Rating your effort (RPE)

What Is RPE?

RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion. It is a simple 1–10 scale that describes how hard a session felt — not how hard the numbers say it was, but how hard it actually felt to you.

The Scale

| Score | How it feels | |-------|-------------| | 1–2 | Very easy. You could hold a full conversation with no effort. | | 3–4 | Easy. Comfortable and sustainable. Light breathing. | | 5–6 | Moderate. Noticeable effort, but controlled. | | 7–8 | Hard. Demanding. Difficult to speak in full sentences. | | 9–10 | Maximal. Near all-out effort. Not sustainable for long. |

Why Norvin Asks for It

Objective data — Power, Split Time, heart rate — tells Norvin what your body did. RPE tells Norvin how your body experienced it.

These two signals are more useful together than either is alone. A session completed at target Power but rated 9/10 suggests something is off: fatigue, poor sleep, illness, or accumulated stress. The same session at 6/10 suggests you have more room to progress.

How It Influences Your Plan

Norvin cross-references your RPE with objective data over time to detect patterns:

• Consistently high RPE relative to output can indicate cumulative fatigue — the plan may ease off
• Consistently low RPE at planned intensities suggests readiness to progress

Be Honest

There are no wrong answers. Rating a session as easy when it was hard does not protect your plan — it just gives Norvin inaccurate data to work with. The whole system works better when you are straight about how sessions felt.