Old 03-25-20, 03:04 PM
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SuperPershing
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Originally Posted by atwl77
As Carbonfiberboy says, get a power meter. Especially so if you're using Training Peaks. And get your FTP tested.

After doing a couple of workouts knowing your FTP and getting them on Training Peaks, you can start getting an idea of the intensity factor (IF) and training stress score (TSS) of the workouts you are doing.

Then you can start looking at making your training plan. Make plans based on duration and IF. Training Peaks will generate the TSS value from that. Make a plan for the whole week. Then look at your Overall Fitness chart (which, strangely, is easier to find and read on the mobile phone app than the desktop app). You can see how each workout you make affects your ATL, CTL and TSB scores. Keep making adjustments to your training plan and watch how ATL, CTL and TSB changes.

In very general terms though...
  • When you want a hard workout, high IF (e.g. 0.8 and above)
  • Easy workout, 0.6 and below
  • Hard workout short duration, low TSS.
  • Easy workout long duration, moderate TSS.
  • Hard workout long duration, high TSS.
  • For training you don't want TSB to dip below a certain value (which depends a lot on individual, but until you can get a sense of your own fitness, something like -10 to -12 is a nice starting point).
  • Schedule recovery days (either completely off, or very light recovery rides at around 10-15 TSS) when your TSB gets that low, to reduce ATL and get TSB back up.
  • To taper for a race or big ride, gradually reduce TSS around 1-2 weeks before the big ride until you get your TSB up to a nice positive value (again, how high depends on individual, but something like 10 or higher is a good start) -- but know that when you reduce TSS your CTL will also drop. Key to tapering is to drop your ATL in order to raise TSB, while at the same time minimizing loss of CTL. You do this by picking a TSS that is low enough to reduce ATL, but not too low.
  • A very rough approximation, doing a workout whose TSS is above your CTL builds fitness, workouts below your present CTL is recovery or detraining.
But yeah... you can also buy a book and learn more. But eh... Training Peaks provides all the tools you need for some trial-and-error work. Just need to experiment and see how the Overall Fitness chart changes with your workout plans.

EDIT/NOTE: I'm assuming based on your post and screenshot that you are using Training Peaks with a paid account... otherwise you can't edit your own calendar and make your own plans.
That's Hard to Understand as a beginner 😅 But i'l research so that i can execute my training properly! Thank You so much!
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