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Higher TSS than I should?

DanielaDaniela
in General Training Discussions

 So I did my first RR for my IM today, and it was lame in a number of ways--- I was super exhausted from being out of town all weekend (thus doing this on monday), kept getting interrupted by work calls because I was ditching work, etc. etc. and then had to cut it a little short.  Anyway, I was going 70% per the IM TSS charts, and even though I only rode for around 5.5 hours, still had a tss of 310 when the chart said I should be around 286 for the ironman. What am I doing wrong? I'm using PowerAgent, and my threshhold is set right in there. 

 

thanks,

 

Shannon 

Comments

  • gschlossnaglegschlossnagle
    If your IF was .7, then by definition your TSS over 5.5 hours is:

    TSS = (IF)^2 * TIME * 100 = (.7)^2 * 5.5 * 100 = 0.49 * 5.5 * 100 = 269

    If you reverse that back out, you'll see IF = sqrt(TSS/(TIME*100))

    So, if your TSS was right then your IF was in fact sqrt(310/(5.5 * 100)) = sqrt(.56) = .74

    So.... either your TSS or your IF is off.

  • gilliattgilliatt
    that is normalized power not avg power.
  • sleighcastlesleighcastle
    Thanks then I think PowerAgent is doing something wacky with the TSS calculation, because it reports my IF as correct.
  • mgraffeomgraffeo
    Shannon, there's two things going on here.

    1) calculation: what was the IF, NP, and AP for the ride? You could have been targeting 70%, but rode a VI of 1.10, giving you a higher NP, which would create more TSS.

    2) OMG, my TSS is too high: that's what the first RR is for. We all do it, and figure some stuff out. In your case, I'd suspect it's related to a VI that's a little too high.

    Share that full data, and we'll get you all figured out, so that you can nail the 2nd RR.
  • sleighcastlesleighcastle

    AP was lower than I wanted, 125 and NP=137. I was shooting for 140 which is 70% of my FTP of 200 but apparently was getting lazier than I thought.  IF was 0.68, and VI was 1.09 if I calculated that right. Ride time was 5 hrs, 20 min. Thanks for any help you can offer.

  • gilliattgilliatt
    maybe PM the file to one of us, I would be happy to look at it. I would be interested in breaking it up into hours. Your VI is a little high but not out of the park terrible. One tip I can give you four your next RR, is simple. Figure out how to use the interval function on you powermeter and hit your interval button every hour. That will definitely help to look at every hour vs the entire ride. What type of head unit are you using.
  • mgraffeomgraffeo
    Yup, something isn't adding up. If 140 is 70%, then the TSS for riding at NP of 137 for 5.5 hours should be just shy of 275. Do you have the right FTP entered into PowerAgent?
  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

    One thing which hasn't come up in all the fog about the numbers is:

    >> How did you FEEL during & at the end of the ride? And how did the run portion of the RR go for you? << </strong>

    Those are key peices of data to get from the RR, as well as to correlate with the (probably wacky) TSS.

  • sleighcastlesleighcastle

     I have the right FTP in power agent; though it seems to think I'm at 250 for my FTP and I keep having to reset it to 200. So that TSS is what it calculated off my real FTP. I can send someone the file though it's embarrassing bc it has a lot of downtime-- I was ditching work and kept having to stop and answer my phone. Less than ideal.

    My head unit is a joule so I can do pretty much anything I want with it if only I can figure it out. 

    And Al, to answer your question I generally felt like crap from the time I woke up until the ride was over. More of a function of my exhausting life getting in the way of my biking than anything else, IMO; I'd been traveling for 5 days and had just gotten back. Run felt OK though was a little limited by some foot pain issues. I'm a mess. So who wants my power file and how do I send it to someone on here?

     

    Shannon

  • gilliattgilliatt
    click on the little envelope on the left by someone's name. send them a msg and attach the file.
  • mgraffeomgraffeo
    Shannon, bottom line is that TSS, by definition, is equal to (IF^2) * time (in hours)*100. So, if you were at an NP of about 140, which is an IF of 70%, then your TSS for a 5.5 hour ride was .49*5.5*100= 270, and you did the ride right.

    The rest of this discussion is about figuring out what's going on in PowerAgent, and that's where my (and many in the haus') knowledge stops. Hope that someone else can chime in to help out with those details.
  • sleighcastlesleighcastle

     Thanks... that math works. Power agent sucks. Maybe I'll just transfer everything to Golden Cheetah and it will work. Wish I had the time or knowledge to make all the computer stuff work!

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