C-reactive protein is the body's general inflammation response. Spikes are normal — they are how you heal from a strain, a cold, a hard week. What matters for recovery is the quiet, persistent baseline between spikes.
What matters most is the direction over time under the same conditions — is the number trending toward the Fit band, or drifting away from it? Your Radar scores every marker 0–100 on the same four-band continuum you see on your report: Fit (90+), Well (50–89), Short of well (26–49), Sick (25 and under). A score of 25 is the diagnosable line at any age. The values below are the age-40 reference — the bands shift with your age and sex, so use the calculator underneath for your own numbers.
The body is supposed to inflame. Acute inflammation is how tissue gets rebuilt after training, how infection is contained, how injury heals. A transient spike in CRP after a hard session or a cold is a system working correctly.
The problem is not the spike — it is the failure to return to baseline. Chronically elevated CRP means the fire never fully goes out. And chronic low-grade inflammation is what silently ages vessels, joints, brain, and mitochondria.
Because CRP rises with any recent illness or hard training, a single high reading means little. One test during a week of flu is meaningless. Two readings 6 weeks apart, outside of illness and hard sessions, is the signal.
This belongs in Recover From Stress because CRP is the clearest chemistry signal of whether your system is winding down. When it does, recovery capacity is preserved. When it doesn't, every other capacity erodes quietly.
The education above is open to everyone. The specific levers — what to actually do to move this marker — are part of the coaching program. Enter your coach password to unlock, or get in touch about becoming a coach.
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