Seriously Bob, overtraining is real. Pros generally have coaches and doctors looking after them in order to keep them in good condition so that they don't overtrain. On the other hand, over zealous amateur racers and ignorant fun riders typically don't pick up the symptoms of over training until it is too late. I?m no sports scientist but my understanding is that when you train you push your body beyond its capacity and actually break it down somewhat. Rest allows your body to recover, rebuild and strengthen, so your new capacity is now slighly higher than what is was. This is an iterative process on the path of getting fitter and stronger. However, if you don?t afford your body enough time to rebuild i.e. you overtrain, then you eventually weaken your body to the point where your performance takes a fat dive ?cos your body just can?t cope with the physical demands anymore. You often very susceptible to getting sick at this stage because your immune system is also weakend. It can take a good few weeks to recover from this. Overtraining is often a result of the misconception that training makes you stronger, so the more you train the stronger you get. This is wrong. Training makes you weaker, the rest and recovery after the training makes you stronger.
