fishgo wrote:
A higher EF would simply mean I'm either running faster at a given average HR or I'm running the same pace at a lower HR.
Exactly, both of those things are good when comparing against yourself over time. The same is true of cycling. It's not until you look at this number in the context of a given scenario that it becomes useful.
Example 1:
You're a 10k runner. Your EF goes up. You run at the same HR as previous races and the model predicts you'll be faster in the next race.
Example 2:
You're training for a marathon and have blown up in previous races. Your EF goes up. You run at the same pace (or more precisely NGP) and the model suggests you'll be running at a lower heart rate and less likely to blow up (altho you may still blow up, just later than previously!).
In both examples you'll see 'progress' but I don't know of any models you can plug EF into to predict performance. watts/kg and watts/cda can be used to model your speed on a bike in certain conditions. However I don't believe EF can be used in a similar manner.
One potential usage, which a friend of mine uses for cycling. Let's say you take a winter break, or get an injury and you're out for a while. You know you've lost fitness but not how much. You come back and want to take it easyish and get in some 'base' training before you do max intervals again. You can monitor EF for some workouts and compare that to before the break/injury. Once it's within a certain range, that might be the trigger for when you start throwing hard intervals and FTP tests back into the equation.