Training By Perceived Level Of Effort
I saw this post on Facebook the other day that went like this:
"A beginner runner wants to train like an intermediate runner. An intermediate runner wants to train like a competitive runner. A competitive runner trains like a beginner."
You see, small changes in your training can have a big impact, especially near the beginning of your journey. And later, when you have the small changes dialed in, you can start adding more specific strategies and refining to keep getting incremental improvement.
For example; if NASA sends a rocket to the moon and it’s only ‘one’ degree off course at launch, it will only be 92 feet off course after one mile of flight: No big deal. But at that rate, it won’t arrive at the moon. It will be 4,169 miles off course.
Now think about that with your running. If you get started in your training and are just a little off in the execution of your workouts, your consistency, or your hydration strategies. After a couple of months you will still be getting better and faster but after a couple of years of being just a little off you aren't going to perform near to your full potential.
You see, all the runners I see making HUGE progress, spend a lot of time working on the basics. That's why that Facebook post really jumped out at me. There is so much truth in it.
So, why not get started on the right course now and go back to basics?
I personally train by perceived level of effort (RPE), and that's how I train all the athletes I work with too. This is important because your RPE can change on a day-by basis depending on how tired you are, how hot it is outside, what terrain you are running, how stressed out you are with other life factors, etc. Training at a specific pace doesn't account for any of these factors and your heart rate can also be giving you an inaccurate representation of the facts. What doesn’t change is you feel about the effort and this is why we use it as our main training tool.
Running by perceived level effort it is very easy to tune in to understand if you are running too hard or too easy for your workout.
When you are beginning to train by RPE using a training metric that you know, like PACE or HR, can be helpful in understanding how you feel in each of your training zones.
I want to stress that “goal paces” and inaccurate HR data (use a chest strap!) are not helpful when evaluating your training.
The following diagram outlines the RPE / HR / Pace for each training zone.
Let’s talk about how workouts should feel in each training zone.
Recovery Runs
Recovery runs are used to help your body recover from big workouts. By getting out and moving your body very slowly, you are going to help bring blood flow to your muscles to help flush out toxins generated from those big efforts. And moving your legs through a range of motion will also help loosen things up.
Recovery runs only work if they are run at an effort level that doesn't produce a high level of stress on your body. You do not want to be adding to the muscle breakdown that has already occurred. You want to run easy enough that the little bit of stress that you are applying helps your body repair itself.
If executed properly, recovery runs can be a great tool to both help speed recovery and add more weekly mileage. But, if they are run incorrectly they will increase your chance of injury and burnout. Intensity intent is to run these runs easier than your easy pace.
Easy Running Pace
Easy running pace is where you should be spending the bulk of your training time. Running at an easy pace is key to building your endurance. At this intensity level, your body does all kinds of cool things that don’t happen when you run too easy or too hard. Some of the benefits of easy running include:
Building more capillaries to increase blood flow to your muscles
Your heart becomes stronger (you can see this if you monitor your resting heart rate, it will get slower as you get more fit)
Your bone density increases
Mitochondria density increases (your bodies ability to produce energy)
Muscles and ligaments get stronger
Generally, you will increase your injury resistance as a combination of all of these things
All this happens when you are running easy enough that you can still carry on a conversation, and when you finish your run feeling like you could go on for much longer. You feel like you haven’t worked very hard at all.
If you run your easy days too hard, then instead of giving your body the chance to adapt as I described above, you are going to be breaking your body down by causing too much stress. Too much stress leads to injury and perhaps even adrenal fatigue (or overtraining syndrome), you’ll be stalled in your training or end up injured. So it is important that you keep your easy days easy!
Easy runs are usually continuous runs that can vary in length from about 20 min to 75 min. To run them correctly should be able to run comfortably at a conversational pace.
One problem that I have discovered over the years while coaching is the term conversational pace is often misunderstood. So I have come up with a better way of explaining what it means to be able to run at a conversational pace.
You should be able to run comfortably while maintaining a 4-4 breathing pattern (breath in for four steps and then breath out for steps). If you are newer to running it is ok if your feeling like you are on the verge of needing to switch to 3-3 breathing and that would be more comfortable to you. But if 3-3 breathing is difficult then you are going too hard.
To put this in perspective, imagine you are out for a run and a friend calls you and you end up talking to this friend for over half an hour and they have no idea that you are out for a run. They can't detect any changes in your breathing from a normal conversation that you would be having with them if you were at home sitting on the couch. Can you see how this is much different than how most runners will view conversational pace? I believe it is often perceived as a pace where if you are able to get out a sentence while huffing and puffing, they think they are carrying on a conversation so that must be conversational pace.
Endurance
Long runs build your endurance. Not only is this important if you want to run further but it is also going to help you have the strength to maintain your speed at the end of a shorter race as well.
The long-run gets a lot of attention on any running as it should. They are a critical component to building your endurance for all running distances.
Long runs are meant to be challenging, but not so hard that they creep up into the next zone, steady-state running.
With the endurance effort just being a notch above your easy running pace, your heart and lungs are going to be working harder. But not so hard that you are going to be causing an undue amount of stress on your body. You will still see many of the same benefits as easy running, but the level of body breakdown is just a bit higher.
If you creep up into the steady-state range, your body's ability to adapt to the training stresses is greatly reduced. The steady-state zone is what many will refer to as the junk zone. They call it the junk zone because you are running hard but receive the minimal benefit for your efforts. While I agree to an extent, we will get into that more in the next section.
