Introducing Rate of Perceived Effort

Rate of Perceived Effort is one of the metrics available to an athlete to determine the intensity of a workout. In this episode I look at what RPE is and a simple way to sue breathing to determine your RPE while running

RPE	Breathing	Talking	Intensity
4-5	Comfortable and barely noticeable	Sing songs	Recovery
5-6	When you first start to notice your breathing. Rhythmic and deep but not hard.	Hold a conversation comfortably	Endurance / Base
7	Deep and labored. Still rhythmic.	Two or three sentences before having to breath	High end aerobic
8-9	Breathing is deep and labored, bordering on ragged. It takes mental effort to hold the pace	4 or 5 words at a time	Lactate Threshold
10	Breathing is labored and rapid	Single words at a time	V02Max