How much is too much?

Hi guys!

Regarding TSS - How much is TOO much… ?

I´m currently at Mallorca, and have been riding longer rides 5 of the 6 days so far, and will go for a shorter ride tomorrow as well. I´m currently at 1087 TSS and will add ca 100 more tomorrow.

Is a TSS at 1200 way to much, or is it ok to do this sometimes while beeing notorious with both nutrition and sleep - and having some days off after such an effort?

Something up to 150% of your typical TSS per week should be managable, but plan on some days off or easy days too.

Get around 200% and you will really need to plan some major recovery, and you may well be looking at at week or more to return.

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It’s all relative…

What’s your average TSS (year to date / last 6 weeks)?, did you taper? What intensity have the rides been (as not all TSS is equal), How is your form (TSB) looking? And how do you feel?

I racked up around 1,700-1800 TSS over 9 days in Denia in April this year but it wasn’t out of the blue and I was prepared. Safe to say my TSB was knocking on the door of -70 come the end, including a few damage control/recovery rides.

Benefited hugely after a weeks Z2 to recover.

When in Rome… (ride sensibly :stuck_out_tongue:)

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Thanks!

True… 1200 will be around 200% of my previous weeks…

But I´ll go by feel, eating enough and prioritizing enough sleep…

Thanks for the good answer!

I’ve been doing something like this about 2-3 times a year for the last 3-4 years. I enjoy taking my bike on holiday or hiring a bike while I’m away. I tend to go away for a week at a time and then cycle for 6 days racking up a lot of hours compared to normal. I find that my body copes fine with it probably because I just spend the rest of the day relaxing and eating (probably too much in most cases!).

I did do a holiday to the French Alps last year and pushed the time on the bike to about 10 days. I think that started to border on too much, for me anyway. As suggested, just take few days off when you return so your body adapts to all the extra training and take it easy for a few days.

Enjoy the rest of your holiday!

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Just to reiterate, the urge to get out on the bike and bang it round your local stomping ground with new found gains will be quite strong (assuming you don’t feel blown to bits).

Several days of low intensity/volume to really capitalise on your new levels of fitness & recover really is advisable.

I did the exact opposite when I got back from Majorca in 2016 (charging up my local climbs with my tongue in the spokes to set new PR’s) and in comparison to following my own advice this year, was night and day. Having kept a large proportion of the gains made.

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Your body will tell you what is “too much”. If you track your HRV you will start to notice it changing, and if you really load on the stress you may even find it hard to get your HR to rise and you simply cant put out power even in low amounts.
That said…it’s one thing to load on a 1200 or 1500TSS week, its what you do the next week that is also to consider. You are going to need some serious recovery, so if you think you are going to have a productive week next week on the bike you should reconsider things.

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