Jul 28, 2019
By: Coach Kristen Jeno
TrainingPeaks is awesome. It provides us with structure, accountability, motivation, time management, lowers the chance of over-training, and my favorite it takes the thinking out ‘what should I do today’. Its a great tracking application as well. You can even sync it with your calendar in Outlook, Gmail, Apple iCalendar, or any calendar tool that supports ICS files.
Aside from the simple features or TIME, DURATION, DISTANCE, PACE, DESCRIPTION, CALORIES there is so much more. Here’s a little more information on some of the features we might not know much about…
Training Stress Balance (TSB) or Form represents the balance of training stress.
TSB = Yesterday’s Fitness (CTL) – Yesterday’s Fatigue (ATL)
A positive TSB number means that you would have a good chance of performing well during those ‘positive’ days, and would suggest that you are both fit and fresh.
What is TSS?
Training Stress Score (TSS) is a composite number that takes into account the duration and intensity of a workout to arrive at a single estimate of the overall training load and physiological stress created by that training session.
What is IF?
Intensity Factor (IF) allows you (or your coach) to assess how intense a workout is by comparing the demands of the session to your ability to produce steady power. In this way, we can easily see the difference between an easy recovery ride and a set of full-gas intervals.
You can then look at your TSS over time using a “Performance Management Chart” to track your overall fitness levels.
All this data can be used to monitor progress and ensure a smooth steady build up and then taper to main race or races.