kaburns1214 Mentor Group 2013 (Year 3!) - CLOSED (Page 30)

Lets define what all of these are

TSS - is Training Peaks trademarked "Training Stress Score" which is a number created to combine the intensity, duration and frequency of workouts into one number.  The good thing about this number is it takes all the elements of training load -- intensity, duration and volume and combines them into one number.  The difficult thing is the number is "made up."  Because it uses a formula to combine several factors its difficult to say what any particular TSS score means.  While I think this can be useful to track an athletes load over time, I don't think its useful for day-to-day training.

Heart Rate - pretty straight forward this measures your heart's beats per minute.  HR is my favorite way to train (but not race).  I like heart rate because generally speaking it gives a good idea of the total stress on the body at any given point in time.  What I really like about heart rate is that it measures all of life's stresses, not just training stresses.  If you had a bad night's sleep, are getting sick, are stressed out by work it will be reflected in your heart rate.  Thus if you are training by heart rate and your body is stressed it forces you to slow day.  I can't stress enough that the only useful training is training you can recover from.  Using heart rate, its much easier to tell when you need to back off an recover and when you need to push yourself.  The draw back to heart rate is that it can be affected by things like medications, which can make it difficult to use as a training metric. 

Power (and pace) -- power is the number of watts you produce on the bike and pace is how fast you are going.  Both power and pace are output numbers.  I think that its incredibly useful to track both power and pace during training (you are looking for an increase in power and pace at the same HR over time -- this is the whole concept that its all about the delta) and to use power and pace for racing (e.g. riding at a certain power number or running at a certain pace as detailed in the race plan).  I don't like training by power and pace (but they should be recorded).  The reason for this is that as outputs power and pace don't know when you're having a rough day.  Lots of athletes will push themselves no matter what.  For example if a workout says 3 x 10 min at 180 watts and an athlete is having a bad day the athlete will usually push push push to hit 180 watts even if he or she should hold back because the workout says 180 watts.  Whereas if the workout says 3 x 10 min at 155 bpm and the athlete is having a bad day, the watts may only be 165 but its likely the athlete needed to not push (and possibly injure) herself.  It all goes back to being able to recover from the training.

RPE - rated perceived exertion, which is a subjective scale used to measure the intensity of exercise.  The scales is usually a 1 to 10 or 1 to 20 basis.  RPE can initially be difficult to use because athletes often think they are training easier than they actually are (we all have a tendency to push and lots of use don't know how easy and easy day should feel).  Once an athlete has a good understanding of what certain RPEs should feel likes, its a useful way to train (particularly if there is a reason HR doesn't work such as medications). Personally I use RPE fairly often when my HRM is malfunctioning.  From years of training I know what a recovery bike or an aerobic run feels like and my RPE is pretty close to my HR.

I think that each of these metrics has a purpose, the goal is using in a way that lets you get the biggest bang for the back and that allows you to make sure that all of your training is meaningful.

Great pictures!

I'm working on pulling together the big schedule of races -- if you haven't sent me your races please do!

Thank you for breaking that down, Kelly.  I was unfamiliar with TSS.  

Feeling a little better this morning and felt I was able to do a recovery ride.  I kept the effort easy.  I'm feeling pretty bummed about how my training has been completely derailed.  It's one cold or virus after another.  Surgery later this month doesn't help either.  I feel as if I was just beginning to make some really good progress on the run.  It is what it is, I guess.   

Morning everyone! I have a follow up appt. at the ortho later this morning for my back. I'm prepared this time - I have all my unanswered questions from last time written down ready to go! She's probably going to roll her eyes at me, but I'm not leaving until I get through the entire list!

I'm also going to ask her about my shoulder, it's been bothering me since before Vineman and seems to be getting worse. I feel like I'm losing strength in it too because I baby it so much. No good!

Heading out for a run shortly, yippee!

I'm going to say no to the psyllium fiber from what I read on the Whole30 forums. I think it's not ok because it interferes with the absorption of minerals and nutrients. I don't know that it's not allowed, but it's not encouraged if that makes sense.

I have no idea about the sushimi, is that just raw fish?

I'm trying to figure out if the Jennie-o ground turkey is ok. It has "natural flavoring", what is that? I googled it and can't find anything on their forums. Anyone know?

Just curious.  I know an elite coach here that goes strictly by TSS.  He feels that taking into account stressors to your system is the best way to make sure you recover completely.  I see the usefulness in theory, just not clear on application.  I see Friel has a lot of stuff on Training Peaks about it.  May do some reading.

The natural flavoring has soy protein in it.  I was on a severely restricted diet when I BF Madge due to a crazy long list of food intolerances and allergies, and this was listed as having soy in it.  

Thanks Kelly for the information. Interesting, but not really news, how a "bad day" or other variables can impact HR when training.

Speaking of heart rate - there is a really neet phone app that use and I suggest to patients that I see in my practice. It is called the Stress Doctor. It based on the concept of Heart Rate Variability - the greater the heart rate variability the better. When one's breathing and heart rate are in sync, it has a beneficial effect on the organ systems, body, and neurochemical functioning. In essence when breathing and heart rate are in sync, the body is "on-line." The Stres Doc app monitors pulse, heart rate, and breathing. You simply breathe deeply and and gives you feedback when your breathing and heart rate are on line. Its biofeedback. Its also accurate

The idea is to do it of 5 minn at a time. It is really cool to use when you take a time out after a frustrating call at work, before bed. I am not best flyer - so I use it when there is turbulance.

The app is only 5 bucks.

I'd go with a couple weeks of conditioning first, then do a field test, and then check it again 6-8 weeks later.  You should make progress quickly and be able to more accurately set your zones the 2nd and 3rd time through.

You will be going very slowly, and you will hate it at first.  It does get better I promise.

Race Day I use pace and power with HR as a check.  For an athlete without a power meter I would use HR on the bike and pace on the fun.  Using pace on the bike is super tough because the conditions can have a huge affect.

Generally there is a 4 - 8 week adjust period where you get used to training by HR, its going to feel super slow and frustrating but it will get  easier (and much faster) in time.  The cool thing that starts to happen is that your pace will start to drop for all of zones.  This makes it easy to see and measure progress because your pace at X HR will decline over time. 

Pacing at LP is really important.  There are a huge number of people that hammer up the hills and then die on the run.  The best plan for LP is to have a hard HR or watts cap on the bike based on your training metrics and sit up and spin up the hills.  5 or 10 minutes gained on the bike by pounding the hills will cost you much, much more time on the marathon. 

I would also add to that, if you are a person that likes to track numbers/miles ... just put that out of your head when HR training.  That 6 miles you ran yesterday might only be 4 today because you will start off slower.  Try not to think about it.  Your numbers will show a significant drop off, but your body will thank you!!!

Scott and I started HR training at about the same time last year.   Scott used to run really, really high run miles all the time and I used to run all my runs at ridiculous HR's.  Once Kelly changed us over (after getting over the frustration) we were able to improve our runs, our bodies felt more rested, and we both had tons of PR's last year.

My watch now only shows HR and Time. The only two metrics I need to care about right now.

And then you scroll down for distance.