I started back on the bike around new years… since then my strain has accumulated and I’m at two starts, just peeking into the third star. Am I right in thinking that my strain is now not counting rides from January (42 days > 6 weeks > end of Jan) and now I have to replace February’s training at a higher rate in order to increase the accumulated strain?
Or looking at it another way, I need to log a higher rate of XSS per week in order to keep TL increasing, and it will not increase as quickly as it was because the old rides no longer “count”?
Progression is directly related to ATP (TED, Continuous, Challenge) and your IR (improvement rate) setting. You are always moving forward on a continuum.
XATA and the pacer needle provide guidelines to increase TL over time assuming your IR is set greater than 0 (Slow rate or higher). You can boost XSS per week if you increase your ramp rate. Eventually you’ll reach the maximum hours/week you can comfortably commit to training, or the load becomes too much and need to take a rest week and reduce IR (Taper or Off-Season). However, even with ramp rate set to 0 (Maintenance) you can increase XSS per week by performing more high intensity work. That’s possible as long as you have a solid base, are recovering well, and have the desire to go hard more often.
Reference –
Plus: Beginner’s Guide: Improvement Rate – Xert (baronbiosys.com)