Training Peaks Question

SalfordBoys

Hi Guys,

Recently bought a PM, and decided to also buy a sub to TP. My question is this.

How can TP know how fatigued i am/arent based on data that is only two weeks old - because its highly unlikely that the base levels it uses are exactly what i was actually at 2 weeks ago.

Am i missing something, some info i should import etc etc (my first year(May 17) as a cyclist, coming up to 4k miles)

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I don't have experience of TR, but could you not use the free Google Chrome plugin for Strava called Stravistix, which will give you a fitness/fatigue/form score based on your last 42 days or so of riding with a PM and/or HRM? Then link your TR rides to Strava so they get evaluated by Stravistix.

SalfordBoys

Hiya, yeah I suppose that could work.

You see I "think" that I'm at a point fitness wise where a day off is almost always enough (not for absolute race freshness but ....)

But looking at TP it will be a week before I should step on the bike afar a big ride lol (50 miles or so)

Alex_Simmons/RST

Without valid seed values, or at least several months of data, then I suggest not paying too much attention to those numbers as they require one or both before they make some sense.

SalfordBoys

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

Without valid seed values, or at least several months of data, then I suggest not paying too much attention to those numbers as they require one or both before they make some sense.

Yeah, so its a good 3-4 months before is any use really?

maryka

If you use Strava to log your rides, your fitness/freshness numbers from there should be good enough to seed the TP charts.

SalfordBoys

maryka wrote:

If you use Strava to log your rides, your fitness/freshness numbers from there should be good enough to seed the TP charts.

Use Strava? I live on that/GC/Stravastix etc etc lol.

So I can manually set that data then?

You see 1 being fresh and 10 exhausted I reckon I'm about 5-6 ATM. Decreasing by .5 per inactive day

sloppyschleckonds

maryka wrote:

If you use Strava to log your rides, your fitness/freshness numbers from there should be good enough to seed the TP charts.

Does it show those retrospective figures if the OP has just bought a PM?

maryka

Ah yes, probably not. No idea tbh. There are ways to estimate it though, if all you need is a seeding number. OP post a typical week on the bike in hours/intensity including commutes and I'll take a guess for you on the CTL/fitness side.

SalfordBoys

maryka wrote:

Ah yes, probably not. No idea tbh. There are ways to estimate it though, if all you need is a seeding number. OP post a typical week on the bike in hours/intensity including commutes and I'll take a guess for you on the CTL/fitness side.

Thank you, my name is Shaun Morgan (pic of Sagan as my avatar) on Strava.

I do around 8 hours per week normally.

1 long ride, 1 recovery, 1 short (90 mins) tempo ride and quite often anther recovery ride for that one.

maryka

Yeah I'm not going to go look for you on the internet. With what you've said, you're probably averaging about 350-400 TSS a week, so that's a CTL of 50ish. Seed the original ATL with the same value and within a few weeks it should be pretty accurate.

SalfordBoys

maryka wrote:

Yeah I'm not going to go look for you on the internet. With what you've said, you're probably averaging about 350-400 TSS a week, so that's a CTL of 50ish. Seed the original ATL with the same value and within a few weeks it should be pretty accurate.

Wasn't asking you to , just giving you the info should you wish to delve in.

Ref TSS , that's pretty much bang on. Ty

Alex_Simmons/RST

SalfordBoys wrote:

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

Without valid seed values, or at least several months of data, then I suggest not paying too much attention to those numbers as they require one or both before they make some sense.

Yeah, so its a good 3-4 months before is any use really?

Well if you provide reasonable seed values, the equations will asymptotically approach usefulness much more quickly than otherwise. Else, yes it'll need a few months of data. Experienced eyes can still observe relevant patterns in the data even from a false zero base.

Rough rule of thumb for generating seed values if you have no prior power data:
For CTL, take your average weekly training hours for past 3 months and multiply by 7.
For ATL, take your average weekly training hours for past 3 weeks and multiply by 7.

e.g.
if over past 3 months you've averaged 4 hours/week, then set CTL to 4 x 7 = 28.
if over past 3 weeks you've averaged 7 hours/week, then set ATL to 7 x 7 = 49.

They won't be perfect seed values since of course they make an assumption about intensity and spread of training load, but they'll be much better than not using a seed.

SalfordBoys

Many thanks

chadders81

Even when Training Peaks has all the data, it's not fool proof.

There have been weeks where I've logged 1100 TSS and my TSB has been -60 yet I've felt fine. Other weeks when I've done six hours of intense work and have felt absolutely broken.

I have learned resting heart rate is a better indicator of fatigue and over-training than TrainingPeaks.

jgsi

I'd be on my knees at 1000+ tss points per week if those efforts were made up of say 6 x tempo rides of 2hour duration but perhaps 3 x 4 hour in Zone 2/coffee shop rides might not be so debilitating. Both scenarios can build up big point scores.

Thus everyone responds differently and using a PMC is no different.

SalfordBoys

Thanks guys, really appreciate it.

You know how it is, hard to limit yourself when you have time/inclination to improve.

My goal (you may laugh, and it may be unrealistic) 275ftp by spring.

chadders81

What is it now? It's good to have a target as long as it's realistic and you're mentally prepared for the journey of getting there.

There have been times I've breezed through an eight week block and found it fairly easy and enjoyable. Others when it has nearly killed me and I've made almost no gains.

The last year has taught me that depends what else is going on in your life. If you're anything like most cyclists, stress and distractions will dictate your capacity for training properly (repeating horrible endless intervals).

SalfordBoys

Im at 210 at the moment (bearing in mind I've only been cycling six months I would imagine there is still a fair bit of easy gains to be made at this point?)

And.... I have nothing else in my life :-/

cgfw201

When I signed up to TP around a year ago there was an option to import all my Strava history going back 5 years, which it did, so the numbers were fairly accurate from day 1.

Go find that option.

SalfordBoys

cgfw201 wrote:

When I signed up to TP around a year ago there was an option to import all my Strava history going back 5 years, which it did, so the numbers were fairly accurate from day 1.

Go find that option.

But ive only just got a PM?

Unless you mean that it will still help?

cgfw201

SalfordBoys wrote:

cgfw201 wrote:

When I signed up to TP around a year ago there was an option to import all my Strava history going back 5 years, which it did, so the numbers were fairly accurate from day 1.

Go find that option.

But ive only just got a PM?

Unless you mean that it will still help?

Have you trained with Heart Rate previously? It can do hrTSS based on HR data. Without that you are a bit stuck I think.

SalfordBoys

Yeah, had a hrm for more or less all that time.

Out of curiosity, I think, surely, my body can handle 500 TSS per week?

Curious as to what others manage on that front.

napoleond

Hi mate,
Make sure your heart rate threshold is set in TP then use Tapiirik to link Strava and TP. TP will then drag (over a few hours) all your Strava rides into TP and use HrTSS based on your threshold. That will give you a far more accurate representation.
You need about 42 days of data for the performance manager to make sense.

SalfordBoys

TYVm-just bought the sync tool. Sorted.

napoleond

SalfordBoys wrote:

TYVm-just bought the sync tool. Sorted.

Bought?! Tapiirik is free.

SalfordBoys

Nah mate, now $2 per year

napoleond

SalfordBoys wrote:

Nah mate, now $2 per year

Roger. I’ve never paid but for $2 a year I won’t complain!

SalfordBoys

Not working for me sadly-not taking hr details etc over.

As an aside today i did 54 miles - yet STRAVA says 51.8......now there's a small difference and theres 2 bloody miles!

Any ideas?