Have I overtrained??

steerpike

Ok, I probably know the answer to this one. Itching to go out and train tomorrow (Etape) but did a long (60 mile) hilly on Tuesday and am STILL feeling the effects. Dull feeling in thighs, aches and general fatigue, dry eyes and skin. I suspect I trained while carrying a bug which is why I'm still feeling the effects now. But my recovery is usually much, much quicker and I can't stand the guilt of not having trained for 4 days now. I really wanted to get an 80 miler under my belt but am resigned to doing a shorter one. Sorry if these are kind of obvious or beginner queries but:-

1. Would it be best to stick to a shorter run tomorrow for fear of worsening fatigue?
2. Is it normal to sometimes have to train while feeling exhausted?
3. What can anyone recommend (diet/rest) to try and combat post ride fatigue?

Alex_Simmons/RST

steerpike wrote:

Ok, I probably know the answer to this one. Itching to go out and train tomorrow (Etape) but did a long (60 mile) hilly on Tuesday and am STILL feeling the effects. Dull feeling in thighs, aches and general fatigue, dry eyes and skin. I suspect I trained while carrying a bug which is why I'm still feeling the effects now. But my recovery is usually much, much quicker and I can't stand the guilt of not having trained for 4 days now. I really wanted to get an 80 miler under my belt but am resigned to doing a shorter one. Sorry if these are kind of obvious or beginner queries but:-

1. Would it be best to stick to a shorter run tomorrow for fear of worsening fatigue?
2. Is it normal to sometimes have to train while feeling exhausted?
3. What can anyone recommend (diet/rest) to try and combat post ride fatigue?

Depends if you are ill or not.

If you have a virus then don't ride. That requires lots of rest to overcome and when OK, 2 weeks of very light riding before upping the ante. It sucks but it is always better in the long run:
Dealing with illness

If you are not ill, then:
1. The idea of sensible training is to gradually build up long term fatigue. That is how we induce progressive positive physiological adaptations. But when you do the odd ride here and there and suddenly ask the body to do an 80-miler, well you'll feel sore.

2. the only people who have to train are Pros and yes sometimes they are sometimes required (wrongly) to train when exhausted. However "I feel itching to ride" suggests to me you are not exhausted. If you were exhausted you wouldn't want to get out of bed for the day.

3. Recovery thoughts here

pjm-84

You summed it up in your last sentence.

I've recently suffered from overtraining. When you have it you don't realise that you do. I wasn't suffering from soreness or aching legs. I had bouts of varied performance. I wasn't hitting my heart rates. Unexplained extreme mood swings. Sleeping issues (particulary nasty).

1) Go out for a light recovery ride
2) Yes but less so the fitter you become as your body adapts.
3) I don't really bother. (After riding 250km at Flanders recenty in under 8hr 48min I had a large pizza afterwards)

When you do the Etape make sure you take a good look at your food and fluid intake. Most people don't eat or drink enough on the ride and this is where the problems begin.