When I work with athletes I often find that they are dependent on their watches to give them feedback about their workouts, races, recovery and many other aspects of their training. This is especially true for runners who began their running journey after the advent of GPS watches and all the quantitative data they can provide us. Though I think GPS watches can be a helpful tool in the training process I also feel like they often handicap athletes and hold them back from reaching their potential.
By relying on data from our watches we can easily neglect the signals our body is sending us and either push too hard when it is smart to back off or hold back when it is smart to push ourselves further. Our bodies are incredible machines that, if we will listen to them, can communicate more than we give them credit for.
By learning to listen to the signals our body is sending we can make the appropriate adjustments in our training to allow the adaptations we are striving for to happen. One way an athlete can learn to listen more closely is by understanding and implementing the concept of rate of perceived exertion, better known as RPE, into their training. Rate of perceived exertion is simply how hard an athlete feels like they are working at any given moment during exercise. By listening closely to how hard something feels and assigning an appropriate score to the effort an athlete can quantify how hard or easy the effort was and then compare that to the outcome data they gather from their watch to better contextualize the training they have completed.
There are a few common scales an athlete can use for this purpose. The first would be a simple 1-10 rating with 1 being minimal or no effort and ten being maximal effort. The second scale that is often used is called the Borg scale and ranges from 6-20 with 6 being minimal or no effort and 20 being maximum effort. Both scales can be effective if used correctly.
Using a scale of 1-10 is simple and straightforward, which many athletes like. The Cleveland Clinic on their website gives the following definition to each point along the scale:
0 – Nothing at all
0.5 – Just noticeable
1 – Very light
2 – Light
3 – Moderate
4 – Somewhat heavy
5-6 – Heavy
7-9 – Very heavy
10 – Very, very heavy
The Borg scale seems a bit odd at first, ranging from 6-20, but once the numbers are defined, offers athletes an easier way to compare their perceived ratings to the quantitative data from their watch. According to WebMD the following ratings should be assigned to each number range.
6- Rest
7- Extremely Light
8-11- Very light to light exertion
12-16- Somewhat hard to hard exertion
17-20- Very hard to maximum exertion
The reason this scale might work better for comparison to more quantitative data is that each point along the scale correlates to a heart rate. Just multiply the perceived score by ten to get an estimated heart rate. For example, a score of 6 would indicate a heart rate of 60 and a score of 10 would indicate a heart rate of 100. This number can then be compared to the actual heart rate during the workout to help the athlete learn to more accurately assign appropriate RPE numbers to their workouts. With practice most athletes can, with a high level or precision, match their perceived effort scores with their physiological data.
Regardless of which scale you choose to use, incorporating RPE into your training can help you listen more closely to your body and move away from the limits your watch can place on you.
How to Apply RPE to your training
Athletes can tend to run too hard on their recovery days, especially when relying on pace. One way to avoid this is to assign a number for the day prior to starting your run. For instance, if using the 6-20 Borg scale you might decide that you want the day to be run at a level 8. Then during the run itself you can adjust your pace accordingly by listening to how your body feels and making sure you keep the run at an RPE of 8. The actual pace of the run will vary from day to day at a specific RPE depending on a variety of factors like previous days training, sleep, sickness, etc., but by keeping the RPE where you assigned it for the day you are able to accomplish the goal of that day and optimize the adaptations from your training. Athletes who run their recovery runs based on pace can either run too hard in an attempt to hit the pace they have in mind or sell themselves short by running slower than their body needs to for a given RPE.
Another way to incorporate RPE into your training is to assign an RPE to specific elements of a workout. For instance, if you have a three-mile tempo run planned at 10k pace. You might assign this a 7 on the 1-10 scale and then try to run the workout at that effort. Once the workout is done you can use the pace feedback to see what pace a 3 mi tempo run at 7 RPE currently translates to. By doing things this way you allow yourself to run more freely and not get locked into a specific pace because that is what you think you should run. Instead, you allow your body to tell you what pace is appropriate for that level of effort on that given day. Again, like the recovery runs this allows you to maximize adaptations by listening to your body and not your watch.
By learning to adequately use either of the Rate of Perceived Exertion scales you are teaching yourself to listen to the cues your body is sending you and allowing that to dictate how fast you run to meet the goals of a given run or workout. When the run is over and you have stayed within the predefined effort you can then compare that effort to the pace of the run to see what it translates too. Over time given similar conditions (course, weather, etc.) you should see consistent paces based on your effort levels. However, if this fluctuates it might indicate you are getting sick, overly tired, or something else is going on. Conversely if you find yourself starting to run faster at a given RPE than you were before it might indicate a jump in fitness that you weren’t expecting. There are times when it is appropriate to assign a given pace to a workout and strive to hit that pace, but there are also times when chasing a predetermined pace can be detrimental to your training. RPE can be a useful tool to add to your toolbox when it comes to both training and racing.
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