Being the fittest I have ever been is not a platform for riding without consideration to recovery. No matter how you buttress your sleep and diet. It’s not enough.
Do not start adding targets over your structured training, such as elevation or time targets. It diminishes or negates recovery. I’m ditching strava targets.
Keep your ego in check, you don’t need to chase strava segments, no you really don’t, yes it’s fun but not every single ride and especially not without consideration to adequate recovery. Focus on the essentials that got you where you are. Consistency, structure and compliance.
I thought I’d share some of the mistakes I’ve made which have put me in the sick house whist on holiday. Hired mtb, now sitting in the Skiathos sun, unused as I try and shake a cough/cold. I sit here feeling foolish and frustrated from over training on the bike and doing too much mtb’ing/ intensity on arrival rather than a rest week.
Which I suppose is another learn, peer pressure. Listen to your body, first, second and third. Rest when your body suggests otherwise it won’t be a two way conversation next time.
Each of the above is not by itself an issue, collectively, that’s another outcome and depending on diet and recovery, the length of time it takes to catch up.
Thats enough of my self indulgent reflective thinking, if you made it this far and your still reading, if any of the above applies, consider a reset. Or it could just be me , rather thick but quicker than I was( hoping that’s still the case post cough) Anyways I’m off poolside to try and sweat this thing out of my body.
Don’t beat yourself up, there’s no way to know that your cold is caused by overtraining. Maybe it would have been much worse if you were less fit. I’ve been intentionally “overtraining” and managed to avoid the cold that both of my kids had recently.
I appreciate the sentiment and reply John, my wife remains healthy and there were a couple of triggers I wilfully ignored prior and upon arrival in Skiathos. Mainly around my body giving warning signals.
On the plus side I am hopefully getting past the worst although one flight of stairs had me breathing heavily….
Thanks @slowmart for your vulnerability here and willingness to share your experiences and learnings with the rest of us!
This is a big one. Social media never seems to sleep and even though these public segments can be really fun to watch and participate in, I’ve found that I don’t always have the restraint from giving things a go even when I’ve told myself that “Today is a fun, easy day” minutes before hopping on my bike. Sometimes I’ll uncheck segments on my Wahoo to avoid temptation when I want to focus on a specific objective or avoid hard efforts in general.
Just like most things, they have their place, and can be really useful and fun, but you don’t need to go for them every single ride!
This is huge! We preach this often, but I feel it’s a sort of “Do as I say, not as I do” situation sometimes.
We all love cycling for a reason, and sometimes it’s hard to rest, especially when you have a plan to follow a ride to catch, or an event to prepare for, but as you said, eventually it’s up to your body to decide whether or not it wants to continue on.
This is a great thread for the forum, and arguably why were all here – to learn from each other’s successes and failures. Thanks again for sharing.
I think we all fall into the overtraining phase at some point. I know I get carried away and I want to follow the training plan to the T, but over the years one learns through experience that listening to our bodies and taking it easy when it needs it, only leads to more gains in the long run. Overtraining can dig your body into a hole you then have to take it out of and that often takes more time than if we were just to take a few days off.
Assuming you’ve come from the UK, everyone here’s riddled with coughs & colds currently - never seen/heard anything like it in so-called “summer”*. As John mentioned, the sickness may be little or nothing to do with your training so no need for self flagellation. Probably just bad luck.
Worse places to be than lounging around in Skiathos
Such as here in the UK, sniffling, while looking out at p!ssing rain again
ㅤ
* “summer” being synonymous with “early-onset autumn”
Yep, UK based and you’re absolutely right. Currently much better off here than the UK, Just looking at the strava feed with mates zwifting or TrainerRoad and bumping their gums about the weather.
Multiple times. Highly recommended although visitor numbers are increasing. Mtb hire is available and plenty of fire road climbs and the odd piece of single track. Nothing narly but perfect for an evening ride before dinner.
The smell of cycling through pine forests with goat bells ringing is sublime on an evening climb.
This is a big one. Social media never seems to sleep and even though these public segments can be really fun to watch and participate in, I’ve found that I don’t always have the restraint from giving things a go even when I’ve told myself that “Today is a fun, easy day” minutes before hopping on my bike. 
Sometimes I’ll uncheck segments on my Wahoo to avoid temptation when I want to focus on a specific objective or avoid hard efforts in general.
