Overtraining: How to Spot and Avoid It

Written by:

Edmund R. Burke, Ph.D.

The main worry of any cyclist during a long competitive season is not injury but overtraining. They are not worried about pulled muscles, stress fractures or crashing but fatigue and exhaustion and that "out of gas feeling" in the closing home stretch of the race. Most experienced coaches and competitors know that the race is lost by training too much rather than too little, and instead of building and pacing training; they go too far with the adage, "What doesn't destroy me, makes me stronger."

The phenomenon of overtraining, staleness, burnout or fatigue is very real. Considering the high demands placed on you in school, by family commitments and the length of the cycling season, it is not surprising that many cyclists need to keep an eye out for staleness and symptoms of overtraining (See Table One).

In training, it is an essential and difficult task to find your optimum training thresholds and not to transgress the limits of your stress and adaptation capacities. Because of the scope of this topic, no attempt will be made to cover all the factors and possible mechanisms thought to contribute to overtraining. However, evidence will be presented which implicates specific physiological and psychological alterations that have been shown to be related to the deterioration of athlete performance due to overtraining.

In The Lore of Running, Dr. Tim Noakes gives examples of several nationally ranked athletes with training induced overtraining symptoms. One athlete exhibited the classic physical and psychological signs when he complained that he was lethargic, sleeping poorly, his morning pulse had increased by 10 beats and had less enthusiasm for training and particularly competition. He expressed concern that his legs felt "sore" and "heavy" and that the feeling had lasted for several training sessions. Another athlete reported that three weeks after an marathon he was still sleeping poorly, had a persistent sore throat and had a feeling of low energy levels. These two athletes were exhibiting the classic signs and symptoms of overtraining, and were in urgent need of complete rest from hard training.

The symptoms of overtraining may be seen in the cyclist who eager to excel, and begins to train frequently and intensely. At first the athlete improves, but after a while their times become stationary and below their set goals. Anxious to pass the dead point, the athlete begins to train even harder. Instead of improving, their times become worse and senses of inadequacy and frustration develop. Besides declines in performance, some changes in personality and behavior are detected. The athlete has developed a state of staleness, chronic fatigue or overtraining. < to Indicators>In the early 1980's, Dick Brown, who at the time was an administrator/physiologist of Athletics West (world class running club), conducted a project on athletes to try and identify potential indicators of overtraining. Of the several dozen indicators monitored, three were found to be of use to the athletes in their daily training and could be recorded in their training diaries without expensive laboratory monitoring equipment. These were: morning body weight, morning heart rate and hours of sleep. His research pointed out that if an athlete's morning heart rate was 10 percent or higher, if the athlete received 10 percent less sleep, or if the athlete's weight was down 3 percent or more, the athlete's body was telling him that it had not recovered from the previous hard workout. Or, it could be that some form of illness was plaguing the athlete. Brown's research points out that an athlete should cut back on his day's workout if they are abnormal in two indicators and it may be best to take the day off if they register in the red in all three indicators. It may be best to take an hour of that training time and take a nap.

If the signs of staleness or overtraining are present, you may have to suspend training for several days or decrease the intensity and duration of the training sessions. If strong signs or symptoms prevail, it is possible that you will have to spend days or weeks at a decreased level of training before you recover and can return to hard training sessions. >What can be done to prevent this ailment before it begins to occur? You can take the following measures into account to prevent overtraining from occurring:

  1. Try to sleep eight hours at night when hard training is being conducted.
  2. Eat a balanced diet that includes all the basic nutrients.
  3. Conduct at least 8 to 10 weeks of endurance work to build up a good base of conditioning. Do not increase the frequency, duration and intensity of the training sessions too quickly.
  4. Gradually build up the quantity and quality of training, so that you are prepared both physically and mentally for the volume of training and competition.
  5. Many coaches recommend a 15-30 minute nap before the afternoon workout.
  6. When hard training is being conducted, the intensity of the training should be individualized to your level of fitness and experience.
  7. Know yourself and how you react to training stress and continually review your training logs to monitor stress and training goals.
  8. Use a training diary and record morning pulse rate, body weight, sleep patterns, medical and training problems and record all your training sessions on a daily basis.
  9. Rest is also an important component of training. The use of rest days on a periodic basis will make you stronger.

Hans Selye, a researcher, stated in his classic text, The Stress of Life, that every person has only so much adaptive energy to use against stress. If an athlete uses much of their physical and mental energy for other matters in their daily lives, they will have less energy for training and competition. Consequently, they will not be able to adapt to the stress of the sport. The only way out is to ensure adequate rest and sleep, remove or decrease the other stress factors or decrease training.

Every discussion of stress (overtraining) usually ends with the same definitive statement: too little stress, physical or psychological, does not bring about desired changes; too much stress is harmful. But being aware of the body's warning signals and by knowing the stages of adaptation, you can help your progress in training and steadily improve your fitness.

Physical and Psychological Characteristics of Staleness

Physical Changes / Emotional and Behavioral Changes
Muscle soreness
Gradual weight loss
Athlete looks drawn
Swelling of lymph nodes
Increase morning heart rate
Heavy-leggedness
Constipation or diarrhea
Inability to complete training
Fatigue
Flu-like symptoms / Irritability
Loss of enthusiasm
Lack of appetite
Depression
Anxiety
Easily irritated
Desire to quit training
Sleep disturbances
Loss of self-confidence
Inability of concentrate

The Challenge of Coming Back
Will Frischkorn's Return to the Elite Ranks
Originally Published in Cyclesport Magazine