Using ‘perceived effort’ when coming back from injury

There are three main ways to gauge effort when training – heart rate, pace, and perceived effort.

I think each of these can play their part in training, but right now, as I come back from a long lay-off due to a stress fracture and achilles tendinitis, I think ‘perceived effort’ is the right way forward.

The trouble with coming back from injury is that you’re simply not as fit as you were. I find it nearly impossible to now run at a pace that keeps me below 70% of my maximum heart rate. Yet due to my increased strength I’ve gained from putting in the hours at the gym, a base building pace is also now hard to maintain (or keep down to I should say!).

So, perceived effort is the way I’m going. It’s simple enough…

From a scale of 1 to 10 you judge the amount of effort you’re putting in. 1 is practically asleep, whilst 10 is needing an ambulance.

Building a base level of fitness is about a 5 or 6 – just running slow enough to be able to keep a conversation going, or humming a tune without the need to gasp for air every few strides!

Running with this level of perceived effort also means I can focus more on stride rate, rather than on checking pace or heart rate. Therefore getting back to the feeling of quick legs and short stride lengths.

As my cardiovascular fitness has improved over the last few weeks it really has been noticeable how quicker I can run at a perceived effort level of 6. This is another reason I think it’s good to use this technique when coming back from injury. It provides a good motivation.

I’m sure I’ll get back to more pace focussed training sessions soon… but until then 6 is the magic number!