One thing is clear: a “one size fits all” approach to training simply doesn’t work in endurance sports. Training and training plans should be as individual as a fingerprint.
Once you’ve completed the onboarding or set up your new training plan, you’ll find yourself in the enduco app with your personalized training schedule.
The training plan is based on the training impulse theory by Banister & Busso. This model uses performance modeling that balances fitness and fatigue. In this context, fitness is viewed as a positive performance factor that builds and fades slowly over time. Fatigue, on the other hand, is a short-term, training-induced stressor that temporarily reduces performance.
Stress-based training planning – or periodization – aims to manage and adjust training stress (training load) to achieve an optimal level of chronic training load (CTL), also known as long-term fitness. This process unfolds over an extended period and is designed to improve the athlete’s performance and prepare them optimally for race day.
Here’s a detailed explanation of this process:
1. Analyzing Your Current Base Fitness
At the beginning of your training plan, your current fitness level is assessed. enduco determines your fitness based on various factors, primarily your training history. Your base fitness reflects your current starting point — essentially, how much training your body is currently accustomed to. This value, together with your desired weekly training volume, determines how much training will be scheduled for you.
2. Defining the Training Load Target for Race Day
The first step in periodization and training plan creation is setting a specific fitness goal. An athlete can either define a race goal or aim for general performance improvement. Based on this target, a goal fitness level is calculated. In the initial step, this target is assessed for feasibility using the athlete’s current performance metrics (e.g., FTP for cycling or T-Pace for running).
For running, enduco calculates the training load needed to reach your race-day goal by comparing your target time with your current performance level. The greater the gap between your target pace and your current ability, the higher your required training load — and ultimately, your goal fitness — will be set. For cycling, the goal fitness is based on your current threshold power and your race ambitions.
3. Planning Training Sessions Based on Training Load and Fitness Goals
Once your plan highlight or race day is set, enduco schedules efficient training sessions tailored to your goals and available time. Here’s a practical example: an athlete starts with a cycling fitness level of 55 and aims for a goal fitness of 104. To reach that goal, the athlete needs to improve their fitness by 49 points over 14 weeks — that’s an average weekly increase of 3.5 points. The system then checks whether this weekly load and the overall percentage increase are realistically achievable.
4. Fitness Ramp-Rate
The increase in fitness, often referred to as the “ramp rate,” reflects the rate at which training stress increases. A weekly increase of about 3 fitness points is considered moderate and manageable. In our example, a ramp rate of 3.5 points per week falls within a moderate risk zone, based on the athlete’s starting fitness. Elite athletes or those with a long history of endurance training may tolerate higher ramp rates. For most athletes, however, a moderate increase in training load is the key to sustainable progress.
5. Weekly Planning and Training Load Adjustments
Once you’ve set your fitness goal and the desired ramp rate, the detailed weekly planning begins.
enduco designs your training plan to fit you as well as possible. Several factors are considered at the same time – for example:
How your workload is distributed throughout the week
How tired you get from the training
That you don’t get overloaded
Which intensities you’ve trained
Your daily subjective feeling
And of course: how much time you actually have for training
Since there’s no single perfect plan, but many good possibilities, enduco searches through a wide range of options to find the best ones for you. This happens in several steps, where plans are compared, adjusted, and improved – until a plan is created that fits you and your goals as closely as possible.
6. Conclusion
Stress-based periodization is a targeted method that allows training load to be increased gradually in order to maximize athletic performance. By planning and monitoring fitness and training load in line with the athlete’s individual goals, this approach ensures effective stress management and minimizes the risk of injury.