Originally Posted by
YMCA
The OP's question has no right answer.
Racing is instinctual.
Technique, tactics and teamwork apply first.
Fitness (while very important), plays second fiddle.
So, I suppose until you feel comfortable enough with the fundamentals, a PM won't help all that much.
And I can't imagine any coach instructing a lower cat rider to use one in a race. Yikes!
Many respected coaches highly recommend them for use in racing, not to stare at and pace efforts, but rather to collect data for post race analysis in order to define strengths and weaknesses to tweak whatever training program they're crafting for their athlete.
Makes sense to me, I use one for both training and racing, and I'm a looooong way from being a wattage junky. However, pulling the post race graph helps re-create a diary of the race, which I use to remember what happened when, whether I made an error/or good decision, and assists in evaluating why I didnt make the break, win from it, etc.