What is the Exertion Score?
Updated
by
Hewitt Tomlin
Knowing your score and how it will fluctuate due to activity will take some getting used to. It's important to make informed training intensity and recovery decisions following light or heavy exertion days.
If you have a high level of exertion one day (8-10) it may be wise to add more rest into your following day. You may start to find that after a day of high exertion, you might need some very light level of activity to feel better as well, an active recovery. If you know what activity level brings you to a 2-4 score, that may be what you want to do to recover from your hard day previously.
Since your Exertion score is based on your previous 7 days, you may find that stacking multiple loading days (4-6 and 6-8) may be most effective for linear progression in your cardiovascular work. If you are looking to make a change in your health or train for a running event, you may find that your 6-8 score one week at 4 miles may change to a 5-7 the next week at the same pace, distance, and route. This would mean you’re handling that load better. If your score were to increase from the previous week but all factors are the same (pace, distance, route) you may be overexerting yourself and may need more rest worked into your week.
