TSS Chart for HIM
I have a 56 mile RR this weekend and I wanna dial in my wattage gears!
So, I'm at the absolute slow end of the TSS chart with a guestimated bike split of btw 3:20-3:30. But at this split the chart begins at an IF of 75% which is already in the "Proven Runners Only" and "You're Going To Struggle" zones (almost Red Zone). Does this mean I should assume an IF of less than 75% so that I'm in a safer zone for coming off the bike?
Likewise, the HIM Execution guide says I should be riding at an IF of 78-80% (for a 3+ hr split). But looking at the HIM TSS chart a 3:20-3:30 split @ a 78-80% IF puts me right on the edge of the red zone. Am I missing something? Is my ability level on the bike is too low for the team?
Lastly, is the Variability Index only a WKO+ function, or is it something I can determine with my Joule (or Power Agent)?
Thanks for all the help...trying to get all this together for the big day in April!
Comments
As for your bike ability being too low for the team, by no means should that thought ever enter your mind. You're here to improve. We're not some elite hand-picked team that Rich and Patrick cobbled together to conquer the podiums at every Ironman. By and large we're not a team of elite triathletes (there are a few that currently have KQ or LVQ ability) so don't concern yourself with what everyone else is doing. Focus on what you can do.
As for the RR, go out at close to 80% and see if you can handle it and still run. That's the point of the RR. If you "fail" it's no big deal since it was just a workout. You'll probably surprise yourself.
Mac - Full disclosure up front...I'm a noobie to EN/Power, but I have read Hunter Allen's book and studied the power webinar (and been training with power since Nov OS start). Curious what the WS members comment here.
Seems that the HIM table "green zone" is about 170-180 TSS. TSS is an estiamte of total fatigue or training load accumulated during the session/event. EN Idea is to only accumulate "so much" fatigue before the run, so you can run strong the whole distance. So if you take the TSS formula (from Hunter's book) of TSS = [(s * W * IF) / (FTP * 3600)] * 100 and play with your Watts (W) in the formula until you get to the target TSS (170-180). When I did this on a spreadsheet using your time estimates (3:20-3:30), I get an IF of 72-74%. I attached the spreadsheet below. [s=seconds, W = Norm Power in Watts, IF = Intensity Factor, FTP = Functional Threshold Power].
As for Variability Index (VI), as Bob mentioned, this is just Norm Power (NP)/Avg Power(AP). No need to see a readout while riding IMHO, because if you were above your VI target, what you would do is try to ride more consistently at your target power, which you should be trying to do anyway.
x2 what Bob said about diversity of EN team and focusing on your goals/improvement...best part of the group IMHO!!
More detail:
So the short answer is that you want to go with the guidance that's in the wiki. That guidance would be to ride at 80% of FTP and let TSS sort itself out, you'll be fine. If this is your first HIM, or you don't have a strong run, or the run course is wicked hard (Cali is not) or you have anything else going on that makes you a little less confident about your race, ride at 78-79% and let TSS sort itself out.
VI: I have my Joule set to display, from top to bottom, left to right:
For racing I would watch my current watts and, when the road is not going up, keep my current watts at, just under or over my normalized watts. If I want to see VI, I can toggle current watts over to average watts, do the math, and toggle back to current watts.
Not Fast Enough
If I hear one more person doubt their "right" to be on this team, due to a perceived lack of ability or whatever, I'm gonna hop on my BMX bike, pedal my ass down to LAX, jump on the first United flight to your town, show up at your door, ring the door bell and punch you square in the nutz when you answer.
Everyone of you is doing to 4x the work of 99% of the triathletes out there. You need to realize that and appreciate the fact that we are steadily turning you into little monsters poised to rip the legs off your training partners and former PR's. Maybe not this month, maybe not this season, but you're surrounded by WORKWORKS and you need to breath in some of that confidence.
VI confuses a lot of people because they initially feel that it's a "metric" they need to track/monitor during the race. It's important to note that your focus should be on riding your prescribed "wattage gears." If you do that then your VI will take care of itself.
Note: I use quotes around metric because it technically does not measure variability. This is a point that any purist will often point out when we talk about VI = variability. However, it's extremely safe to say that VI is a very very accurate indicator of variability.
For those of you who are new to understanding VI, it's also important to understand that your VI will vary depending on course terrain but there's really no IM course out there (certainly in the US) where your VI should ever be above 1.06. I typically give people a +.01 - .02 buffer because the number of bikes around you will definitely impact your VI. Just look at the pros at Kona. It's a relatively flat course but the guy off the front will probably have a VI of around 1.02 - 1.03 where the guy sitting in the legal-draft train will probably be around 1.05 or even higher. Kona is a bit of an exception in that you'll much more likely see a fair amount of tactical riding from the pros which inherently creates more variability.
Thanks, Chris
Guys, thanks for the encouragement. This, along with my recent drop in FTP, has bruised my confidence a bit.
The only issue I have with VI is the "do the math" part
Rich, is the wattage calculator (Excel spreadsheet that determines the 4 "gears" for riding a HIM) still relevant, as long as I put in my current FTP and 78-80% IF? If so, I'd like to use that as my guide for this weekend's RR.
Thanks again.
Yes, the spreadsheet is still accurate.