We were talking about riding easy. Not moderate, not hard, but easy. For those RPE and HR is more than suitable. Even for hard, RPE is very reliable. RPE is RPE.
You don’t need to meet a power number. Go as hard as you can whilst completing the intervals. Some days you’ll feel better and put out more watts, some days not as good, less watts.
Apologies, my RPE comments weren’t really about when riding easy, more on focused training, but if you’ve got a PM and are using it properly then focused training is what you’ll be doing.
As I pointed out RPE does vary, let’s say the RPE for my session yesterday went from a 5 to an 8 as it progressed. The watts remained the same, so it I had solely been focusing on keeping RPE the same then I would have been easing off and under training.
Some days do feel better than others, but I always say it’s amazing what you can do with tired legs. In order to get maximum training benefit from limited time, I think everyone would be better working to power number (if available to them) rather than RPE. Putting out less watts when you’re not feeling as strong will lead to under training, a lower than required tss and a sub optimal result. Training is quite calculated and specific and using a pm delivers this. I believe that solely going off RPE would leads to a far inferior training outcome and leave nearly all riders behind their piers who were training with power.
That said, I do believe that anyone who isn’t training or racing with power doesn’t need a pm, it’s just another number to look at, that is essentially meaningless.
