TSS Doubts doing base phase MV mixing indoor with outdoor rides

Hi.
All TR plans should have an increase in TSS right? In my schedule they do but with the changes I’ve made from indoor to outdoor session they really don’t because of much different TSS between TR weekend rides and those I really do outdoor.
I started BASE PHASE MV I (sweet spot) 3 weeks ago. The plan has 5 sessions a week but in all weeks I’ve transformed the Saturday and Sunday training in an outdoor free ride with no concerns on folowing the prescribed sequence or time. This is what I’ve done so far:

  • week 1 TR sets 297 TSS and I’ve made 522 TSS this over the program TSS on the first week made it almost impossible to surpass that TSS on the next week’s because after the 3 TR indoor sessions (Tuesday, Wensday and Thursday) I’ve done 2 large outdoor rides outside (about 4h each) on the weekend that carried a lot more TSS than the program for those 2 trainings either inside or outside versions of TR.
  • week 2 TR sets 363 TSS and I’ve done 480 TSS because of bat wheather on Sunday I’ve done only a large training outside on Saturday doing TR indoor training on Sunday. So a clear decrease in TSS from week 1 to week to from 522 to 480 TSS.
  • week 3 TR sets 378 TSS I’ve done 3 of the week rides indoor and only one of the weekend rides outdoor due to a terrible work week and some bad wheather too on Saturday, with a total of 395 TSS which it was higher than TR combined 5 trainings but less than the 480 TSS I made the previous week.

All the weeks had an executed TSS superior to the prescribed but none was higher than the previous week total. The 3 during the week sessions had a gradual increasing TSS but the irregular weekend sessions ruined that, so shame on you!

I know this is not OK and even worse I know this will happen again for sure due to the sistem I established (doing 3 TR sessions inside and the other 2 outside but ignoring the prescribed training time and effort just ridding with my friends for 3 to 4h in different type of terrains and intensity, there’s never a repeated ride, all are different, but my questions are:
1 - To what extent can this ruin my plan and may it interfere negatively with my form going increasingly up week by week as supposed?
2 - What should I do? Going full TR plan cutting the weekend kind of free and long, variable in intensity rides is not an option.

Thanks!

No answers so far… Any thoughts you can share on this please post it.
Thanks.

Stick to the LV plan and do whatever you feel like on sat/sun.

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Can this ruin your plan? Yes of course. If you´re fatigued over trained, under trained or whatever. Are you riding with a powermeter outside and you can see your zones you´re riding in? That could help you to see if you´re training correctly. But TSS is ONE part of many others on training. Some coaches even ignore that number, so look what fits best on how your feeling. That brings me to your second question: What should you do? So, if you´re training to becoming a pro or want to finish Kona in Top 10 then do your plan and dont doubt anything and NEVER the plan. Do you think Jan Frodeno made it to a three times winner in Kona with capuccino rides with his friends? No way! But if you re training on trainerroad for the same reason as appr. 95% of the forum users: Getting better, have fun with riding and sometimes suffering and knowing you`ll never end up in the WorldClass, go out and have fun with your friends. And if you´re fatigued by a weekend ride, skip a trainerroad session. Ride for fun and have a smile on your face, even on the hard workouts. :slight_smile:

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TSS is a secondary metric and merely an indication of fatgiue, fitness, how hard a ride was etc, focusing on how you feel, your power and progression of your workouts is so much more important.

Do you want to roughly fully a build in TSS over a prolonged period of time? Yes
Is weekend rides which increase TSS beyond that of the following week going to destroy your season or fitness or cause burnout? Almost certainly no.

I am assuming you are following the indoor sessions, which means each week the sessions build time in the higher intensity zones and get harder, this is progression which to me is actual development and more important than building TSS.

Secondly doing big rides when you can is pretty well established advice for the time crunched amateur. Doesn’t really matter when, if you have a few spare hours to do the long ride, do it, because it is only going to make you better.

We are talking about 300 -500TSS per week, it isn’t really pushing the envelop. And assuming that you are recovering properly and not riding every second flat out you won’t burn out.

Plus, 120 TSS from a sweetspot trainerroad session on the weekend is much more focused and I find causes me more fatigue than a few hours of group ride doing endurance pace with a few effots.

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Thank you both for your answers. In response to some questions:

  • I don’t use power meter outside I only have power on my kikr core not on my road or mountain bike and that is an issue I’ll try to fix next year because with RPE defining my outside workouts it really is not accurate that in fact I’ve done such a TSS.
  • My outdoor rides with friends are quite hard, it’s not a ride for coffee or sightseeing :slight_smile: and having no power meter on my outdoors bikes and considering that executing the TR workouts by using RPE is quite inaccurate and it would be hard to do those series riding in a group, Im not folowing TR outside plans on those rides.