My customized RPE scale

How much do you want to suffer?

Feb 15, 2022

Most of you are surely familiar with the RPE (Rating of Perceived Exertion) scale. If not it is very easily explained. You rate or plan your workouts by a scale of 1-10, while 1 is the most easy run and 10 the absolute maximum effort you can deliver. A lot of coaches rely heavily on this subjective and non-technical measurement instead of heart rate monitors or powermeters. Especially in ultra running heart rate plays a subordinate role. It simply is not reliable, because of ever changing terrain, heat, altitude and phenomenons like cardiac drift due to the length of the workouts and races. Powermeters have come a long way, but also fail to deliver any helpful data in erratic environments like trails. RPE in contrary is very simple and highly effective.

But how exactly do you rate your exertion precisely? While 1 and 10 seem to be kind of clear, the difference between 6 and 7, for example, might not be so easy to tell. If you look up RPE on google you will find a long list of helpful tables. Most of them put the different levels of perceived exertion in relation with intensity of breathing and ability to speak. Those guidelines do not really work for me. I came up with my own personal RPE scale which kind of goes like this:

1 - I am running, but basically it feels like going for a walk

2 - A very easy effort that is not demanding at all

3 - Flow’ish easy run on a comfortable level

4 - Feels like working out, slightly uncomfortable but still very doable

5 - Real running. This is how the first 15k of a Marathon ideally feel like

6 - Marathon Effort. Feels fast and sustainable but is clearly demanding

7 - Half marathon effort. Right on the border of "yes I can do this" and "no, this is too fast"

8 - Feels like racing a 10k minus the last 1-2 kilometers

9 - Pushing maximal hard, trying to sustain an unsustainable pace

10 - All out final spurt level. Feels like blacking out without blacking out

Most other RPE scales I have seen do not include anything like my 10/10 effort. It is not a training zone anyway. It does not happen often, that you are able to push yourself this hard as an endurance athlete. However I added it to my personal RPE scale to remind myself, that there is always a level of "pushing harder" I haven’t reached yet.

I also do have very strong feelings about those RPE levels. 1-3: "Any time. Running, yeah!". 4-5: Everything from "This sucks so much. I am a terrible runner" to "I feel like flying! Which way to the Olympics?". 6: The magic effort. However I should avoid looking at my pace, because I immediately convert it into a marathon time. 7-8: I need to have a good reason to push that hard. A race for example. Or the last rep of a 1000m or 2000m interval. 9: This sucks very much, but it’s part of the game. 10: Interestingly I find this less awful than a 9/10 effort. Probably because it only lasts a couple of seconds.

For me RPE has become a small but important daily reflection. It sharpens my awareness of what is actually going on while I’m running, where my current abilities end and most of all how different the same workout can feel on any given day. After all, we’re humans and not machines (yet).