Relationship between perceived exertion and blood lactate concentrations during incremental running test in young females

BACKGROUND: To investigate more practical handling of Borg’s ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and category-ratio scale of RPE (CR-10), we evaluated interrelationships between RPE, CR-10, and blood lactate concentrations (bLa) during incremental treadmill running tests for young females with different aerobic fitness levels. METHODS: Oxygen consumption, heart rate, bLa, RPE, and CR-10 were measured from distance runners (DR; n = 15), race walkers (RW; n = 6), and untrained females (UT; n = 11). These variables corresponding to the lactate threshold (LT) and onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA) were compared among these groups. RESULTS: The UT had significantly lower RPE at LT than DR and RW, although the CR-10 at LT was not significantly different among these groups. The CR-10 at OBLA was significantly lower for the UT than DR. The relationship between bLa and CR-10 was approximated well by two linear regression lines in all groups. The bLa at the intersection only for the RW was significantly lower than that at LT, however, such intersections were observed at CR-10 = 3.1 to 3.2 without significant group differences. The CR-10 scores at LT and intersections were not significantly different in each group. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that an intersection between CR-10 and bLa was observed at the CR-10 score around three points of first half regardless of the aerobic fitness levels in young females, and such CR-10 scores would be associated with LT.