Been a rough 3-4 months…been swamped with work and family obligations and frankly had lost motivation to train - really the only lapse in training I’ve had in 5 years. As I’m trying to get back into a routine, I’ve obviously lost what feels like pretty much all fitness. I’m assuming others have gone through this - my schedule is more flexible as I’m now wfh full time and my motivation for training and building to next year is coming back. Any thoughts on how long it will take to build back fitness if I maintain consistency and decent volume (10-12 hr/wk)?
Been a rough 3-4 months…been swamped with work and family obligations and frankly had lost motivation to train - really the only lapse in training I’ve had in 5 years. As I’m trying to get back into a routine, I’ve obviously lost what feels like pretty much all fitness. I’m assuming others have gone through this - my schedule is more flexible as I’m now wfh full time and my motivation for training and building to next year is coming back. Any thoughts on how long it will take to build back fitness if I maintain consistency and decent volume (10-12 hr/wk)?
What does regaining fitness mean?
Edit: Mean to you specifically - are you trying to re-hit certain benchmarks or times?
It kinda depends on what you mean by “back”. It also probably depends on your age.
I did a similar thing over the summer. It took about 4 weeks for it to stop “sucking”. It took another 4 weeks to feel like an athlete… And, another 4 weeks to be close to where I was before the layoff. I’m not quite back… But, pretty close.
I’m 51. If you are younger, you’ll probably bounce back faster.
It kinda depends on what you mean by “back”. It also probably depends on your age.
I did a similar thing over the summer. It took about 4 weeks for it to stop “sucking”. It took another 4 weeks to feel like an athlete… And, another 4 weeks to be close to where I was before the layoff. I’m not quite back… But, pretty close.
I’m 51. If you are younger, you’ll probably bounce back faster.
Yep I’m 44. By regaining fitness, I mean back to being competitive in my AG which I was.
Any thoughts on how long it will take to build back fitness if I maintain consistency and decent volume (10-12 hr/wk)?
my thoughts are it doesn’t matter. You are where you are now. You know where you want to go. All that’s left to do is embrace the process and one day you’ll wake up and you’ll be there. Hopefully the process gives you happiness and fulfillment along the way in addition to fitness.
Hopeful and content.
Having had many blocks of inactivity over the last few decades due to injury or other conflicts that took me out of training for a while, I agree with this answer wholeheartedly. For me it’s all about the journey, and if I’m not enjoying the process and the training there’s no race result that’s going to make it worth it.
That said, purely as a thought experiment I’m wondering what Training Peaks has to say about this question. It appears to me that if you suddently were to stop training completely, CTL drop is some sort of exponential decay function, whereas CTL ramp rate while training regularly is more linear. Just eyeballing periods of steady training vs periods of inactivity in my TP calendar, it appears to me that getting back to a given CTL takes about twice as long (assuming a sustainable CTL ramp rate) as losing it takes. But, being a MOP’er I’ve never been at a CTL that many folks here are at when they’re “fit” so my CTL decay rate may bottom out faster as it approaches zero sooner.
really the only lapse in training I’ve had in 5 years.//
This is good training for when you get to be over 55, these lapses seem to happen every 6 to 12 months. In the meantime enjoy the streaks of good training your body now allows you to do. How long, that depends on so many things, but as Eric said, just enjoy the process getting back, and then hopefully advancing yourself…
EricMPro nailed it in terms of the mental approach most likely to result in your best outcome. That said, in answer to the question you asked…10-12hrs/wk consistent training will have you dropping lifetime best performances by April or May.
That said, purely as a thought experiment I’m wondering what Training Peaks has to say about this question. It appears to me that if you suddently were to stop training completely, CTL drop is some sort of exponential decay function, whereas CTL ramp rate while training regularly is more linear. Just eyeballing periods of steady training vs periods of inactivity in my TP calendar, it appears to me that getting back to a given CTL takes about twice as long (assuming a sustainable CTL ramp rate) as losing it takes. But, being a MOP’er I’ve never been at a CTL that many folks here are at when they’re “fit” so my CTL decay rate may bottom out faster as it approaches zero sooner.
