But, I believe I said, "extended" durations or "steep" ramps. Of course, I am going senile from too many concussions, so, who knows.

If we accept the basic premise that CTL is a proxy for "fitness", and ATL "fatigue", then whenever you are building fitness, the ATL will need to be above the CTL, that's the only way CTL can climb if TSB = CTL - ATL. If ATL is not above CTL, you are merely maintaining fitness, or losing it. That being said, CTL can climb slowly or steeply. If CTL is climbing slowly, then extended periods of uninterrupted build are probably ok. If CTL is climbing steeply though, it cannot be sustained for long durations (more than a few weeks) without a blowback. From that graph, your TSB was ~ -30, I believe. If it continues to dive, you will likely get sick or injured.

So, just from eyeballing your low res PMC, the first build, where ATL was above CTL for a while seemed reasonable. The more recent build near the end of the PMC looked a bit dangerous if sustained for more than a few weeks.

Hope that helps.

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Steve

http://www.PeaksCoachingGroup.com

Yes it does, thank you. I have been hovering around sickness for a week or two now and I assume in jury is not too far away! I have been doing a long run for marathon training, which seemed to be okay but in the last couple of weeks added a group ride that is probably a little bit above my standard so I get really pushed in that. My TSS for the ride is greater than my 183 TSS for the long run. Those two together seem to have blown me up a bit.

I am backing off this week, and will skip the group ride until it warms up (more riders when warm and the standard seems a bit slower).

Another questions. Is my fatigue indicated by position of the pink ATL line on the graph itself, or its relation to the blue line? For example, if my CTL rises consistently and reaches where the pink line currently is ..... would my current level of fatigue FEEL the same if the pink line is where it is now, or would it be in relation to the blue line and higher still?

Hope that makes sense. Is fatigue a specific value (an ATL of XXX means you are too fatigued) , or simply a relation to the blue line ( the ATL being way above the blue line means you are too fatigued)

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https://www.pbandjcoaching.com
https://www.thisbigroadtrip.com

The great thing about having higher fitness is that you can handle more training and with the same amount of fatigue. The bad thing about having higher fitness is that you can handle more training with the same amount of fatigue.

Does that answer your question?

(One caveat to that flippant response is this; as fitness increases, your FTP will/should increase. As a result, the same *absolute* workload will elicit a lower ATL with a higher FTP. So, the most honest answer to your question is, "it depends" or "both".)

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Steve

http://www.PeaksCoachingGroup.com