TrainingPeaks noob

[joex]

Hi all,

Ive decided to give TrainingPeaks a whirl as a place to unify my training data, the TrainerRoad calendar was nice in its simplicity but Ive run out of patience with manually entering swim and run workouts.

I record everything on Apple Watch which seems to import automatically from Health if very slowly, TP says it can automerge work out data so it should merge workouts from TR, Zwift or Rouvy that have power data right?

Ive been recording run based on RPE and noticed that TP which uses rTSS gives me much higher numbers than RPE - is there a way to set it to use RPE instead or as well?

Ive also noticed bike is showing hrTSS as much higher than power based TSS - eg 81 instead of 50, 114 instead of 78. I get these are two different measures and would never be the same, but given thensize of difference could this indicate an overestimated FTP?

Finally, will it import and process strength workouts in a meaningful way?

Ta,

Joe

[Jgav]

@joex

Ive also noticed bike is showing hrTSS as much higher than power based TSS - eg 81 instead of 50, 114 instead of 78. I get these are two different measures and would never be the same, but given thensize of difference could this indicate an overestimated FTP?

Make sure all of your zones are set correctly. It sounds like either FTP is set too low or HR zones are set too low (if it thinks you’re always in Zone 4/5 it will give you higher hrTSS)

[iwaters]

As jgav says the zones need setting up properly.

For strength workouts it goves basic information. Time, Calories, HR min max avg, hrTSS. Also gives an IF but no clue how it works that out. No recording of weight, reps or sets.

[stenard]

I use TSS for the run too (as I have stryd), but if ever I run without it (the battery is dead, or whatever), I’d revert to hrTSS over rTSS. HR is variable, but at least in the same ballpark session to session. Run pace can vary wildly depending on so many factors.

You can select which xTSS option to use from a drop down on each activity.

[joex]

@Jgav

Make sure all of your zones are set correctly.

I’ve used my maxHR from my August ramp test, 184, and my threshold HR from my Olympic bike race leg in June, 148…but my resting heart rate has been set to 191

Could this be the problem?

Edit - hmm, it’s seeing anything above 158 as anaerobic capacity. This seems to be the issue.

Rechecked the jun race and updated threshold to 152. Not a huge change to zones though.

[Matthew_Spooner]

Your threshold HR seems far too low. My Max HR is 187 and LTHR is 166. I just looked at my Garmin history, LTHR was 170 when I started 5 years ago and has been in the range 166-170 ever since

[PCP]

Agreed with Matt, your bike HR threshold is too low.

[stenard]

@Matthew_Spooner

Your threshold HR seems far too low

Also agreed with Matt. Are you on premium (eg a trial)? If so, you should be able to see all the peak performances you have set. My 5s max this year on the bike is 190, and my 20 and 60min peaks are 183 and 179 respectively. So you reporting c80% of max as threshold seems very low. You seem to be taking it from a virtual tri you did? I’ve never set any of my peak HR performances in a triathlon on either bike or run. If you were to truly deliver your absolute max over a 40k bike leg, how would you be able to run? You’re surely always going to be leaving something in the tank.

Also, going back to setting up zones on TP, you need to setup separate ones for bike and run, and then ensure it has refreshed all the zones below using the key markers you input, and then you need to go to each file and “recalculate” them. Changing zones only has a prospective impact to new file uploads otherwise.

If you’ve just imported everything, this is going to be annoying, as I think you might have to do it for every activity. It might be easier just to delete everything, set your zones correctly, then reimport everything.

This is on a run file, but it’s the same regardless.

[joex]

@stenard

If you were to truly deliver your absolute max over a 40k bike leg, how would you be able to run? You’re surely always going to be leaving something in the tank.

Yeah I went 97% IF and couldn’t run

I’ll check for more data - I’ve imported nothing into TP, started feeding in data a few weeks ago from Apple Health. Just added TrainerRoad as a feed.

[joex]

Okay I got ramp test heart and power data into TP yesterday, my ftp now being 260 my threshold HR set at 152.

I think this makes more sense - 5.5-6 mins or so above threshold in both views?

[joex]

Hi again everyone.

Had a run today where my Hr was very high, but my pace wasnt. Should I put it down to an off day or do I need to revisit these zones again?

Top is zones by pace, bottom same zones by HR…for the same run!

[stenard]

I’d just leave it as an anomaly for now. If it becomes a trend, then maybe revisit. But I did a 2k plod home last night, and my watch was reporting >170bpm for parts of it, which I can’t imagine was right. I was running >5:00 which would usually be in the low 130’s. I’m just ignoring it and hoping the HRM was a bit wonky

[hammerer]

If you are a friend of MarkieR’s I’d be concerned if I were you

[joex]

Does anyone use the automatic merge feature?

I record everything using Apple Workouts, which is inaccurate on indoor running. When Im running on Zwift, I send both (Zwift and Workout) to TP.

Doesnt seem to work, I raised a ticket where they said the start times have to be the same and “cant both contain the same metrics…speed”.

[stenard]

Have to be honest, I’ve never heard of them having an automated non-duplication feature. I know trainerroad does it, but I actually prefer having manual control of which file I keep. If I’m dual recording, one might be based off my power meter, the other off my smart trainer for example. I’d generally want to retain my power meter data, but if I had a big dropout on that feed, I’d revert to the trainer. Etc.

Deleting one duplicate file is a 2s job on the app. Uploading a new file if they prioritised the wrong one would take 5+ minutes. So I prefer the way it currently operates

[joex]

Im not after de-duplication, Im after a merge. One has the right speed, one has the HR data.

[stenard]

Ah, right. Interesting. I’d not seen that feature before.
Seems like from your screenshot above you’ve uploaded them both as separate files? Is that just to show that they are otherwise the same, seeing as the guidance says you need to add the secondary file as an update to the initial workout?

Does seem strange that the response from TP that you’ve quoted suggests they can’t have any single equivalent metric. It’s kind of unlikely you’d have a file with just one piece of extra information and no equivalent metrics. Can you instead just record HR on the apple watch as the only metric as part of, say, a “cardio workout”? (not sure what activity profiles exist on the AW) That should then work?

[joex]

Thats an interesting idea, I might give that a go.

[pacha]

Can you get at the XML and edit that, then upload it?

[joex]

Probably. But If its manual im not going to do it - the only reason i moved to TP for next season is to avoid manual tasks and complexity😊