I know recovery is a personal thing influenced by so many variables.
So lets say 2 subjects both have an FTP of 300, Rider A did an all out effort for 1 hour (300w) and accumulated 100 TSS and Rider 2 did a 2 hour ride at 150w also accumulating 100 TSS. Would they require the same amount recovery?
Lets assume they repeat these or similar style workout (Threshold v Zone 2) 4 times a week for 4 weeks. Their adaptations over time are going to be different but is the amount and frequency of recovery going to be the same??
Calculations i see regard the build up of TSS and need to periodise and incorperate recovery weeks only seem to look to TSS and not Intensity Factor. I’m pretty sure i’m going to be nailed after 4 weeks of threshold work but not so much with zone 2 work, yet TSS would look similar and suggest the need for the same recovery.
First example is riding an hour at FTP. Probably going to be pretty wasted after that (and I’d say most couldn’t even complete that session) With nailed recovery would probably take 48 - 72 hours to recover (dependent on how big you base fitness is)
Second is at recovery watts and it only the duration that could make one consider it as very low endurance zone, you could probably do that indefinitely (and probably loss fitness, depends on current fitness level and history though)
PS In my opinion it is better to look at / use Ramp Rate.
Use this in conjunction with how you feel, soreness, mood swings, appetite, general tiredness, sleep duration and quality and resting HR.
This is the same argument I’ve used many times when I say not all training load is equal. Let’s say you have two riders that are trying to get to 100 CTL. Rider 1 tries to get there by doing an hour at threshold every day. Rider 2 tries to get there by riding at or below VT1 every day until accumulating 100 TSS. Which rider is most likely to achieve the 100 CTL goal? Rider 2 has a chance. Rider 1 has no chance.
There are multiple energy systems in the body with varying degrees of fatigue resistance. But there is only one type of TSS. That’s the problem.
So far as I know there is no good solution to this problem. You just gotta have the experience to know what type of work requires what type of recovery…either through your own accumulated wisdom or that of a coach.
One trick is to do primarily only one type of training. Like a lot of z2 work. Or a lot of sweet spot work. Then your recovery tends to be dominated by fatigue induced by that intensity zone & TSS starts to make more sense (one energy system, one TSS, works better). Then you can throw in a VO2 workout once in a while without throwing things too far out of wack. Another trick is to maintain the same mix of training…one VO2 workout/week, one threshold workout/week, the rest Z2. Then, again, you’ve got a static mix of intensities so having one homogenous TSS works a little bit better.