Adding hiking/backpacking to training for AI to calculate

I did a search and not sure I found a clear answer. (Sorry if I missed it) I was with TR many years ago and now I’m back! Pretty much every weekend during the winter I do a long hike that is fairly strenuous for me. Usually 9-11 miles which almost always is a 4-5 mile climb to the top of a mountain and then back down. Fairly knackered the next day. If I manually enter it into TR or Stava, it only asks for duration and distance. For me, a hike on rocky, rooty terrain climbing 4,000 feet with a 15 pound pack is a lot different than a walk around a lake on a paved path. TR asks me to enter a TSS which I have no clue what that may be. On all the posts I found on the forum, they all pretty much say TSS only applies to cycling. With all the AI calculating inputs to generate a quality training plan, how do I get it to look at those hard hikes? In my 60s so I really want to make sure my recovery is tuned in and I’m not over extending. For me, it takes a long time to crawl out of an over training hole. If I hike Saturday, yes, I realize that I can just cancel or move the Sunday TR ride. But then does AI think I’m slacking and pushes harder the next week. Seems like just skipping workouts throws a kink in everything. I would rather it say, “Oh, looks like you had a hard day yesterday. Here, do this short easy ride”, or “I have a lot in store for you next week. I’ve consulted Chad and you can just use today as a rest day.” Just seems like there should be some logic rather than me just doing whatever I feel like :slightly_smiling_face: (I was going to submit this as a podcast question because I think a lot of people are in this boat, but I realize that I am probably just over complicating it.)

Build your plan then set Sunday as an off or endurance day. When the hike is not as intense pick a Train Now workout instead.

The TSS concept applies to any exercise. It’s just easier to measure for cycling, hence that’s its main application.

if I do non-cycling training, I estimate the TSS based on either heart rate or RPE. And I compare either of those to a bike ride - eg if I had ridden a bike at this HR, or RPE for x hrs, what would my TSS have been? And I put that number manually into TR.

It’s not a perfect measure, but it’s better than nothing.

Hey @pezzhead232, welcome to the forum! :partying_face:

I would definitely sync those hikes into your TR calendar. We’ll weigh those activities and adapt your training accordingly. Don’t worry about estimating TSS if you don’t want to.

It would definitely be a good idea to place either a rest day or an easy ride on the day after your hikes if you can, so you don’t have to worry about missing a key workout or rearranging things if you’re particularly tired.

Let me know if this helps!