Heart rate or power: what should I look at?
Basic concepts
Power and heart rate measure different things. Power reflects the work you produce; heart rate reflects your body’s response.
Recommended steps
- Use power to follow training targets.
- Use heart rate to understand fatigue, heat, stress, or recovery.
- Heart rate can take time to rise during short efforts.
- Power changes immediately.
- If power and heart rate do not match, review the context: sleep, heat, fatigue, or hydration.
- Do not turn one isolated metric into an absolute diagnosis.