Overtrained what the...???

billynolegs

Hello,

This is my first post here so please be gentle. I'm wondering if I'm over-trained.
I'll try and give you the best background to the current result as I can.

Basically I'm still cat 4 and due to some broken bikes this year training and racing hasn't gone smoothly at all.
In April I was ready to race and training had gone ok, but then I had a frame snap two days before my first race.
I had to wait two weeks for a new bike, then had two weeks training before that frame broke also. I'm only 71kg !

So once Trek replaced the frame by about mid June I decided to cut back on training intensity, I just wanted to enjoy it
rather then train hard only for some other crap to mess it up and get in the way.
So this went on up until the end of July, long distances at moderate pace with lots of climbing and always one days rest a week, as ever.

Here's where things start to go a bit different, I stepped up training intensity and lowered the distance.
I went back to racing and had the Ride London to do with my club (I had a job to do and didn't want to let anyone down)
I did an intense 4 week training programme. By the time I did ride London I was at a peak, I smashed it good and did the job
leading the team over the climbs (even though the event cut the main two out because of the flooding)
After this I decided to take 4 days off as I figured the rest would be beneficial to that intense training.

I did not eat well over this rest period, I must be honest about this.
Friday to Monday was the rest period. Friday was a spin out of about 15 miles, Saturday to Monday were completely off the bike.
When I got back on the bike on Tuesday to do a gentle re-introduction, I thought...I'm going to be fresh and love it.
It was the exact opposite, I felt worse than I had on a post Christmas ride, I had nothing, legs were so heavy and lacked any energy whatsoever.
Now I'm familiar with taking a couple of days to wake the legs up after rest but this was something completely different.
The day after this I did some local laps of a familiar route with a different cycle club and felt ok, generally a good performance...then the day after that, nothing again!

To summarise, I don't understand where this years peak performance (which I had just over a week ago) has gone, literally like 7 months of training has disappeared and never happened.
I'm struggling to understand what is going on especially since I've had four days rest???
I don't feel tired throughout the day, I'm sleeping well, not getting severe mood swings, generally feel ok, ready to train, motivation is good, just the legs have nothing, literally nothing.

I have raised this with my cycle club who generally speaking I trust (all the sarcastic comments taken on the chin of course) but here consensus was ' Oh you'll be fine in a few days'
...but I am definitely not. Does this sound to you like I must take more rest? Were those four week of intense training too much, passing overreaching and entering over-training.
I had a race coming up in a few days and a hill climbing event both of which I was really looking forward to and figured I'd smash but right now I'm thinking of avoiding them?

Thoughts and experiences please, I would expect different physical reaction if I was over-training but this is all I can account for, unless I have some sort of virus I don't know about.

BrandonA

Your post is a little little verbose and confusing.

It sounds like:
- Up to April you trained well
- In April you had 2 weeks training - then bike 2nd broke
- Didn't start again until Mid June - rode for month a low intensity
- Mid July upped intensity for about a month
- Did a sportive and had more time off

I'm not expert but I'd say you are under training or at least training to a level your body is not used to or capable of. Between April and mid-July you did nothing very intensive and rode hardly at all. You then tried changed this and your body could not handle it. On top of this you eat junk.

Why do you actually think you are overtrained? Was it because it was tough and your body is aching?

Do you train to power? Do you know your FTP?

Training at a high intensity is never going to be easy. I often get it so that walking up stairs the next day can be harder than other days because my legs have taken a hammering. I think you've got to find a level you can work at (power based is good way of doing this) and train hard but build in enough rest.

billynolegs

Mostly Correct but from Mid April I was training at moderate intensity, lots and lots of miles, I'd do 220 a week mostly. This was at a moderate pace, nothing too intense but at tempo. So basically it was very good strong base miles until I started to step it up in late July/August for a month. I am certainly not under-trained but the level up on intensity will be a huge factor here. I ate junk for 4 days, not the entire year.

cheschcat

If you have been riding 220 miles a week at tempo/z3 pace with no time in Z1 or Z2 since April and then doing more intense riding from mid july... again with no Z1 or Z2 I would suggest you are over-reaching and you have burned yourself out. Back to basics and base miles (Z1&2) would be my advice.

