Rating of perceived exertion (RPE)

RPE is your own rating of how hard the work feels, on a scale of 0 to 10. Zero means complete rest, ten means your limit, nothing more left. No device needed, just an honest answer to yourself.

It sounds simple, and it is. Sport has used effort ratings for more than twenty years. On average they agree with what devices show, though on a given day they can differ. TriCoo needs it in two places: it sets targets in the plan while there is no threshold, and it gives a session its load when no other data is available.

The scale in words#

Numbers are easier to remember through words. You will see the same words in TriCoo when you rate a session.

Talking is a good hint. If you can speak in full sentences, the effort is easy. Short phrases only means moderate. Single words means it is already hard.

Examples#

Cycling.

• RPE 2. Riding like a spin with a friend, chatting calmly. Legs turn without strain.
• RPE 3. A steady long ride. You breathe faster, but you can still talk in phrases.
• RPE 5. Work you have to focus on. You can talk, but only briefly.

Running.

• RPE 3. An easy run. You can hold a conversation, breathing stays calm.
• RPE 4. A steady long run. Talking in phrases, breathing is audible.
• RPE 6. Tempo work. You can only talk in short phrases and would rather stay quiet. Holding the pace takes effort.

Swimming.

• RPE 3. Easy lengths. Breathing is even, technique holds together.
• RPE 4. Steady work. You breathe a bit more often but swim without rushing.
• RPE 6. Repeats where you hold rhythm and technique with effort. At the wall you want to catch your breath.

The numbers differ between the three sports on purpose. The same zone sits at a different share of threshold in cycling, running and swimming. Each number is chosen so that load by feel matches load by device. So the word in the table can sound harder than it feels. Go by talking first of all.

Why it is the best guide on a bike without a power meter#

On a bike, speed says almost nothing about effort. Into a headwind you ride at 22 km/h and work hard. With the wind behind you the same 22 km/h is easy. Uphill, on rough tarmac or sitting on someone's wheel in a group, speed misleads again.

Heart rate is better than speed, but it lags. On a short surge your heart rate is still climbing when the effort is already over. In the heat it runs higher at the same effort, and sometimes after poor sleep too. Towards the end of a long ride it creeps up even if you ride steadily.

Feeling reacts at once and takes all of this into account together: wind, hills, heat, fatigue. So without a power meter TriCoo guides bike sessions by RPE. If you entered your cycling heart rate threshold and TriCoo confirmed it, a heart rate hint appears next to easy and moderate targets. Feel still leads the session. And for a ride recorded with heart rate, TriCoo counts the load from heart rate. The rating is needed when there is no heart rate.

How TriCoo uses your rating#

In the plan. Until TriCoo has a confirmed threshold, easy and moderate zones are set as an RPE number. Easy work is 2 or 3 on the bike and 3 or 4 in running and swimming. Moderate is 5 on the bike and 6 in running and swimming. Hard zones are not assigned without a threshold at all, since feel cannot express them precisely. Another session of the same length takes their place. Once a threshold exists, the session breakdown keeps an RPE hint in the For reference only block, usually a range such as 4 or 5. It carries the label Reference, not a target.

After a session. If a record arrives without power, pace or heart rate, it gets a Needs RPE mark. Add a rating and the load is counted. Strength sessions and mountain hikes are counted the same way. So are swims while the swim threshold is unknown: heart rate is not used for swim load.

In the calculation. A load score by feel is the rating multiplied by the minutes. An hour at 7 gives about 100 points, the same as an hour right at threshold. So the feel scale and the power scale meet at one point and do not contradict each other.

How to rate honestly#

• Rate the whole session, not the last repeat or the hardest moment. It is best to rate about twenty minutes after finishing, once you have caught your breath.
• Answer how it really was. The plan is not a hint here.
• Do not be afraid of small numbers. Endurance is built from easy sessions at 2, 3 or 4.
• If the plan said 3 and it felt like 5, that is a useful signal. Maybe you are tired, it is hot or the target was too high. Tell the AI coach or log how you feel in the morning.