Rate of perceived exertion (RPE): What is it?
Running is full of acronyms and if you’ve started getting serious with your training, you’ll have come across a plethora of terms. Amongst HRV, HIIT and VO2 max, you might have encountered RPE or, to give it its full title, rate of perceived exertion. But what does it mean? And is it worth further investigation?
Nick Hancock, running coach and co-founder of Maximum Mileage Coaching, reveals the basics of RPE, how to work out yours and when and why it might be worth using as part of your training.
What is RPE?
RPE does exactly what it says on the tin – it’s essentially a marker of training intensity and how your run feels in terms of difficulty.
‘Some people use something called the Borg scale, which ranges from six to 20. However, a lot of people find that it tends to be a little bit more complicated than it needs to be. A simplified scale is one to 10,’ says Hancock.
On this one to 10 RPE scale, one to three is very easy and could encompass something like walking or light jogging. Then, things start to ramp up. ‘Four to six would be moderate – this is when we start getting to that steady running, which is done conversational pace. Seven to eight is hard, so a challenging but sustainable pace. Nine to 10 is a very hard, maximal effort – like sprinting or interval work, where your intervals are a maximum of three to five minutes in duration.’
How do you calculate RPE?
Working out your individual RPE scale is about tuning into how your body feels during a run, but if you’re new to running or struggle to differentiate between the different levels of the scale, Hancock has a handy tip.
‘One of the easiest ways is the talk test. That easy effort around 4-5 is conversational pace. When you get into that harder effort, where it's challenging but sustainable, you could probably say a sentence or two, but after that breathing becomes a bit more challenging, and you need to take in some air before you say the next sentence. The final part of the talk test is nine to 10, where you maybe get a sentence or even just a couple of words out.’
How do you use RPE when training?
Just like training to heart rate, pace or power, individual drills and sessions can be based on RPE. Importantly though, unlike the others, RPE doesn’t require any technology and is completely free, making it ideal for those without access to tech like running watches or power metres.
‘I use a mixture of RPE, heart rate and an actual pace,’ says Hancock, before adding that if a runner doesn’t have a time trial or race result, or use a dedicated heart rate chest strap or arm band, he’ll base a training plan solely on the RPE scale.
In certain situations, he prefers RPE as a measure of intensity too. ‘I will use it much more in trail running because of the varying terrain and elevation, and also on hill sessions where I’d certainly not go by pace and I’d want to see more control.’
How accurate is RPE?
Unlike heart rate or pace, there is an element of guesswork when it comes to guiding a run by RPE and there won’t be any RPE metrics on display on your running watch.
‘It takes a little bit of time to get used to,’ says Hancock. ‘I tend to find even quite experienced runners can be a little bit off when they first start applying it. But there are plenty of studies out there that have shown that it is a pretty reliable tool once you start to understand what your body’s signals are.’
In fact, research published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that an RPE-prescribed running schedule resulted in similar performance outcomes as a heart rate-based plan over six weeks.
What can impact RPE?
As your RPE is based on how you feel, several external factors can influence how a run ranks on the RPE scale – even if other metrics like heart rate or pace suggest otherwise.
‘It can and should be influenced by mood, hydration, sleep, stress, fatigue, how much coffee you’ve had, what you’ve eaten – all of that can really play into it,’ says Hancock. ‘If you had a hard speed session yesterday, today’s easy run might feel quite sluggish, so that’s where we want to keep the RPE down. You might end up doing a 12-minute mile, whereas, on a day when you’re feeling fairly fresh and doing an easy run, it might be a 10-minute mile at the same RPE.’
Hancock sees this as a benefit, though, which prevents issues like overtraining that can sometimes happen when you base your training solely on another metric like pace.
‘I don’t say to people, “this is your easy pace”, because that can change massively, even at the faster paces, so RPE is a much better factor to go off.
‘If you can be honest with yourself about how it is feeling based on those scales, it can be really useful, particularly if you’re not feeling up to it today.’
What are the downsides of using RPE?
‘The biggest one is that it takes a bit of time to tune into what RPE feels like,’ says Hancock. He adds that the perception of others on social media platforms like Strava can also mean that people don’t stick to the prescribed RPE – particularly on easy runs.
‘I think that there can be a little bit of social anxiety about things really slowing down, or if a fast pace didn’t quite go to plan.’
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