Blerg

I suppose this should technically be a race report, so here's what happened at the Shenandoah Speedway Points Race:

Got a poor start and spent the first five laps making up for it. Positioned poorly going into first sprint, came across line out of the points. Flatted before the next sprint. Didn't bring spare wheels. The end.

I probably could have found a spare front wheel, but I didn't really want to. I didn't want to do the race at all, actually. I paid $30 and drove 2 hours each way to do 8 laps on a race track. At least there was beer.

This post is really about me being burned out. In previous years, I would either get sick or hurt when I overtrained. I guess cycling affects me differently, because I feel cranky and unmotivated instead of sick.

Point is that I've pushed my body (and mind) too far, and now I need a break. Emily has orders not to let me sign up for any races for at least 2 weeks. I'll see how I feel after that. It may be that I lay off until cyclocross season starts. In the meantime, I plan to do a little running, do a little swimming, watch a lot of rugby, and ignore cycling.

See you in a couple weeks.

Burnout

It would figure.

I go the whole season--swimming, biking, running, doing yoga, lifting weights, trying Pilates, teaching cycling and water aerobics--without being overtrained.

I shift to a single-sport focus, and boom. Overtrained.

(Of course we all know that it's not really a single-sport focus; it's two simultaneous single-sport focuses!)

Actually, it might be a little bit deeper than overtraining. Physiologically, I'm having a little trouble; I'm achy in ways (and in places) I normally don't have trouble. But my resting heart rate is at 48 BPM (right where it should be), and I'm not having any trouble getting it up for workouts.

But I just don't want to train. I would rather stay at home and sleep, or play DDR. I haven't run in a week and a half, haven't swam in a week. I've been biking plenty. But I always bike plenty.

Here's the deal: I don't have a lot left to do, in the way of triathloning. I want to maintain the speed I have for Redman (which is in three weeks). But that won't take much more than one hard workout a week (which is one more run workout than I've been doing lately). And the race I'm targeting for the one-mile PR is in early December. Plenty of time.

The main thing I'm struggling against is a self-conscious feeling of laziness. Is it guilt? I'm not sure. I just know that it makes me nervous not to be swimming and running. Makes me feel that I'm not doing enough. Of course, I'm still training hard on the bike (and still enjoying it!), which is exactly one more sport than your average person trains hard for. But it feels strange not to be doing at least three swims and at least three runs each week.

Man, this sport makes you crazy.

As It Stands

So . . . training is not going well. I mean, it's not going poorly. But it's certainly not going well.

All last week, I felt like I was right on the edge of overtraining. I don't know if I tipped over the precipice; I've just been trying to take it easy. I'm wondering if the 5 hours of indoor riding on my new, shiny bicycle last weekend was simply too much.

The weather has also been famously uncooperative. After last weekend's blizzard (no, really. blizzard), I was hoping that winter had had its final roar and would shuffle meekly out the door. But no. Oh no. Snow on Sunday, as well.

What's even worse, though, is that we have all the negative aspects of spring and none of the positives. Crazy winds? Check. Wind speed on Friday was a constant 25-30 MPH. Saturday was even more epic, with wind speeds holding steady in the 30s and gusts as high as 50 MPH. Allergies? Check. I can still smell without too much trouble, but I can't seem to drink enough water to keep my throat moist. But we haven't yet encountered the slow, soaking rains, the epic thunderstorms (not great for training, but very majestic), not to mention the warm temperatures that April should bring. So thanks a lot, Kansas.

Really, though, the issue is that I'm doing too much without affording my body the proper time for rest and recovery (not to mention a frickin' social life). And stress is stress, whether it comes from training, lack of sleep, or demanding/unreliable/obnoxious client relations.

So I'm stressed, guys. And it's messing up my training!

When Work Attacks

 

I haven't had a day off in over three weeks.

This is my third seven-day work week. I'm getting a little burned out.

And what's more, I haven't had time to write cool new articles for my blog! I have a new spinning workout that's only half-done, and will probably remain only half-done at least until Friday.

This business is so weird; it's either feast or famine. Two weeks ago, I was complaining that I wasn't getting enough business. And now? I was booked solid from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. today (fortunately, my last appointments canceled, and I got to go home and take a nap). I had four 12+ hour days this last week. Sometimes they start at 5:00 a.m. Which isn't so bad if I'm waking up to swim or run or something. But waking up to work? Not so much. Because then when do I swim and run?


