The Overtraining Game

Overtraining is real - Gym rats may disagree but it is real for a triathlete and I learned the hard way.  Right when I got done regular school for the year I threw myself into training.  My schedule looked like this:

Monday - Long bike ride
Tuesday - Long Swim
Wednesday - Long Run
Thursday - Brick - short run, short bike
Friday - Hills
Saturday - Short swim
Sunday - muscle work, walk, yoga

The first symptom of overtraining I felt was lack of motivation.  I used to love getting up and putting in a long ride with my biking partner (the one of the half Iron broken pelvis).  But I found myself almost dreading it.  Next I found my muscles being SO sore after workouts, much more than normal.  I excused my lack of sleep to this muscle pain but it was actually another symptom of overtraining.  My times then suffered as I started to actually lose speed and endurance.  And then, my already low self-esteem began to fall.  So I consulted my sages of wisdom, my IronFamily (sister, BIL, best friend, good friend) and they all agreed I was overtraining.  Now, this schedule may be fine for someone who is seasoned or had been training for a long time but I jumped into this schedule and found myself suffering the effects.



Overtraining is real.  So I read articles on it, created a wordsplash, and then decided on a rest week.  The rest week, according to my IronFamily, didn't need to be a full week of nothing, just tone it down a little.  So I did and I felt better, slept better and my times came back up.  So now I take two rest days a week and stagger my long workouts - Seriously, why was bulking them all up in the first of the week a great idea?!?! 

So to recap - Don't OVERTRAIN!  It really really STINKS - but is avoidable and treatable.  Be aware of your body and how you are feeling so if you feel changes, you can understand what it means.