Have you ever overtrained?

too much too soon. started off my 2nd xc season in high school running 17:40 varsity for 5k after putting in some great summer training for the 1st time. I was so tired that by November I ran 19:11 in JV race at the conference meet. I did not take it easy at all in the summer and hammered track workout after track workout. By the time September came I was basically exhausted. That's how hard I worked.

Finally I got plantar faciitis shortly after the 19:11 awful race, and the PF was sort of a blessing because it forced me to take it easy for awhile. I saw a podiatrist and he put me on prescription anti-inflammatories, gave me heavy-@ss orthotics that sucked. I soon found out I was anemic because I had a little bit of blood coming out in the stool area. Finally after the lab results showing I was anemic came in, Coach recommended I not come to practice and take time off completely.

Eventually I came back stronger than ever but this was a really rough time for me.

The medication the podiatrist gave me has a side effect of causing the bleeding so that's probably what caused my anemia. Things were not going well to begin with so I was glad I had a reason to tell the HS coach I needed to take time off.

I no longer take these meds and I no longer wear orthotics. Orthotics suck for me - I really hated them.

I had insomnia for a couple of weeks while I was also training hard, but I don't know if the insomnia caused the overtraining or the overtraining the insomnia.

Had overtraining symptoms in the fall/winter of last year...I overtrained hardcore. I was injured over the summer then the first day I got to college I started running hard twice a day, for at least 10 miles a day. I had never been above 50 miles a week, and I tried to go from zero miles in the past 2 weeks to 70-80. I would wake up some days and just limp out of bed, and the first strides of the morning runs on those days were agony. I hammered most non-workout runs and did at least 5 workouts a week. I spent at least 3 days in the gym as well. My hardest week was 88 miles-it included workouts of

10X800m uphill (in the pouring rain)

20X400m

8X400m very hard

12X10second hill sprints

26X400m hard

3 days in the gym with heavy weights

5 mile barefoot tempo

6X400m at mile pace with short recoveries

the rest of the mileage was at 5:30s-6:00 pace. I kept up my 70-80 miles a week with everything under 6:00 pace (I probably went slower then that 3-4 times in 3 months) and 4-5 workouts a week for September, October, November and most of December before succumbing to piriformis syndrome, plantar facitiis and a sports hernia. I couldn't walk right, I had a constant runny nose and sore throat, had trouble sleeping, had trouble waking up, either was starving or was not hungry at all. Some days I only had one meal, or didn't eat at all for days in an effort to lose weight. Then I would overeat and gain it all back, and run 20 miles a day for a while to try and redeem myself. I spend most of my time running, and the rest of it thinking about running. A sad way to live.

I thought I was overtrained this past spring. For 2-3 weeks in a row I could not finish my prescribed workouts, plus I DNF'd in a 5,000 on the track after 3200 at a pace I should have been able to handle. Other symptoms included me getting sick around this time, and lingering soreness in my muscles that I couldn't shake.

After the DNF I considered shutting down my season, I thought I was done, that I'd inadvertently peaked for indoors and was on the downslope.

I took two days off then decided to just have a low mileage, no workout week where I ran on trails, explored the woods, and enjoyed myself. Also did a bunch of barefoot strides since it feels good to run barefoot on grass. I felt good by the end of that week and decided to go back to workouts, though I would scale them way back.

I hopped into an 800 a week later for the hell of it, and ran great! I was kind of shocked. Two weeks later, ran a 1500 and smashed my pr. Two weeks later, pr'd at 800 meters. Next week, another 800 pr. For like 6 weeks I was on this streak where I was barely training but I kept pr'ing. It was insane and I loved it.

Morals of the story:

- sometimes you just need a break, and it will actually benefit you

- if you've put in work all year, your fitness is not going to disappear over night

- similar to the above - don't be afraid of the taper, it may work wonders for you (or maybe not, I'm sure it's very individual, but don't be afraid to try it)

I tried to focus on the mile one outdoor season, by concentrating on speed. I was mainly a 3k/5k type who would run 800m/1500m for the purpose of running fast 5k

I ran 50 mpw with faster speed session than I had run before ie; 6 x 400m at 58- longer recovery, most stuff sub 60 pace.

I became a touch sore quickly and it got worse, never recovered, the whole season was lost. I ran a few 1500s and I tied up so fast in all of them.

Did not feel good again until August after I eliminated speeed work in late June. I just couldnt run hard. I'm not sure the mechanism, but I guess the speed built up lactic acid and muscles could not convert it fast enough which shot my muscles. I could run an easy run Ok, but I could run nothing hard.

PS- I had good speed ie: sub 50 relay, 50.1 open in trainers, so I found it odd that 58-59 sec shot me so quickly?

If only you could see what Ive seen with your eyes.

more personal anecdotes please

Currently dealing with the effects of overtraining (at least I think) from about a year and half ago. Ramped mileage from about 30 mpw to 60-80 for a few months straight. Ran a 50km trail race with 1000 meters of climbing in 3:52 and felt stellar. Then tried to hop back into running a few days later and have had heavy legs and issues since. Got a blood test in fall and seemed normal. Got another in February and I believe my iron was at 45, so potentially anemic. Took the entire summer of 2018 off. Fall again now and still fee l pretty shitty, though mood has gone up and rhr down. Got another blood test, ekg, and chest x-ray this week as per doctors orders. Still hoping to figure this out! Trying to eat crazy cals right now to see if it sets me straight.

Ran 80mpw at an average pace below 6 min per mile.

Would lay in bed to 2 or 3am every night. That was the signal that I was over training.

