We’re using the concept of Rate of Perceived Exertion or RPE to dial in your pace. This will help determine how hard you should be working based on your individual fitness level and how you feel that day.
For example, 0 (nothing at all) would be how you feel when sitting in a chair; 10 (very, very heavy) is a flat out sprint as fast as you can go.
| RPE | ACTIVITY | TALKING ABILITY |
| 1-3 | Easy run or walk | Uninhibited |
| 4-5 | Normal run | Story time! |
| 5-6 | Harder workout | Comfortable conversation |
| 7-8 | Hard workout | 2-3 sentences at a time |
| 8-9 | Very hard workout | 5-7 words at a time |
| 9-10 | Extremely hard workout | Single word (probably 4 letters) |
What’s important about RPE is that it is relative to how you feel that day. An RPE of 7 on a day where everything feels great and nothing can stop you might be up to 2 minutes per mile faster than a day when you just “don’t have it.” If you were to try and maintain your great pace on a not so good day you’ll end up working a lot harder than you need to for a given workout.
In certain workouts I might target a specific pace per mile if you’re shooting for a time based goal like a Boston Qualifier, but for the most part workouts will be based on RPE.