Recovery Runs vs. Easy Runs

Recovery runs and easy runs are two different types of runs to incorporate into your training schedule. I often see them get used interchangeably so I wanted to clarify the difference between the two and when you should practice one or the other.

Recovery Runs

The purpose of a recovery run is just as it sounds: to help your body recover from previous high workloads. Typically implemented the day after a hard interval session or long run, these runs are meant to get blood flowing through your body to increase recovery and loosen up. There will not be any aerobic gains from these runs because they are kept truly easy. If going by heart rate, this should be zone 1 (stated as the recovery zone in most watch apps). If going by RPE, this should be 1-2/10 RPE. The pace will vary depending on how fatigued you are from the previous day’s work load, but this will be your slowest run of the week. For context, the last marathon I ran, my pace was 4:14/km. My recovery runs range from 5:20/km to 6:00/km. That’s 60-90 seconds slower per kilometer than my marathon race pace!

Easy Runs

Easy runs are what make up the majority of the work week while training for endurance events. These are runs that feel easy, you can maintain a conversation, but you’re still running at a pace where you are gaining aerobic adaptations, albeit small. If going by heart rate, this is typically what people refer to as zone 2 training. If going by RPE, this could range from 2-4/10 RPE. For context and to compare from the above example, my easy pace ranges from 4:50/km to 5:30/km, which is 30-75 seconds slower than my goal marathon pace. 

A Note on Heart Rate Zones

All watches do not operate on the same heart rate zone systems, nor are your heart rate zones exactly accurate from your watch’s data - your true zones can only be determined at a lab with high-tech equipment. For example, two of the most popular watch brands right now are Garmin and Coros. Garmin has a 5 zone model, with zone 1 as “warm up”, zone 2 as “recovery”, zone 3 as “aerobic”, zone 4 as “threshold”, and zone 5 as “maximum”. Comparatively, Coros has a 6 zone model, with their descriptions of each zone starting from a different place from Garmin. Coros’ zone 1 is “recovery", zone 2 is “aerobic endurance”, zone 3 is “aerobic power”, zone 4 is “threshold”, zone 5 is “anaerobic endurance”, and zone 6 is “anaerobic power”. You’ll notice that Coros’ zone 1 corresponds to Garmin’s zone 2; Coros’ zone 2 corresponds to Garmin’s zone 3, etc. Therefore, if you aim to run your easy or recovery runs in zone 2, that could mean a very different thing depending on which watch brand you have. The photos below show Coros’ (first photo) and Garmin’s (second photo) of how they differentiate heart rate zones.

Summary

To summarize, utilizing heart rate can be a helpful tool to monitor for different reasons, but it shouldn’t be the ONLY thing you take note of and you should be aware of what your watch’s perceived zones mean for you. Especially during easy runs and recovery runs, going by feel (or RPE - rate of perceived exertion) is a better way to determine how fast you should run. Many factors contribute to how fast you can, or should, run on a particular day. Factors not just relating to how fatigued your muscles are from yesterday’s run, but also from sleep, stress, and diet to name a few. To keep it simple, if you can easily maintain a conversation, you’re probably running at an easy or recovery pace. If it’s becoming challenging to maintain a conversation, you’re likely stepping beyond that true easy or recovery pace and may want to consider slowing down, depending on the specific outcome of your run.