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Is a High Training Heart Rate a Sign of Overtraining? (Usually Not — Here's How to Actually Check)

"My heart rate monitor says I train at an average of 169 beats per minute (bpm). Working from my estimated max of 192 and rest heart rate of 68, every calculator I've tried puts that in zone 3 — and running there for 45 to 70 minutes isn't meant to be a good idea. The trouble is, if I ran any slower, I'd be walking. I'm 28, male, and I've been running regularly for about six months, starting from week 6 of your Beginners Program 3. I run 10K in 55 to 58 minutes at that heart rate, and I finish feeling refreshed rather than exhausted — I could usually keep going for a few more kilometres. Are my zones miscalculated, or am I just running too fast? And by the way — I still owe you a huge thank you. I never thought I'd be able to run for over an hour and beyond 11K. Thank you, Dominique.

– Gabor, Hungary

Answer by Dominique: Hi Gabor,
Thanks for your question about your high training heart rate and whether it points to overtraining.

For most runners — especially newer ones — a training heart rate that reads higher than expected is cardiovascular adaptation or an inaccurate zone estimate. Not overtraining. Genuine overtraining is an extreme, hard-to-reach state, and it shows up as a specific cluster of symptoms — not just one higher-than-expected number on a single run.

I'll break my response down as follows:

1. The Importance of Running by Feel
2. What Happens in the First Year of Running
3. Understanding Overtraining: The Actual Signs to Check For

1. The Importance of Running by Feel

You're right that your heart rate looks high on paper, Gabor. If you want the fuller picture beyond this one page, I've written a full guide to heart rate training that covers the basics. But the most important skill to develop as a runner is learning to run by feel — and it sounds like you're already doing that well. You're controlling your pace, and at the end of an easy run you feel refreshed, like you could manage a few more kilometres. That's a strong sign your effort is easy to steady, not tempo. Your tempo run pace — generally called Zone 3 — is the pace you can hold for about an hour, and it's genuinely difficult to sustain. On a bad day, five minutes at tempo pace can feel like plenty. On a good day, real effort sets in after 15 to 20 minutes. Either way, tempo pace leaves you working hard, not refreshed.

So even though your monitor reads zone 3, your body is telling a different story. Your effort feels like easy-to-steady running, at the top of Zone 2 or in Zone 2.5. The numbers, not you, are probably what's off.

2. What Happens in the First Year of Running

As a coach, what I care about most is training age — how long you've actually been running, not how old you are. Six months in, you're still developing rapidly. Non-stop 30-minute runs, 45-minute runs, hour-long runs — a lot of what you're doing now would have felt impossible a year ago. The main driver of your heart rate is your cardiovascular system, and it's still adapting. If your heart hasn't had to work this hard for years — maybe ever — it takes time to settle at lower rates under new demand. As your fitness improves and your heart becomes more efficient at pumping blood, that rate comes down on its own.

There's also a simpler explanation: it's genuinely hard to measure rest and maximum heart rate accurately. It's worth taking the time to get a more accurate max heart rate estimate rather than relying on a formula alone. Fitness watches worn overnight give a decent read on rest heart rate. Test it "the old-school way" first thing in the morning, though, and it's often already crept up.

Here's why that matters. Using the Karvonen Method calculator, your numbers put 169 bpm at about 81% of heart rate reserve — the bottom of Zone 3. If your real max heart rate is 195 rather than 192, it drops to about 79–80%, which is the top of Zone 2.5. A few beats can move you across a zone boundary. That's why I'd trust how the run feels over the zone label.

3. Understanding Overtraining: The Actual Signs to Check For

It's true that overtraining can raise your heart rate. But before going down that road, check the actual signs — don't just guess from a gut feeling. Here's what I look for: Run through that list against what you've told me, Gabor: you feel refreshed after training, you want to keep going, and you're sleeping and training consistently. None of that matches the pattern above — and that's the real basis for saying overtraining isn't your problem, not just a read on your letter's tone.

It's also worth taking a wider view of cumulative stress rather than fixating on overtraining specifically. I have hayfever, for example. In spring, when my body is under stress from allergies, my rest heart rate and training heart rate both climb for a month or so. The same goes for poor sleep, a heavy patch at work, or anything else occupying your mind — any of it can push your numbers up.

Genuine overtraining syndrome is also rare at your stage. It shows up at the elite or semi-elite level, or when someone runs a huge volume without fuelling properly. Six months in, you simply aren't doing enough volume yet to get there.
So, Gabor — heart rate training is a genuinely useful tool, but don't get too hung up on the numbers this early on. Focus on how your runs feel, keep building your base fitness, and adjust as you go. Every runner is different — listen to your body and work out what's right for yours.

And don't let this letter overshadow the real headline here. Six months ago you couldn't run for an hour non-stop. Now you can, comfortably, feeling refreshed at the end of it. That's fantastic progress.

Kind regards,
Dominique

P.S. Is it a different pattern you're seeing — heart rate climbing during a long run instead? That's worth its own read. Or is your worry more about long-term heart health than any one session? I've covered that separately too: worried a high heart rate is bad for your heart long-term?

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