178: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Chronic Training Load (CTL)

Fast Talk

CTL. Chronic Training Load has rapidly gained in popularity among endurance athletes, but how well understood is this complex metric? Today we discuss the benefits of CTL, as well as the issues that can arise if too much stock is placed in this one number.

CTL can tell you the general level you’re at, and more importantly, it can indicate trends in your training and help direct your training plan. But is this little acronym quickly replacing FTP as the metric of reference? Indeed, many people seem to think of it as an indication of how strong they are. But should they? Are there any dangers to doing so? As always, we start by taking a step back and defining how it is calculated and what assumptions and estimates it is based on.

Today, Trevor and I discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of CTL. Ultimately, we want to try and answer as many of the questions we’ve received about this metric as possible, and help illustrate why a focus on training principles, rather than any single number, is much more effective for creating adaptations and seeing gains.

As we always do on our summary episodes, we hear from a world-class group of coaches, scientists, and athletes, including Tim Cusick, Larry Warbasse, Joe Friel, Dr. Stephen Seiler, Dr. Iñigo San Millan, Kendra Wenzel and others.

 

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