I have been thinking a lot (too much) about my inability to understand how to use collected data proactively. I follow the TrainerRoad mid-volume HIM training program and superimpose a BarryP running program on top of that with 1-2 swims a week (former collegiate swimmer so I can reasonably neglect swimming). I have a Garmin 910XT, PT powermeter, Garmin footpod for the treadmill, ant+ speed/cadence monitor, etc. and collect swim, bike run data. For awhile I was uploading all data into TrainingPeaks and paying for the Premium membership in order to “use” the Performance Management Chart, but I began to feel like I was just looking at historical data and watching to see how high my CTL could get without really changing my training/recovery at all. So I stopped paying for the premium membership and now just upload my data to Garmin Connect with the hope that someday I can use that retrospective data to better guide proactive training. I have the same feelings about the fitness trackers: how will knowing how many steps I walk each day and how much I sleep (or don’t sleep) each night help to guide my training in a meaningful way?
So do people modify their day-to-day training or week-to-week training based on data collected and uploaded? And if so, how and why do you make the modifications?
Thanks,
Adam
I find it very useful simply in seeing what worked well and what didn’t. Seeing how well you performed with different volumes of training, how much benefit you got from adding speed work, whether introducing a rest day helped or not, etc. E.g. for me I’ve concluded that at the volumes I run and the distances I race, speed work gives me no tangible benefit. Also established that for any given volume of cycling, I actually perform better with lots of shorter rides than with a long ride.
I don’t know how well the performance management idea can work in triathlon. It is hard to account for 3 different sports under one measure of training load, when only one of them actually has power data available, and when running wears you out in such different ways.
But, in theory you would want to look for things like:
what CTL levels can you sustain without getting sick/burning out
How fast are you at various CTL levels?
What training stress balance values correlate with good races or strong training days? And which ones correlate with feeling like crap and performing badly?
Watching your CTL to confirm/deny that you are doing more/less training and not fooling yourself.
Again, I’m not confident this can be done effectively with 3 sports at once, but that is the kind of thing you would look at.
A good buildup to a race would lead to a really high CTL (for you) and then it would dip a bit as you reduce load during your taper. Race day CTL should still be pretty high but TSB should be either slightly positive or at least near zero.
Alternatively you might look at each of the 3 sports separately with these metrics
you need to be consistent with your training and keep a detailed log.
for instance, once per month you should be doing a similar workout for swimming, cycling and running. if you keep information like time, distance, HR, power, reps, sets, recovery interval, etc., you just revert back to the previous month.
if you are eating and resting properly you should see improvements. if not, you need to change one of the many variables such as time, frequency, duration and of course eating and rest.
that is my approach for the short term. i track volume over the long term and compare year over year. i also do this with similar swimming, cycling and running workouts.
the key is to be consistent in what you do and minimize changes in variables, of which there are many.
good luck!!
Thanks to those who responded. I mistakenly thought people were looking at data on a more day-to-day basis and guiding training in that way. Sounds like it is more useful to look at training and performance from 30,000 feet and make modifications to training from that perspective. Since this is really only the beginning of year 3 for me, year 1.5 of collecting data and year 1 of training in an organized fashion, I’ll likely need a few more races/seasons to get the right perspective. Thanks!!