TSS value vs effort

springtide9

OK I'm a bit confused to whether TSS actually represents a true value of effort.

So I did two similar rides yesterday and today, over the same route.

Yesterday's was an easier effort in terms of overall (average) power, but I put more effort into particular sections (climbs etc), which bumped up the NP value.

Today's effort felt harder, average power (including zeros) was up by almost 40 watts, but the NP was only up by about 10 watts (more constant effort), and average speed was 1.1 mph faster.

But the TSS value for the rides don't IMO represent effort, since the TSS for the easier ride yesterday is slightly more (I assume due to the reduced riding time because I was riding faster)

I know that these are just guides for recording effort etc, but it seems a slightly flawed model. I assume people just take this information with a pinch of salt?

Actually it's the NP calculation that seems odd. I seem to be able to have a pretty easy ride, but put in a few sprints and/or hard efforts occasionally, and it feels like I end up with an overinflated value for NP compared to what I consider real effort.

jibberjim

One theory of training is that you find how to get the most value out of your training from the least mental effort - so if you can find workouts which produce large adaptations but you can complete them because they feel easier then it's very worth doing them over a different workout that feels harder but doesn't produce the same adaptations.

Pedalling up a steep hill at 30rpm feels really, really hard, but it's almost certainly much worse training than pedalling up at your natural cadence. Your perception there is out of sync with the reality.

So it could be that the TSS of the two efforts are similar, you just find the "few sprints" version a lot easier to complete, but the value is the same.

Of course NP is just a model, it's not accurate, it's an approximation and if you can produce "NP Busters" easily, then yes it's quite likely to over value the workout, however it's not likely to significantly over value it such that it can destroy conclusions. It likely impacts your CTL and ATL no more than the accuracy of your FTP determination, which is also likely pretty inaccurate.

springtide9

Thanks for the reply.

I guess like all models, they generally work in most situations, but the model can be broken. The perceived harder second effort was considerably harder than the previous ride, with the true feedback on this being that I was a faster ride (and there was more wind!)

Didn't know about 'NP Busting' , but have been just reading about it.... some of these examples are a bit extreme; mine are no where near as bad.

Thanks again..