Eessh! How long is a piece of string.
Your resting heart rate would probably vary from 60 to 100 in the population. A good athlete would have it somewhere near 40. The older you get, the higher it would be for a good athlete (mine’s 46, I think…so maybe I’m not as good as I thought I was!). Excellent athletes might have it in their low 30s. Below 30, and there may be a problem.
Maximum heart rate for an athlete could easily be above 180 and below 210 — and is almost certainly not 220-minus-age. A sprint finish at the end of a 5K PB effort will get you reasonably close, though the true ceiling can be 10 beats higher still. For a full guide to how max heart rate works, how Garmin calculates it, and how to test it accurately, see the Garmin Max Heart Rate feature page.
Related articles
- 5k Heart Rate Training & Racing Zones (the5krunner.com)
- Heart Rate Monitors (mykidcan.org)
- Jump in Resting Heart Rate Might Signal Higher Death Risk (nlm.nih.gov)
Last Updated on 18 March 2026 by the5krunner
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tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors.
