5 Signs you are Overtraining

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5 Signs you are Overtraining

There was a moment late last year when I almost wanted to stop running and triathlon training. There was actually time when I told my triathlon coach na “ayaw ko na!”. I was then trying to find out what the heck was wrong with me, I am training as hard as I can but my performance is at its poorest. It’s only now that I realized what happened to me, it was sports fatigue.

You might be in the same predicament as I am before, so I’m listing down some of the signs that I encountered hopefully you can identify them early and bounce back earlier than I did.

1. A sudden drop in performance

– When months before you’re I’m hitting a SUB1-10K performance on a race quite easily then suddenly you can barely maintain an average pace of 7min/km. You start to think you need to “train more” so you try to push harder, but you get disappointed because you can’t seem to complete your training sets like before.

2. Depression

– You start feeling depressed. Why is my performance declining? Why am I not improving. You start to doubt yourself and you slowly loose confidence in your ability to perform.

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3. Training becomes a chore

– You always feel tired, drained and lack the energy to train, you don’t look forward to running anymore. It came to a point that you just run because it’s in your training plan, you run just to “finish” the required workout. Every time you train, you feel exhausted rather than energized.

4. Injuries became common

– Leg hurts, feet hurts, knee hurts, everything hurts! You feel some pain just by warming up!

5. I hate running!

– You start to loose interest in the sport. You start to think that it’s not for you anyway.

If you’re experiencing some of what’s mentioned above, then you might also be suffering from sports fatigue and over training. Here’s what I did to help me bounce back, hope it helps you too!

1. REST and RECOVER.

– Easy to say, hard to do, especially when you’re afraid to loose the “fitness” that you have worked so hard for. What I did was to STOP signing up for races, it took away the mental pressure to always beat my PR, instead my training became focused more on rest and active recovery. Oh, time to get that much needed massage too!

2. Do Cross Training

– It’s a good time to pick-up a new sport or workout, I chose to join 360 Fitness Club and focused on conditioning workouts that would also eventually help my running and triathlon training.

Don't Be Afraid Of Going Slow

You should slowly feel the “FUN” in running to returning, and you’ll start to feel the urge to race. Take it slowly, sign-up for a couple of races just to have “FUN”, eventually you’re body will tell you when you’re ready to set a new PR.

Last word of advice, if you recognize some of the warning signs of over training, it’s important to immediately make adjustments to your training and objectives before it begins to affect your performance that can lead you to be sick or injured. It is also advisable for you to get a coach that can objectively help you plan out your training program with proper recovery cycles.

Hope this helps! Share it to someone who you think might need this. Keep on running!

35 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks for d info sir Jeff. Actually I finished your last sub-1 10k in 50mins. A 21k in 1hr &54mins. And 42k in 4hrs &32mins. Yet still I’m not yet satisfied den I suffer almost all d things u’ve said.now I know how to adjust.

  2. Actually nga po I am training sana for my 3rd 42.195k run dis yr.sa natgeo sana buti nlang naubusan dn me ng sizes kc I think I cant make it muna dahil ngkasakit ako ngaun. Anyways salamat ulit.

  3. I learned the hard way. I have to stop running for 3months dahil sa injuries. Don’t forget to recover. :)

  4. Signed up for two 10k runs last month. After nung last run ko (SUB1 10k) naramdaman ko na ung sakit sa may heels ko. Nagresearch ako at swak sa symptoms ng Plantar fasciitis. Need talaga magrest din and suggestion sa treatment, kailangan din iwork out ung core mo. Learned that the hard way. Thanks sa tips sa post na toh. Very helpful pra sa newbie runner na tulad ko. God bless ya’ll!

  5. exactly what i felt kahapon :( im supposed to do 5mi but ended up 1.95 lang..gusto ko lang huminto and dont want to run anymore..hayayay :( 1.95mi pero feeling ko nagmarathon ako. over training nga kaya tayo?

  6. kakabasa ko lang ng buong article..5/5 ako huhuhu lalo na yun #3, takbo kasi nasa sked :( ito pa, ang tagal ng 1mile haha bat ganun!

  7. Yes. Tulad ko po. Gumanda na ng gumanda ang record ko sa trailrunning, nag record ma ako ng pang 4th finisher sa 42k mountainrun. Pero bakit nung nag training pa ako ng yraining pa more the next run ko 50k (not my first 50k) eh muntik na ako ma dnf :p wt* haha
    Minsan may dahilan din ang katawan na dapat pakingan. Kaya masasabi ko sa kapwa ko runner. Matuto po kayo magpahinga :p
    #keepcalmandchill

  8. opo ako dn overtraining 2th 10k ko pang 10 ko ngaun. nung run united1..pang 19th n ko at nk ranas ko ng pg kahilo at panghihina.

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