Which of the following describes a correct use of an RPE-based monitoring system?

• A. Use RPE only after sessions to set a plan in stone
• B. Collect RPE after sessions or blocks, and use to adjust load to balance stress and recovery
• C. Ignore RPE data and rely only on GPS metrics
• D. Collect RPE before sessions to set the entire week's plan without feedback

Answer: (B)

RPE-based monitoring is about using how hard an athlete feels a session was to guide training stress. The best use is to collect RPE after each session (and over blocks of sessions) and then adjust future load to keep a healthy balance between stress and recovery. This feedback lets you gauge internal load and, when you multiply RPE by session duration, you get a practical measure of how demanding the work actually was. If the RPE is higher than expected for a given external load, you can reduce next sessions or add recovery; if it’s lower, you can progressively increase load. RPE should inform planning, not be used to fix a plan in stone or ignore it.

Relying only on GPS metrics misses the athlete’s internal response to training, and using RPE before sessions to set an entire week without feedback ignores how the body responds to the planned work.