More thoughts on my WKO+ Performance Manager TSB bounce

Submitted by Mark EWERS on Wed, 09/06/2006 - 8:32pm
Mark EWERS's picture

Whew! Just back from another road session. Throughout my ride tonight I couldn't help but wonder about Andy Coggan's (aka the real Andy) comment on yesterday's post which he titled alternative explanations for the "bounce".

  1. You may be using a time constant for ATL that is too long, at least considering the duration over which you're measuring performance.
  2. You may be overestimating the TSS of your trail rides (in which case your TSB might not be as negative as you think).
  3. Since "form equals fitness plus freshness", it's possible that your performance is due to rising fitness overshadowing the relative lack of freshness (suggested/supported by the fact that your CTL is steadily rising).

All good points to look into. Having taken some time to mull these over, here's what I think is the impact of each of these points on my performance yesterday.

Point #1:
I think I get what you mean on this one Andy. I'm not certain of it but I think it may have some applicability in this case because of where I think I am relative to my current Functional Threshold Power setting. I raised it a few weeks ago and I've felt it was a bit high. As my back has improved and I've been able to build CTL I am getting the impression I'm nearer to or maybe slightly higher than my FTP setting. A shorter ATL would better reflect my increased ability to make watts given a large and negative TSB value followed by a light workout.

Point #2:
Very possibly this is true. The trails take a lot out of this old body, but admittedly it's an all over kind of affair. My estimate was based on three factors: ride durations, a best guess at overall intensity based on how painful the rides felt and how physically beat I felt afterwards. Of the three I gave the most weight to duration and post ride fatigue. Estimating intensity based on how much it hurts has similarities to estimating how long you can hold something hot. Perceptions can get pretty far from reality.

Point #3:
Interestingly, I find the same thing I wrote for point #1 above seems to fit here as well.

Could it be that progressively shortening ATL is a good way to smooth out the jumps from one FTP setting to the next?