CTL decays with a 42-day time scale (base e) if you don’t train. So after 12 weeks of inactivity you’re down to e^{-2} = 13% of what your “fitness” was on the day you stopped exercising, and after 16 weeks it’s down to 7%.
That said, I think there are much longer time scales in the approach to peak fitness – at least for running. I’ve got to imagine this is also true for cyclists and swimmers who have deep bases that stretch back many years. Before embarking on year-round running over the past few years, I’d always been a seasonal runner and I had done a few summer-fall marathon training cycles. Years following fall marathons, regardless of what I did over following winter (CTL certainly falling to near 0!), led to my best races and most reliable PRs. Some elite athletes take months off at the end of a training cycle, and they are certainly not starting from scratch regardless of what their CTL is.
Thanks! Very interesting.
That said, purely as a thought experiment I’m wondering what Training Peaks has to say about this question. It appears to me that if you suddently were to stop training completely, CTL drop is some sort of exponential decay function, whereas CTL ramp rate while training regularly is more linear. Just eyeballing periods of steady training vs periods of inactivity in my TP calendar, it appears to me that getting back to a given CTL takes about twice as long (assuming a sustainable CTL ramp rate) as losing it takes. But, being a MOP’er I’ve never been at a CTL that many folks here are at when they’re “fit” so my CTL decay rate may bottom out faster as it approaches zero sooner.
CTL decays with a 42-day time scale (base e) if you don’t train. So after 12 weeks of inactivity you’re down to e^{-2} = 13% of what your “fitness” was on the day you stopped exercising, and after 16 weeks it’s down to 7%.
That said, I think there are much longer time scales in the approach to peak fitness – at least for running. I’ve got to imagine this is also true for cyclists and swimmers who have deep bases that stretch back many years. Before embarking on year-round running over the past few years, I’d always been a seasonal runner and I had done a few summer-fall marathon training cycles. Years following fall marathons, regardless of what I did over following winter (CTL certainly falling to near 0!), led to my best races and most reliable PRs. Some elite athletes take months off at the end of a training cycle, and they are certainly not starting from scratch regardless of what their CTL is.
So what is the decline of you stop running but continue some biking. When you do return to running what’s the damage?
it took me from late july to probably late september to feel “fit” after a couple of years of exercising. my timeline is something like:
2009-2016 : train as much as possible (16-20hrs / week, race 10-15x per year mostly sprint/oly/half)
2016-summer 2019: “train” sporadically, occassionally have “hero” workouts with buddies then be dead for a few days, be “fit” but never in 3 sports at once, etc
summer 2019 - now: train for an IM, it took probably 2 months of 11-14hrs/week to feel fit again
Did you start already? If not, start today
Have fun building again.
I know you want to be fit again, but the journey back is what’s really fun. You’ll hit “PRs†every week for the next 12ish weeks. I’m jealous 
I’m in a similar situation. I’ve fallen off my training this year initially due to a few minor injuries which then transitioned into work/family obligations which now has me being in the worst shape i’ve been in for 3 years. Every workout is a struggle mentally and physically. Just chiming in to let you know you’re not alone as well to hear feedback from others that have been through this and got back to and beyond where they were.
CTL is not fitness.
Rule of thumb I’ve always heard is it takes twice as long to regain fitness. This may just be folks way of encouraging you to stay fit rather than have to regain it.
My issue isn’t getting back to where I was, it’s always lamenting where I could have gone if I hadn’t stopped.
I agree with others to enjoy the process as much as possible.
I think this is the right attitude. The fact is, you will likely see very frequent gains-embrace and enjoy those rather than lament that you are not where you once were/want to be.
CTL is an attempt to quantify fitness. I’m just wondering how accurately the CTL algorithm reflects the real world in situations like the one the OP is asking about.