Just how accurate are TSS scores from race data? No power data but heart rate etc from Garmin, 40 minutes all out at threshold in a competitive cyclo-cross race, feeling kanckered, yields TSS of 55 oh woe is me 
or should I not care? askin for a friend y’know
The thing about cyclocross is there’s a lot of non-pedaling exertion that won’t show in TSS. Lots of pushing and pulling on the bars, bracing in turns, and high torque (at perhaps modest power) efforts. That all takes effort and is tiring. As an extreme example… running with the bike for half a lap because of mud is 0 TSS pedaling. My cx race TSS is usually in the ballpark of 55 as well for 40-50 minutes.
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OP does not have power data so the tss is hrTSS. It will take into account the running sections/coasting etc.
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I mean this doesn’t sound too far off. Theoretically, an hour of NP at FTP would be 100TSS so 40min at threshold would be ~66TSS. Time plays a huge component of TSS numbers. But it is more designed around aerobic type activities so it doesn’t always accurately reflect shorter efforts. Like they say not to even care about NP and TSS under like 20 or 30 min. So 40min isn’t too far off that.
I wouldn’t look too far into it but this is also an example of why you can’t always look at TSS in a day/week/block and get the whole picture of effort and fatigue.
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Fair point, I missed tat detail. Anyway, my standard “on the bike nearly the whole race” tss is around 55. It goes down some when there’s extended running sections as power data isn’t picking up anything. I conclude that an hrTSS score of 55 is very reasonable.
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Welcome to the TR community!
We’d agree with the other athletes here that 55 TSS for 40 minutes of ~Threshold effort sounds reasonable.
Remember that “all TSS is not created equal,” and I think this is a good example of that.
While 55 TSS may not seem like “a lot” in absolute terms, it’s still quite possible to feel properly wrecked after going all-out for 40 minutes!
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your TSS estimation is probably correct at 55 for 40 minutes. Sounds low but for every section youre powering through, theres just as much time that youre either coasting or closer to tempo/SS. I too thought that number was low for my CX races and then looking back at the power profile and cadence, it was humbling how much less I was doing than I felt like I was doing!
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Thanks everyone for your kind words 
I guess I need to MTFU! It’s not nearly as disappointing as crawling off your bike only to be told by your Garmin that your ride was ‘unproductive’ LOL
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