For over a half century I have tortured my body by over training. I don't work out, I just race. Every day. Can't race faster than I work out. Just a 75% age grader. Have had injuries almost every year. That is why others my age can out run me now. That is why I have debilitating insomnia. That is why I live in constant pain. Get the message? Just trying to be helpful.

The many economies confront the eager eared sojourner with systematic inequities as they meanwhile attempt to take flight in heir respective activities .

Overtraining can be understood in the Workload.

Over workload unoptimal results from, in all cases, individual human limits, thus necessitating group cooperation, virtues and essential fundamentals and teachings. When technology and information high, moral and intellectual development and capability must be on par. The boat needs balance on both ends.

Overloading athletes need tremendous food logistics as well as spiritual and intellectual sustenance. We must revive the old medieval scholastic institutions and develop quality interdisciplinary leadership, because it is not there in the guilds and talents of today ?

Notice that Financial incentive, narrowing funnel of choices, sociological structural influencers, communication barriers and the decline of heroic communal life,

The economies are interdependent✨

This means that if the economies are mismanaged, we shall see recessions, sometimes lessening capability, know how and atititudes, decreased cooperations, and lack of talent development.

Trainings must have reasons and clear philosophy, otherwise they are in vain,

Besides morally neutral physiology, too We must understand the intellectual and philosophical and historical basis of overtraining, inequity, natural limits and mathematics, and ratios and principles in human structuring and behavior and ultimately the heroic path which must be appreciated by those chasing Olympic e spirit. Spirit du corps

Freshman year of xc in college, built up to 90 miles even though I had never really been that high in mileage before... like even in the ballpark of it. I fudged my high school mileage to convince the coach I could handle it because I thought that was my secret to massive PR's when building up to that takes time and consistency to see improvement not a instant bump of 40 miles...18 year old me couldn't see that. Anyway, was so tired and burnt up I couldn't even get through 2k of my first 2 races my legs felt so dead. It was like treading in water without using your arms to help keep you up for 2000m and had to drop out. Long story short backed off my mileage for the next month and ran a SB but pretty much wasted the whole season. Next 3 years of college I was smarter about the buildup and PR'd twice a season. Listen to your body and be smart, kids

This is a great thread. I’ll toss some questions with some of my thoughts that I think would be helpful and hope others will chime-in.

What are some of the symptoms of overtraining?

Insomnia, getting sick often, feeling exhausted, injury, loss of appetite.

How can you fix the problem?

Complete rest. Sometimes easy running if you aren’t too deep in the hole.

How can you avoid it?

Good diet, consistent & quality sleep, taking easy days easy, not doing too much too soon, following a natural progression/balance to training with a good amount of variety.

Another thing that contributes to overtraining, and is often overlooked, is cross training in addition to an intense running schedule. This includes biking/swimming/eliptical/etc. as well as strength training.

No but my friend has- ended up tearing her ACL- out for a year

I have trouble understand what people mean by time off. Are they still 'running' but not in competition? (I understand constant competition can drain adrenals). Are they doing cross training? Or just sitting on the bum all day knitting ?

Most likely doing nothing. People who have gone to the point of overtraining often have no energy to do anything.

experiencer wrote:

I hopped into an 800 a week later for the hell of it, and ran great! I was kind of shocked. Two weeks later, ran a 1500 and smashed my pr. Two weeks later, pr'd at 800 meters. Next week, another 800 pr. For like 6 weeks I was on this streak where I was barely training but I kept pr'ing. It was insane and I loved it.

Morals of the story:

- sometimes you just need a break, and it will actually benefit you

- if you've put in work all year, your fitness is not going to disappear over night

- similar to the above - don't be afraid of the taper, it may work wonders for you (or maybe not, I'm sure it's very individual, but don't be afraid to try it)

Thank you for sharing that. In my view, for the dedicated athlete, overtraining is a far greater risk than the opposite. Good for you for taking charge, and letting your body respond to months of hard training. Our bodies are wonderful creations, and will respond if we let them.

I am a swimmer and used to specialize in the sprints. At one point, as a young man, I was so overtrained that I had extreme photosensitivity. I could not stand to be in the sunlight, my eyes seemed to cramp shut. Very strange feeling. Sometime later I learned that is a sign of advanced central nervous system fatigue. Very interesting.

Everyone overtrains. Its not something that serious unless you push it to the point of injury. You can recover from overtraining with a few days of easy jogging and lots of rest in the interim, lots of sleep and eating healthy.

Overtraining isn't a condition the way a strained muscle or pulled tendon is a condition. Its what happens when you aren't nearly fully recovered from the last workout when you do the next one.

To prevent over training, hold back a little in some workouts (ie just don't treat them like a race). You want to finish a workout tired, but feeling you could do more. If you start failing a workout, ie not hitting goals, assuming you are being realistic with your workout goals, cut it off. The problem is most people think they can run faster than they actually can. Ie, a 420 miler who thinks he can string off 8 400s in 60-62.

A 10-15 minute cool down jog after any intense running helps a little as well.

I find prevention is better for overtraining than strategies to bounce back. If you take it easy enough you can recover from anything, but its not optimal training for most people to hammer yourself into the ground, jog easy for 5 days, then do it again. When you do a workout, you should be thinking ahead to the next one, am I going to be ready for wednesday's workout if I do x monday? Am I going to be ready for a solid long run if I do y wednesday? If I hammer the last 5 of this long run can I do those 400s in 65 monday?

If you really want anecdotes, I say this as someone who has overtrained before. Its not a bad thing to occasionally test your capabilities and run all out even when it wasn't planned, but you have to adjust. I've tried to make up for lost time, or gotten frustrated that I ran close to a pr, but didn't achieve one and hammered for a few weeks. Obviously the key to recovering is to back off, take a down week or two, and go back to training with a more realistic approach.