Any ideas on which settings to manipulate in order to get the TSS scores from Strava rides to match my TR scores in the calendar? Yes, I know that they are simply estimates and TR has no control over how Strava calculates TSS. I’m hoping someone has some useful advice on how I can get them as close as possible using the current capabilities of both apps. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
Is there a reason that you want them to be equal?
If it is for tracking fitness, I’d just track everything with one or the other for consistency. For instance, I analyze my rides in TR because it is a better tool than Strava for that imo. But then I’ll use the Elevate Chrome add-on to track fitness form and fatigue over time as it seems better than the TSS chart on TR for me.
Just to clear things up, you do not have a power meter, is that correct?
If so, the TSS on Strava is estimated using your Heart Rate while your TSS in TrainerRoad is estimated based on your self-assessed RPE of the workout.
In other words, you can’t change what Strava reports as your FTP, but if you really want them to match, you can simply enter the hrTSS calculated by Strava manually as the TSS of your TrainerRoad workout. To do that, select “Custom” for your intensity in the “Estimate TSS” window, and type the TSS reported by Strava.
If you do have a power meter, you should be able to get the TSS to match up by setting your FTP as the same value in both TrainerRoad and Strava.
I hope this helps!
If you are using Chrome on desktop, add the Elevate extension. Then setup your athlete profile(weight, FTP, etc). After you finish a ride, go to the ride on Strava and Elevate will give you a PSS(Power Stress Score). In my experience their values are pretty close in TSS to what I pick for the RPE estimate for TrainerRoad. So I just take the Elevate estimate and plug it into TrainerRoad as “Custom” for the TSS.
Is it exact? Probably not, but at least it keeps consistent values across both platforms. Elevate will keep track of historical FTP and weight changes so their PMC chart is way more accurate than Strava’s.
Elevate has so many other features also and is amazing. Well worth checking out on its own and its totally free!
Thanks for the responses, folks! I always appreciate how pleasant the exchanges are on this forum.
I am using a power meter and I have the FTP in both apps identically set but when I do a session, especially an outdoor ride, the two apps never calculate the same TSS. No, it’s not the end of the world and I tend to use TR as my source of truth. It just seemed “cleaner” to imagine consistent numbers across the platforms.
Strava uses different calculations. I’d just pick one platforms as your ‘go to’.
(My pick would not be Strava)
IMO Strava is neat for seeing what your friends are doing and going for segments. For real training and analysis there are better tools. IMO of course.
You can use my web app Intervals.icu. It syncs with Strava and calculates TSS etc. using standard (Coggan) formulas. If your FTP is set correctly the results should match unless there are issues with the power data (Intervals.icu fixes power spikes, drop outs etc.). Intervals.icu keeps FTP, weight etc. per ride so you have history.
This here - I do the same thing as Spots - use Elevate on Chrome and the Power Stress Score.