I'm trying to figure out how to progress quickly without crashing and burning from overdoing it. I usually end my weeks with a big weekend of riding, then take monday off, ease into tuesday, and start the new week on Wed and Thu, with a rest day on Friday before another big weekend. The past two weeks have been 800+ TSS weeks, which is pretty high for me I suppose. I normally average mid-600's at this time of year. I'll be going into another big weekend tomorrow and then taking a rest week starting Monday. SB will probably be around -40 after Sunday's ride.

Lately I've been feeling like I'm overdoing it. I'm tired and moody by end of the third week, probably from overreaching. I'd like to dial it back a little bit so I can enjoy life a little more, but still continue making gains in fitness

If I need to dial it back, which do you think would be better - dropping a day but keeping the 3-week cycle, or going with a 2-week cycle and continuing to ride 5 days a week?

How about not doing either and taking an easy day when your ATL or TSB approach the levels that make you feel this way? For the next cycle keep a training diary of how you feel off the bike each day. Its likely you'll be able to match that up to a TSB or ATL or possibly a ramp rate. Once you know, you know. You know?

hmm that seems to make sense.

Another factor to consider is to change up your training and make sure you're following a planned build/peak cycle, then ramp it down when you're supposed to. For threshold, I've recently been reminded that "pushing" it up is just as valid as "pulling" it up, and there should be phases of each focus.

Interestingly, Joe Friel's recent blog post addresses this exact question. In his response, he suggested that for a rider with a CTL of around 80 (like me), jumping 5-8 CTL points in a week is pushing it. Given that I'm a new rider, I should probably shoot for something more like 3-4 per week if I'm going to continue on a 3-week cycle.

The tricky part is thinking of a plan for the week that will end up in a CTL gain that's on target, but I guess the more workouts you do the better sense you'll have for the TSS that will come of it.

the bodies not a machine. all this talk ot ctl, atl, tsb, etc., assumes that everyone is the same, which simply isn't true. it's a godo baseline but you really need to listen to your body. if you're tired, take a day or two to rest. it's not that hard.

good luck.

Any time your (well, my) TSB gets below -35 it's time for some rest.

OP, are you doing rest weeks every fourth week? I would start there..

Do make my mistake of TSS & CTL chasing. It'll run you into the ground.

Also, i know we all love training by power, but i think there's some sense to having HR data this time of the year. TSS & CTL tells you what dosage of stimulus and adaptations are being made. HR is there to tell you what the actual stress is on your body, namely, not just stress from exercising but stress from weather conditions, etc as well.

For example, i could do 6x6.5'x3.5' VO2 max type intervals this April, and none of them ended with my HR over 170. My avg power was in the from 300W for first three to 325W for the last. Now if i do 250W for five minutes, my HR shoots up to 170 b/c of heat and whatever else. Those other factors affect your recovery.

If you know your HR is high for certain type of efforts, take off more time.

yea, definitely getting rest every 4th week. The past 2 months have been a little weird in terms of training because I went from doing my own thing, to having a coach for a while, to crashing my bike. I set all sorts of new power peaks this past weekend, I was "ON", but just like earlier in the year, it felt like overload immediately after. I think I'll take it easy this weekend, then go into my rest week, and think up something more moderate for the next block.

The time after a peak is the worst mentally because you were just flying and now you're riding as hard but the numbers aren't there and you're just getting more and more tired.

Stop it. Listen to your body.

Are you eating enough?

Actually no, probably not. I've been noticing the past 10 days or so that my appetite has not really been there, and while I fluctuate between 132 and 137 lbs (morning weight) I've never seen 130 till just the other day. This is something I've been watching and I've been trying to consume more calories. Doesn't help that I'm veg.

Here is how I was always told to look at training:

V02 is easiest when you're rested.
Endurance is always doable when you're tired.
v02 gains don't last as long but not having the lungs can make feel like crap in a 20 minute interval.

Ergo, train the high intensity when youre most rested and the low intensity, longer stuff when you're least rested.

Yea, that's what I plan to do, starting Tuesday.

I decided not to go ride tomorrow, given my fatigued state. My TSS for this week is only 460ish - that number got me thinking...

I realized that doing two weeks at 800 TSS is possible, because I just did it. Attempting another week at the same level probably has detrimental effects, because I'm so tired in the 3rd week. If you were to do two weeks at 800 TSS, then add another mediocre week of 460 TSS, that would equal 2060 TSS for a month. However, if on were to do two weeks of 800 TSS, then rest, then come back strong and do another week at 800, that would give you 2400!

why are your months only 3 weeks long?

or why are your rest weeks giving you absolutely no tss?

imo, you're thinking about this far too much. if you can't do 3 800tss weeks than do 3 700tss weeks or 3 600tss weeks or whatever you can do. IIRC, zecanon (one of the most successful guys on bf) said that his training improved greatly when he stopped chasing tss points.

which is worth a bucket of warm spit.

lol...ruthless.