The “normal” RHR is about 60 – 80; it varies with age and sex as well as fitness. In general it would be investigated if RHR is lower than 50 (outside of an elite athlete)and the person is symptomatic (dizzy, lightheaded, fainting, chest pain etc..) It’s quite normal for a trained athlete to have a low RHR. If the RHR is consistently higher than 80 – 90 – it might also mean there is something going on like a hypermetabolic state, hyperthyroidism, infection, drugs, fever, cardiac problems etc.

We posed the question to a doctor so that we can give you a more thorough response on what an unhealthy resting heart rate would be. We’ll post that when I hear back.

From our point of view, we wouldn’t say that 70 BPM is unhealthy unless that number is vastly different than other day to day numbers you’ve seen. If that is the case it could be the onset of a cold or some overtraining issues. However, if 70 is a resting heart rate you see on a daily basis, that’s probably a sign that endurance sport is relatively new to your body -which does not mean you’re unhealthy . It will come down with time, as the efficiency of your cardiovascular system improves.

With respect to knowing what an average persons resting HR is, we are pretty sure between 60 and 80 is normal (We’ll post for sure when we get a response – but if you can trust the internet that seems about right). But, if you look at that average resting HR of folks who have been involved in endurance sport for a couple years, I would bet that average looks more like 50-65 (I have no evidence to support this, just an educated guess). At the Elite end of things, more like 40-55.

Of course, so many things can actually affect that number outside of actual health or fitness -gender, size of your body, size of your heart, and much more.
You may want to consider monitoring your recovery rate as a means for tracking fitness gains, as well as tracking the resting heart rate. Recovery rate is quite simply how quickly your heart drops after exercise. A good measure of time is 1 minute, note your HR immediately after you stop running, then note the HR 1 minute later. The larger the drop, the better your recovery rate.

On another note, I like your website, really well done – very cool logo! Best of luck on your journey to Ironman.