For my solo ride this week, TR has “requested” 220 TSS over three hours. Asking ChatGPT to do the math, that works out at 85% ftp for the three hours.
that sounds freakishly hard. I’ve done intervals like 3x30 sweet spot, which were tough and only half that time.
is 220 tss over three hours realistic?
Not all tss is created equal. Depends on the workout and its goals.
Is that steady state Tempo or some kind of internals? I’m assuming steady state if it’s a 3 hour workout. 3+ hours of high tempo can be a tough workout, but It really depends on where your fitness/progression is at. It also depends on your relative strengths/weaknesses as a cyclist. For me, .85 is my happy place and I can push that for ~5 hours when really, really fit. But I doubt I could hold it for 3 hours with my current off season fitness. If TR is suggesting that workout, I would hope it’s progressed to to that point and it shouldn’t be a big leap from what you’ve been doing. I find those workouts to be very impactful (mentally and physically), but they can leave a mark and require some recovery. Fuel them well.
I just looked back at a race I did that was near 3 hours, maybe left a tiny bit on the table but otherwise it was mostly an all out effort. Gravely/MTB type race. 3:10 finish time, 228 TSS. Even if I weren’t doing a race with power spikes and such and the workout was planned with the most efficient way to get those TSS, 220TSS over 3 hours would be very tough for me.
Unless it was race situation with no stopping, I’d have a hard time doing that kind of NP for 3 hours on a solo outdoor ride (stopping, coasting down hills, etc.). My favorite high tempo workout is jumping in the Saturday morning Zwift 100 mile BMTR group ride. Not completely steady state because you have to hold wheels to stay with the group, but no coasting and no huge surges. Just pushing continuous deliberate power, pretty much my favorite type of riding/training. Here’s a snapshot of what that looks like from early last season (~4 hours at .85) -
I would not look at TSS with a unstructured ride, but more in the three categories that exists for the solo ride:
So make sure it is more than an endurance ride. If you want a sustained effort, spent time in the tempo zone, but you could also spent time at threshold or higher. You can also combine these. Naturally, you will spent some time in zone 2 or 1, that is also fine. In the end just make sure that it is a hard day and not an endurance day.
If you want more structure, right click on the ride and switch it to a workout. If it is too short, you can search for longer ones or just add unstructured riding after the workout.
In a typical 3 hour endurance ride I’d rack up about 150 to 200 TSS. This feels like a big ask in December in the cold and wet 
If I’m not mistaken, you have some what done this to yourself. A solo ride is something you have chosen to add and if it replaces a workout TR assigns it as easy, medium or hard depending on what type of workout it replaces. This replaces a hard workout and is therefore classed as a hard solo ride. These rides are given about 75 TSS per hour which results in the 220 you are seeing.
To be fair, TR does tell you to go out and smash it. It’s not an endurance ride. You just have to decide if it’s doable for three hours.
Pendleton, hard but doable.
Not entirely sure? I used plan builder. Chose the solo ride option for the weekend. Left the ai to do its thing 
Have your other Sundays been easier solo rides? For whatever reason you have been given a hard solo ride now. Might be an idea to contact support to figure out if this is intended behaviour.
but true. Don’t think I can make that work on the road though. That’s a few to many 20 minute segments to line up 
Alternatively, you can do something like:
- 40m 60%
6x
- 14m30s 60%
- 30s 270%
- 40m 60%
This looks actually pretty fun workout, although not sure I’d like to do it on wintery roads 
I don’t think it’s realistic. Check with support, my money is on a glitch.
Joe
I’ve done it on outside rides - lots of short steep climbs. The key is that TSS is based on the square of the intensity factor. So anytime spent over 120% of ftp builds the TSS quickly and time under ftp is a grind. So you need lots of bursts under 60 seconds at 110% - 125% of ftp.
I just had the AI whip up an inside ride for this and it doesn’t look like any fun at all.
Don’t forget to eat.
This is one of those times where I am going to overrule the AI and go easier 
. I’m not motivated to simulate sustained race conditions in the middle of winter just before 
Why do you say that? .85 for 3+ hours should be manageable if you’ve progressed up to it. The ride I posted above was .85 for almost 4 hours and I’m sure I’ve pushed closer to ~.90 IF for 3+ hours before. It should be hard, it’s not an endurance workout. And I’m not saying it’s an appropriate workout for the OP depending on where they are in their training/fitness, but I think it’s an excellent workout if done at the right time of the season. I focus on gravel racing and marathon MTB, so the ability to push high tempo for long periods is super valuable.
I dont think it’s realistic. I did 4.5 hrs at 0.87 IF back in Feb and only got 338 TSS for that on training peaks (I’m assuming it’s calculated the same)
Why don’t you think it is realistic? You’re saying you did 4.5 hours at a harder rate (.87 vs .85) than the OP and he only has to do 3 hrs.