Question for Training Peaks users...

[benb]

I am curious what kind of CTL different folks can manage and what their life situation is.

I'm going to be 39 this month.. I have a 3 year old, am married, and work ~50 hours a week.

This has been a pretty intense 6 month period for me and my CTL is 63 today. I'm on pace for about a 300 hour year, about 5000 miles.

Just googling it sounds like Friel, etc.. say 150 is the approximate limit but I get the impression lots of people might be up by 100?

I mostly feel like I'm right on the edge of doing as much as I can without either messing up at work or annoying my wife. Also just a bit of sometimes being psyched to ride and sometimes wanting to do something else. I had done a good bit more when I was in my 20s and single but not consistently.. I am doing exceptionally well at not overdoing it this year, partly due to some coaching, and partly due to better data analysis. (I did essentially nothing in my 20s other than looking at my HRM during rides, I didn't track mileage much at all.)

I have my big event (at least the only planned one) this weekend and really have no idea what I'll want to do the rest of the season. At least one of my bikes is getting torn down next week for overhaul.

[ftf]

As long as you have a good work/life/ride balance I don't really see what it matters what others are doing, especially people you aren't even competing against, aka me. So I would say stop looking up CTL, TSB and TSS's and worry about your kid and more important things.

[MattTuck]

69 as of today. But it is my second rest day in a row. Was at 73 on Sunday, after 14 consecutive days of riding. ~14 hrs/week during that block.

No kids yet.

I don't worry too much about these numbers. That's why I have a coach. Let him worry about them, and then I reap the rewards. Also, (and he can chime in if he likes), my impression is that the CTL is just one measure of training stress. There are different systems in the body that can be trained. Just going out and focusing on hitting a certain CTL will not necessarily lead to adaptations of the different systems, unless you have a strategy around it.


PS. Good luck on your target event. is it a race?

[benb]

Nah it matters for sure, I do much worse at everything if I don't have the #s to pay attention to. If I end up with a TSSb of -50 that impacts everything a LOT. Worse riding, exhausted at work, grumpy at home.

Indeed I did that once about 3 months ago.. went to -60...

I was -30 about a week ago and felt horrible for a day or so. Sounds like -30 is the low range of what is recommended.

[benb]

Nope just a really tough 134 mile ride. (B2VT) I signed up in the 17mph wave.. probably should have done 18mph but we'll see. I didn't do all that much fast group riding this spring and underestimated just how much easier it is to hold these paces in a group. I've done 2 solo 80 milers, a solo 91 miler, and a group 100 miler in the past 6 weeks. Amazing how much easier it is with the group. The century I did I broke off from the group at mile 85 and had enough juice in the tank to average > 19mph the last 15 miles solo.

Apparently if you're not recording your warmup and cool down that can make your CTL #s seem higher. I always record them, it makes me look slower but keeps me honest. :)

This is the first year I record anything at all really and it's made it way way way more enjoyable for me as I am/was a chronic overtrainer.

[ptourkin]

69 as of today. But it is my second rest day in a row. Was at 73 on Sunday, after 14 consecutive days of riding. ~14 hrs/week during that block.

No kids yet.

I don't worry too much about these numbers. That's why I have a coach. Let him worry about them, and then I reap the rewards. Also, (and he can chime in if he likes), my impression is that the CTL is just one measure of training stress. There are different systems in the body that can be trained. Just going out and focusing on hitting a certain CTL will not necessarily lead to adaptations of the different systems, unless you have a strategy around it.


PS. Good luck on your target event. is it a race?

I agree. The other factors you mentioned are just as important and make for poor comparison. I have no kids and a steadily non-stressful income with time to ride this year. I'm training for a 500 mile race and hover in the mid to high 90's many weeks. If I had your current life and half that CTL, I'd consider myself a beast.

Maybe just focus on a well-rested peak for the race and not your daily CTL. It has been my experience that trusting the plan/coach is a big part of the battle.

[Raffy]

I'm at 70.0 today and I've been riding pretty consistently 5-7 days a week for the last 3 months or so. No racing or plans to race in the near future, just trying to find ways to better myself on the bike.

I'm not stuck up on CTL or any of these numbers but I like to see how they all play into how I feel and how to train and rest. In the 60-70 CTL zone, if I get my TSB into -5 to -10 range or so, I start to feel cooked and crave either a rest day or a really easy day (or two). I don't see myself going much over 70 CTL without adding more hours or intensity which I'm at the top edge of already (for my lifestyle).

[coffeecake]

My CTL is 98. During race season, I fluctuate within +-8 points of 100. This works for me.

I train between 12 and 18 hours a week (which usually includes two races on the weekend). This leaves me with little mental energy for anything other than 40 hours of work and feeding myself.

It sounds like you are doing a good amount of training, considering your family situation. I agree with other commenters -- CTL is only one measure. Huge CTL may indicate nothing more than a lot of time to ride.

[ergott]

I got as high as mid 80s in April. May is routinely a low month for me since I'm busy. It's the first season back with a PM so I don't have a full year's data yet. I am having a good year though.

I think Anything over 60 is pretty consistent.

[Michael Maddox]

I started with a coach 8 weeks ago and just passed 70 this weekend, over the same 8 weeks. Currently, I'm 6-8 hours of committed training per week, which includes 2 days of intervals and 2 endurance rides over the weekend. I don't capture TSS for my runs on my AMT or weight-training sessions.

I'm sure you've seen this, but Joe Friel suggests that a CTL Ramp rate (basically a delta measurement) between 5-8 per week is consistent with a reasonable training schedule.

I wouldn't place TOO much emphasis on the base CTL number...CTL is configurable in the user settings, plus resettable to zero. It's essentially an index used to give you some notion of the comparative workload of your training. I know athletes who reset their CTL every year; others don't. It's only an index to YOUR training capability. As such, your mileage may vary. You will really only know how effective the index is when you compare it to results: rides, races, tests, and the like.

Don't let the numbers pressure you, just consider them, use them as motivation if you can, and move on.

[Raffy]

Talk to me about this yearly CTL reset..... :)