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Old 12-09-20, 03:28 AM
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Badger6
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Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy
OTOH, I trained only with a HRM on Premium for years. Worked well. PM works better, but it's a good idea to be able to associate HR with power levels and body sensations. Then when training with power and you see your HR go up or down more than it always did before, you'll know something's up, either food or hydration.

IME, doing long rides at an optimal pace is more a matter of HR than of power.
Point 1, absolutely. Decoupling is a thing. It happens...without a PM, your Perceived Exertion will be climbing, and you'll think you're working hard, but you aren't. It's just abnormal HR response, which is a clue that the session will likely not be very constructive, because your PE for a given power number will be completely out of whack for your normal range. I stand by my point to the HR as a sole metric being effective, it is not ineffective, but it is certainly not very effective. If it was, the pro peleton would have been just fine tracking HR and wouldn't have adopted the power based approach (in fact, many don't even track HR, they just use power and PE).

Point 2. HR is a function of power, along with the kinds of variables I pointed out above. I'm happy to provide a detailed example, but without humble bragging, I will reiterate a watt is a watt, whether you are fresh or you are fatigued. HR changes with all the factors I listed above and more, to include fatigue. If HR is your sole guide on hard you should be going for a long endurance kind of ride, you will have to lower your power output (and by extension, pace) as your long rides progress through the hours.

I didn't quote it, but I fully agree with your last statement. 100%. If one thinks they want to tackle epic rides, and just experience cool things with a bike, a PM and knowing how to use it is a must for preparing the motor for the feats of endurance to do those things (at least for sure on road and gravel).

Last edited by Badger6; 12-09-20 at 03:33 AM.
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