I haven't been swimming but have been working hard on the bike and hard on the run. I increased my vdot to 50 (big increase for me) with my turkey trot 5 mile race and my 90 minute bike power continues to go up. Zwift races, hard zwift rides and TeamEN ABP rides have been paying huge dividends!
@Larry Peters the crank length setting definitely affects the power reading output by the pedals. Still measure the same but the equation changes due to the longer crank. You should now see a slightly higher number of watts output due to the longer crank length setting.
Thanks @Tim Sullivan , I am definitely seeing higher Watts, which is great!
This was by far my best week of OS**! It was awesome. My body shocked me with a solid long run today even after I felt like my legs/body were toast after yesterday's long ride . I even managed to finish w/ 18 min at Z3 HR.
Now to rest up for test week!
(**Granted, the competition for "my best OS week" isn't strong, because I've only had 4 of them ever, and during the first three weeks, I wasn't balancing things well & not sleeping enough. ).
Fitness (CTL) is an exponentially weighted average of your last 42 days of training stress scores (TSS) and reflects the training you have done over the last 3 months. However, the workouts you did 15 days ago will impact your Fitness more than the workouts you did 6 weeks ago.
For reference, most top AG (10%) go into an IM race with a 140+ CTL.
@Tim sullivan - Congratulations on laying it all out for the Turkey TroT!
I've been curious about what is an optimal CTL for an IM.
Joe Friel says: A reasonable ramp rate is one that you maintain for a few weeks before taking a break for a few days. While it depends to a great extent on who the athlete is, I’ve found that an increase in CTL of about 5 to 8 points per week is about right for most.
Looks very good from a 28 day perspective as well. Test week should provide you with an overall rest and improvement in that TSB number as well. You are due for some rest. Nice work @Sheila Leard !
@Sheila Leard you can adjust your settings in the PMC chart on the computer to show 7 or 28 or custom days by clicking on the symbol in the upper right corner. My CTL increase been 4 for the last 7 days and 22 over the last 28 days. To be honest, I was dead yesterday. I couldn't complete the 80 minute run at Z3/HMP pace. I am gaining fitness, so I am going to keep pushing it. I don''t have to test my run this week since I just did the IMAZ 5K last weekend and had a PR. I'm looking forward to FTP test, as I think I may have a record there too.
Just my 2 cents regarding CTL from a relatively new triathlete. I wouldn't just make a goal to reach a certain number for CTL as it may wipe you out. Make sure and listen to your body on how it's feeling as your training load increases. I have found 2-3 weeks increase followed by a week where CTL declines has been working for me lately. I think I know when I need a break so I follow that feeling. That feeling does luckily correlate to the TSB.
When I first started last year I didn't realize how big a difference there was between a CTL of 100 vs a CTL of 150. It's not just 50% more. I peaked at about 125 CTL for all three sports for my IMs this last year and this year later should be above 150 as my body has adapted to more work.
"Not all TSS are created equal". During the OS, it is recommended not to follow your Performance Management Chart with any level of obsession. Due to the high intensity/low volume/low frequency of workouts, you may very well see a TSB hovering around zero. It's almost impossible to get more than about 600 TSS a week. 500's is pretty common Just do the work, and worry about PMC once the race training (InSeason) starts. EG, my own data from the last two years shows me in 2016 gaining 25 CTL during the 4 months from the start of the OS. Then, the four months leading to my IM, I gained 80 CTL, ending @ 135. Similar in 2017 - I ended the OS at the same Ctl of 72, but since I'd started from a higher base, I only gained 5 during those 3+ months. Then, I gained 60 CTL points (I was training for a 3/4 IM) in the next four months. @Sheila Leard, Friel's comment about ramp rate also include the caveat that they can be quite variable, individual to individual, and over the course of a season. Early on, as IS training ramps up, ATL/CTL might rise quite rapidly; later on, as the work piles up and you are no longer increasing the volume, they may level off somewhat. Your best bet is to just do the work, observe the PMC, and pay as much attention to subjective impressions of fatigue as you do to what are admittedly artificial numbers.
Comments
I haven't been swimming but have been working hard on the bike and hard on the run. I increased my vdot to 50 (big increase for me) with my turkey trot 5 mile race and my 90 minute bike power continues to go up. Zwift races, hard zwift rides and TeamEN ABP rides have been paying huge dividends!
@Larry Peters the crank length setting definitely affects the power reading output by the pedals. Still measure the same but the equation changes due to the longer crank. You should now see a slightly higher number of watts output due to the longer crank length setting.
This was by far my best week of OS**! It was awesome. My body shocked me with a solid long run today even after I felt like my legs/body were toast after yesterday's long ride
Now to rest up for test week!
(**Granted, the competition for "my best OS week" isn't strong, because I've only had 4 of them ever, and during the first three weeks, I wasn't balancing things well & not sleeping enough.
Fitness (CTL) is an exponentially weighted average of your last 42 days of training stress scores (TSS) and reflects the training you have done over the last 3 months. However, the workouts you did 15 days ago will impact your Fitness more than the workouts you did 6 weeks ago.
For reference, most top AG (10%) go into an IM race with a 140+ CTL.
@Tim sullivan - Congratulations on laying it all out for the Turkey TroT!
@Larry Peters - Nice work on the OS work this week!
SS
@Gary Lewis
I've been curious about what is an optimal CTL for an IM.
Joe Friel says:
A reasonable ramp rate is one that you maintain for a few weeks before taking a break for a few days. While it depends to a great extent on who the athlete is, I’ve found that an increase in CTL of about 5 to 8 points per week is about right for most.
https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/why-ramp-rate-is-an-important-training-metric/
Looking at my last seven days I'm at 4. I'm going to watch this. Building in recovery is fundamental for me.
BTW - this chart is only on the mobile Ap for anyone looking for theirs.
When I first started last year I didn't realize how big a difference there was between a CTL of 100 vs a CTL of 150. It's not just 50% more. I peaked at about 125 CTL for all three sports for my IMs this last year and this year later should be above 150 as my body has adapted to more work.
Have fun training!
"Not all TSS are created equal". During the OS, it is recommended not to follow your Performance Management Chart with any level of obsession. Due to the high intensity/low volume/low frequency of workouts, you may very well see a TSB hovering around zero. It's almost impossible to get more than about 600 TSS a week. 500's is pretty common Just do the work, and worry about PMC once the race training (InSeason) starts. EG, my own data from the last two years shows me in 2016 gaining 25 CTL during the 4 months from the start of the OS. Then, the four months leading to my IM, I gained 80 CTL, ending @ 135. Similar in 2017 - I ended the OS at the same Ctl of 72, but since I'd started from a higher base, I only gained 5 during those 3+ months. Then, I gained 60 CTL points (I was training for a 3/4 IM) in the next four months.
@Sheila Leard, Friel's comment about ramp rate also include the caveat that they can be quite variable, individual to individual, and over the course of a season. Early on, as IS training ramps up, ATL/CTL might rise quite rapidly; later on, as the work piles up and you are no longer increasing the volume, they may level off somewhat. Your best bet is to just do the work, observe the PMC, and pay as much attention to subjective impressions of fatigue as you do to what are admittedly artificial numbers.