Is there a reason peak XSS is linked to the number of hours I’m available on a day?
For reference: when I need to do interval trainings on my “normal” days those are days I can ride for more than 3 hours, and I usually get something from 3 - 3.4 peak TSS to do. I manage to do those in the first 30-45 minutes of my ride.
When I have less time however I see the amount of XSS is lowered across all 3 buckets. Here you see what happens when I change my availability on today to 3 different durations:
my question is: since hard days are supposed to be hard in a polarised training program, and I still have more than an hour availability even in the lowest setting, I don’t understand why I shouldn’t be able to get and do 3+ peak XSS. This will lead to a more effective workout in that shorter amount of time, and I will get the low XSS on my other days when I ride endurance pace for 3+ hours. If I follow the proposition given I will need to “catch up” on that peak XSS on other days in the week or my weekly peak training load will be too low. It makes more sense for a short session to be harder than to have a minimum of peak XSS and fill the rest of the ride with low intensity that won’t even last long enough to have true zone 2 benefits because the ride is only 1 hour or 1.5 hours in total.
That’s based on average power and lumps all your training into one dimension. We separate strain into 3 dimensions based on work performed, relative to MPA.