How do you deal with training around Easy TRIMP as VO2max increases?

[t0yz]

Hello everyone,

I just have to ask this question, as it has puzzled me for a while. Some context - been running quite a bit the last 2 years, after a decade+ of reversing all my athleticism from being a basketball player up to like 26, by becoming a sedentary couch potato.

Needless to say, my fitness levels were really bad at the start, in the low 30s, but with some persistence I am now having some 46 VO2max runs if weather's good, and some of my fast kms can go to 50-ish already.

But as VO2max increases, the Easy TRIMP values that I would generally use as a training guide have become more and more unrealistic to the point where I'd have to run like 14kms everyday in a chill tempo pace, and add some strength training, and some walking just to hit 0. At lower VO2max, I'd rest a day, and recover it all with a 17-20 km long run. Now that run would just barely get me to Easy TRIMP 0 and tomorrow I'd have to go again. I am starting to feel these calculations are not realistic, as I imagine proper athletes have 65-70 VO2max (and higher) and Easy TRIMP must be insanely high for them, so even with 2 training sessions/day, they might still come short.

Are people largely not bothering with this figure? Or is it a valuable indicator more for beginners with a low VO2max that will get high TRIMP numbers due to the HR spiking up in the higher zones even in slow runs?

[laufhannes]

Firstly, two important notes:

• (Easy) TRIMP is independ not your VO2max. ATL/CTL/TSB/Easy TRIMP are all based on your trimp values and they are based on heart rate und duration only. In terms of TRIMP, a 1-hour easy run is always the same, no matter what's your 'easy' pace.
• The Easy TRIMP is just a calculation to reach a TSB of 0 which simply means to stay at the current load level. You probably don't want that every single day.

I personally don't look at Easy TRIMP at all. I usually don't put two hard days next to each other and try to get not too low (or too high) values for TSB - or, even simpler: try to keep A:C within 0.8 - 1.3. But all of that is independent of my current VO2max.

Athletes with a high overall load - which implies high Easy TRIMP values - can still have complete rest days (and get a TSB somewhere at +20 afterwards) and will have hard days ending at a TSB of -20. That's fine.

[t0yz]

Firstly, two important notes:

• (Easy) TRIMP is independ not your VO2max. ATL/CTL/TSB/Easy TRIMP are all based on your trimp values and they are based on heart rate und duration only. In terms of TRIMP, a 1-hour easy run is always the same, no matter what's your 'easy' pace.
• The Easy TRIMP is just a calculation to reach a TSB of 0 which simply means to stay at the current load level. You probably don't want that every single day.

I personally don't look at Easy TRIMP at all. I usually don't put two hard days next to each other and try to get not too low (or too high) values for TSB - or, even simpler: try to keep A:C within 0.8 - 1.3. But all of that is independent of my current VO2max.

Athletes with a high overall load - which implies high Easy TRIMP values - can still have complete rest days (and get a TSB somewhere at +20 afterwards) and will have hard days ending at a TSB of -20. That's fine.

Thanks for the details and clarifications!
I probably mis-spoke as I'm not super edified on the technical terms (although I did read on them), so at least for my running journey, at the beginning even a slow jog at 6:30 mins/km pace my HR would go into the "red" zone. These runs at low VO2max/high HR generated a lot of TRIMP. But after 2 years I don't really even run at that pace anymore and even though I increased my mileage (from around 50km/week to about 92 the last month) and pace, the HR generally stays low enough to generate much smaller amounts of TRIMP.
One other interesting "phenomenon" I noticed was on the Calculations/Show Shape graph. Let's say in December last year, I am fairly sure that Fitness CTL and Fatigue were quite high. What were once 100% Fitness, is now 6 months later/with some progress just 80%.
Workload ratio seems to hover around the 0.95 area on a usual day, after my run. I'll listen to your advice and keep that figure more in mind instead, thanks again!