Overtraining: The Plague Of The Endurance Athlete. Part II

Gosh, it seems I hit a few nerves with my piece in the last issue about overtraining! Thank you to all the people who emailed asking for more information about overtraining and how to prevent its onset.

Essentially, overtraining or the overtraining syndrome is the result of excessive training with inadequate recovery periods. With poor recovery, it doesn’t matter how good your training has been, your body will not adapt to the stress, and the training will have been in vain. Additionally, it takes a significant period of time to recover from overtraining – up to six months in some cases – making the condition a season ending problem.

Rest for recovery is the most important factor in overtraining prevention but many athletes do not perform specific recovery regimes as part of their weekly training. Getting a good night’s sleep and having an óff’ day each week from training are steps in the right direction to ensure overtraining does not occur but when exposed to high volume and high intensity workloads, these passive recovery mechanisms may not be sufficient. Active recovery techniques are used widely by athletes in all sports in an effort to recover more rapidly from training and/or competition stress and in the long term to prevent overtraining. Techniques such as active recovery and stretching (e.g. walking or some other low intensity activity), accurate fluid replacement and appropriate nutrition are all essential for efficient recovery from training. In addition techniques such as hydrotherapy and the use of compression garments can also be effective in ensuring an athlete is in the most optimal physiological state to recover and adapt.

Accurate monitoring of an athlete throughout their training season will also help to indicate if extra rest may be required to ensure recovery and adaptation are happening. The following considerations may be useful for both athletes and coaches as a means to monitor training:
• Maintain accurate records of training duration, intensity and performance during training and at competition
o A training programme should be flexible and allow for rest days when performance declines. Poor performance both during training and at competitions is an indicator of overtraining. Long periods of high volume and/or high intensity training without adequate rest can lead to overtraining and an accurate training record ensures that an athlete always knows what they have done and can “see” their training load over a number of weeks.
• Ensure that nutrition and hydration are optimal
o An athlete needs to eat enough nutrients and consume enough fluids to ensure they are at their best to perform. Additionally, they need to ensure that they have a pre and post training/competition nutrition and hydration regime that works for them, that is, it is tailored to them as an individual and not simply a regime that works for others.
• Monitor life stressors
o Family, work, the economic climate, moving house, changing jobs, bereavements – there are a number of issues that arise in a person’s life that cannot be planned. These situations cause stress that when added to the physical stress of training can be a cause of overtraining. Monitoring life stress may also mean that an athlete is given an unplanned rest day within their training to compensate for other stressors.
• Avoid total inactivity
o Being completely inactive can be a major source of stress for many competitive athletes. If rest for recovery is required but the concept of taking that rest creates stress then it will be poor recovery intervention. Recreational activity is a good way to remove training stress but allow an athlete to still be active. Examples include backyard cricket, social touch or indoor netball, walking the dog, surfing, social golf, fishing.
• Monitor mood
o A change in mood state is a good indicator of overtraining. There are athlete specific mood state questionnaires available that accurately assess mood but if an obvious change in mood occurs, along with signs of fatigue and poor performance, then a consultation with a sports psychologist may be beneficial.

Overtraining should not occur with a well structured and individualised training programme, if an athlete is closely monitored for signs of excess stress, fatigue and poor performance. A training programme must incorporate rest days and also rest periods (more than 1 day) to ensure optimal recovery and adaptation and to prevent overtraining. Training needs to be both stressful and restful!
As always, feel free to contact me (anna.rolleston@manukau.ac.nz) if you have any specific questions.