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Possible use of TTE and Stamina metrics in WKO4 to improve long course triathlons

Introduction

Threads about WKO4 that I am aware of are:

https://endurancenation.vanillacommunities.com/discussion/23738/stanbaughs-11-weeks-to-imlc#latest; and

https://endurancenation.vanillacommunities.com/discussion/23161/question-about-s-w-chart-in-wko4#latest

Before I start, I would like to quote from Rich Stanbaugh's post, as I consider myself in the same category.

But first, the government health warning: I didn’t invent these terms… Andy Coggin did. I don’t want to take credit for any of his thinking… I am just trying to relate how I understand the points that he, others on the WKO4 team as well as other WKO4 users are making. They are focused on the science and I really am focused on how to apply it to triathlon. I may get it wrong.”

This thread is about using WKO4 metrics Time To Exhaustion (TTE) and Stamina to try improve my long course triathlon performance.

I have used the Webinars about WKO4 conducted by Tim Cusick for the training suggestions and the usual ranges for TTE and Stamina.

First, some definitions from Training Peaks.

Stamina

A measure of resistance to fatigue during prolonged-duration, moderate-intensity exercise. The Stamina metric gives excellent insight into an athlete’s ability to resist fatigue over longer-duration performance at sub-threshold effort. Stamina is very trainable and usually in the range 70 – 85%.

Time to Exhaustion (TTE)

The maximum duration for which power equal to mFTP can be maintained. This metric gives insight into an athlete’s resistance to fatigue in threshold-level performance while providing additional insights to better demonstrate Functional Threshold Power. TTE is also quite trainable and is often in the 40 – 50 minute range.

How to improve Stamina and TTE

4 ways to improve your Stamina:

Build mFTP;

Extended tempo wkos;

Extensive wkos; and (obviously)

Go long.

I will skip “Build mFTP” and “Go long” as we already have a good idea about them.

Extended tempo wkos are MS1 – 30 minutes @ Zone 2, and MS2 – 110 – 125% of TTE divided into 2 or 3 intervals @ IF of 89 – 93% (sweet spot intervals).

Extensive wkos are MS1 – 30 minutes @ Zone 2, MS2 – 1.5 to 2.0 TTE @ IF=0.85.

Improve TTE by using Optimised Interval “FTP Extensive Aerobic” interval for 105% of TTE.

Possible Implementation within EN Half Iron Plan

The basic EN Half Iron plan has a mid-week FTP interval wko, a Saturday long bike including FTP wko, and a Sunday APB wko.

The mid-week wko could be either an Extended tempo wko as these tend to push up FTP from below; or from the Optimised Intervals “FTP/FRC Intensive Aerobic (FTP).

The Saturday long bike could include (after a wu), 105% of TTE @ “FTP Extensive Aerobic” from the Optimised Interval tab, then 10 minutes easy, then 1.5 x TTE @ IF = 0.85, then finish the wko Zone 1 or 2. Over time, increase the interval time by 5 minutes a week.

The Sunday APB could be an Extensive wko, building up from 2 x TTE by adding 5 minutes per week.

The WKO4 graphs “Stamina Basic” and “TTE History” should be used to make sure TTE and Stamina are improving.

What I actually did

In my build to the World Championship 70.3 at Chattanooga, my mid-week wko was from the Optimised Intervals “FTP/FRC Intensive Aerobic (FTP), and the Saturday and Sunday prescriptions listed. Saturday's bike ended up with me managing 2.2 x TTE @ IF = 0.85, after the TTE interval. Sunday's ended up @ 3.4 x TTE @ IF = 0.85.

As a consequence of these wkos, I managed to push my Stamina up to 86%, and I am sure that allowed me to have a bike TSS of 200, and I was still able to run up to my usual run on a much more difficult bike and run courses.

Of course, ymmv.


