The Effects of Overtraining Part II

As I love discussing training methods, conditioning and recovery I often find myself saying “Mel wait remember what happened the last time you did this”. If you ever wondered if you are overtraining consider the following symptoms:

~Persistent muscle soreness, Persistent fatigue, Elevated resting heart rate
~Reduced heart rate variability, Increased susceptibility to infections
~Increased incidence of injuries, Irritability,Depression
~Mental breakdown

It can be very frustrating when you “Think” you are putting in all of this hard work and not seeing any results; in some cases your performances are worst. How to bounce back from overtraining? Keep it fun, leave the watch\GPS home, take a break from racing, began encouraging others to reach their athletic goals and simply rest which is difficult for most runners. Here are other symptoms that are common with overtraining:

~Loss of appetite, Physiological, Excessive weight loss, Excessive loss of body fat
~Mood Disturbance, Increased resting heart rate, Decreased muscular strength
~Inability to complete workouts, Chronic muscle soreness, Increased incidence of injury
~Depressed immune system.

Most overtraining experiences are subtle. It creeps up, training can be going really well, next thing you know you are trying to figure out why your performance was not what you expected, especially when previous weeks you were strong. Every runner is different and respond differently to intensity and rest. So as little and as long you have been running it is critical to learn how you respond. Be very very patient returning to soon will have you sidelined longer than expected.

Happy Running

Mel