Training Load Explained

Weather Barometer
The barometer is plunging so despite the sun being semi hidden I decided it was time for perhaps one last hard workout at altitude before the snow closes in.

Training Barometer

On the other hand the training "barometer" is slowly rising at the moment - this being the "Training Load" as used in the excellent Sporttracks software. There are a couple of images below - the first showing the Training Load from this summer and the second over the past three years.

TRIMP
Each vertical brown line is called  a "Training Impulse" or TRIMP for short and represents a workout. It's calculated taking into account duration and intensity and uses heart rate zones and the percentage of time spent in each zone. You can score a high TRIMP by either increasing the intensity or duration of a workout.

The blue area is the CTL or Chronic Training Load which is a good representation of fitness level. The red line is the ATL or Acute Training Load which lets you know how tired you are. When the ATL is higher than the CTL then you don't have much energy but when it falls below the CTL then the distance below indicates how "fresh" you are.

CTL: Chronic Training Load
Calculated as something similar to a long term moving average of your TrImp scores. The recommended time constant for this is around 45 days. This is often referred to as your 'fitness'. You have to work harder and longer to move this number, because it moves slower, but as it creeps up, it represents your improved conditioning.

ATL: Acute Training Load
Similar to a short term moving average of your TrImp scores. The recommended time constant for this is around 15 days. This is often referred to as your 'fatigue'. As you train, you need to recover. A high ATL indicates a lot of recent training, and may indicate a need for some recovery.

There is also an "Influence" curve available that guides you in preparation for a race event to get the best possible level of fitness and freshness in the time available.

My heart rate zones are calculated based on a Max of 185bpm despite never having reached that figure this year - 174 being the highest. I put that down to having trained too many long slow rides this year. The following chart shows the past three years.

The loser's battle!

Each year I've had a battle to prepare for bike racing because of losing all the fitness over the winter and putting on a lot of weight as a result. This means that there is a very hard task each Spring and early Summer to simultaneously lose weight and re-build fitness! Not an ideal situation and not leaving much energy left over for racing. It also makes it impossible to get up to a higher level of performance during the short season. My intention now it to maintain the current CTL level of around 90 right through until next Spring - so that the fitness base remains intact and body weight remains stable below 70Kg. This isn't impossible because it can be achieved with relatively short but intense workouts. One hour per day is sufficient. At the moment most of my bike workouts are about 90 minutes and the runs are about an hour - and even with the odd day off for recovery the CTL overall is increasing. There is only a problem when training is genuinely neglected. Hopefully I've learned my lesson now and won't let that happen again. The thought of another summer spent playing "catch up" doesn't appeal. Those annual deep troughs in the chart are about to be eliminated.

Today's Workout

Today the workout was good. The GPS must have been a bit weird because it pushed me about 200m off track on the return leg and more than doubled my climbing. I knew from the charts above that I wouldn't feel overly fresh and that's how the workout felt - a bit laborious for 2hrs 30 minutes but still enough energy to have some good feelings at points along the way. I focused on overcoming the tiredness by accessing the power in the core muscles. Just like in running you can really feel this shift when you get the right amount of rotation of the spine and pelvis so that all the muscles in the centre of your body are being used actively - instead of just being used to block movement. The key to getting this on a bike is to really move the opposite hip forward as you push down. This generates a strong pull up on the other side and the whole core just takes over the job.

Tomorrow will be a 10k "barefoot" run (bad weather forecast) - working slowly and carefully (on form) to avoid potential injury. The running will have to build up quickly now to be able to replace the bike when the snow arrives. It's taken two years to transition to barefoot style since running long distance on the heels gave me a winter of pain from plantar fasciits below the right foot. (3 years of experimentation altogether). I now think that I have it together enough to make it work - and for the first time in years there is no foot pain when running.