I’m curious to hear what ST thinks about what the target Training Stress Balance should be heading into an Ironman. When I say “heading into”, I mean what is the value you are trying to obtain the last 48 hours prior to the race at the end of your taper. My understanding is that there is a point when you stop recovering from the training stress and start losing fitness. Is the goal value between 30-40 or is that too high?
Thanks.
Are you talking combined bike + run TSB, bike only or run only?
Depending on how quickly or slowly recover, anything you do in the last 5 to 14 days prior to the race is really only hurting your performance, as it’s adding to your fatigue, but won’t add to your fitness in time for the race. You probably don’t want to do zlich those last few days, but you want to keep them easy and not add to the fatigue load but let it continue upward.
I typically don’t target a specific TSB for a sport going into the race, but retrospectively my best races have been with Bike and run being in the +9 to +12 range each (on race day). I think more important the number is the trend your TSB is following. If you have had a really strong training block and your peak CTL is say like 90, you’re probably going to want to approach your taper differently than someone with a peak CTL of 60.
A good read on the subject of tapering is: Tapering and Peaking for Optimal Performance
Thanks. I’ll check out that link. I was referring to a combined TSB for bike/run. And yes, I wasn’t trying to get to a specific number, but was curious about a range. To add some detail for you, last weekend was three weeks out from IMMT and my CTL was 112 and TSB on Sunday evening was -50. As of today, the numbers are 107 and -12. I’ll be increasing those numbers this weekend (two weeks out, nothing crazy, 5 hour ride and <2 hour run) and then bring them up through the taper. I had my best bike/run at Eagleman with TSB of 14 so I’m thinking I should be a bit more rested than that heading into Tremblant.