𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 – 𝐚 𝐭𝐰𝐨-𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧!
On one side of the coin, the reason you’re training – improving your performance, your fitness, your speed, your ability to run further for longer.
One the other, the impact of your workouts – fatigue, muscle soreness, dehydration, injury risk … the list could go on.
Can a single Stress Score be used to model the changes in your performance ability:
🔹 in the shorter-term, from stress to which your body has not yet adapted?
🔹 in the longer-term, from stress to which your body may have adapted?
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡
Research into the effects of training stress has resulted in various models:
✅ Rowbottom proposed a Stimulus, Fatigue, Recovery, Adaptation model, sometimes referred to as the supercompensation model
✅ Banister proposed an Impulse-Response model, popularised in the TRIMP metric based on Heart Rate measurements
✅ Allen, Coggan and McGregor adapted the Impulse-Response model for use with power, encapsulating it in the Performance Manager model.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥
The model has the following components:
- A Training Stress Score (TSS)
- A Chronic Training Load (CTL), modelling longer-term adaptations
- An Acute Training Load (ATL), modelling shorter-term impacts
- A Training Stress Balance, indicating whether your training is ‘productive’
The Performance Manager model uses 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 Stress Scores (per workout) to calculate personal training metrics that indicate whether 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 training is productive – not too much, not too little, just right for you.
𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?
For more information on the models, see:
🔹 Rowbottom, D.J., (2000), in Garrett, W.E., Kirkendall, D.T., (eds.). Periodization of Training. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
🔹 Calvert, T.W., Banister, E.W., Savage, M.V., Bach, T., (1976) A Systems Model of the Effects of Training on Physical Performance
🔹 Allen, H., Coggan, A. & McGregor, S. (2019) Training+Racing with a Power Meter, 3rd Edition (pp. 158-160). Boulder: Velopress.
🔹 The Science of the TrainingPeaks Performance Manager on the TrainingPeaks website
Training Stress – a two-sided coin!
