Hi all, after finishing SSB 1 today I spent some time reworking my SSB 2 plan after coming to the conclusion that I was going to dig myself into a hole. I’ll be honest, I’ve been using TR for almost 3 years now and I never really paid much attention to TSS, just mainly hours of training each week.
Now looking back at last years base work I was shocked at how inconsistent my TSS was. So I took the average of about 15 weeks of training and came up with a number that I feel I can base things off of better.
I think the main root of the inconsistency comes from outside and “other” rides, but thanks to the new estimate TSS feature, should be a little easier to keep track of.
Now my questions. Is TSS consistency super important or can it fluctuate up and down each week? And also, what about TSS progression each week in base build and specialty, should it just keep climbing until you finish and “peak”?
My TSS fluctuates up and down also for similar reasons - outside rides and an unpredictable schedule. It’s never a smooth, gradual weekly increase like the defined TR plans.
My view is that as long as my weekly TSS is in a range +/- 20% of my target, that’s about as good as I realistically can hope for. With maybe some weeks outside that if something “bad” happens eg sick, long work hours, etc.
Main thing for me is that I don’t significantly over or under do it, especially several weeks in a row.
Not ideal I suppose, but I for me, that’s probably as good as I can hope for. As I get closer to my A event, I’ll try make things more stable/ predictable.
For me Outdoors rides throw things off when tracking TSS. I am kind of doing the same exercise to figure the progression I can anticipate reasonably handling. I give the dark green rides (Indoor TR TSS) on the calendar a lot more impact / weight.
In short, yes. TSS consistency is very important for a successful training progression, which is why we designed the TSS tracking chart. Consistency is a huge factor that separates a good athlete from a great athlete.
TSS will continue to increase through the Base and Build Phases, but will reduce slightly in the Specialty Phase to allow for more intensity/race focused training to occur. It also serves to help reduce your fatigue in the weeks leading up to your A race
