Overtraining

[The_Break]

Guys, I overtrained in my moer in. Now I dont have too long to rest before next Sundays 70.3 in East London. How can I speed up recovery??

 

Massages?

Electrotherapy?

 

If you are overtrained I would rest totally till thursday then have a light run and light cycle. Eat as much as you want to durng this time to aid recovery. That whay you will enter race as recovered as possible. I would suggest a lengthy recovery afterward as chronic over-training is something that can affect performance long-term if you don't treat it properly and as soon as you can.

 

Some advice, do your swim way under pace and pick it up on the bike if you still feel ok.

['Dale]

Classical quote:

 

"There's no such thing as overtraining, only underresting."

[Mads]

If one is overtrained. How will you know? I mean should I go to a doctor or sport scientist or something in that direction?

[bikemonster]

For most of us weekend warriors, overtraining is largely a myth. (Cue a bazillion Hubbers posting to tell me how overtrained they were once upon a fairy tale.)

 

Let's take a step back, and consider how training works. Training doesn't make you stronger. Resting makes you stronger...but you need to train first. Training is the stimulus, and does a mild break down of your muscles, cardio system etc. Getting fitter and stronger is the response, and happens while you rest between training sessions. At this point, AirBender's quote above should suddenly make a whole bunch more sense.

 

So for most weekend warriors, the problem is not so much the hours spent training, but the hours spent doing everything else that falls under the category of not resting.

 

If you are under-rested you will know because:

1. You will prolly hate the idea of going out training. In which case, don't. This is something we do for fun, remember? Yes, we embrace the hardness of a steep climb, or the exquisite agony of chasing down the guy on the horizon but it should remain fun, even when it hurts.

2. Your HR will be abnormal. Possibly weirdly high when resting, possibly struggling to raise it when pushing.

 

From the sound of things, the OP overdid one training sesh, rather than being generally overtrained. Either way, the advice given above (take it easy!) is good.

[Mads]

 

If you are under-rested you will know because:

1. You will prolly hate the idea of going out training. In which case, don't. This is something we do for fun, remember? Yes, we embrace the hardness of a steep climb, or the exquisite agony of chasing down the guy on the horizon but it should remain fun, even when it hurts.

2. Your HR will be abnormal. Possibly weirdly high when resting, possibly struggling to raise it when pushing.

 

 

In my case I so badly want to go and ride and I keep trying but after riding through winter and really trying to improve to a next level I am worst than if I did not do anything this winter. It is as if in the last two months I just got weaker and weaker. I now have now power and no stamina at all.

 

Went to the doctor

Went to a second doctor

Lots of blood tests

Nothing wrong

Then the guessing game started

Lots of pills - Lots of money - no effect

Nothing gets better

 

What is my next step were do I go now?

[bikemonster]

Hi Mads

 

Disclaimer: If you are already talking to a doctor what follows is a bit like asking a crazy street person what is wrong with your car after your mechanic has looked at it. I am that crazy street person!

 

1. Trying to improve to a next level is largely a question of changing your genetic make-up. For most of us, we reach our own level pretty quickly. Adding more/fiercer training will not do much to change that.

 

2. Are you eating properly for your rides? If you are cycling at a level of intensity above the so called "fat burning" level, i.e., at an intensity where your body cannot metabolise fat reserves fast enough to keep up, you need to be refuelling.

 

I would suggest taking a week or two off the bike...walk, swim if you feel you want to exercise and then see where you are.

 

Another disclaimer: I do not claim any special expertise, just passing on what works for me. YMMV.

[The_Break]

If one is overtrained. How will you know? I mean should I go to a doctor or sport scientist or something in that direction?

 

If I remember you went on a diet about 2 months ago and started getting into trouble there? How is the weight loss going? I suspect you are losing weight and that you feel weak because you are not eating enough? What you losing per week?

[Mads]

Well that is my question.

 

If I have been to the doctors and they could not find anything wrong, I must do something non medical wrong. As in training or eating patterns.

 

I would like to discuss this with someone and get advice from someone knowledgeable enough to help me and recognize the mistakes I make and give me pointers but I don't know where to go.

 

I do agree that someone with the likes of Jenny Stenerhag will never have to have a sleepless night over the two of us entering the same event , but I also feel that if I aim for a very conservative time like 3.5 - 4 hours on a 100km is not unreasonable.

 

As someone said, I am not the type of person who are willing to do lenghty discussions on my eating and...... and .......and...... in public and would like to go to someone in person. But as very little in life are for free, I would like to go to the correct type of person the first time. Will it be a dietitian or trainer or whatever.

 

Who is most likely to solve my problem?

[TNT1]

 

1. Trying to improve to a next level is largely a question of changing your genetic make-up.

 

Yeah. So if they have a test that looks for plasticizers as evidence of doping, is gene therapy the holy grail for sports people? Would they ever be able to detect doping via gene therapy?

[Spurzzz]

Well that is my question.

 

If I have been to the doctors and they could not find anything wrong, I must do something non medical wrong. As in training or eating patterns.

