I have a naturally high heart rate.

Globularity

Went to see my doctor years ago and one was so alarmed he gave me an ECG(after running up a slope my heart rate reached 210). nothing was wrong. the next doctor I saw said some peoples heart beats faster than others and that my previous doctor didn't need to give a ECG. I'm barely out of breath at 154bpm and yesterday I topped out at 191bpm (bear in mind I'm 42). This was on a cool day with no uphill running and I wasn't sprinting. Just sitting doing nothing its 85. I have been doing the couch to 5k and am on week 8, I ran 3.7km in 28 mins so you can see I run at a leisurely pace(7-8 minutes per km)

Blokky27

What’s your resting HR as given by your smartwatch?

8ace

I've hit 198 at 50yrs old male on fast 5ks and over 200 on the rower. Have been running for years (1000miles per yr approx) resting HR is about 39-42 depending what I've been up to.

You're not alone with a high max/AVE HR. Average on a normal 15mile run would be about 154 ish at 2 hrs duration

Not sure if being 5ft 4", 8 stone 4 has anything to do with it as smaller creatures generally have higher heartbeat. I always think of it as mouse/elephant high/low heart rate

8ace

It's never concerned me as I always feel good and only out of breath when I know I should be

BobHoliday

Try cutting out stimulants for a few days. I was taking nicotine lozenges and drinking caffeine. My resting HR was 85/90 despite 3 hard 10k hilly runs a week. I cut the nicotine and the caffeine and 2 or 3 days later my resting HR dropped to 44! It's back to more like 50 now a week or so later.