Overtraining Syndrome: A Bit of Info

Training
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Listening to this weeks podcast with Chad, Nate, and Pete they touched on overreaching and overtraining syndrome. As someone who got full on overtraining syndrome in 2013 I figured I’d share my experience, frustration, and what lead up to it. Hope it can help someone out there who feels like they might be getting close to the edge.

In the late fall of 2012 I got accepted into the elite draft legal triathlons that would be in Florida the following April. It was supposed to be U23 and I’d be 27 by race day so I needed special approval to get in. I was also at the disadvantage of working a stressful full time job that had me working 55-60 hours a week that was a toxic work environment full of backstabbing and feeling like people were after your job.

I hired a high level coach, and started training harder then I had before. Upped my intensity on the bike, lots of easy paced running, and solid swim sets. Consistency week after week. Probably around 8ish hours a week on the bike, 50 miles of running, and 15k in the pool.

During this time too I felt I also needed to get super skinny so I could run my fastest. I had weighed around 170 at 6’2” so I had some weight to lose. Got to about 165 by unhealthy ways. Really restricting calories, huge spinach salads and chicken thighs for dinner despite having done a vo2 bike ride after work and a 4K swum before work.

Sleep started suffering, I found myself in a cranky mood but I kept telling myself I needed to keep pushing. This was normal. Pros train like this. Forgetting about that huge lingering 55+ hours a week that was a job…

Going into the races I felt terrible. Finished bottom 20% of the first race and the week later had to drop out after the swim because of having nothing in the tank.

Coming home from the races I took a week off, coach said I needed to do this. Was great. Well the following week tried to get back into training and it just wasn’t there. Felt like trash for a few days. Took a few more easier ones. And I remember the day I went over the edge. Did a track workout, couldn’t hit paces but kept pushing. Got through with the last one and felt empty. More empty then I ever had before. Utterly exhausted. Got home, ate went to bed. Couldn’t train the next three days or even go to work. On the 4th day I tried to run an easy 3 miles, at 10+ mile pace and it felt like I did a 10k at 5k pace. Wrecked. Had no idea what had happened.

Long story from there but I couldn’t really train for 4 years. Any time I started feeling like I kicked it I start up training again and within two weeks back to on my butt. Started off with taking a month off any training. Then two, then 3… Saw doctors, specialists, Eastern and western medicine. On SSRIs, supplements, testosterone when a blood test came and and showed I had double digit levels in me when healthy male levers were a min of 350. That didn’t help me come around.

Finally after four long years my body snapped back. It had gotten the rest it needed. I could ease my way back into training. Lost from age 27-31 of quality high level training. During that time I had torn my Meniscus, and waited too long for surgery so basically ruined running for the rest of my life. The positive is that I’m able to bike at a decent level now. Can you train about as hard as I want, but anytime that lingering fatigue starts to kick in I find myself getting very nervous. I tend to emphasize a rest day rather than pushing through a hard work out when I feel like garbage three out of five times I would say. I just never want to fall back into that over training center in again, because I meniscus, and waited too long for surgery so basically ruined running for the rest of my life. The positive is that I’m able to bike at a decent level now. Can you train about as hard as I want, but anytime that lingering fatigue starts to kick in I find myself getting very nervous. I tend to emphasize a rest day rather than pushing through a hard workout when I feel like garbage three out of five times I would say. I just never want to fall back into that over training Syndrome again, because I realize how much of my life revolves around being active and doing this crazy type of endurance sport.

I know this is a long post, and I’m not a medical professional by any means, but if anyone has questions or feels like they want advice because they’re going into something maybe similar feel free to ask. Hopefully this helps at least one person when they feel like they are teetering over the edge to take the rest rather than keep pushing so they don’t lose out on years of training. That is unless your major competition with and cat three racing, then keep training it will only make you better I know this is a long post, and I’m not a medical professional by any means, but if anyone has questions or feels like they want advice because they’re going into something maybe similar feel free to ask. Hopefully this helps at least one person when they feel like they’re teetering over the edge to take the rest rather than keep pushing so they don’t lose out on years of training. That is unless your major competition with an end cat three racing, then keep training super hard, it will only make you better :wink:

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Thank you for sharing.

In hindsight, do you recall any warning signs that you may have glossed over at the time – was it just the sensation of feeling empty that week?

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The first real thing I noticed were my swim times becoming slower for anything over 200 meters/yards (depending on the pool I was in). I just couldn’t swim at the speed I was used to. Hard 300 yard intervals were normally like 3:30 for me but it would slip to 3:45 and then 4 min.

Was told that could happen since you cannot improve on all disciplines at once and to not worry too much about it.

From there it turned into harder to fall asleep and mood changes.

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One thing I saw a few years into my overtraining syndrome was that those inflatable boots could be a mask and lead to OTS because your legs feel good to smash the next day but your internal levels haven’t gotten back to normal, and during that time I was spending my whole evenings after dinner in those boots until bed.

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Very interesting experience, thanks for sharing.
Would say that I wonder how much of this is ‘over-training’ and how much was just waaaay too over-stressed? Because I don’t think you get special approval to join elite draft legal tris without already being willing and able to put in a ton of work. I wonder if things wouldn’t have been different if you simply didn’t have 60 hours a week having your soul crushed at a horrible job.