 

I would like to discuss this with someone and get advice from someone knowledgeable enough to help me and recognize the mistakes I make and give me pointers but I don't know where to go.

 

I do agree that someone with the likes of Jenny Stenerhag will never have to have a sleepless night over the two of us entering the same event , but I also feel that if I aim for a very conservative time like 3.5 - 4 hours on a 100km is not unreasonable.

 

As someone said, I am not the type of person who are willing to do lenghty discussions on my eating and...... and .......and...... in public and would like to go to someone in person. But as very little in life are for free, I would like to go to the correct type of person the first time. Will it be a dietitian or trainer or whatever.

 

Who is most likely to solve my problem?

 

 

I had something very similar to you where the harder I trained the worse my body responded. This carried on for more than 2 years where eventually the body pretty much caved in and all sorts of weird problems surfaced (palpitations, muscles sore at 10k's @ 15km/h blah blah). I, like you went through tons of tests and doctors.

 

I ended up at SSI where Prof Martin Schellnus performed some tests and found a vitamin deficiency that hopefully is the root cause of what was termed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It's about a month later and although not entirely recovered, I'm most certainly on the right path. Hope this helps dude as I know it can be very whack !

[Roer]

Well that is my question.

 

If I have been to the doctors and they could not find anything wrong, I must do something non medical wrong. As in training or eating patterns.

 

I would like to discuss this with someone and get advice from someone knowledgeable enough to help me and recognize the mistakes I make and give me pointers but I don't know where to go.

 

I do agree that someone with the likes of Jenny Stenerhag will never have to have a sleepless night over the two of us entering the same event , but I also feel that if I aim for a very conservative time like 3.5 - 4 hours on a 100km is not unreasonable.

 

As someone said, I am not the type of person who are willing to do lenghty discussions on my eating and...... and .......and...... in public and would like to go to someone in person. But as very little in life are for free, I would like to go to the correct type of person the first time. Will it be a dietitian or trainer or whatever.

 

Who is most likely to solve my problem?

 

 

I'm no expert but that pretty much sounds like iron deficiency. Us girls especially need to watch this closely. PM me if you want to chat about it as I'm going thru the same thing at the moment and will tell you what my doc told me to take and do. Maybe worth a try before you get yourself into a frenzy and spend a lot of time and money on doctors.

[Vetseun]

Overtraining??????? Will never happen to me

[Guest agteros]

I'm no expert but that pretty much sounds like iron deficiency. Us girls especially need to watch this closely. PM me if you want to chat about it as I'm going thru the same thing at the moment and will tell you what my doc told me to take and do. Maybe worth a try before you get yourself into a frenzy and spend a lot of time and money on doctors.

 

I agree with you on this. Not very common with us guys, but it hit me HARD towards the end of 2009.

 

Here are the results of my blood tests done in October. Even though the numbers are in the 'normal' ranges, it just wasn't sufficient for any kind of training (I could barely jog 100m!)

Have your iron counts/profiles as well as red blood cell stats looked at, before you go off and try to get diagnosed with something else

 

 

[Mads]

I did both the hemoglobin and the iron test. Doctor gave it one look and said their is nothing wrong with it. Although I feel strangely stronger when I do take Iron supplements ( 20 g ) per day, but that can all be in the mind??

 

edit : I will go and ask for copies and look at it myself

 

Dr Mads in the house

 

Uhmm Well see.

Edited January 31, 2011 by Mads

[Guest agteros]

I did both the hemoglobin and the iron test. Doctor gave it one look and said their is nothing wrong with it. Although I feel strangely stronger when I do take Iron supplements ( 20 g ) per day, but that can all be in the mind??

 

edit : I will go and ask for copies and look at it myself

 

Dr Mads in the house

 

Uhmm Well see.

 

Get it yourself, the lab will print you copies as well.

Remember you need more oxygen carrying capacity than somebody on the couch watching soapies!

Just be careful with the iron supplements, it can cause harm(kinda poisonous) if you take them when you do not need it.

Also as red blood cells have a lifetime of 4 months it takes quite a few weeks for new healthy ones with more iron in them (from improved irons stores due to better diet/supplements) to be generated...

 

EDIT: I've got copies of all my blood tests (either from lab, or from doc - depending on which was closer when I wanted the copies!)

Edited January 31, 2011 by agteros

[Mads]

Get it yourself, the lab will print you copies as well.

Remember you need more oxygen carrying capacity than somebody on the couch watching soapies!

Just be careful with the iron supplements, it can cause harm(kinda poisonous) if you take them when you do not need it.

Also as red blood cells have a lifetime of 4 months it takes quite a few weeks for new healthy ones with more iron in them (from improved irons stores due to better diet/supplements) to be generated...

 

EDIT: I've got copies of all my blood tests (either from lab, or from doc - depending on which was closer when I wanted the copies!)

 

Yes I know and that is why I got tested for that. I now only take one pill (20mg)- sorry milligrams -a week - just to top it up?? Since I bought it.

Edited January 31, 2011 by Mads