This is a paid Wahoo subscription feature. The Training Progress panel on the Today tab and DTL summary panel are available to non-subscribers, but further data analysis requires a paid Wahoo subscription or active trial.
Short Term Load (STL) and Long Term Load (LTL) are two of of the new Fitness Metrics Wahoo has released to provide a more complete picture of the impact of your training on the various dimensions of your fitness, your capacity to train, and your overall fitness when compared to simple FTP and other existing cycling metrics or running analytics.
For a summary explanation of all the new metrics together, see Wahoo Fitness Metrics explained.
Short Term Load [STL]
Short term load (STL) describes the total training load you have accumulated in approximately the last week as an average of the Dimensional Training Load (DTL) values of all activities in that period. Each load contributor is weighted individually to reflect how different intensity loads affect short-term fatigue. (ex. 100 DTL from high-intensity MAP/AC efforts will leave you more fatigued for several days than 100 DTL from steady TP training.)
Because training load analysis is primarily focused on physiological adaptation from accumulated training load over time, and because most training benefits take longer than a week to develop, Short Term Load only appears in the app as a trend line on the Fitness and Training Capacity graph, accessed from the Training Progress details page, from the Training Progress panel on the Today tab.
Today Tab > Fitness card > View Chart > Fitness Score / Training Capacity
Short Term Load [STL] is nonetheless a critical value in the calculation of our Training Capacity [TC] and Fitness Score metrics.
For more details on how Short Term Load is used, see Training Capacity [TC] and Fitness Score.
Long Term Load [LTL]
Long term load [LTL] provides a long-term view of the total impact of your training. It is a rolling average of your composite DTL values over several months, with adjustments made for the differences in decay rates of the 4DP®/3DP® component categories. Like with with the calculation of Short Term Load [STL], individual DTL load contributors are weighted separately when calculating Long Term Load [LTL].
Long Term Load doesn’t represent fitness level, but instead shows the amount of work you’ve done over time training each 4DP®/3DP® dimension. Each load contributor is weighted differently and a decay rate is applied, based on how long its physiological adaptations typically last. Some gains fade faster than others.
Threshold Pace (TP) capacity builds the slowest but lingers longest when training decreases. Higher-intensity work (MAP, AC, or NM efforts) adds to LTL faster but those benefits also fade faster if you stop targeting those systems. A higher LTL value reflects consistent training volume and indicates you can handle greater short-term training loads. Because of the math involved, LTL takes about 90 days of regular training to stabilize into a true long-term measure.
Data display in the app - Training Trends
Technically not a metric, the Training Trends data visualization presents your composite Long Term Load (total LTL broken down into the four key 4DP®/3DP® dimensions: Threshold Power/Pace (TP), Maximum Aerobic Power/Pace (MAP), Anaerobic Capacity (AC), and Neuromuscular (NM)) on a given date and across a time window (looking backward from today) that you select (1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years). It allows you to view the impact of your training to the 4DP®/3DP® component categories over time.
The Training Trends panel will display a gain (from training load accumulated by workouts) or loss (due to adaptive decay) value for each 4DP®/3DP® category across the time window currently selected (1 week, 1 month, etc).
You can also select various points in time along the X axis of the graph, which will then display the Long Term Load [LTL] value for each 4DP®/3DP® category at that point in time, and provide a list of activities completed in the interval immediately before that date with their total DTL score, duration, and 4DP®/3DP® training load distribution with a link to the Activity Details page for each activity.
Access Training Trends
To access the Training Trends data visualization panel, navigate to the Today tab, select the Training Trends button. Once on the Training Trends page, you can select your preferred time window for analysis.
Wahoo app > Today > Training Trends
The metrics are also visible in the SYSTM app.
SYSTM > Home > Training Trends
For more details on Dimensional Training Load [DTL], see Dimensional Training Load (DTL).
For more details on how Short Term Load [STL] and Long Term Load [LTL] are used in calculating your Training Capacity [TC] and Fitness Score, see Training Capacity [TC] and Fitness Score.