TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes"

Feb 23, 18 5:26

Post #1 of 16 (4750 views)

Does anyone have a rough guideline for converting a weekly TSS to Garmin's "intensity minutes"? Reason I'm asking is that the Garmin number displays on my watch with a couple of button presses, but TSS means that I have to go into TP, navigate around, etc. I think that might be useful going forward for seeing if I'm on track for each week.

Doesn't need to be exact, but if I'm targeting a TSS of say 500 for the week, what does that mean in IM's? I could probably take the time to research all this myself and figure it out, but I'm lazy and I can't brain today.

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Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 6:52

Post #2 of 16 (4702 views)

You can sync Garmin Connect w/ TrainingPeaks. I have the TP app on my mobile. Home screen shows me TSS. One click and I can see it.

Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [wcb] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 7:13

Post #3 of 16 (4684 views)

I want to have a snapshot of where I am for the week on my watch. I know I can go into TP on my phone, but I don't always carry my phone with me.

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Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 7:45

Post #4 of 16 (4648 views)

Ah - TSS on the watch.

I know the 935 does it. Sounds like a good excuse to upgrade. ;-)

Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [wcb] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 7:52

Post #5 of 16 (4636 views)

wcb wrote:

Ah - TSS on the watch.

I know the 935 does it. Sounds like a good excuse to upgrade. ;-)

I like my wife and I'd like to stay married. and alive. I just got a FR35 (which I really like, btw, I can wear it all day and it doesn't look goofy.) It has a screen for Intensity minutes (weekly total / weekly target), so if I know that I'm planning a 500 TSS week, then if that is say 1000 or 1200 intensity minutes, then that can be programmed into GC so I can see if I should be getting off my ass.

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Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 8:22

Post #6 of 16 (4603 views)

Great question. I also have the FR35 & love it. Would like to know this conversion also. thanks

Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 8:35

Post #7 of 16 (4585 views)

What are "intensity minutes.?"

I have a 910, wife has a 920, and we both have Edge 520's that are less than a year old and I have not idea what you are asking about, but it sounds interesting.

"...the street finds its own uses for things"

Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [AutomaticJack] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 8:46

Post #8 of 16 (4578 views)

AutomaticJack wrote:

What are "intensity minutes.?"

I have a 910, wife has a 920, and we both have Edge 520's that are less than a year old and I have not idea what you are asking about, but it sounds interesting.

Per Garmin's support website:
https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/forerunner35/EN-US/GUID-63522E07-AD5E-4D2D-B680-3129A2300238.html

"The device monitors your activity intensity and tracks your time spent participating in moderate to vigorous intensity activities (heart rate data is required to quantify vigorous intensity). You can work toward achieving your weekly intensity minutes goal by participating in at least 10 consecutive minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity activities. The device adds the amount of moderate activity minutes with the amount of vigorous activity minutes. Your total vigorous intensity minutes are doubled when added."

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Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 8:48

Post #9 of 16 (4573 views)

It is my understanding that this is simply a cumulative log of the number of minutes that your heart rate is to a moderate intensity and then you earn 2x minutes for vigorous intensity heart rates. I have not seen published what the specific cutoffs for these 2 zones are. If your training is all near these 2 aerobic zones, then this would likely correlate reasonably well with TSS. However hard efforts would be very poorly reflected by this system.

Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 8:48

Post #10 of 16 (4572 views)

Intensity minutes seem to be pretty bogus. From what I can gather based on some quick googling, you earn 1 intensity minute per minute with heart rate in a 'moderate' zone and 2 intensity minutes per minute with heart rate in a 'vigorous' zone. There seems to be an unknown amount of time needed to be in those zones in the 10-15 minute range before they start counting. Additionally, no one seems to know how the moderate and vigorous heart rate zones are set.

So yeah, I don't think you're going to find a good conversion between them unless Garmin is more transparent in how intensity minutes are calculated.

Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [Dumples] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 8:53

Post #11 of 16 (4564 views)

I'm probably overthinking this. I'll probably just track both for a few weeks then come up with an average conversion factor.

So far this week, I'm at 480 intensity minutes and 228 TSS (combined SBR) - giving a conversion factor of 2.1 So if I want to be at 500 TSS by the end of the week then I should have 1050 intensity minutes logged, more or less.

I'm not trying to be super precise with it, just be able to know at a glance if I really need to make sure I pack clothes for a lunchtime run, or am I on schedule for the week.

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Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 9:26

Post #12 of 16 (4539 views)

I expect Coggan to chime in and shut this party down any minute. ;-)

Here are my conversion factors for the past four weeks using your approach.

2.37
2.19
1.97
1.46

While the concept is intriguing I think it's nearly impossible to pull off. I'm surprised there's not a ConnectIQ app that will look at Garmin data and provide TSS.

Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [wcb] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 10:54

Post #13 of 16 (4483 views)

I'm quite sure intensity minutes can be accumulated through everyday activity (if your watch is used as an all day HR tracker also). So climbing the stairs would be included in your intensity minutes but not your TSS.

Twitter: @SNFindlay | Athlete with Hartree Jets | Blog

Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [SNFindlay] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 12:41

Post #14 of 16 (4435 views)

After I asked the question I looked it up. It looks like it is geared more towards the soccer mom and football dad types than actual athletes, not to disparage soccer moms - they have their own thing going :)

"...the street finds its own uses for things"

Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 13:46

Post #15 of 16 (4397 views)

Why dont you just log into TP like 2-4 times a day and obsess?

Re: TSS vs Garmin "Intensity Minutes" [SNFindlay] [ In reply to ]

Feb 23, 18 15:58

Post #16 of 16 (4345 views)

SNFindlay wrote:

I'm quite sure intensity minutes can be accumulated through everyday activity (if your watch is used as an all day HR tracker also). So climbing the stairs would be included in your intensity minutes but not your TSS.

I suppose, but most general walking around doesn't seem to be sufficient to get logged as an intensity minute. Maybe a bit of snow shovelling will, but that's also enough work that it really qualifies as a non-specific training stress. Most weeks, the only things that get counted are workouts.

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