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Key Training Metrics

Stride uses scientifically-backed metrics to help you train smarter. Here’s what each metric means and how to use it effectively.

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Training Score (TS)

Your Training Score is a measure of how much training stress a single workout creates. It’s based on:
  • Workout duration
  • Workout intensity (power or heart rate)
  • Your current fitness level (FTP or threshold heart rate)
Think of it this way: A Training Score of 100 represents roughly the most you could do for 1 hour.

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Training Score Guidelines

  • Recovery Ride: 20-40 TS
  • Endurance Ride: 50-80 TS
  • Tempo Workout: 80-120 TS
  • Hard Interval Session: 100-150 TS
  • Long Endurance Ride: 150-250 TS
  • Epic/Race Day: 250+ TS

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Load

Load represents your cumilative training over time - it’s your average Training Score over the past 42 days with some other fancy math.

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Understanding Load

  • Increasing Load = Building load and consistency
  • Stable Load = Maintaining your training

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Load Levels for Cyclists

  • 30-50: Recreational rider, 3-5 hours/week
  • 50-70: Enthusiast, 5-8 hours/week
  • 70-90: Serious amateur, 8-12 hours/week
  • 90-120: Competitive amateur, 12-15 hours/week
  • 120+: Elite/Professional level
Don’t increase Load by more than 5-7 points per week to avoid overtraining. This can often lead to illness.

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Fatigue

Fatigue shows the short term balance and stress of your training - it’s your average Training Score over the past 7 days, with yet again, more fancy math.

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Fatigue Zones

  • -30 or lower: Very fatigued, high risk of overtraining
  • -20 to -30: Building fitness, feeling tired
  • -10 to -20: Optimal training zone
  • -5 to -10: Fresh, ready to race
  • 0 to +5: Peak form for important events
  • +5 or higher: Losing fitness, need more training
Target a Fatigure of -5 to +5 for important races, but don’t stay there too long or you’ll lose fitness. You should try to stay in the green on the graph, but it’s good to dip into the red on training blocks.

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FTP (Functional Threshold Power)

Your FTP is the maximum power you can sustain for approximately one hour. It’s the foundation for:
  • Setting training zones
  • Calculating Training Score
  • Tracking fitness improvements

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Testing Your FTP

  1. 20-minute test: Ride as hard as possible for 20 minutes, multiply average power by 0.95
  2. Ramp test: Available in the Stride app
  3. From recent efforts: Stride can estimate from your hard rides

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Heart Rate Metrics

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Threshold Heart Rate

The heart rate you can sustain for approximately one hour, similar to FTP but for heart rate training.

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Resting Heart Rate

Your heart rate upon waking, before getting out of bed. Lower generally indicates better fitness.

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Max Heart Rate

Your maximum achievable heart rate. Update this if you see higher values during very hard efforts.

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Power Curves

Your Power Curve shows your best power output for every duration from 1 second to several hours.

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Key Durations

  • 5 seconds: Neuromuscular power (sprinting)
  • 1 minute: Anaerobic capacity
  • 5 minutes: VO2 max efforts
  • 20 minutes: Threshold power indicator
  • 60 minutes: True threshold/FTP

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Other Important Metrics

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W’ (W-prime)

Your anaerobic battery - how much work you can do above FTP before exhaustion.

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HRV (Heart Rate Variability)

Day-to-day variation indicates recovery status (synced from Whoop if connected).

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Using Metrics Together

The real power comes from understanding how metrics relate:
  1. High Training Score + High Fatigue = Take a recovery day
  2. Increasing Load + Stable Fatigue = Good progressive training
  3. Power Curve Improvements = Training is working!
Remember: Metrics guide training decisions but always listen to your body. Feeling terrible with “good” numbers? Rest anyway.

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Next Steps

Load and Fatigue Management

Deep dive into balancing training stress

Setting Your Zones

Configure your training zones correctly