Running by Effort

We runners are often obsessed with numbers and data – what pace are we running at? What is our race time? What is our personal best? But there’s an important running technique that is more art than science: exertion-based training or running by effort. 

Exertion-based training requires you to tap into how hard you feel like you are working, regardless of what pace you are actually running at. 

 Here are some physical signs you can monitor to help you determine this:

·      Heart rate

·      Breathing rate

·      Sweating

·      Muscle fatigue

 These are all subjective – meaning the way you interpret a given heart rate, breathing rate, sweat rate, or feeling of muscle fatigue is individual to you.   They also require you to be mindful, present and in the moment. 

 Why is this important?

 Well, if like most of us you are racing outside on a road, trail, or even a track, no two racing conditions are ever the same.  The terrain may vary, the weather will most certainly vary, you may be up against wind or running on a broiling hot day.  This may translate to differing paces, but your body will not know this.  It will only feel the output of your effort.  So, if you can dial into what effort levels are needed at different times in a given race, you’ll still be able to run well even under suboptimal or unexpected conditions. 

 Different scales exist to help you rate your effort levels.  A famous one is called the Borg scale, or the Borg Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE).  This scale starts at 6 (no exertion at all) and tops out at 20 (maximal exertion).  A moderate-intensity effort would be rated 12 to 14.  The Borg scale is useful because multiplying the number you assign to your effort level by 10 will give you your approximate heart rate.  For example, if you are running at an RPE of 12, your approximate heart rate will be around 120 beats per minute. 

 I like to use a “percent of max effort” scale.  In this type of scale, an easy run is run at approximately 65% of maximal effort, a moderate run at 75%, a hard run at 85%, and a very hard run at 95%.  I find many runners can relate to this type of scale more easily than the Borg scale. 

 How can you use exertion-based training in your workouts? 

 For some workouts, it is helpful to target specific paces or pace ranges.  But to be the most versatile runner you can be, mix in varying efforts, even during your harder workouts.  Run sprints or short hill repeats at 95%, and you will likely be tapping into your anaerobic energy system.  Run higher intensity intervals at 85%, and this will come close to your lactate threshold.  Run strong, longer efforts at 75%, and you’ll be at your aerobic threshold.  Recovery, warm-up, cool-down and easy runs can all be run at 65% or less, your easy, aerobic pace.