CTL
chronic training load
A 42-day exponentially weighted average of training load — a measure of the fitness you have built.
CTL rises slowly and falls slowly. That mirrors how adaptation works: weeks of training build something a single rest day will not take away — and that a week before a race cannot conjure up.
Being exponentially weighted means yesterday’s session counts for more than one from a month ago. That is what makes the number responsive rather than a plain sum.
Absolute values depend on how you measure load. Trenaio computes it from sRPE, so do not compare your CTL with numbers from apps using power-based TSS — that is a different scale.
What to do about it
- Watch the direction, not the value. Rising CTL with steady wellbeing is a good run.
- Growth faster than 5-8 points a week usually outruns your capacity to recover.
- A drop in CTL during the taper is intentional and does not mean losing fitness.
A common misconception
“The higher the CTL, the better the result.”
CTL speaks to volume, not to freshness or specificity. An athlete with high CTL and deeply negative TSB will race worse than someone with lower CTL who arrived rested.
Related terms
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