OVERTRAINING RUINS PERFORMANCE
by WINA STURGEON
Have you been training hard, only to see your results plummet? Has it been hard to keep your temper, when everything seems to annoy you? Do your muscles hurt, and do you feel weaker than normal?
If so, you have the classic athlete's bane: Overtraining Syndrome.
This is a condition sometimes described as 'going stale.' It affects athletes on every level, both Olympians and weekend warriors. It often occurs in early spring, when winter athletes are getting ready for the championship finish of their season, and summer athletes are training hard to begin their season.
It starts when you are training so hard that you don't give your body enough time to recover. Over a period of time, sometimes in as little as one week, the lack of recovery can deplete the cells of energy so thoroughly that they don't even have enough energy to replace their depleted nutrients.
Classic symptoms allow an easy diagnosis. There is joint and muscle pain, and a drop in performance. There is a lack of energy, plus a loss of desire to train. Legs feel heavy and wooden. There is a loss of appetite. If you are overtrained, you might even start to dislike your sport and avoid competitions.
Jeff Sadis, a skiercross coach, says athletes need to keep track of their condition. "The first major symptoms are not being able sleep, not feeling rested even with extra long periods of sleep, loss of focus and loss of ability to concentrate," he says. Many athletes make the mistake of training harder when symptoms of overtraining first appear, thinking that will resolve the problem. But that's the worst thing an athlete can do. Only rest will allow the body to recover.
He adds, "The first thing you need to do is take a step back from your sport for at least a day or two. It might mean taking a week off. You don't quit working out completely, but you moderate the intensity."
The earlier that overtraining syndrome is recognized, the faster the body can recuperate and the less time off will be needed. Watch for the first, and most subtle symptom: a rise in resting heart rate. If you don't have a heart monitor, keep a stopwatch by your bed and take your heart rate every morning before moving from your prone position.
Place the first two fingers of one hand on the pulsing artery beside the windpipe of your neck, just below your chin. Count the number of beats for 6 seconds and multiply that by 10. That number is your resting heart rate. If it increases over two or three days, that is a sign of overtraining. If you rest for two days at that point, you will recover without a problem.
Don't let it go until the syndrome sets in. There is no cure for overtraining syndrome, though some research has shown that taking the supplement glutamine can help speed up recovery time and even help prevent it. Eating a healthy diet can also help ensure that you do get needed nutrients.
"Most of the athletes I work with take multivitamins. Vitamins B, C and glucosamine are important, but vitamins are merely supplements to a good diet," Sadis says.
No athlete is immune to overtraining syndrome. Be aware of how your body feels so that you can prevent the condition by resting until recovery, if and when it starts.