cslone

So I am trying to methodically ramp up my CTL. 2008 had me moving into a new house and all the chores that came with it(new shed, painting, etc). In August we had our second baby too. Needless to say riding was sporadic at best after about May.

Goals for next year are to get the rest of my points for Cat 2. My weakness is definitely FTP. I can sprint with most people, but never have enough in the tank after the last lap speed up puts me in the red. I win a lot of primes though. My main focus is on crits, TT's and cross. RR's will be few and far between. The finale will be Superweek 09.

A couple of questions;

1. So I can try to plan my workouts to not surpass the recommended 3-5 TSS/d. Say I have weeks of 500 TSS. That's 71 TSS/d. How does CTL calculate off that? i.e. if my CTL is 40 right now and I do a week of 500 TSS, is there a calculation of how many points my CTL will increase? I'd like to forgo the mileage and hours of off season training and have specific weekly TSS goals. My plan is 2 SST workouts a week, 1 LT(maybe 3x 10K TT's) and one other workout I haven't figured out yet. I'm looking to do 4 solid workouts a week.

2. I had to reformat my home computer, and in the process deleted my last year racing files. My CTL was at 36 at the end of the season(took 5 rides in 60 days). I've started over at 0, and my current CTL is 28 since 9-1-08. Should I change the starting value of my CTL so it reflects last seasons small CTL number?

Thanks.

NomadVW 

First, question 2. I wouldn't bother seeding the values. In ~ 2 months, the values will be so close to each other they will be inconsequential.

Now for the more lengthy reply of question #1. The math isn't too hard for determining the way CTL climbs. You can plug in manual TSS values on "advance" workouts in WKO+ and it will update your PMC if you have it set to a future date.

If you search cyclingforums.com for " TSTWKT excel " you will find worksheets that will also do the math from when the PMC was in its genesis stages. The reason I stopped using the WKO+ PMC in deference to an excel based one is the "planning" of workouts. I can immediately see in numeric form the change in ATL/CTL/TSB based on the workout I intend to complete.

Hm... actually, I think I have an original copy, lemme see.... Here it is.

NomadVW 

And to answer your question, I think ~ 500-520 TSS is reasonable at 10 hrs per week. You'd not have to go below ~-30 TSB.

Mon - 3x20's, 90 min total (warm up/cool down/recoveries) (100 TSS)
Tues - 2x20's, 60 min total (80 TSS)
Wed - ~75 min (50 TSS)
Thur - Threshold workout of choice, 90 min total, (~100 TSS)
Fri - Recovery, 60 min, (25 TSS)
Sat - 3 hrs endurance, (170 TSS)
Sun - Off

Ramped at 8, 8, 6, 6 in the first four weeks, but that's really just reseeding your actual fitness. Ramp at 5 or less from there.

YMMV, and certainly depends on what you're training when. I'm no coach and can't claim that the above workout would work for anyone - even me!

cslone

Thanks Nomad. When I redid my computer, I forgot to import my favorites, leaving out CyclingForums.com. Forgot to look there!

cslone

FWIW, I found a really easy on on the Wattage group by Jordan Whiley called CTL planner.xls .

You input the starting date, estimated TSS and actual TSS and it calculates it through the year. Very simple program and exactly what I was looking for.