Running load vs. TrainingPeaks rTSS

1

First of all great job on this, I love the development of Intervals.icu so far and its really amazing the progress you can make compared to some of the big guys out there with full teams and resources to throw at it.

I have a question about running TSS. I set the priority to be power/pace/HR. I don’t have a Stryd so the pace should be the priority. I set my running threshold at 4:52/km, same as TrainingPeaks. However, my TSS from Training Peaks is considerably higher than with Intervals. For example my run yesterday had a Load of 77 from Intervals and a rTSS of 117 from TP.

I think this has happened pretty recently. For the last couple of runs I went back and manually changed my Intervals.icu run loads to the TP rTSS values as I feel these are more representative to the efforts.

Any idea why Intervals has such a higher Load than for TrainingPeaks for runs?

2

Tx. Intervals.icu uses gradient adjusted pace for the run TSS calc and also only counts moving time. Maybe thats the difference? GAP for your last couple of runs is a bit slower than your real pace. The formula used is as follows:

double mps;
if (gap != null) {
    mps = gap.doubleValue();
} else {
    if (moving_time <= 0) return;;
    mps = (double)distance / moving_time;
}
intensity = mps / threshold_pace;
tss = (int)((moving_time * mps * intensity) * 100.0 / (threshold_pace * 3600) + 0.5);

I believe that TP might be including the stops in your last couple of runs.

2 Likes
3

This helps explain what TP uses.

4

Thanks David. It is strange though that my GAP for my runs starting from Jan 2nd have been substantially slower than my real pace, whereas all my runs prior to that it has been opposite. I always run the same route and pretty much have the same habits (taking a little 2 min break here and there to change podcasts, etc.).
Perhaps it could be a change in how Garmin records my runs from Jan 1st? I use a Fenix 6X.

5

Thanks Gerald. However, there doesn’t seem to be much discrepancy between the workout duration from TP and Intervals for me. For this run today I had 1:28:20 on Intervals, 1:28:56 on TP and Garmin. So that’s just 36 seconds on an hour and a half run, not that much.
Note that I record the run via my Garmin Fenix watch.

6

Aha. I may have updated the db to indicate that the Garmin Fenix 6X has accurate altitude around the end of the year.

Your Jan 2nd run has elevation correction off (Actions → Settings):

Screen Shot 2022-01-09 at 13.19.03
Screen Shot 2022-01-09 at 13.19.03834×562 44.6 KB

Your 30th Dec run has elevation correction on.

Supposedly the altitude data from your watch is good and likely better than the corrected elevation data so you should probably keep elevation correction on “Auto” (check “Pace settings” for “Run” in /settings):

Screen Shot 2022-01-09 at 13.23.19

7

I just want to check… For elevation correction.
Can the “Accurate Elevation” option be used as a “from this day onwards”?

Reason I ask is that somehow Garmin watches have a tendency to have their internal barometer being spoilt after some time (i’ve had to warranty mine 2x - then the last It died out of warranty) and activities uploaded still uses the internal barometer data anyhow and you have to manually change this each and every time in Garmin Connect (and strava I think)

8

That setting in /settings only applies to new activities. So for your use-case you can just set it to “Yes” and elevation correction will be done regardless of the watch.

1 Like
9

Oh I see, thanks David! Yes, seems to be working fine now :slight_smile:

10

Hi,

I do experience the same ‘issue’. I tried to follow your advice for elevation, but I think the load is still to low in comparison with trainingpeaks rTSS.

I am running now for about 6 months, three times a week. For cycling I use a power meter with a HR strap, but for running only pace and HR strap. I think the running training load is too low, because cycling for about 1 hour at 135bpm shows a much higher training load then running 1 hour at 135bpm. I think this is not right? It’s also not motivating me when I see my graph is falling down with 3 times of running / week… :expressionless:

What am I missing?

11

So for rTSS did you set intervals to prioritize Pace or HR? I mostly run on a flat course so I found Pace to be much better. If you do use Pace for TSS then you must have an appropriate threshold run pace set up or the TSS will be off as well. If your threshold run pace is too fast then the resulting TSS will be low. Think of your threshold run pace in a similar way to your bike FTP. You may be getting a low rTSS because your threshold pace is too fast.

If you are using HR as the priority in the settings then you may want to change to Pace and that should solve your issue.