Originally Posted by
revchuck
It's definitely beneficial. When doing intervals, you do them within a specific percentage range of your functional threshold power (FTP) based on what you're trying to accomplish. It's far more accurate than HR, especially for shorter, harder intervals where HR doesn't have time to react. Also, lots of things can influence your HR that wouldn't influence your power - watts are watts, doesn't matter if you're sick, dehydrated or stressed.
Power numbers jump around a lot, so I'm wondering how it's possible to target such a narrow band of power for a short time by looking at the computer. I can target, say, just under 300 watts for a long climb, but power still jumps between 250 and 350 sometimes. Not sure how I could target say 350 for such a short time.