This might be a dumb question but it’s never really made sense to me after 2+ years.
Training load (TSS) is supposed to be a function of power as a % of FTP during the ride. If you’re testing FTP regularly and adjusting it as needed, how does your fitness actually increase? By ‘fitness’ I mean the quantitative value not the actual physical progress you’re making.
Say I did a winter’s worth of base training at X FTP. I trained all through the summer at X+1 FTP. I did another training plan in the fall at X+2 FTP. I did base training again at X+3 FTP. If my volume remained the same and only my intensity increased, each ride would still only be a % of my adjusted FTP and therefore my ‘fitness’ would never actually ramp up despite my FTP still increasing through the year.
I see this on my fitness/fatigue chart because I’m at a happy spot with volume/week but I still do training plans throughout the year and come out with a higher FTP from one year to the next. I started at about 240w (80kg) and now I’m around 304w. So my graph looks like practically a straight line over several years - roughly 70 load per day - but I see the gains realized as I crush workouts at higher and higher wattage. By the end of this third year of structured training I’ll probably be looking at 310-320w on 6-10 hours a week.
Is there a way to visualize progress better for me or am I stuck looking at a flat line on Intervals?
EDIT: If you never planned to change volume, would keeping your Intervals FTP at a lower baseline number more accurately model your fitness on the chart?
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Plot ´Work´ in kJ. That will show the increase in fitness.
And be happy with the progess you´re still making. It is actually a sign that your plan is working great for you.
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(post deleted by author)
Sorry, on cold meds and didn’t read original post for comprehension.
I don’t think CTL is supposed to measure your absolute fitness - it is more useful for understanding freshness/form
Not sure if I understand you 100% correctly but I think you kind of understand TSS in a wrong way. Exactly as you said it is a function of power as a % of FTP. The reason being it is independent from your FTP (sounds counterintuitive i know). So if you compare your first year and look at the graph, and for example your limit where you felt still good was 700TSS/wk with FTP 250W, you can predict that 2 years later same 700TSS/wk will be your limit but performed with much higher FTP of 300W. So just as @MedTechCD said, increased fitness will mean you perform much more work (in kJ) resulting in same stress for your body (TSS) and overall TSS is your limit (ofc if you have enough time). It helps to plan whole year as a amount of work you want to do and when to peak etc. But you can`t understand fintess graph as a higher=better graph, it is only showing your present day compared to past days.
If my volume remained the same and only my intensity increased, each ride would still only be a % of my adjusted FTP and therefore my ‘fitness’ would never actually ramp up despite my FTP still increasing through the year.
Your intensity will not increase. You can increase intensity by rising the % of FTP at which you perform activity. 75%@300W FTP is same intensity as 75%@200W FTP from TSS perspective.
So my graph looks like practically a straight line over several years - roughly 70 load per day - but I see the gains realized as I crush workouts at higher and higher wattage. By the end of this third year of structured training I’ll probably be looking at 310-320w on 6-10 hours a week.
It should not look flat if you plan whole year and remember about recovery weeks. The idea behind that graph is more or less like: imagine you can easily take 60TSS a day for 3 years, 70TSS for a year, 80TSS for half a year nad 90TSS for a month. “Easily take” meaning without huge fatigue, injuries etc. And imagine you want to perform your best at the race once a year, so it is a good idea to plan whole year to got 80 TSS just before your race.
PS. Your FTP is best predictor of good race results, so at the same time is very good vis of your progress. You can track duration@power via power tab (graph there) and work for example at keeping 90%ftp for longer etc.
PS2. Worth remembering that all those metrics are more or less a theory made to help in training, make it more effective, optimised etc. But power is just an exact measure.
I think the OP understands
But is looking for some motivational chart to keep up the work. Plotting ‘Work’ will do just that.
If he’s happy with his weekly volume because that’s the time he can make available per week, and that’s year round, there is not much you can do about the Fitness (CTL) chart looking rather flat. The worst thing to do would be to start chasing TSS by increasing intensity and finally collapse because of too much intensity. There is off course a limit to progress if this situation goes on for more years to come. But at this moment, he’s still making good progress, so I don’t see a reason to change his plan/habits. Consistency is one of the important pillars to build good condition.
Agree. Just wanted to explain why TSS/fitness chart is not the best to track progress at least the way OP sees progress (absolute not yearly). If it works, it works but still constant TSS of 70 for 3 years is pretty high number nad probably it will get harder and harder to make further progress.
What a lot of people are scared of, is “losing fitness” and seeing the CTL/Fitness line drop. If there is a limit to the amount of volume you can do, then periodising your training to peak and fall will be go a long way to ensure you don’t “plateaux/flatline” and can perform well when it counts and recover well when needed.
I have a limit of 11 hours per week just before peaking, long weekends and holidays excluded. That doesn’t stop me being competitive (masters/age cat racing). My recovery week is 6 hours and the off season weeks could be less than 6. I’ll build for 3 years then take a year off, before doing it all again. It’s sustainable for me, and I’m in my happy place. That 4th year is all about challenges I would normally do when focussed on the 3 year build process.
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