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Comments

  • @Peter Greagg - I'm still trying to figure the best way to influence Stamina. I haven't managed to figure out they calculate it yet - if I could sort that out, it would help me think of how to best influence it. The highest Stamina I have seen is that of a friend who regularly does long sessions (2.3+ hours) as sweet spot intervals. I'm not sure of the progression he uses to build them. His Stamina going into his last race was 89%. Mine regularly sits between 78-82%, depending where I am in my build.
  • @Rich Stanbaugh - I am sure sweet spot intervals would push up stamina. I am going to use these this season.
    Also, as I wrote above, long intervals @ IF=0.85 for multiple times TTE certainly pushed my stamina from 81% up to 86% (my APB Sunday's ride).
  • Also the chart 'stamina vs peaks' compares 2 hour MMP vs 3 hour MMP (it takes the top 3 for each period and averages them), so I assume that is used to calculate stamina.
    Unfortunately its not just a division - probably some log or exponential transformation.
  • edited October 3, 2017 12:52AM
    An observation: my Stamina bounces around 80-82 and my TTE @ 30-something. But after doing an Olympic Distance tri with a bike leg @ 0.93 IF, I noticed an immediate rise. Two weeks following the Oly race, I had a four hour/120km split @ 0.75 IF, followed by a solid run. My TTW spiked (no gradual slope) to 58:20, and my stamina was 89%. I had been doing longer and longer intervals within weekly 2.5 hour mountain climbs, to the point where I had no rest intervals, just 120-140 minutes @ 0.82 IF. Those efforts didn't seem to budge the metrics, but the race results did. Then, two weeks later, they fell off the cliff again back to former levels.


    The first rise was three days after the Oly race; the high point was two days after the ITU race. Ten days later, it fell down the first cliff, and ten more days, back to the 30:45 range. (The chart is from WKO 4, "TTE History")

    My conclusion: I won't worry about those metrics as much as I will about the quality of my training, and how it translates on race day.  so I think the attention to prolonged sweet spot intervals is the way to go for long course training. EG, 2 hours @ 0.85 for HIM, 4 hours @ 0.75-8 for IM. You may not see a rise in the metrics unless and until you do an actual "test" or race, though.
  • @Al Truscott - you've hit on several points that are spot on with respect to the PDC Model.
    1. The model needs "maximal" efforts in order for it to start making reasonable estimations of your performance. A mean-maximal effort happens when you have data that is recording the highest average power for a given time. So your 0.93 IF Oly probably qualified as a maximal effort.
    2. Any effort that changes your mFTP will also change your TTE. As mFTP goes up, TTE decreases.
    3. A long, steady, sub-maximal effort when you do not have any maximal efforts < 10 minutes (i.e., you have a very low FRC) may cause your mFTP to become lower and your TTE to become longer. This doesn't mean your physiology has changed, it means that WKO4 is trying to fit a curve to a data set that does not have enough maximal efforts to make a good fit.
    In the end, I think the model can do a really good job at helping one 'prescribe' intervals for oneself. But only if the model is fed with valid maximal data. There are lots of other time proven models for developing fitness.

    One of the biggest things the model does for me is provide me with motivation. I love seeing a place that I can improve, getting on my bike and then watching the line move. Or comparing my maximal efforts from last year to this year... I really don't want them to be less, and that drives me to suffer more in training. Or seeing the power that I have held for one hour to get the confidence to believe I can hold it for 90 minutes.
  • Here is a picture that I made that shows a little about how the WKO4 model works...

  • @Rich Stanbaughthanks for the description and excellent graph. These metrics and how they relate to each other are much clearer now.

    My mentality: I'm not one who chases numbers in training. I do the work, but I need the crucible of competition to verify that the work has worked. This lesson tells me I can use TTE to determine just how well I have raced relative to my training: the closer I get that TTE to one hour after a race of any length, the better I have honored my training by extracting everything from the bank account.
  • I'm going to repost that graph along with some explanation of mFTP in an mFTP thread so that it is more searchable in the future
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