Building Stronger Fitness Through Data (T-13 Weeks)

Over the past few years i have come to believe that if you want to do truly great things in life, you have to set goals that are either well outside of your capabilities or you think are impossible at the time you set those goals. This will motivate you to work hard everyday in order to bring those goals closer to reality, while becoming a better version of yourself every day.

When I signed up for the IronMan back in October, it seemed like a daunting task. The furthest I had ever swam, biked, or ran was during my first half IM in 2017. I stumbled over the finish line with cramping muscles convinced that a full IM was just too much for me to handle. The biggest difference between the half and the full is that I was pretty confident in my ability to tackle a half when I signed up for it (though I appeared to be a bit too confident, as the half was still a struggle). This affected my training and preparation. I winged my training prep and didn’t follow a real plan, nor did I invest much time into learning or expanding my skill sets.

This has significantly changed with the full. I am not only investing time in training, but also investing time in getting smarter, and learning more about the many aspects of the sport. From nutrition to improving my open-water swim technique, and from bike fitting to quantitatively tracking my fitness progress, I am learning something new every day.

One way to track the your progress is through using TrainingPeaks, which uses a bunch of mathematical wizardry based on user supplied workout data to automatically break down your fitness progression throughout training camp. This allows you to build the desired level of fitness and plan an optimal taper prior to the race. Shown below is my Performance Management chart, which traces a number of important fitness parameters on a per-day basis (since I started using the service in November). Lets break them down below.

FTP (Functional Threshold Power) – basis of measurements: 

1. Generally defined as the greatest mean maximal power/pace output one can produce for one hour. During my early January FTP test, my numbers are as follows: 235W (bike); 7:15 (run); 1:40/100yds (swim).
2. The fitness parameters described below depend on the individual’s FTP. This means that although a Training Stress Score (TSS) for a professional triathlete and newcomer might be the same (i.e. TSS = 100), the training load will be much larger for the former compared to the latter.

TSS (Training Stress Score) [TSS/d = TSS per day] – red dots

1. A physiological metric to help quantify the training stress of a particular workout based on duration and intensity.
2. It uses user-supplied data such as power (bike), pace (all), and Heart Rate (all), and compares it to your FTP. By definition, a TSS of 100 means you spent one hour at your FTP.
3. Shorter, higher intensity workouts will exceed 100pts, while longer, lower intensity workouts fall below 100pts. 

CTL (Chronic Training Load/fitness) – blue line

1. A rolling 42-day average of your daily TSS (also called the measure of your fitness)
2. In the simplest sense this means that as your CTL rises, you are capable of handling a higher training load and have a higher level of fitness, with the opposite being true as well.
3. CTL progression will vary depending on the individual and their baseline fitness level/general capabilities.
4. During intense training periods, your CTL should be increasing by ~5-8pts/week. Allow your CTL to decrease during rest/easy weeks for recovery.
5. My baseline CTL when I started with TrainingPeaks in early November was ~42, which has been more than doubled as of early February (CTL of 91 at the time of writing).

Intensity Factor – blue dots

1. Calculated as the ratio between Normalized Power and Threshold Power (FTP) to provide a method for comparing relative intensity of training sessions.
2. Normalized Power takes into account the variability of power output throughout a training session or race (i.e. climbing an incline or attacking a lead group).

ATL (Acute Training Load/fatigue) – pink line

1. Represents the current degree of “freshness”, an exponentially weighted average of your TSS over the past 7 days.
2. Represents the short term effects of workouts done in the last 7 days.

TSB (Training Stress Balance) – yellow line

1. A measure of “race readiness”. Calculated by subtracting the day’s ATL from CTL. If TSB is negative, you are more likely tired/not race ready. If TSB is positive, you are more likely to be rested and race ready.
2. A typical goal is to be floating in a general area of +5-+20 for race day.
3. During harder periods of training and fitness building, your TSB should be in the -10 to -30 range. Falling below -30 can risk injury. Staying above +25 means your training is too easy and you risk loosing fitness.

I will be including my CTL progression in my weekly updates from here on out. Numbers from this week are below. Managed to squeeze in a decent amount of quality hours even though I was travelling quiet a bit. Turning up the heat next week as I finish my build for the half IronMan on 10 March in Long Beach.