Hey there.
So i’m new to cycling. Followed Frank’s advice and started doing the SSI training plan.
However, i have 0 knowledge of cycling training, so i’m lost when i look at Training Peaks and when i look at all the numbers,etc.
What is TSS, CTL,etc…
So my question is, what would be a good place to start reading on cycling training so that i can better understand what i see when i look at TrainingPeaks when i finish my workouts?
Thank you for your time.
Listen to more FasCat Podcast! You can teach the history as plenty of knowledge in there.
Here is one on the performance Manager chart about CTL, TSB, ATL and TSS
Quick synapse. TSS is Training Stress Score. Each ride will have a TSS number. This is how hard your ride was (workload) compared to your personal FTP. The most TSS anyone can do is 100 in an hour. Regardless if your FTP (Functional Threshold Power) is 100 or 400 the most a person can do is 100 TSS in an hour. This means you rode at 100% of your FTP. A typical zone 2 ride for an hour is 45 TSS. (~ 70% of your FTP)
CTL is your Chronic Training Load. This is often referred to as your fitness. This is a rolling 32 average of your TSS. So your average TSS per day. How much have you been training over the course of the last 32 days. The more work (TSS) you put in training, the higher your CTL will be. So each week of training you will want an increase in weekly TSS to increase fitness.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Our one on one coaching goes into these metrics and details as we explain them and the training. But you should get a good understanding of it by listening to the podcast. Of course you can always ask follow up questions here in the forum and happy to guide you. It can be overwhelming at first.
The great thing about our plans is an athlete you don’t need to worry about it as our plans give you the proper amount of TSS (workload) to increase your CTL (fitness) with the proper amount of rest so you don’t get too fatigued. But it is always good to understand these things as an athlete, so listen to the podcast, read the training tips and ask questions!
Also could read the book Racing and Training with a Powermeter. It is a great resource as well.
First of all ty for the reply Jake.
That quick synapse was priceless since it gave me a general idea of those numbers that i had no idea what they were about.
Will listen to the podcast for sure and will be looking to see if i can read that book you mentioned.
I know your training plans are well executed and i don’t need to worry about anything other than #FTFP.
But just want to start learning more about training,etc so it isn’t a complete foreign language like it is atm…