Training Stress Score (TSS) was developed by Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan. The purpose of TSS is to ‘quantify’ your training workload. Why would you want to do that? The most important reason is to prevent overtraining. As you increase your intensity, the volume must come down (and vice-versa). TSS quantifies this workload so you know when it’s time to increase or decrease intensity and volume.TSS can be calculated for every workout. The formula for TSS is as follows, but explaining it is beyond the scope of this post.
TSS = (s * W * IF) / (FTP * 3600)
“s” is duration in seconds, ‘W’ is Normalized Power in watts, ‘IF’ is Intensity Factor, ‘FTP’ is functional threshold power, and ‘3600’ is for the number of seconds in 1 hour.
That’s the information if you want to calculate it yourself. The other option is Training Peaks or WKO+
“If you know the TSS from a certain workout, you can make decisions about how to proceed in your training. A very high TSS resulting from a single race or training session, for example, would indicate that one or more days of rest should be scheduled.” – Source.
Again, I’m not going to go into all the details that make up TSS. If you want more details, I’d suggest buying the book. What I do want to explain is how to use TSS.
When you calculate TSS, it’s going to kick out a number based on all the factors in the formula above. Here is a table that will help you interpret that number”
| TSS | Interpretation |
| Less than 150 | Low. Recovery generally complete by the following day. |
| 150 - 300 | Medium. Some residual fatigue may be present the next day, but recover is generally complete by the second day |
| 300 - 450 | High. Some residual fatigue may be present even after two days. |
| Greater than 450 | Very high. Residual fatigue lasting for several days is likely. |
“Once you are able to associate your different rides with TSS and IF scores, you will be able to understand the type of ride that someone else did just by hearing what the TSS and IF scores were for that ride” – Source
When I first read about TSS I had no idea how to use it. Now, I look at both the TSS and IF of each workout. Sometimes I feel like my workout was weak, yet I have a TSS and IF. It’s nice to see those numbers and how effective my training is.
[...] Training Stress Score (TSS). Again, this was a topic covered in a previous post (click link). Briefly, TSS quantifies the overall training load in order to prevent over-training and burnout. The PMC is based heavily on your TSS, which is based on your functional threshold power. Thus it’s important that you have your FTP entered into the program. [...]
ReplyDelete[...] Calculating Swimming Training Stress Score (TSS) December 18, 2012By GuppieDon’t know what TSS is? It’s basically a way to measure training workload. Every workout has it’s own TSS based on intensity, duration, etc. Training Peaks software will calculate TSS for every workout and will keep track of accumulated TSS as the training weak progresses. Calculating TSS for biking is pretty easy for Training Peaks, especially if you have a power meter. Even with running, Training Peaks will use HR data to determine the TSS. However, with swimming, there is minimal data to calculate TSS. Yet, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Training Peaks walks you through here. Note, if you need more basic information on TSS, you can find it here: What is Training Stress Score?” [...]
ReplyDelete[...] 2012, my average training stress score was 271.7, while in 2013 it is 347.5. The TSS score is basically a measurement of workload. The [...]
ReplyDelete[…] 2012, my average training stress score was 271.7, while in 2013 it is 347.5. The TSS score is basically a measurement of workload. The […]
ReplyDelete