Needless to say, this situation is not conducive to my training. And my body is starting to rebel. It's saying, "Hey, you better let up or I'm going to get sick, and then where will you be?" I've been drinking antioxidants and munching on zinc, trying to keep my body in line. But the stress of training is something I haven't wanted to chance for the last couple days.


At any rate, my half Ironman program (!) starts next Wednesday, so I'm going to have to find some balance in my life, some sanity. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Feeling Good About Recovery

Today, while lifeguarding at the pool (because when no one else can guard, guess what the Aquatics Director gets to do), I was working on a forthcoming blog post about overtraining/under-recovering. I was reading a journal article that reviewed the current research on the topic of recovery, which prompted me to think about the unique situation of triathletes when it comes to recovery. Then one of the other lifeguards (my pacer from Friday night, actually) was generous enough to relieve me early (at 5:00 instead of 8:00), so I headed home for a 6-mile tempo run.

Which sucked.

I didn't want to do it. My legs were sore. I was thirsty and hungry. And all I really wanted was a nap.

Ironically enough, about 3/4 of the way through the first mile, I was listening to a podcast detailing the dangers of overtraining for triathletes.

And I took it as a sign. Instead of running 6 miles at tempo pace, I ran 2 miles easy. I figure that since I'm getting into the last main push of my training, and since I'm in the first week of a 3-week build phase, and since I ran my fastest-ever mile split on Friday, it might do me good to push a difficult workout back by one day.

Normally, I feel terrible about this kind of decision. Stupid and weak, insufficient, unable to complete the most basic and mundane training tasks. But today, with this decision, I feel really good; I feel like I made the right choice.

And now I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's tempo run.

Malaise, Ennui, and Other Signs of Overtraining

• Washed-out feeling, tired, drained, lack of energy
• Mild leg soreness, general aches and pains
• Pain in muscles and joints
• Sudden drop in performance
• Insomnia
• Headaches
• Decreased immunity (increased number of colds, and sore throats)
• Decrease in training capacity / intensity
• Moodiness and irritability
• Depression
• Loss of enthusiasm for the sport
• Decreased appetite
• Increased incidence of injuries
• Compulsive need to exercise

If you've been in this sport for a while, I'll bet you already know a bit about overtraining. If you're new to triathlon, you'll probably experience a little bit of overtraining soon. As a coach, I have athletes dropping like flies. This winter has been terrible for various flu and cold viruses, to the point that the hospitals have been crowded with patients complaining of respiratory illnesses; I believe that has greatly contributed to the rash of athlete illness I've seen on my team, particularly since they were getting sick even during the first week of training. But I also know that we've been training hard, and that I coach a group of middle-aged women who seem extraordinarily reluctant to slow the frick down! So I'm sure that their midwestern work ethic has made them easy targets for all the nasty bugs out there.

As an athlete, I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth, here, because as strongly as I've encouraged them to lay off for a few days and give their bodies a chance to recover, I'm currently experiencing:

• A washed out feeling, tired, lacking energy
• Mild aches and pains, soreness, and stiffness everywhere
• Insomnia (and freakin' nightmares, y'all)
• Decrease in training capacity/intensity (I've had a hard time even getting into zone 3 this whole week)
• Loss of enthusiasm for the sport (haven't lifted weights all week)
• A compulsive need to exercise

And yet I'm still totally convinced that I just need to keep training for one more week, to make it to that next recovery cycle.

Experienced athletes will be able to relate to this common connundrum (and newbies, take note): we sort of suspect that we're overtrained and should back off, but simultaneously wonder whether we need to work harder instead. If we don't back off and proceed into some hardcore overtraining, we risk the fitness we've built over the past months, but if we do back off, we feel like we will lose fitness anyway! The supreme irony is that symptoms of no enthusiasm or motivation to work out occur along with a compulsive need to exercise. You'd think that if we feel so blah (for lack of a better term) about scheduled workouts, we'd avoid them like the plague; instead, we add extra workouts on.

Practically, here are some steps to take if you suspect you're overtrained:

• Take the time to prove to yourself beyond any doubt that you are indeed overtrained. The best way to do this is to keep track of resting heart rate and performance stats in a training log (the digital log at Trifuel is a good resource for tracking this information). If your resting HR is up by at least 10% for three days or more, take note; if you see a sudden drop in your speed or wattage, take note; this provides concrete evidence that you're overtrained, so there's no convincing yourself that you should try to muscle through a rough patch by working harder.
• Take one to three days totally off, and reduce your volume by 20% for the rest of your training week (or whatever microcycle you use).
• Get a full seven to nine hours of sleep each night, eat healthy and track your nutrient intake, and drink lots of water. This gives your body the tools it needs to recover and rebuild fully.
• Stretch, use a foam roller, do some yoga, maybe even consider a sports massage. Give your muscles some love!
• Give yourself a mental break from the sport. As you finish your days of rest, allow yourself to get psyched out a little. You should feel excited to get back into training.
• If, like me, you're almost to your recovery week anyway, continue moving your schedule up a week.

