At some point in my #running 🏃 journey I realized there is something off with my 80/20 plan. I was 100% compliant 💯 with Garmin's (and other most popular) HR zone calculations. But I was not progressing towards my goals and experiencing knee and shin injuries ❤️🩹 which I could not explain 🤔
Then I switched to RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) for my easy runs and then BOOM! 💥 Everything changed. No more injuries, and VO2Max started to increase!
Any similar experiences? How's your easy runs?
MarvinFreeman
in reply to Moha • • •Congratulations! Being injured is bad and so is being worried about getting injured. Glad you found something, RPE, that works for you.
I have the same trouble with RPE that I have when a medical person asks me to put my pain on a ten-point scale. I really have no idea, no firm reference points.
I'd like to know whether you are using empirical things, e.g. can I talk, or going solely on feeling.
I do know that nearly whatever measure I use, my easy/recovery runs require walking!
Moha
in reply to MarvinFreeman • • •@MarvinFreeman
Thanks mate!
Yes, it took me 2-3 months to figure out how exactly the 2-3 RPE feels. It's also indeed very personal. I don't use RPE for quality runs because as you go higher the scale it's harder to assess.
Moha
in reply to Moha • • •@MarvinFreeman
For me 2-3 RPE for easy runs means I genuinely feel relaxed, not breathing heavily at all and I can sing along to a song for example without too much effort. Interestingly that puts me on avg at 6:10 /km pace and avg 130-135 BPM HR. That means there are days that 6:45-7:00 /km feels easy and some days this might be 5:45 /km I really don't care.
I also changed my easy runs watch screen to show only distance or time (depending on the training) and I don't look at pace or HR until I finish the run.
#running
MarvinFreeman
in reply to Moha • • •This makes a great deal of sense. It really is the harder runs where RPE is just impossible for me.
Looking forward to your successes!
Moha
in reply to MarvinFreeman • • •Thank you so much! Same to you, whatever goals you may be chasing in 2026