Let’s talk RPE—Rate of Perceived Exertion

Let’s clear something up before your Garmin files for a restraining order:

RPE = Rate of Perceived Exertion. 

It’s how hard you feel like you’re working. Not how fast your watch says you're going, not how many minutes Strava will flex on your behalf. It’s an internal gauge, people. No pacer. No stopwatch. No medals for hitting an arbitrary pace when your legs are screaming "please stop."

🔬 A Little Science for the Sceptics:

RPE’s been around longer than most of your playlists. Borg’s Scale (yep, real guy, not a Star Trek villain) has been used since the 1980s to correlate how hard something feels with what's actually happening in your body—heart rate, lactate levels, oxygen uptake. All the nerdy stuff. And unlike your heart rate monitor, which takes a coffee break before catching up to your effort, RPE gives you real-time feedback. Instant. Honest. Brutal, sometimes.

🌡️ Reality Check: Your Body Ain’t a Machine

Your pace isn’t some magic number you can force 365 days a year. Life messes with it.

• Hot day? Higher RPE.

• Hilly trail? Higher RPE.

• Didn’t sleep because your neighbour's dog discovered its inner death metal singer? Yep—higher RPE.

• Stressed, dehydrated, or slightly dead inside from work emails? Same deal.

  
  

Now imagine this: It’s 35°C. Your plan says "steady state run, RPE 6"—that’s moderately hard, breathing deeper but still able to mutter a few witty one-liners. But instead, you’re stubbornly gripping onto your usual 6:00/km pace like it owes you rent. Heart rate? Blasting at 160 BPM. Breathing? Sounds like Darth Vader in spin class. Conversation? Forget it—you’re busy trying not to puke. Guess what, champ? That’s not RPE 6 anymore. You’re in RPE 9 territory, maybe 10, flirting with overtraining and future regrets.

🧠 The Smart Play: Train By Effort, Not Ego

Conditions change. Effort adjusts. But your ego... well, it tends to be a bit clingy. If you understand that your pace at a given RPE will fluctuate depending on the day, you’ll train smarter, avoid burnout, and shock yourself by actually enjoying the sport long-term. Wild concept, I know.

Your pace is a moving target. Your effort is what counts. Stop worshipping your watch. Start listening to your body. You’ll thank yourself later—probably when you’re not nursing a preventable injury.

Run Long, Run Strong, Run Better

John Withinshaw Running Coach

P.S I have space in my online run training program. Check out https://www.jdw-fitness.co.uk/running-coach for more details or to arrange for a strategy meeting to discuss your goals and how I can help you get there.