Athlete, Joe

During base, it was easy to get motivated to gain the requisite TSS points I needed to meet my weekly goals.

Now that I'm transitioning to my first build week, I find it somewhat less stressful that I'm racking up fewer TSS points, despite the short bouts of pain involved when introducing interval work (SST 30 min. blocks, LT 5 X 5 mins, 6 x 5min VO2max reps).

While I recognize that I am trading off volume for more intensity, it would probably be better to keep the equation in check with a solid weekly TSS goal to shoot for.

What might be a typical % of the latest high water mark TSS score from base? i.e. at the last week of base, I incurred 1000 TSS, what should the first week of build look like in terms of TSS?

What sort of reduction in TSS can I expect throughout the upcoming build weeks (i.e. % reduction week by week)

asgelle

I don't see why there should be any decrease at all and would shoot for the same rate of increase you could manage before.

umd

Was that fairly typical of your base weeks, i.e. a steady progressive increase, or was it a "last hurrah" sort of huge volume week to finish of base? If your FTP is set correctly, you should be able to do the same amount of TSS.

It may be possible that you tried to do too much intensity too quickly or too close together and you are not recovered enough. It also may be possible that you were already overreached from your base.

ldesfor1@ithaca

agreed on both points. "BUILD" phase is supposed to begin combining volume and intensity, if I am recalling my Friel correctly.

If you are missing some TSS points, I agree with umd that you are either going a bit harder than you are ready for OR wussing out on the volume part (which will acrue additional TSS).

IE: if you have an interval day planned, ride 30-60' to warm up in that easy z2 range. Do your intervals and then do another 60' z2. there's some volume and 60-90 extra TSS.

The only time I begin to hate the PMC is when I'm forced indoors by weather. In this case I do not do a long cooldown and my warm up is shorter too. So I basically just get the intervals in and as a result, far less TSS.

I think the thing to remember is that volume and intensity have a destinct and unavoidable relationship. Too much of one and the other suffers. Gotta find that ballance.

With that said, I've been pretty happy with earning 500tss in 2 big days, back to back and then taking 2 easy days.

umd

I've been paying less attention to my PMC since I started working with a coach. I don't have TSS targets and we don't talk about CTL or any of that, but it's interesting and telling (positive) that it all works out despite that. My workouts are structured to give me the correct volume/intensity mix and everything else works itself out. Also interesting that on my own I had racked up a huge CTL and working with the coach he pulled me back a bit, so if I look at the PMC with the full history, the CTL was declining until recently, but if I set it to start when I started working with him, and seed the CTL to a more "normal" amount (e.g. 100 vs. 130) it shows a nice progressive build instead of a relatively flat/gradually decreasing line.