To be run correctly long runs can be a little be harder than your usual easy running effort. If you are newer to running and you found that you were just entering into the 3-3 breathing realm on your easy runs, then your long run will be at the same effort level, but it will be getting harder due to the length of your run. If you are more experienced and you were able to maintain that 4-4 breathing on your easy runs, then you can run a bit harder to just feel your lungs start to kick in and be just on the verge of switching /or just switched over into 3-3 breathing. If the 3-3 breathing becomes challenging then you are running too hard.
One big mistake I see so many people making is they run their long runs way to hard. This is a big recipe for disaster because the long run is already hard enough on your body because, well just because it is long! If you run it too hard "try and practice your race pace" then you are going to burn yourself out and potentially injure yourself all while not getting any of the benefits which come from running in the endurance zone.
On some of my training plans, you may see that during the week you are given some flexibility in your easy runs to go up to endurance pace, but this will be up to you based on your judgment on how your body feels. After a while, you will begin to recognize how running harder during the week affects your ability to run hard during workouts and long runs.
Steady State
Depending on how advanced you are with your level of fitness, there becomes a point where it is beneficial to train this zone. For instance, anyone that runs a marathon under 3hrs runs the entire marathon at this intensity level. Training at this level of intensity requires a large workout to achieve adaptations in the body with intervals of 20 - 30 minutes in length. Spending time here can be useful if you are an advanced marathoner, or you are training for ultras.
You may or may not see this intensity level in your plan.
Threshold
Threshold running is where you teach your body to run faster for longer.
When done correctly this is the most trainable zone and it really does allow you to run faster for longer making you feel like a much stronger runner. Training this zone will also increase your easy pace. These types of workouts are probably the most fun too because you get to run fast, but not feel like your going to leave your lungs on the side of the road when you are done. This type of interval training gives you the best of both worlds, speed, and endurance. These workouts can be quite challenging though due to the length of the intervals.
Threshold running is described as the effort you would be able to maintain for an all-out 1hr race. The problem with that is that most runners severely underestimate what that intensity actually feels like. Yes, it is still very hard, but it is also referred to as comfortably hard. Well, I can tell you from many years of coaching and running myself, that you have to get used to the feeling of threshold running before it becomes comfortable.
To be running at the correct intensity your breathing should be comfortably in the 2-2 breathing range. If you are able to maintain 3-3 breathing then you are going to easy. This also means that you would be able to talk in short sentences but you would have to gasp for breath in between them.
A threshold workout will consist of intervals usually ranging from 6-12 min in length but can go up to as long as 20 min of continuous effort.
Throughout the years that I have been coaching and running, I have seen that threshold running workouts are often left out of many running plans altogether. I know that when I downloaded my first 1/2 marathon and marathon plans off of the internet there was no mention of them on there at all. It wasn't until a few years of running that I discovered the value that these workouts have to offer. Now that I have been coaching I understand that runners can improve a lot faster earlier on by doing these types of workouts.
V02 Max
V02 max workouts are the short intervals training your maximum oxygen intake. You are training your body to run fast, by running fast.
Even if you are running ultra marathons, running these short intervals helps improve your running economy allowing you to run faster with less energy output for those longer distances.
V02 max is trained in short intervals which usually range from 15 sec up to 3 min.
These intervals are run really hard and yes it does take a little bit to get used to it. When you are doing it right you will find that you have to run at the upper edge of 2-2 breathing (breath in for 2 steps, out for 2 steps) and maybe even down to 1-1 breathing while slightly losing control of your breath near the end of some of the intervals.
If you were to try and talk you would just be able to grunt a very short word. It takes a lot of practice to get the intensity just right. It’s common in the beginning that you will go out too hard in the first rep and really struggle on the last ones. That's ok. But the best way to start is to go a little easier on the first one or two and gradually increase the intensity as the workout progresses. Then you will know how you feel at the end. If at the end you feel you could have gone harder, then you know for next time you can start off a bit harder. If you found you blew up in the middle, then you know to start a bit easier.
You want to get all the reps as close to the same speed as you can, but if you are doing it just right, you will get a little slower towards the end of the workout. It’s a learning process I give you 100% permission not to get it done perfectly. It is going to take you a few times of trying these workouts to get it right and that is ok.
If you have never tried V02 max training before, know that you are not alone. A lot of runners come to me and say that they dread the thought of doing intervals. But you know what? After they have given it a try the most common response that I get from them is that they have such a sense of accomplishment after doing one of these workouts and it wasn't as bad as they thought it was going to be.
Of course, they all love that after about 2-3 weeks of incorporating the V02max type of training into their week that they are starting to see the results. That's right. There is a very quick return on this and you can start to see results as soon as 2 weeks after starting these kinds of workouts.
Workout Legend
The following diagram a short description each intensity on the RPE scale.
Why not get started on the right course now and go back to basics?
Can you adjust your pace so that your easy runs truly are easy? Do you understand what the RPE and heart rate are for an easy run? Are you executing easy runs correctly? (HINT: this is the #1 thing I see runners getting wrong, and it has the BIGGEST impact on their improvement in the sport)
Support
There are a few ways you can support the show and content we create here.
Spread The Word: Help grow our reach by sharing your enthusiasm for the blog or podcast and/or your favorite content by posting about it on social media.
Other ways to connect with Coach Rick:
Instagram: @rick.canning
Facebook: @newleafrunco
Are you interested in coaching, but not quite sure if it’s for you? Then let’s talk about your goals, book a free coach consultation.
