Overtraining?

The_Scary_Man

Hi all,

I have made a few attempts over the last couple of years to raise my fitness levels by getting out on the road and doing a bit of running. Each time I tried I ended up getting injured. This was usually a result of me pushing it too hard too quickly and hurting my back. I'll be 40 next year and with a history of diabetes and heart disease in my family I want to find a way to stay fit and healthy and have some fun while I'm at it.

This summer I decided to try again but to be smarter about it. I got some advice from friends of mine who run and do triathlons and I started off slowly, building distance. Unfortunately I sprained my soleus out running so I was sidelined again, while I was rehabing my leg I decided to set a goal for myself for next year as a way to keep myself focused and motivated in training.

I entered the Olympic distance tri in Athy in June 2012. The triathlon appealed to me because I felt that the balance of the disciplines would help me to build a balance between strength and fitness.

My swimming is very poor but I have lessons booked and I'm confident that I'll be able to get to where I need to be by next June. I also got a full fitness assessment done in UCC complete with lactate threshold levels, VO2 max and body composition.

I've been training away concentrating on my swimming technique and endurance and a strength (weights) program with two cardio sessions in the gym a week.

I work full time and I'm in college on Wednesday nights as well as the study that goes with that. I've changed my diet to cut out most of the crap that I was eating and go for a more balanced range of foods.

Up until this week this has been working well but now I'm really starting to feel tired, I was counting Wednesday as a rest day even though I'm on the go from starting work at 8am to finishing college at 9:30 in the evening.

I wonder am I doing too much too soon seeing as I am starting from a pretty low fitness base. I'm excited and motivated about the gains that I am making in swimming and strength work and there is a real possibility that I am pushing on too hard again but I am also wondering if feeling tired is part and parcel of engaging in an ambitious training plan, whatever your level.

I am trying to fing a balance that will allow me to keep training while not burning out. I'm hoping for some other perspectives on whether it's better to reduce the amount of training, maintain the training hours and lower the intensity or just use how I am feeling in a given week to guide my schedule.

I read the training logs on here and it is fantastic to follow the journeys people are on, physical, emotional and mental, from novice athletes to Ironmen and Ultra runners. I find the levels of commitment and focus that are shown really inspiring.

Cheers,

Ken.

RacoonQueen

How much sleep do you get every night? What do you work at - as in are you active in work or do you have a sedentry job?

Maybe post a run down of what training you do every week.

When you're training heavily, feeling 'tired' is normal. Finding the right balance can be difficult.

Diet plays a big role in your recovery, you need to make sure you're eating the right foods to help your muscles recover and provide you with energy. If you're feeling knackered, sometimes keeping a food diary for a couple of weeks can help. You might think you're getting enough food to fuel your activities when you're not.

Edit: Have a look HERE for a thread tunney started about overtraining earlier in the year.

The_Scary_Man

RacoonQueen wrote: »

How much sleep do you get every night? What do you work at - as in are you active in work or do you have a sedentry job?

Maybe post a run down of what training you do every week.

When you're training heavily, feeling 'tired' is normal. Finding the right balance can be difficult.

Diet plays a big role in your recovery, you need to make sure you're eating the right foods to help your muscles recover and provide you with energy. If you're feeling knackered, sometimes keeping a food diary for a couple of weeks can help. You might think you're getting enough food to fuel your activities when you're not.

Edit: Have a look HERE for a thread tunney started about overtraining earlier in the year.

Thanks Racoon Queen,

I sleep 7-8 hours a night but I might wake up a couple of times during the night. My job is fairly active, some lifting and I'm on my feet most of the day.

At the moment I don't have a set training shedule, I'm hoping to put something together with a friend next week and look at a nutrition plan at the same time.

Last week in terms of training I'm concentrating on swimming and weights at the moment so Saturday I did an hour on the elliptical trainer in Zone 3, Sunday I swam 16 x 50m, Monday I did an hour long weights session folowed by another hour of core and stretches, this isn't something I do normally but the gym was fairly empty so I hung around to make the most of it.

On Tuesday I swam again 1 x 100m and 18 x 50m. Wednesday I had college so I didn't train and on Thursday I was supposed to do another weights session but I was too tired. Friday I did the weights and core session I was supposed to do on Thursday (this time I was out in an hour and 10 mins), Saturday I swam 14 x 50m before a day in college and today I rested.

I've been very busy in work so thats probably taking it's toll too. Now that I look at what I did last week I can see that going from practically zero training to that schedule in a few weeks could lead to a drop in energy levels.

I'll read that thread that you linked to and see what changes I can start to make.

Thanks again

The_Scary_Man

Having read the thread on overtraining I'm pretty sure I'm not overtrained. Under-rested maybe

opus

I was listening to last week's episode of Marathontalk on my run this afternoon & overtaining was the very topic they covered so might be worth having a listen.

This week we speak to Dr Sue Roberts about the balance between good health, sensible training and doing too much.

You can get it here - http://www.marathontalk.com/podcast/episode_94_dr_sue_roberts.php

RacoonQueen

The_Scary_Man wrote: »

I sleep 7-8 hours a night but I might wake up a couple of times during the night. My job is fairly active, some lifting and I'm on my feet most of the day.

I've been very busy in work so thats probably taking it's toll too.

This is why I asked about the job. I found that training would sometimes have to be adjusted depending on workload when you do manual labour. I used to have to change my weeks training completely as speed sessions, tempos etc were pointless after work if I was too jaded.

If you're determined to train on the days you're 'too tired' your best off doing a core or recovery session, in my experience.