How I Track TSS
This comes up a lot so I want a link I can share with folks, and easily update.
TSS is a useful tool but it has limitations.
The best predictors for my performance have been:
Chronic Volume
Quality of my Big Days
First Breakpoint Power & Pace
Speed of Recovery From Loading Days
Lack of Soreness From Key Run Workouts
Let load be the result, not the goal, of training prescription.
Dick asked…
One point regarding your PMC I don’t remember seeing: How and when do you update FTP bike and whatever the anchors are for swim and bike?
Strength Training - 1 point per minute for traditional strength, 2 points per minute for plyometrics. This includes rest.
Swim - 17.5 points per 1000 meters. Then consider the implied score against how I am feeling after the workout. Using pace in the water doesn't work due to impact of different rest intervals, different strokes, gear... in other words the same amount of "pace" can generate VERY different amounts of fatigue based on rest used.
Bike - adjust downwards to start the season. That's usually an estimate as I don't do high intensity testing early in my season. I'll drop from, say, 275w to 250w.
See:
And:
After I have 4-6 weeks of decent training under my belt, I'll do Submax Progressive test up to FTP - that will let me set "early season" FTP.
After that, I'll be testing the top end every 8-12 weeks (formally) as well as noticing how my Tempo and Threshold workouts are feeling.
The adjustments I make to FTP are gradual and I use the recalculate TSS feature that lets me adjust things. I usually adjust ~14 days backwards.
I do not use the 20-minute "FTP test" as I've always found it overstates FTP in myself and my athletes.
Run FTP has been surprisingly stable at 15 km/h / 4 min per km for a while. So it hasn't needed an update. I could probably reduce FTP at the start of the season but the TSS points for my workouts appear reasonable.
In other words, if I lowered run FTP then the score generated would seem higher than the fatigue I experience from the workout.
+++
You can also use heart rate TSS. That's a useful metric to check when you are doing longer sessions in heat, altitude or technical running terrain. In those conditions, power/pace might not fully capture the stress of the session.
Big Picture => not all TSS points are created equal and each of us will have different speeds of recovery from different forms of (training) stress.
See: https://gordobyrn.substack.com/i/146704415/recovery-rates
+++
FTPs are moving around All The Time... if we tested ourselves at different times across a week, we would see a wide range of data points.
The idea is to be reasonably accurate.
g
PS - a couple videos follow if you want more explanations about using Training Peaks.
Hi Gordo, as you say, FTP can be all over the place, but I liked Friel‘s statement that your threshold HR is quite stable. That’s why I prefer to keep an eye on HR rather than power. Mine is 158, above that I start to cook. I look at the power when I‘ve finished. Doing a 10-20min on the tacx, holding 158, gives me a pretty good threshold power estimate