What Is Training Load-Based Planning and How to Build It?

Running is a little like a mathematical equation. Every training session generates a certain amount of training load — and therefore fatigue. If we do not give our body enough time to recover, or if subsequent sessions are too demanding, fatigue will start to accumulate.

The key question, then, is: how much training load can we handle, and when should we rest?

A good example is Ben Dhiman, winner of UTMB Mont-Blanc 2026. The American, who lives and trains in France, was able to train for as much as 25 hours a week. Even in July, just one month before the race, his training load was at its highest level. But he could afford this because training is part of his professional life. His recovery capacity and daily schedule are very different from those of most recreational runners.

Recreational training can be harder than it looks.

Most recreational runners have jobs, household and family responsibilities, and often many other commitments. Recovery does not happen only when we are not running. Our bodies also have to cope with work-related stress, lack of sleep, daily responsibilities and everything else that comes with everyday life.

In that sense, managing training can actually be more difficult for a recreational runner than for a professional athlete.

AMATEURS HAVE IT EVEN HARDER

Still have doubts? Check your Hybrid Charge. How does your energy level look in the morning and evening on workdays compared with the weekend?

The more your daily life consumes your energy, the more valuable data on your training load can become. There are at least three major benefits:

  • First, you can manage your training more effectively while building your base and then make a smoother transition into the specific preparation period for your target race.
  • Second, you can better prepare for the most important key sessions in your training cycle. The data can also help you understand why a particular workout went worse than expected — or, conversely, why it went surprisingly well.
  • Third, you can manage your taper more effectively before your most important race and increase your chances of being in the right shape on race day. In this sense, how you perform on race day does not have to be entirely random or left solely to chance.

To start using Training Load data consciously, however, we first need to understand what training load actually is and how short-term fatigue differs from long-term fatigue.

DECODING TL

Every training session places a certain load on the body. Training Load analysis uses, among other things, EPOC — Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption, or the additional amount of oxygen consumed after exercise.

The principle is simple: the longer and more intense the workout, the greater the oxygen demand and, consequently, the higher the training load.

For example, a relaxed 40-minute run in the first or second-lowest heart-rate zone may generate a Training Load of around 100–150 EPOC. A hard 10 km tempo run in the fourth zone may generate around 600–700 EPOC. Meanwhile, a long run lasting close to two hours and performed in zones two to three could generate around 1,000–1,500 EPOC.

As a result, after four or five training sessions, your accumulated training load at the end of the week, taking recovery into account, could exceed 2,000 EPOC.

Of course, this does not mean that we can accurately predict the final Training Load of a workout before we start it. The final value will depend, among other things, on your actual heart rate and weather conditions.

Regularly monitoring TL, however, allows you to develop a better understanding of the load generated by different types of training sessions.

In the Zepp App, you can check your Training Load after every running workout, using data from watches such as the Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro or Amazfit Active 3 Premium. With regular monitoring, you can learn what kind of load to expect from an easy run, a hard key session or a long run.

This knowledge can help you manage your planned workouts in real time.

So how does it work?

Imagine that you finish a week with a training load exceeding 2,000 EPOC. Is it really a good idea to start the following week with another very hard session if you already have another demanding workout planned for the weekend?

That first hard session at the beginning of the new week could push your Training Load and fatigue even higher. As a result, your body may not have enough time to recover, and by the weekend you may no longer have enough energy to complete another high-quality workout.

That is why it is so important to monitor Training Load continuously and not be afraid to adjust your plan according to your current level of fatigue — while also keeping in mind what you are scheduled to train several days later.

The relationship is relatively simple: as training load increases, fatigue increases as well. When training load decreases, fatigue begins to drop and the body has a chance to recover.

But there is one important thing to remember: how quickly and how significantly fatigue decreases depends not only on your recent training. Sleep, stress, the number of hours you spend at work, illness and even age can all play a role.

HOW TO UNDERSTAND ATL AND CTL

These factors will also determine whether, and how quickly, your fatigue level decreases. You can monitor this trend in the Zepp App. The Exertion analysis illustrates fluctuations in fatigue from two different time perspectives.

One line represents fatigue accumulating over a short-term period — roughly one week. This is ATL, or Acute Training Load.

The other represents fatigue and training load accumulated over the previous 42 days. This is CTL, or Chronic Training Load.

You can think of it this way: ATL tells us more about what is happening to the body right now, while CTL reflects the effect of training loads that have accumulated over a longer period.

The relationship between the two is the most important part.

If ATL is significantly higher than CTL, short-term fatigue is greater than the level of load your body has become accustomed to over the longer term. You are therefore more likely to feel overloaded.

