Best Way to Track Endurance Training Progress

What’s the best way to track your endurance training progress as a coach or athlete? Well, one of the most powerful tools available is TrainingPeaks Performance Management Chart (PMC)!

Whether you’re prepping for an Ironman, a marathon, or just trying to level up your training, the PMC helps you visualize how training load is accumulating—and whether it’s translating into improved performance.

 

 

What Is the PMC Chart and How Does it Help You Track Training Progress?

Training Peaks PMC combines training load and fitness data to show how your body is responding to stress over time, allowing you to more closely track your training progress. It’s made up of three key lines:

• Blue line (CTL) – Chronic Training Load, or your long-term fitness trend.
• Pink line (ATL) – Acute Training Load, or your short-term training load (i.e., fatigue).
• Yellow line (TSB) – Training Stress Balance, the difference between CTL and ATL (i.e., freshness).

 

Each data point is built from your individual workout scores using Training Stress Scores (TSS), based on the intensity and duration of the session.

 

 

Load ≠ Fitness (Unless You Check Performance)

While load helps us understand training volume and fatigue, it doesn’t guarantee improved fitness. That’s why layering actual performance metrics—like peak power or pace outputs—on top of the PMC chart is crucial to tracking training progress.

This can only be done in the TrainingPeaks mobile app (not the desktop version). When you flip your phone to landscape mode, you can add dots to your PMC chart that represent your top performances over set durations (e.g., best 30-second, 5-minute, or 3-hour power/pace).

 

See Coach Jim Vance explain how he’s using Training Peaks Performance Management Chart in this video:

 

 

 

Real-World Example: Building to a World Championship

In addition, I used Training Peaks Performance Management Chart with one of my athletes preparing for the Ironman World Championships. I tracked their 2024 training from the offseason in November 2023 through to race day. Here’s what we saw:

• Early in the year: clusters of top 30s and 5-minute power outputs (short duration).
• Mid-season: longer, more race-specific efforts started to dominate.
• By late season: best 60-, 90-, and even 180-minute powers emerged, aligning with long-course demands.

 

This shift confirmed our training was progressing properly—not just increasing load, but translating it into event-specific performance.

 

Tracking Your Running Training Progress

You can apply the same method we used to track triathlon training progress to your running data. For example, one athlete’s run chart showed clusters of best paces during a critical block in spring. We could track not just how fatigued they were, but how their performances were trending—critical for adjusting training before it’s too late.

 

 

Bonus: Compare Year Over Year

You can also overlay previous seasons in the mobile app to evaluate year-over-year training progress. Just be careful not to zoom out too far, or the chart gets cluttered.

 

 

Final Thoughts

Training Peaks Performance Management Chart (PMC) is a staple tool for 80/20 Endurance athletes and coaches alike to track training progress. However, the real power comes when you add performance outputs to the mix. Don’t just track load—track what the load is producing.

 

Pro Tip: Use the TrainingPeaks mobile app to enable these features. Edit your settings to include the durations you want to track, and start looking for performance clusters that match your race goals.

 

Need help making sense of your PMC chart or building race-specific fitness?
Check out our 80/20 training plans or connect with a coach!