Tip
Effort Based Training Featured at Smoky Mountain and Green Mountain Running Camps
With the growing popularity of fitness and heart rate monitoring watches and apps, it is crucial that runners understand not only what their heart rates are, but also how to interpret them. Included in the following discussion is an excerpt of the new edition of “Heart Rate Training” by Roy Benson and Declan Connelly published by Human kinetics. Coach Benson, founder and director emeritus of both SMRC and GMRC, has used his Rate of Perceived Effort chart as one of the primary coaching tools used at both camps. This tool, along with fitness based workout paces and heart rate beats per minute, can be used in conjunction with each other, or separately at the choice of the runner.
To help runners understand occasional contradictions, Benson designed his own version of the iconic Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion.
The below chart presents the third tool of EBT. Use it in conjunction with your HR monitor to see if your training is Goldilocks smart- not too slow/easy and not too fast/hard, but just right.
Balancing Numbers With Common Sense
The fallback method of gauging the intensity levels of your workouts features the use of common sense in the form of subjectively perceived exertion. You ask yourself, “How hard or easy does this feel?” A perceived exertion scale was developed by scientist Gunnar Borg back in the early 1960s. He developed the Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) chart. The scale has undergone several editions since the early work of Dr. Borg.
Thanks to Dr. Borg’s example, Coach Benson has created a similar scale that directly converts perceived effort into percentages of your MHR. Our version, depicted in table 2.1, uses extensive verbal cues to describe what it feels like to go from easy at 60 percent all the way to all out at 100 percent. While running is used as an example here, the scale could be used with any activity or sport.
Benson’s Perceived Effort scale has increased usefulness for people whose heart rates vary significantly from the norm (by as much as 12 bpm per standard deviation on the Bell Shaped Curve) and when target heart rates don’t seem to match the effort described. Common sense must overrule numbers calculated as MHR that were predicted, instead of tested.
Eventually, you’ll be able to say fairly accurately what your heart rate is, based solely on how you feel.
TABLE 2.1 Coach Benson’s Workouts and Perceived Effort Chart
Workout | Perceived effort (i.e., feels like) | Training phases | |
1 | Slow slogging at 60–65% MHR. Maintains endurance while getting maximum recovery before a race. | So easy that it’s somewhat awk- ward to jog so slow. Hard to work up a sweat. | III and IV |
2 | Just jogging at 65–70%. Allows muscle to replete glycogen by burning mainly fats on easy recovery days. | Can work up a sweat. You can carry on a full conversation. It’s a fast jog that won’t tire you. | I–IV |
3 | Loping long and easy at 70–75%. Develops and maintains local muscle endurance and mental patience. | Still a slow run. Still easy to talk. If you do long distances, you may need a nap. | I–III |
4 | Striding steadily at 75–80%. Prepares muscles and respiratory system for transition from aerobic to anaerobic work. | Faster pace but easy enough to sustain for a long distance. You breathe heavier. Talking is now in half sentences. This is your half marathon pace. | II and III |
5 | Running rapidly at 80–85%. Improves anaerobic threshold. | Harder running and breathing. You can only talk in single words and short sentences. At 30 seconds slower than 5K race pace, it’s uncomfortable but sustainable for 3–4 miles. | II and III |
6 | Determined. dashing at 85–95%. Increases VO2max and self-discipline to not go all out in practice. | Very fast but not all out. No talking here. It takes a conscious effort to run this fast. However, you still have a little kick left. | III and IV |
7 | Serious sprinting at 95–100% of VO2max. Improves lactic acid tolerance. Very tough mentally. | Faster than race pace. Legs are heavy. Close to full sprint speed. It’s over so quickly that your heart rate lags behind. Only doable for short distances. | IV |
“Heart Rate Training, 2nd edition” explains many other situations when the above chart can insure proper adjustments in pace.