If, on the other hand, CTL is higher than ATL, your current training load is lower relative to what your body has become accustomed to over the longer term. This is a situation that generally favors greater freshness.

In the Zepp App, this relationship translates into your training status, presented on a five-level scale:

Relaxed → Energized → Balanced → Optimal → Overloaded

This means you can not only see what is happening with your training load, but also anticipate where your current condition is heading. And that gives you the opportunity to manage your training more consciously.

HOW TO USE ATL AND CTL TO PLAN YOUR TRAINING

Of course, there are some basic principles worth following regardless of what the data says:

  • First, key sessions — in other words, harder workouts — should make up a clear minority of all your training sessions. Hard workouts targeting strength, endurance or speed should be complemented by plenty of easy and recovery runs.
  • Second, harder days should be separated by easier sessions. Your body needs time to respond to the training stimulus.
  • Third, after two or three weeks of training, it is worth scheduling an easier period: reduce your mileage and the number of key sessions. The goal is simple — allow your body to recover and bring Training Load and fatigue down significantly. If you do not, the risk of injury, overtraining and accumulating mental fatigue increases. And it may turn out that an easier week should come not after three weeks, but after just one.

Your training plan should be a framework, not something you have to follow at all costs. Data on TL, ATL and CTL allows you to respond to what is actually happening in your body.

3 STAGES OF PREPARATION FOR YOUR KEY RACE

Preparation for an important race can, broadly speaking, be divided into three periods:

  1. Base building
  2. Specific race preparation
  3. Tapering, or reducing training load and building freshness before race day

Each of these stages is characterized by different levels of Training Load, fatigue and training status. At the same time, each stage comes with different risks that can be reduced — and sometimes even avoided — by monitoring TL, ATL and CTL.

Base building is the longest stage of the preparation process. This is where we primarily develop strength and endurance. During this period, training load will gradually increase, along with your fitness level.

In the Zepp App, fitness level is represented by the same line that shows long-term fatigue, or CTL.

If your training is appropriately planned, your training status during this period will often fall within the Balanced or Optimal range. If Overloaded appears, however, this should be treated as a warning signal.

In this situation, it is worth immediately reducing your training load — taking an unplanned break or opting for shorter, easy recovery runs for two or three days to allow yourself to return to balance.

The risk of becoming overloaded is particularly high at the beginning of a training cycle.

After a long break, or when you are just starting to run, even easy workouts can place a significant load on your body. One indication may be an unusually high heart rate during an effort that should subjectively feel easy.

If you ignore this and introduce hard workouts too soon, you can quickly find yourself in an Overloaded state.

That is why, during the base-building phase, easy running should form the foundation of your training. You can complement it with strides, short accelerations or hill repetitions, but there is no need to introduce demanding sessions such as long intervals or hard tempo runs straight away.

BUILD THE FOUNDATION FIRST

Once your base has been established, you move into the specific preparation phase for your target race. This is when more demanding sessions are introduced: progressive runs, tempo runs and long intervals.

At this point, it is particularly useful to monitor ATL and CTL before these key sessions.

If you can see that your fatigue level is still high, perhaps the easy runs you have planned on your workdays, before a tempo session at the weekend, should be even easier — and perhaps a little shorter.

That way, you will be able to complete the important workout in the right condition.

Finally comes tapering — the short period when you aim to build freshness before race day. It usually lasts two to three weeks.

At this stage, you no longer want to build another level of training load. You want to get rid of accumulated fatigue while preserving the fitness you have already developed.

That is why the relationship between ATL and CTL becomes particularly important during the taper.

You should aim for short-term fatigue to fall below your long-term fatigue level.

In other words, your body should receive the signal that training load is decreasing, allowing the time and resources previously devoted to coping with training stress to be redirected toward recovery.

This is the moment when you want to arrive at the start line as fresh as possible — fully energized and ready to perform.

MANAGE YOUR PLAN

Using TL, ATL and CTL data is not a magic formula for achieving a result. The human body is more complicated than a single number or graph.

But these metrics can reveal something extremely valuable: a trend.

You can see whether your training load is increasing or decreasing. You can check whether short-term fatigue is beginning to rise too far above long-term fatigue. You can recognize that it may be time to take a step back before a key session, or that after several weeks of hard training, it is time to recover.

Most importantly, you can begin to understand the relationship between training, fatigue, recovery and fitness.

Because effective training is not about doing as much as possible. It is about doing as much as you can — and should — at the right time.TL, ATL and CTL data can be extremely helpful in making that happen.

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