Note: This metric was previously called Running Performance.
What is Efficiency?
All training sessions are productive. However, it can be difficult to compare exactly how today's workout stacks up against yesterday's, or last week's training.
Running Efficiency is a measurement designed to help solve this problem. After completing a Run or Track Run activity, either scroll down from the home screen and use the Digital Dial on your watch to view your most recent efficiency score, or open up the activity details in the COROS app to take a look.
Efficiency measures how the effort on your last activity compares to your fitness level. Your efficiency for a workout can be impacted by various external and internal factors, including sleep, heat, fatigue, elevation, and more. Lower efficiency indicates there may have been factors impacting your workout causing your effort during it to be higher than expected. When reviewing your efficiency for a workout, you can consider what those factors may have been, and use that knowledge to better prepare for future training sessions.
The range is from 80% to 120% and has 5 different levels:
- Excellent: 105%-120%
- Great: 102%-104%
- Good: 99%-101%
- Fair: 96%-98%
- Low: 80%-95%
How do I receive an Efficiency score?
Not all runs will receive an Efficiency score. Keep in mind that EvoLab must first be unlocked, and all subsequent runs must meet the following criteria in order for EvoLab to calculate your score:
- Run outside using either Run or Track Run mode.
- Run for at least 10 minutes, and if you are running intervals, make sure each interval is at least 3 minutes long and you maintain a steady pace. This allows for sufficient data to be collected so EvoLab can accurately calculate your score.
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Heart rate: During your run, try to keep your heart rate between 65% and 90% of your Max Heart Rate. If you’re not sure what your max heart rate is, you can use the general formula: 225 minus your age.
- Check that your heart rate zones are listed correctly in the COROS app by opening to the Profile page, tapping on Settings, and then Heart Rate Zone.
By keeping the above tips in mind, you can take advantage of COROS' Efficiency score and use it to track your running efforts and see improvement.
Why does my watch show a different score than the COROS app?
Your watch calculates efficiency based on the workouts stored locally on your COROS watch. However, the COROS app uses the most past 90 days of data to calculate Efficiency. For this reason, the datasets used to calculate these scores are different and may lead to different scores when comparing the two.
What influences the Running Efficiency Score?
There are a variety of training and lifestyle factors that can impact the performance of your run. However, the two main inputs in calculating your Efficiency score are heart rate and pace.