How low is too low for TSB? - Page 2

I'd expect most folks who train regularly (ie, 3+ times per week) to start experiencing flagging motivation or lower confidence that they can do a quality workout at around -20 TSB. Below -30 TSB I'd expect there to be serious feelings that a rest day is in order. I'm talking about the TSB on the morning of the workout day, not TSB at the end of the last workout if it was a day or two ago.

I wouldn't say those values represent the edge of the "safe zone," but when one might start questioning "how long can I keep going at this level and still have productive training?" The goal is long-term productive training, rather than seeing how hard we can push the envelope.

As has been mentioned above, the absolute values (-20 or -30) vary between individuals and depend on nutrition, rest, training intensity, etc.

Folks that ride less frequently are going to have much bigger swings because they have rest days naturally built into their schedule. If they do long rides on weekends and see a -60 TSB, then they're still back above -20 by mid-week if they rest.

Personally, I use TSB as an indicator of how I might feel on a given day and might swap training days if I see a mismatch (ie, low TSB on a day when I've scheduled high-intensity training). For longer-term health I look at ATL (fatigue). I tend to notice health repercussions when ATL approaches ~150, so I try to stay well below that level. Early season, when CTL is 30-40, I'll shoot for 50-70 ATL (keeping TSB around the -20 to -30 range). Later in the season, when CTL is 70-80, I can push ATL up to 90-110 without having issues of flagging motivation or inability to complete workouts.

Hope that helps.

Thats what I was looking for, thanks.

Thanks for this bit of insight because it puts into words what I've experienced over time. When I first started using the PMC I would often dig a deep hole for myself w TSB > -50. This year I've kept my TSB in a tighter range. My low for the year was -40, but my operating range has been roughly -25 to + 17.

I made a conscience effort to build CTL more slowly this year, and the result is I haven't felt as tired and burnt out as in years past. At the same time I've been able to make significant gains in FTP this year, which is encouraging, because I thought that I was at my genetic ceiling at the end of last year.

That's very well put.

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"It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

IMO, if you're regulary seeing > -30/-40 TSB, you're either:

1. "Re-seeding" your PMC, in which case the numbers don't really mean that much until they've settled in, or:

2. Risking over-reaching by trying to load too quickly on one or two given days each week. Spreading the TSS throughout the week will keep the TSB in a more narrow range while providing the overall CTL increase you're probably looking for.

Personally, I find it easier to pay attention to an increase in the actual rolling 7 day TSS avg. I can look at a week of workouts on the calendar and know how much TSS it will be, and compare that to my CTL to know if it's going to be a good steady increase. I'll also see if I'm going to have a significant spike in the 7 day average that might jeopardize training effectiveness on following days.

Managing it that way, I rarely see TSB below -30.

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