Doge

Morning resting HR, morning blood pressure, SPO2 and during training your perceived effort.
I do not think there is anything better. Most here do not agree, I get that. I do not agree. If you look at modern weight training it has shipted from lifting a set number of sets and weights to training to fatigue. That fatigue varies based on the day. Trying to ride to a number is too hard one day and too easy another. The PM is good for a lot of things, but, like weights doing a workout to a number on the plates, or on the digital output is not the best way to develope.

Doge

Maybe terms on Fatigue vs overload. How does a PM know how you feel each day? Are you saying you should do the same power reguardless of how you feel or the perceived effort? If you are - that is where we disagree. If you are not that is where you are agreeing that RPE overrides the number on the meter.

Drew Eckhardt 

PowerTap, because it works with all pedals and cranks.

SL+ because shiny silver with a carbon fiber window matches my bike.

RChung

Sometimes, smart people think if they can't figure out how to do something then no one else can, either. So if you say you can do something they can't figure out how to do they think you're either wrong or lying.

jadocs

OP,

----> Favero Assioma Duo's

Do some research and see for yourself.

burnthesheep

Yes, we are. Depending on the situation.

There's some good podcasts regarding this. The trainerroad "fast talk" ones about "over-reaching" and "overtraining" come to mind.

If you're intentionally over-reaching by doing a lot of Z2, tempo, or up to sweetspot......then you can move the power around the zones a bit based on RPE. But, you shouldn't dip out of the zones. If you must, you likely ramped your CTL too quickly and are about to "over train" instead of "over reach".

If you're so fatigued you go from "over reaching" to "over trained".........yeah.....your body is saying "I quit". You can't really drive useful adaptations any longer. You're best off taking time off instead of going by some "reduced RPE". That's how folks dig that hole deeper! They go off what they think the tough efforts should feel like when they should really be taking time off.

But, if your TSB isn't in a big "over reaching" hole, then you should do the workouts in the prescribed zones. If your "RPE" is crap, you might not have slept well or eaten well. Or, you're starting out a tough block of painful intervals you haven't done in a while.

In that case, the power target should stay in the zone. If you feel so bad in RPE that you can't do it at all but your TSB is fine, either your FTP is set too high, or you have another problem that needs addressed. Don't go by RPE and do an inferior workout anyway, abandon. Also, don't dig a big negative TSB in a build then expect to go out tomorrow and do high performance intervals of mid Z4 and higher. No way. You need some form. Do a Z1 day or day off to build some form back.

Z4 for me ranges from 255 to 296w. If I can't find something in there to do my intervals at for targeting that part of my fitness.........there's a big problem.

Basically, I'm saying if you can't hit the target ranges a power meter says............you're either too in the hole to do the workout to begin with OR you set yourself up for failure with an ftp set too high, or there's something else to look at. If you have an indoor training setup limiting your power due to cooling, don't reduce power by 30w. Buy a better fan. Suck it up and go outside. Put your trainer in a cold garage or shed instead to stay cooler.

This doesn't even get into people that start to gain a lot of "new to them" aerobic fitness suddenly needing longer warmups for tough workouts. I guess instead of doing a longer warmup to be able to do the intervals the person is just supposed to punt and go off of some arbitrarily easier RPE? I disagree.

tomato coupe

You're wasting your time -- the dude has been on this religious campaign for years.

NoWhammies

TL;DR

I have a 4iiii left sided pm. Works great. No complaints. And a Canadian company to boot. Can't recommend them enough.