WKO+ gives a TSS score for running. Is that TSS score used to calculate anything in the Performance Management chart? I noticed that my monthly totals for mileage, TSS, etc include cycling even if I cange the setting from Performace Cyclist to Runner so I’m wondering how the running TSS, mileage, etc are inlcluded if at all. Seems odd that WKO+ has settings for Cyclist, Runner, Swimmer plus some but no setting for Triathlete.
a) if you look at the “performance management chart” it has a button on the upper right that says “customize”. You can specify which sports it tracks in there. I have it track all of them
b) i hvae yet to figure out what that “performance bicyclist” thing actually changes
c) if you do manual entry of runs- be careful- if you just do “lenth of workout” and then enter in “IF” as 0.92 manually, it doesnt work right (for reasons i dont understand). If you do however enter in “40 minutes” and “5 miles” for distnace, it will calculate IF and TSS correctly.
the ‘performance bicyclist’, and the other menu dropdowns, are used to customize what charts you see. For example, your “running” page can have charts that only refer to your running workouts, your performance cyclist page can only show cycling workouts, etc. It gives you options other than having a very long page of charts.
I just put all the charts I regularly look at on one page, and never switch.
I understand that switching between views shows different charts. What I’m not sure about is how the performance management chart incorporate running and cycling (if at all). The PMC’s seem to be different. And yet other data on other charts (like heart rate) suggests that running and cycling are lumped in together for those activities.
I’ve changed my settings enough that I"m not sure what the default is. Click on the options for a given PM chart, and it’ll show what it uses in one of the tabs.
WKO+ gives a TSS score for running. Is that TSS score used to calculate anything in the Performance Management chart? I noticed that my monthly totals for mileage, TSS, etc include cycling even if I change the setting from Performance Cyclist to Runner so I’m wondering how the running TSS, mileage, etc are included if at all.
To the extent I understand the Performance Management Chart (PMC) correctly, I believe it uses your AGGREGATE DAILY TSS SCORES from ALL logged activities, i.e., swimming, biking, running, strength, XC-skiing or whatever. If you can’t calculate a TSS score for each of these activities then your PMC is worthless. (Will briefly explain how I calculate these scores in the penultimate paragraph set forth below.) If you can calculate your scores from all of these activities, then the PMC becomes a useful tool to assess and – possibly predict – your levels of training fatigue and athletic fitness; and, in so doing, it thereby also helps you to predict your level of “freshness” before a race assuming a proper amount of tapering.
To understand how all this stuff works on the PMC, I strongly recommend you read the background material on the Training Peaks web site, if not then read Coggan and Allen’s book. Notwithstanding, to summarize, the PMC tracks two running averages of your aggregate daily TSS scores – over a 7 day period and over a 42 day period – and it calls them “TSSM” scores. Roughly speaking, the 7 day TSSM quantifies your level of fatigue, and the longer, 42 day average TSSM score represents your level of fitness. The approximate difference between these two TSSM scores is represented by a TSB score, which is intended to represent your level of “freshness.” Before you wince over all of this seemingly nonsensical math, trust me that it really does makes sense. Basically, you build your fitness over a long period of time (the 42-day moving average TSSM) and measure your fatigue by your short-term level of exertion (your 7-day moving average TSSM)…and the greater the divergence between these TSSM scores, the greater your freshness (your TSB score) to kick-ass in a race!
So, how do you do calculate your different TSS scores? That’s the big question assuming you buy into the logic of the PMC. A Power Tap or SRM will do it for you from your cycling workouts. Basically, for cycling it’s the square of your normalized power over your functional threshold, weighted for time, times 100. For running, it’s the same formula but you add 10% to the score. A Garmin 305 or 405 will calculate it for your runs. For swimming, it’s much more touchy feely. What I do is this: I keep track of my time in the pool and compare it to my T-swim time…and take the ratio between the two, much like I would for running and cycling. Then I cube this ratio, weight it for time, and multiply it times 100. Viola! That becomes my TSS/swim score. I do the same for strength workouts, XC skiing, downhill skiing, etc. Some of it’s inaccurate but over time it’s probably in the zone.
Before a race I taper and monitor the increase in my theoretical level of “freshness” as predicted by the PMC. If I don’t feel as good as the PMC indicates, then I taper even more until the PMC’s mathematical representation of my freshness matches exactly how I feel. It’s a valuable tool. Some brain damage is involved, of course, but overall it’s a good thing to use if you have the patience for it.
And, no, I don’t work for Training Peaks!