I don;t know that a total off week is necessary but maybe look to get to around from -10 to +10 before diving back into hard training. I use GC and basically pre-populate my future workouts by manually assigning them a TSS value, then figuring out what I need to do to get to positive numbers. The range stated above comes from J. Friel's site on TSB and I've only been working with these values for a short while, so take it all with a grain of salt. and more importantly, listen to your body. Sounds like you're on the right track regardless!

http://www.joefrielsblog.com/...-balanceso-what.html

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the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning

I don't think you necessarily want TSB to be positive. Take a look at this:

http://www.joefrielsblog.com/...970b01b7c81c7ce8970b

Joe Friel mentions in the linked article that he believes that the “Optimal Training Zone” covers the range of -10 to -30. He also mentions that the "Grey Zone" range is -10 to +5, and that "you don’t want to spend too much training time here because there’s not much happening that will improve fitness. You’re sort of at a plateau in training. This is typically the zone you are in during a rest and recovery week, when tapering for an A-priority race, and when returning to hard training following an extended break."

Hope this helps...

Great articles! I love Friel's posts. It's tough to get the balance correct. Sometimes I was feeling horrible at only -15, but I just came off a HARD week with a massive ride at -50, but feel relatively OK right now. Maybe it's just coming together and I can push through the next few months and be sure to TAPER well for the race. Thanks again!