I know from personal (current, even) experience that it is ridiculously difficult to put on the brakes and bring your training to a halt; we want to train through this mess, dammit! But take it on good authority: if you try to keep going when you're overtrained, you're going to do more harm than good.

(As a personal aside, I have this problem regularly; I am going to look at my training schedule and consider a three-week mesocycle, instead of the four week cycle under which I'm currently operating.)

Update (11/27/2017):
After several years of periodically dealing with overtraining, I've found that going from three sports to one has reduced the incidence and severity of my overtraining systems. Now that I focus primarily on cycling, I find that I can absorb more intensity, even at a younger age. The trade-off has been soreness; my body deteriorates much more quickly and needs more self-care work (stretching, yoga, self-myofascial release) than it did when I was training for Ironman. I still feel burned out towards the end of a long racing block, but training seems not to effect me as dramatically; I can even do four-week mesocycles instead of the three-week cycles I used when I was triathlon training. For a more in-depth look at overtraining, visit Kyran's page on 9 signs of overtraining.
[Props to About.com for the convenient list of overtraining symptoms; it was much easier to cut and paste than to think all of those up myself]

Just Warming Up: Jan 7-13

If you look a little to the right, you'll notice I've added my entries at the Trifuel training log as an RSS feed.  It's a little screwed up right now (that first entry is actually an entry for Shawnee Mission 08), but it'll start to look normal after this next week.

And now that I'm into the bulk of the season, you can expect more workouts and recipes.

With that out of the way, I'll tell you a little bit about my first week back in the flow.

It's been an interesting week.  I didn't get in all of the workouts I've scheduled, and a few that I did get in sucked.  It's okay, though; this is also the first week of full schedule for the Genesis Multisport Club--this means that I'm not only up at 4:30 every morning, but also that I'm teaching a total of 25 hours, between GMC classes, water aerobics, and spinning.  Honestly, the 4:30 wake up calls were getting to me, by Friday.  After a weekend of sleeping in and resting, I'm feeling quite a bit better, but my weeks are going to be loooooong.  I hope that my body will get used to this new regimen; otherwise, the lack of sleep will be one more element keeping me on the line between training and overtraining.

My long runs have been the highlight of my week--long swims, too, for that matter--so much so that I'm really looking forward to doing my endurance swim; in fact, I wish that it were scheduled for tomorrow instead of Tuesday.  And both of my long runs (both 6 miles) have felt so wonderful!  I've felt strong and fast and completely capable . . . I can pick up my leg speed or extend my stride at any point during those 6 miles with minimal effort.  My heart rate goes up, of course, but it's not like I'm barely shuffling along.  And I'm having no trouble keeping my heart rate in zone 3 (although I have been debating exactly where zone 3 is . . .)

For bike volume, I'm primarily on a spinning bike.  I know, I know . . . far from ideal.  But I got a flat on my long run at 18 miles last week and now I can't find my tire levers!  So even though I have spare tubes and a pump and everything I need, I can't change my tire.  And for crying out loud, today was a lousy day to have my bike be inaccessible!  It was absolutely perfect out today . . . warm enough that I rolled my windows down on the way home, with absolutely no window and a beautiful, big, blue sky . . . but no bike for me.  Sad face.  I'll buy new tire levers this week and change my tire and go ahead and get in a long ride . . . but the weather will probably be crap and I'll have to do it all inside watching TV or listening to Endurance Planet or something.  Sigh . . .

In the meantime, I teach five cycling classes a week.  I've finally done Group Ride enough that I've trained my heart rate to stay low.  The first time I did the class, I think my max heart rate was 181 or 185 or something (too lazy to whip out the training log right now).  Now I keep my heart rate in zone 3 the whole time, without a great deal of effort (although I do cheat on adding resistance).  Bottom line, I'm getting plenty of saddle time (like upwards of 5 hours a week), if not in my actual saddle (or on an actual road).

That's been my week.  I'm loving it, now more than ever.  I can't wait to see the adaptations my body makes in this 2008 season.

Thanks for reading!