In general, I think actual ‘over-training’ among amateur athletes is probably never an issue. I do think training through stressful life situations is very common - and the tell-tale sign may well be what you mentioned: finding yourself in a cranky mood.

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One thing I found out during the process was stress is stress. Your systems do not say oh this is cycling stress and this is work stress. It’s all one huge pile. The fact it was lots of high intensity workouts, with not enough food, and work all made it the perfect storm to jack me up.

I left that job six months later and went into a career I love. Still took 3.5 years to return to “normal”.

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Great post, thanks for sharing.

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This hits deep. I ran in college and ran myself into the ground by not listening to my body and biting faster paces than needed. I kept going for mega 100 mile weeks when racing for a stupid 1500/3k race. I remember I did a workout that felt amazing. It was a 17 mile tempo workout on the track that I struggled to do but went above called pace. After that workout I passed out on the infield and couldn’t run. That was 5 years ago. I’m afraid of over training and running which is why I now race crits and MTB. Trainer roads plans keep me focused and stoping me from over reaching which helps. I still miss running really fast.

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This is one of the best posts I’ve read on this forum. Thanks for being open enough to share.

I disagree. It’s not just about the training, but what else is going on in your life. Some people can develop over-training syndrome on 4 hrs per week.

Another common early sign is not getting your HR up for a given effort, coupled with a sense of fatigue. It can lull you into a false sense of security that you are progressing, where in actual fact you really in that knife edge.

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Thanks for the kind words. I felt like after they talked about it on the podcast last week that it was important to share the experience so people know what it’s like to have it first hand. Too many times we get told to push through, embrace the sick, etc and you’re basically a wimp if you’re not training harder and longer.

Of course you need to train hard if you’re going to be successful but just have to be careful of the balance. There is a tipping point and I’m super lucky that I came back.

I’ll be happy to always answer questions about this experience and what helped/didn’t help. Thanks for bringing it up and giving me a place to share my experience @Nate_Pearson @Pete @chad @Jonathan

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That’s a really powerful story. Thank you for posting!

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Well, I’m talking about the actual definition of over-training. Truth is, 99.9% of amateur athletes don’t train hard enough, long enough to be over-trained. You are not over-trained at 4 hours a week, no matter what else is going on around you in your life. You may suffer from stress, burnout, lack of motivation etc because of everything else, but that’s not over-training.

If you had a crummy 60-hour/week job, a crumbling marriage, facing bankruptcy and poor health and were trying to workout four hours a week, you might not be doing so great. But if you then got a great job with great bay, great benefits and reasonable hours, were in a happy, fulfilling relationship and no major money problems and back to normal health, it wouldn’t take you 4 years to get back to it.

But really do thank dennenj for sharing. Great story and glad to hear you’re back.

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I don’t want to derail what is a great topic, but you’re wrong. Over-training syndrome can occur in anybody, and has been known to occur in people doing very little volume. It isn’t correlated to the hours of training and is a multifactorial issue. Maybe it should be called inadequate recovery syndrome?

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What was your communication like with your coach during this time? Was there nothing in your workout data like abnormal HR readings or just too many failed workouts that stuck out to your coach?

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Thank you for sharing your story! I suffer from Lupus and must watch my training stress and what my body is telling me very closely… Sometimes it can really be discouraging knowing I need to train but my body is telling me no. I’ve started using TrainerRoad during the summer to avoid the risk of having any flare ups from heat (Very hot in TX) and sun exposure. So far I’m loving trainerRoad and think I’ll see huge gains in the fall when I get back out with my group rides!

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It’s a strange thing how it all went down. I’m fact my old coach felt terrible about this, and I think it really ate him up. He was a pro triathlete who’s career was ruined by the same thing, only he never bounced back. He would eat even less then I would in the evening, saw a good period of time were improvements were made and then snap…he was done. It really hurt him that what had happened to him from his old coach had happened to me under his watch.

I tried talking to him about the fatigue in the pool and he said that was normal/would pass. I didn’t share what my diet consisted of. Had I told him I feel like he would have told me to start eating massive amounts of carbs.

In the end it was a bit of his fault and a bit of my fault. But ultimately effected me.

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It’s super hard to have to hold back when your mind wants to train that’s for sure.

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Especially when all your buddies are out having fun social rides and you’re stuck inside.

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it’s a tough thing for both of you I am sure. have good communication with a coach is obviously important.

one of the reasons why I hired a coach was to help prevent burnout and/or overtraining. Prior to hiring a coach I had followed a TR HIM plan and just did not recognize I was too fatigued before it was too late and I just hit a wall and I did not really recover until after the race. Not true overtraining but I obviously over did it where I was far too fatigued. I’m not an elite athlete so my goals are a bit more modest. The more experience I get the better feel I get for what is just normal fatigue vs I need more recovery. Of course, in my case I will err on the side of more recovery. But for somebody with bigger goals I can see where pushing yourself is the norm and can be hard to see when one has gone too far.

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I really appreciate your post and really glad your cycling is back to a strong level.
I have a couple of questions for you…
a) Were any of the doctors you saw helpful? What type of specialist or Eastern vs Western medicine did you find were the most helpful?
b) Did anyone ever diagnosis this as REDS (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport)?
c) Do you believe the root cause was a combination of stress AND calorie deficit and/or reduced amount of carbs?
d) While you were training hard and reducing your calories, were you able to actually drop weight or did that plateau as well?
Thanks again for sharing…certainly sounds like a fine line.

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