TSB - How much is enough....?

Porkyboy said:

Hi

Yes, I know, and how long is a piece of string?

I have my first event of the season in a week's time, a 100 mile sportive event in the UK, I'm looking for a decent time. I've been building my CTL and got it up to 95.7 last Sunday and this week I have been easing back and as of today it is 89.8. I've been running a TSB of about -25. I started my build in October and have been building my CTL at about 3-5 TSS/d.

I am planning 3 main "peaks" this year, the first in one week's time, one in July (La Marmotte) and an event at the very end of August.

I don't want to "spend" (as Dave R would put it) too much CTL, or any more than I have to, but I also want to do as well as I can, what sort of TSB would you ideally go into an event with? As I said my CTL is falling now and TSB today is 8.2, the first time it has been positive since I had a bad cold at the end of January and had to ease right off. My understanding is that above a certain point more TSB gives no benefits and you will be detraining, my problem is I've not been using this technique for long enough to know how much TSB is "enough" and would greatly appreciate the benefit of your experience.

Thank you for any advice.

PBUK

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For an event such as you describe, I'd guesstimate that you're probably already "fresh" enough...which means hitting it hard enough for the next week or so such as to not let your CTL fall/TSB rise much more.

Porkyboy said:

....that I've maybe backed off the training a bit soon though as yet I haven't got that "up and ready for it" feeling and feel I have a little way to go before I do, if indeed the feeling arrives at all!...I guess in time I'll get to know better how to walk the wire, ...

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I can't speak for Andy, but TSB doesn't necessarily tell the whole story when it comes to tapering.

How quickly did you ramp down your daily training TSS resulting in the +8 TSB number you've reached? What did your training consist of during that taper? It's pretty easy to get positive TSB numbers by taking complete rest days but that may not be the best way to taper.

FWIW last season with my CTL hovering in the 80 to 95 range I just took mini-tapers. Basically I'd ride my normal training schedule the week leading up to the event but backed off about 15-20% in duration and rescheduled as necessary so that I could do an openers ride the day before the event and take any total rest days two or three days prior to the event. That resulted in a TSB of +5 to +10 on race day with a good pre-event openers ride. I'd usually bump up the intensity of one or more sessions but again for shorter durations during the taper. Nothing like a bit of added intensity combined with decreased overall training load to make you feel snappy on race day.

IMO it only makes sense to do the more typical ten day to two week tapers you read about if you have a pretty high CTL(>100 -110) and you're tapering for multiday or particularly hard or important events.

-Dave

Porkyboy said:

Hi

My God! I've asked a question worthy of a response from AC! Thanks for the input maestro.

Interested in your thoughts which suggest that I've maybe backed off the training a bit soon though as yet I haven't got that "up and ready for it" feeling and feel I have a little way to go before I do, if indeed the feeling arrives at all!

I guess in time I'll get to know better how to walk the wire, I just have this concern about arriving at the start with some fatigue still in my legs, I don't recover as quickly as I did, drawback of approching 50 I guess

Regards.

PBUK

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Everyone is a little bit different, and the very first thing I tell people is to never let the Performance Manager Chart override their experience - rather, it should be considered a "lens" through which you can view prior experience, so as to better understand not only what works for you, but also why.

Whew...okay, with that disclaimer out of the way, here's why I said what I said: it's a 100 mi event, and my concern (as a fellow almost 50+er) would be that a nearly 2 wk taper would result in me "running out of gas" late in event. IOW, I'd rather be a little bit tired and go a bit slower early on as a result, if it enables me to ride strongly during the later portions of the event. The sort of "mini-taper" that Dave described is therefore how I tend to approach long(er) races, even if they are ones I'm absolutely trying to peak for. (Then again, I never have the time to train so much as to dig a really deep hole, so a longer/greater taper is only necessary if I'm trying to maximize my performance over a much shorter duration, e.g., for a pursuit.)

acoggan said:

Everyone is a little bit different, and the very first thing I tell people is to never let the Performance Manager Chart override their experience - rather, it should be considered a "lens" through which you can view prior experience, so as to better understand not only what works for you, but also why.

Whew...okay, with that disclaimer out of the way, here's why I said what I said: it's a 100 mi event, and my concern (as a fellow almost 50+er) would be that a nearly 2 wk taper would result in me "running out of gas" late in event. IOW, I'd rather be a little bit tired and go a bit slower early on as a result, if it enables me to ride strongly during the later portions of the event. The sort of "mini-taper" that Dave described is therefore how I tend to approach long(er) races, even if they are ones I'm absolutely trying to peak for. (Then again, I never have the time to train so much as to dig a really deep hole, so a longer/greater taper is only necessary if I'm trying to maximize my performance over a much shorter duration, e.g., for a pursuit.)

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Which if summaried, goes something like:
The longer the event, take fitness over freshness.
The shorter the event, take freshness over fitness.

acoggan said:

Everyone is a little bit different, and the very first thing I tell people is to never let the Performance Manager Chart override their experience - rather, it should be considered a "lens" through which you can view prior experience, so as to better understand not only what works for you, but also why.

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Another thing to consider is personalizing your "lens" prescription. When it comes to interpreting one's TSB, determining one's best fit ATL time constant can be helpful. I'm 50+ as well. I wondered after last season if a 7 day ATL time constant was most representative for me, given that sometimes, older athletes might be better represented by a longer ATL time constant. I post-analysed my 2007 data and found that a 10 day ATL allowed my TSBs to fit my performances better than a 7 day constant. This year, I am using a 10 day constant and the TSB numbers seem to reflect my performance readiness better.

This does not change the advice given by Dave, Alex, and Dr Coggan, which is on the money. It may allow you to have a bit clearer "lens", and even allow you to use PMC as a more refined taper planning tool.