220 miles a week at Z3 is not good strong base miles.

cheschcat

http://www.active.com/a3_articles/0d1b0 ... 5/1?page=1

wavefront

+1 to above.

I ride similar distance per week, but if it was all 'tempo' as you describe I'd be absolutely cooked.

I did some (very) approx calculations based on my power / TSS figures at Tempo as I ride similar distances to you, and if I did tempo 6 days a week, my daily TSS would be too high, and I wouldn't be able to recover fully for the next days ride, so tiredness would definitely start to build and build. As we all have a life and work to also fit into the week, which doesn't help things either.

But then I always feel 'wooden' if I have more than 2-3 days away from the bike, so I'm a huge fan of L1 rides or active recovery days / rides. I think they're quite important to stop your legs feeling dead. Going slow isn't that much fun tho', so recently I've used L1 rides to increase my cadence and happily now spin alot faster which I've found helps me so much more on the hills.

Tom Dean

The thing about a peak is that it's not sustainable. It sounds like you timed it pretty well!

I would drop the volume and ride unstructured for a few weeks, no reason not to race if you fancy it. Then think about rebuilding.

If you are able to do 220 miles tempo for weeks on end (not that I would necessarily recommend it) it's not a lack of Z1/Z2 holding you back.

cheschcat

Agreed, maybe not a lack of Z1/Z2. Instead the OP could perhaps benefit from replacing many of these Z3 miles with Z2.

dw300

To maintain your peak I think you're ment to more or less only work at event (race) intensity, but for 30-50% of the volume of the event, and you'd be doing that every 3-4 days. ie. Lots of rest and small bursts of high intensity.

You're not chronically overtrained, you're just full of fatgue. Good fitness, no form.

Tom Dean

It depends what you think OP's problem is I suppose. To me, it looks like the tempo riding was sustainable so what benefit would there be in dropping the intensity? Possibly introducing the shorter, higher intensity sessions earlier and more gradually would produce a longer peak of fitness.

Dodger747

Sorry, I read up to the Ride London bit and smashing it for the team and gave up...

cheschcat

To me it seems like the OP is significantly fatigued and that the consistent Z3 heavy training load is unsustainable which is what has brought the OP to his current state. Dropping the intensity would allow him to recover without losing too much fitness in the process. He could then take stock of where he is when he begins to feel back to normal.

cheschcat

With regard to the upcoming races I don't think it would do any harm to race as long as he builds in adequate rest before and after.

Lookyhere

Dodger747 wrote:

Sorry, I read up to the Ride London bit and smashing it for the team and gave up...

^^^^^^^this "and leading the team over the climbs"

billynolegs

Teehee, like I said I haven't got enough racing in this year. This Mondays race is called off, because of track repairs and this is basically the kind of bad luck that's got in the way of competition all year. Yet although I remain cat 4 (only bothered to get a full license for points this year) doesn't mean I can't climb like a beast...I'm no sprinter and that's what most of my local races come down to if there's no break away.

Thanks very much for all the input. I have to admit that there has been no zone1/2 rides at all really, if there were outings at that effort than I did them over 100 mile rides :roll:

I get the sense that when I took those days off the bike it all caught up with me and when I went out on that first ride back the legs were in a state of deep recovery and I shouldn't have woken them up that early. I also understand that the volume and intensity were stepped up dramatically in the previous weeks, I was aware of this which is why I took the time off after. Even so, I guess it should have been more of a progressive build to prevent a burnout.

Now there is no race on Monday, I have decided to skip the hill climb the following day also and just take time recovering towards an Autumn race series coming up.

I'll do some unstructured stuff, low intensity, low mileage for another week and see what happens.

bahzob

I'd advise taking a step back and set yourself the objective of following a structured training plan. Any plan is better than no plan and if you do this it's less likely you will suffer issues like the above and if you do it will be easier to get advice.

For the sort of events you are doing this book is likely to be very good http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/193403083X

It has everything you need, including 12 week training plans aimed at those wanting to take part in racing.