TSB rises during Illness

Yes, TSB rises with time off the bike regardless of whether you were sick or working 20 hour days at a stressful job or fasting or doing a handful of other things that wouldn't lead to greater freshness.

The tool only accounts for training stress or lack thereof, it does not account for every stress in your life including illness.

I wouldn't try to 'correct' your PMC for the time your were ill, for better or worse you didn't train and your 'training' stress balance is accurate. Sure you shouldn't see the positive TSB and assume you're ready for a big race, but the same applies to being blocked up from too much time off the bike or being stressed by other things in life at a time you're not training much.

The PMC is great for the things it actually tracks, but you have to pay attention to everything in your life including: nutrition, sleep patterns, life stresses and illness as well as what your CTL, ATL or TSB tells you. That's part of the art of coaching including self coaching.

Ease back into training and your PMC will fall back in line within a couple of weeks.

Good luck,
-Dave

daveryanwyoming said:

Yes, TSB rises with time off the bike regardless of whether you were sick or working 20 hour days at a stressful job or fasting or doing a handful of other things that wouldn't lead to greater freshness.

The tool only accounts for training stress or lack thereof, it does not account for every stress in your life including illness.

I wouldn't try to 'correct' your PMC for the time your were ill, for better or worse you didn't train and your 'training' stress balance is accurate. Sure you shouldn't see the positive TSB and assume you're ready for a big race, but the same applies to being blocked up from too much time off the bike or being stressed by other things in life at a time you're not training much.

The PMC is great for the things it actually tracks, but you have to pay attention to everything in your life including: nutrition, sleep patterns, life stresses and illness as well as what your CTL, ATL or TSB tells you. That's part of the art of coaching including self coaching.

Ease back into training and your PMC will fall back in line within a couple of weeks.

Good luck,
-Dave

What a wonderfully worded reply. While I think the TSB is a great tool - as Dave says - it's not the be-all and end-all. I can pass an example in my life:

There was a time a few years ago when I could crank out 2 x 20 min intervals at 280W. Last week I went out and did a 20 min TT and only managed 265W. The TSB told me on that morning that I was at ~8. Bottom line, for maybe 1-2 years I've been overtrained - time for me to take a 12 week break (that's going to be REAL hard). I guess TSB is relative and one needs to factor in many other aspect in life and training.

It's also not unheard of to feel unusually spunky and strong when you resume training after full recovery from an illness, at least over the shorter durations. Maybe not the *first day* back on the bike, but during the first week or so.

Your PMC might be more correct than you think.

Your TSB is what it is. You cannot interpret the value in a vacuum. Your 'freshness' is based on so much more than simply TSB, yet all too often, people try to make TSB into more than it is. It is one of many (see Dave's reply) indicators to be taken into consideration in determining your readiness to perform.

Do not attempt to artificially manipulate your TSB during your illness. On the other hand, depending on the type and duration of your illness, and if you really want to micromanage your PMC, you may want to down adjust your FTP (~5%) as you restart training. This will allow you to garner TSS at a more appropriate level than at your pre-illness FTP. However, be prepared to re-set your FTP upwards in short order.

FelixKrull said:

Hi there everyone

I ve got a question concerning TSB in WKO+:

Since 4 days, i cant go out on the bike because i suffer a cought. My performance management chart thinks i do some rest days and am recovering, so my TSB begins to rise really fast because there is no ACL at the moment.

What could i do to correct that Data? what do you do in such a case? Because when i think about it, i will never be that regenerated es if i would have done some REAL restdays without illness. It screaws up the whole PMChart and the information tends to be wrong if i just let it like this

thanks alot and have a good ride!

f

Don't get hung up chasing numbers. You're not training to produce impressive charts, you're training to be a better cyclist. WKO+ is an assistant, not the objective of your training.

So you're ill and your TSB goes up. So what? Get better, resume training and the numbers will return to what they were.

FWIW I've been ill for several weeks and haven't even bothered looking at TSB. I've been easing back into training and will probably start to think about numbers soon, but for now I'm rebuilding and enjoying better health!

thank you guys for giving me such helpful answers!
🙂

greets
f

frenchyge said:

It's also not unheard of to feel unusually spunky and strong when you resume training after full recovery from an illness, at least over the shorter durations...
Your PMC might be more correct than you think.

I tend to agree with this statement here. I wish the OP will report back and tell us about how his comeback went.

We tend to pamper ourselves little more when we are sick, which often result into eliciting freshness, at least this is what I noticed over years.

In fact as a coach, my main *fear* related to periods off training due to sickness isn't too loose fitness, but rather to elicit an undesired peak. But if such a peak doesn't interfere with the racing schedule, it ain't that bad neither.

All that being said, and not to criticize the op's choice or reaction, but to me, 4 days off bike during summer because of a cold seems like overreacting a bit (especially if quality of sleep isn't altered - by using Dristan or the like for instance). Some shorter rides done a low level (L2) for instance wouldn't hurt, as long as the discipline to not ride intense is there. For a flu (with fever etc) it's another story.

As for manipulating TSB data, there's one good way of doing it, and it's by substituting a full day off by a recovery ride.

daveryanwyoming said:

...with the standard 42 day CTL time constant you lose about 2.4% of your CTL for every complete rest day.
So for the cyclist with CTL hovering around 100 it drops ~2.4 points for every complete rest day and it takes a TSS 200 day to make CTL rise by the same amount
...
The good news is that it's the delta CTL vs TSS that matters in terms of how fast CTL drops or rises. So a complete rest day (TSS=0) makes your CTL drop by ~2.4%, but say your CTL is 50 and you do a very easy rest day ride that yields 30 TSS. Your delta is only 20 and the CTL drop is approximately half a point reminding us that even a light workout beats total rest in terms of supporting cumulative training load...