fewer beats at rest.

On the other hand, take an extended break from running, and your resting rate climbs back up within a few weeks as your fitness fades. That is why it works as a fitness gauge in both directions: it falls as you build form and rises as you lose it.

A new runner might start with a resting rate in the 70s and watch it fall into the 60s and then the 50s over months of consistent training. Although the drop is gradual, a few beats at a time, it is very satisfying to see fitness you cannot otherwise feel.

Related: How to Lower Your Heart Rate While Running

The fitter you already are, the smaller the changes become, as your resting rate approaches its natural floor. If yours has stopped falling, it may have reached the low point for your body, which is fine.

Resting heart rate vs heart rate variability (HRV)

Runners often see both resting heart rate and heart rate variability, or HRV, on their watches, and mix the two up. They measure different things.

Resting heart rate is how many times your heart beats per minute at rest. HRV is the tiny variation in time between individual beats. A healthy, well-recovered heart does not beat evenly; the gaps between beats vary slightly, and more variation generally signals better recovery and a relaxed nervous system.

For tracking recovery, HRV is the more sensitive of the two, reacting faster to stress and fatigue. Resting heart rate is simpler and more stable. One thing matters most with HRV: it is deeply personal. A number that is healthy for one runner can be low for another, and readings vary between devices, so compare your HRV only against your own trend.

Used together, they give a fuller picture: a resting rate that is up and an HRV that is down both point to a body that needs rest.

You do not need both to train well, but if your watch shows them, they are worth an occasional morning glance.

Frequently asked questions

Is 50 a good resting heart rate?

For a runner, yes, a very good one. A resting heart rate around 50 points to a strong, efficient heart and solid aerobic fitness. It falls below the general adult range of 60 to 100, which is normal and expected for people who train regularly.

Can I lower my resting heart rate?

Yes, mainly through the habits that build fitness. Regular easy aerobic running lowers it over time, and so do good sleep, steady hydration, and less caffeine and alcohol. Expect a gradual drop of a few beats over weeks and months.

Does resting heart rate increase with age?

Only a little, and mostly because fitness often declines with age, not because of age itself. The normal range stays about the same across adulthood. A runner who stays fit can keep a low resting heart rate well into later life.

Why did my resting heart rate suddenly spike?

A jump of several beats over a day or two, above your own normal, usually means something is off. Common causes are illness coming on, poor sleep, stress, alcohol, or a hard session the day before. If it stays elevated for more than a couple of days, ease off your training until it settles.