I’m currently 2 weeks into an indoor plan. I live in the mountains where most rides I do have 100 feet elevation per mile. I’ve noticed that when I ride outside on the Sunday free ride I hit my recommended TSS in half the recommended duration. For example, on a 2 hour ride where I’m supposed to hit a TSS of 95, I will get to 95 in just an hour of riding. Should I cut my rides short, or should I just be okay with a higher TSS than what the plan calls for. Physically I am feeling good so far.
Mmmm - sounds like something is wrong with your data or FTP settings bc hitting 95 TSS in an hour is darn near full gas, 40k time trial pace. It is likely a different power compared to your indoor rides and thus a different FTP or something else wonky.
Tell us the details - or you would be a good customer for our coaching subscription because we can actually go in an analyze the data to give you a better answer.
Thanks Frank. That makes sense because I’ve performed testing indoors and I’m always around the prescribed TSS on my indoor workouts, and it seems like the intensity is where it should be. I don’t think I could hit 95 TSS in an hour on the trainer, that sounds horrible. It also sounds to me like hitting the duration is the right thing to do outdoors, and I won’t put too much stock into my outdoor TSS appearing too high. At least not until I get better data.
I may do the coaching thing at some point. I’ve only been riding 2 years, but I ride fairly consistently and I have plateaued for over a year. However, I do seem to be improving pretty quickly with the plan (yesterday I PR’d a segment I’ve done 30 times). I don’t have a power meter, I don’t know if that’s a prerequisite for coaching?