By request I'm starting a thread to discuss the example spreadsheet I use for tracking fitness, fatigue and form using TSS (Training Stress Score) values.
Here's my post from the Audax thread about fitness and recovery:-
The really scientific answer would lie in knowing the TSS values from every ride (and other strenuous activity you do) and then keeping track of your ATL, CTL and TSB values.
Knowing the TSS for each activity requires either a power meter and knowledge of your FTP, or an HRM and something that calculates HR-TSS.
The general principle of (cycling) TSS is that an hour at FTP = 100 TSS.
So 2 hours at 50% FTP also = 100TSS.
A typical 200km Audax I'm averaging about 50%-60% FTP, so if I'm moving for 10h of that then that's 500-600 TSS.
(As you get fitter you'll find that you need to go further/faster/etc to get the same TSS load as your fitness improves.)
With that you can work out CTL (Chronic Training Load = Fitness), ATL (Acute Training Load = Fatigue) and TSB (Training Stress Balance = Form).
(stolen from my post on LFGSS)
Most systems like PMC/F&F work on the same principles:-
Fitness is based on the last 42 days data.
Fatigue is based on the last 7 days data.
Form is yesterday's fitness - yesterday's fatigue
I do all of mine in a spreadsheet now. The tricky bit is accurately calculating the various TSS scores. The CTL/ATL figures are relatively easy:-
Today's CTL (fitness) is 41/42 of yesterday's fitness, plus 1/42 of today's total TSS score(s).
Today's ATL (fatigue) is 6/7 of yesterday's fatigue, plus 1/7 of today's total TSS score(s).
Today's TSB (form) is yesterday's CTL - yesterday's ATL
Here's a sample Google Docs spreadsheet I made to do it:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1e4I1V7fdzyzkvbtfjiuDTbqbifBfJyFn6fnu4DzC848/edit#gid=0The point of training is to ramp up CTL, but not too fast that your ATL also builds up and leaves you knackered (big -ve TSB). Then you get to tapering where you will lose a bit of fitness (CTL) but lose more fatigue (ATL) and so you hit your target race/ride/whatever with a big +ve form (TSB).
Finally, here's my data for 2014-2016 plotted on a chart (PMC = Performance Management Chart):-
http://www.greenbank.org/misc/pmc2014_2016.pngYou can see me start to try and get fit from September 2014 as my daughter started school and I had a day off to beast myself. The blue (fitness) line starts to rise up nicely. It tailed off for Christmas, then a bit of an effort to kick it off again after the new year. The big fatigue spikes are Audaxes (Ditchling Devil in June I think). There's also another attempt to get fit in the first few months of 2016 but then it tails off and I lose a considerable chunk of my fitness before the big spike in late July which was the Mersey Roads 24h TT.
I had hoped to get my CTL up to >100, which means at least an hour at FTP every day (or 2 hours at 50% FTP every day). Never quite got there though.
(Mine is more complicated now as I'm mixing in running, swimming and cycling. Not all TSS are created equal!)
Anyway. This is more than the vast majority of Audaxers ever consider, but it's the scientific basis behind fitness, fatigue and form - which are the essential parts of recovery.
I'll update this post with more details as the discussion goes on...