In threads where training philosophy comes up, discussions of TRIMPS and TSS and other training models occasionally intrude. These models are not very well known, and even more poorly understood, so probably SolarEnergy, qbrain and I are just talking to each other and killing threads in those conversations. In any case, I figured I would present a brief overview of what it is that we're talking about when this terminology starts showing up.
Best case, this will introduce these models to the subset of swimmers (or coaches) who would be interested enough to use them, but didn't previously know enough to do so.
Plus, even if you're not the type to be interested in quantifying your training, it can be useful to think about workouts in this general framework.
And, at the very least, this might serve as a place to discuss some of the details without worrying about driving those other threads too far off-topic.
There's a reason that the time constant for acute fatigue is 7-15 days in these models. It's because that's what has been found to fit the rate of recovery in the athletes these models were fitted to. And this is just a decay constant -- not the time required for full recovery!
In my field, the rule of thumb is often 5 time constants for a process to be considered "complete." So we're talking 5-10 weeks for full recovery from acute fatigue. Are we equating this with "overtraining" or "normal training?"
I know people who were severely overtrained who needed months to recover (unfortunately they often didn't rest completely during the recovery...after all, these are people with a tendency to overtrain...)
There's a reason that the time constant for acute fatigue is 7-15 days in these models. It's because that's what has been found to fit the rate of recovery in the athletes these models were fitted to. And this is just a decay constant -- not the time required for full recovery!
In my field, the rule of thumb is often 5 time constants for a process to be considered "complete." So we're talking 5-10 weeks for full recovery from acute fatigue. Are we equating this with "overtraining" or "normal training?"
I know people who were severely overtrained who needed months to recover (unfortunately they often didn't rest completely during the recovery...after all, these are people with a tendency to overtrain...)
