RPE Guide for Runners
Learn how to use Rate of Perceived Exertion to judge your running intensity using how the effort actually feels. RPE can be particularly useful when pace or heart rate doesn't tell the whole story.
Explore the RPE Scale
Select a number from 1 to 10 to see how that level of effort might feel and where it could appear in running.
Easy
Comfortable and controlled running with relatively little strain. You should feel like you could continue for quite some time.
Breathing is controlled and should not feel laboured.
You should be able to speak comfortably in complete sentences.
Typical of easy runs, recovery running and controlled aerobic mileage.
Easy running should feel easy. There is no benefit in forcing the pace simply to hit a particular number on your watch.
A Simple Way to Think About RPE
You don't need to identify every effort to the exact number. Thinking in broader ranges can make RPE easier to use during everyday training.
Easy
Comfortable, conversational running. This range is commonly associated with recovery, easy running and lower-stress aerobic work.
Moderate to Hard
The effort becomes increasingly purposeful. Steady, tempo and threshold-style running will often sit somewhere within this broad range.
Very Hard to Maximum
High-intensity running where breathing is heavy and duration becomes increasingly limited. Typically used for intervals, repetitions and short hard efforts.
What Is RPE?
RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion. It is a simple way of describing how hard an effort feels to you rather than relying solely on an external number such as pace or heart rate.
On this scale, 1 represents very little effort and 10 represents a maximal effort that could only be sustained for a short period.
Why Can RPE Be Useful?
The same running pace will not always produce the same internal effort. Heat, hills, wind, fatigue, poor sleep and accumulated training can all change how demanding a run feels.
RPE allows you to take some of that context into account. It can also help runners become less dependent on their watch and more aware of how different training intensities actually feel.
Effort Is Individual
RPE is subjective by design. Your RPE 5 does not need to correspond with somebody else's pace, heart rate or RPE 5. The useful part is learning what different levels of effort feel like for you and using that information alongside the purpose of the session.
Turn Effort Into Smarter Training
Understanding RPE can help you judge how hard you are working, but knowing how those different efforts fit into your training is where good planning becomes important.
Personalised coaching brings together effort, pace, training history, current fitness and your goals to build a plan that progresses with you rather than relying on numbers alone.
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