The Overtraining Syndrome

One of the most difficult problems for an athlete is knowing when you are training too much. Today's theme for Take-It-And-Run-Thursday over at Runners Lounge looks into the syndrome of overtraining.

I define overtraining as doing more than the optimum amount to ensure maximum fitness. You train so hard that you become fatigued, and your performances start to slide. Without adequate rest and recovery, these types of training regimens can easily backfire on a person, and actually decrease performance while increase the risk of injury.

Symptoms of overtraining include:

• Chronic fatigue
  
• Reduced athletic performance or ability
  
• Disturbed mood states or irritability
  
• Changes in your resting heart rate
  
• Decreased or lack of appetite
  
• Weight drops below normal (this will actually make you slower, not faster)
  
• Minor injuries that seem to take longer than usual to heal
  
• Disturbances in sleep patterns or restlessness

Of course, by the time many of these symptoms appear, the damage has been done. To avoid overtraining, take regular breaks, get plenty of rest, eat a nutritious diet, don't race too often, and keep a training diary so if you encounter the same signals, you'll know what not to do next time.

Tips for avoiding overtraining:

• Monitor your pulse - For 7 days, take your resting pulse for 60 seconds before getting out of bed. Once you establish an average resting pulse, whenever your resting pulse is more than 5% above your average resting pulse, run for 1/2 your usual mileage. When your resting pulse is greater than 10% of your average resting pulse, don't run that day.
  
• Keep steady mileage - Increase mileage gradually. Your progress in mileage and speed should occur gradually. Don't let your weekly mileage increase by more than 10%. After 3 weeks of mileages increase, drop mileage by 50% for one week.
  
• Rest - After a hard run, take a day off. You will feel refreshed when you run again and your body will thank you.

Of course, if you are going to push the envelope a little, be sure not to push it beyond your body limits.

Tips to avoid injury due to overtraining:

• Don’t train hard when you are sore or stiff from the last training session. Take a rest day or do a nice, easy run at recovery pace. Stick to this!
  
• Introduce new levels of training stress gradually. Remember that 10% rule when increasing mileage.
  
• Do warm-up and cool-down runs.
  
• Stretch before and after your run.
  
• Allow yourself rest days according to your level of training. A suggestion would be:
  • 4 days per week rest for a novice
  • 3 days per week for someone training for an event
  • 2 days per week for a serious "run-with-the-pack" runner
  • 1 day per week for a hard core athlete

If you stick to these guidelines, your chances of injury or overtraining are minimized and your training time on the road will be more valuable to your overall goals.