[oliver.heyes]

I recently ran the Snowdon skyline for my long run. I took 3 hours and the rTSS score was 42, compared to the week before where I ran a longer distance with considerably less elevation in 2 hours and scored a rTSS of 161. On both occasions my HR was mostly in the same zone, if anything slightly higher on the skyline… so why the massive difference? I was definitely more tired after the skyline!

Similarly a 4 hour climb gives me a hrTSS of 153 in Z1, but if I register it as a rTSS it scores 9… Not really sure why I get such varying numbers on either of these.

Topic

[John S]

John S on April 29, 2021 at 3:11 am #53484

I imagine that rTSS is accurate for road runs, but that accuracy declines for runs in terrain where pace decreases but effort remains high – which is probably the case with the Snowdon run.

The rTSS is a function of time, pace, elevation etc and there is a section within your account settings to input your threshold pace. So it is also possible that isn’t accurate. I have never calculated or adjusted this number in my account but Training Peaks will still calculate a rTSS if here is no HR data. I ignore rTSS as I either use hrTSS (I have calculated and set my HR threshold) or I manually input a TSS derived from perceived effort, elevation etc.

[rita]

rita on April 30, 2021 at 10:07 am #53523

This page has useful information on TSS & how to adjust it for trails (it suggests using hrTSS and then adjusting it based on certain factors such as the elevation gain or weight carried to account for the higher training stress): https://uphillathlete.com/trainingpeaks-metrics-ctl-tss/

[TerryLui]

TerryLui on April 30, 2021 at 11:22 am #53540

I imagine that rTSS is accurate for road runs, but that accuracy declines for runs in terrain where pace decreases but effort remains high

This page has useful information on TSS & how to adjust it for trails…https://uphillathlete.com/trainingpeaks-metrics-ctl-tss/

What John S & Rita said + be consistent in your method to log/record your workouts.
Play around with it and see what works best for you.

Personally I only use rTSS when there’s some element of “speed” I want to factor into my TSS, so like John S stated…if I’m doing a slow workout (hike/walk) then I go hrTSS

[Reed]

Reed on April 30, 2021 at 11:32 am #53541

I believe that TrainingPeaks will prioritize calculating rTSS over hrTSS, if you have pace zones set for running. If 90% of your training is on relatively flat road, you might benefit from using rTSS and running zones. For most people here, though, that’s not the case. You might be better served by deleting all info in the TrainingPeaks zones settings related to running pace. (I once decided to go back through and clean up several months’ worth of workouts because of this.)

[oliver.heyes]

oliver.heyes on May 4, 2021 at 3:27 pm #53682

You’re almost certainly right on this. My peak paces were set on flatter ground. hrTSS would certainly be more accurate as to how I felt after. I will probably be doing the same with my uphill Z3 intervals too, after reading the other post on this. Definitely seems more representative.

Thanks for your replies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on June 30, 2021 at 9:32 am #55279

rTSS is pretty useless for trail-running terrain. Switch those to hrTSS and/or delete the value that’s entered for rTSS threshold if you’re not training for flat running.