Development of a User-adaptive Mobile System to Support Running Training for Beginners

However, for a successful training, the intensity of a run is an important factor. Physiological parameters like the heart rate, breathing rate, or blood lactate concentrations allow an objective assessment of the intensity of a running training. While measuring the blood lactate concentration would be optimal, it is hard to measure during a run. However, the heart rate as still very reliable parameter is easy to measure and consequently became the dominant physiological parameter for assessing the intensity. Additionally, the perceived exertion can be used for the intensity assessment. Several scales have been developed to allow the assessment of the perceived exertion, e.g. the Borg-RPE-Scale, a scale ranging from 6 to 20, with 6 being the lowest intensity and 20 the highest. It has been proven, that the perceived exertion strongly correlates with the exertion indicated by the physiological parameters. Using it for intensity assessment allows covering much more parameters influencing the intensity, like fatigue or muscle ache.