Those are the two main things I'm interplaying here. So we're thinking along the same lines. Plus, unfortunately, I have A LOT of experience in ramping back up and am calling upon that as well.
I do plan on starting to incorporate some RPE into my training as I move ahead towards new PR level lifts, and need to remember to start gauging RPE even during these lighter workouts to get used to it. I'm generally not very good at going by feel, but will use video to get a more a better reading than my subjective 'how it felt' and start to better connect the two.
This is the first I'm hearing of this. I thought I was coaching until it would be too late for SLR to train on Friday. Guess we'll flesh this out offline.