Are you feeling the burn after a workout? Great! That is a great sign that you've done your job. That burn is a result of pushing your body past what it's used to. Finding your limit and crossing it. Challenging yourself toward harder, more intense workouts over a period of time is all about training your body to adapt. And adapt successfully.
The key, what for it, is... Recovery. You need to make sure that you are giving your body time to recover. I look at my marathon training schedule and one of the most obvious things is how the long run is followed by a day of rest. Some plans increase your long run mileage a little each week up to a certain point and then drop off and build back up again. The experts call this: stress adaptation. I call it "Adapt or Die" or, on some particularly difficult days, just "Adapt and Die." The idea is for you to have a build up. Then a small retreat. Then a build up. Followed again with a retreat. Stress the body and then giving it a chance to recover, heal itself. Let it adapt to the milage and the body stress. And heal before piling more stress on it. This is the way to train.
Now, sometimes runners, both newbies and seasoned runners can get caught up in the training. I am guilty of this from time to time. But the worry is that you peak, burn yourselves out or worse, as has happened to me, suffer an injury.
The following are some good ideas on how to keep from overtraining.....
1. Follow the 90 percent rule.
When doing quality workouts (hill repeats, tempo runs, intervals, long runs), push yourself, but always leave something back. Think about pushing yourself up to about 90 percent of your maximum effort, and no more. After finishing a quality workout, you should feel tired. You should feel like you've worked hard, but you should also feel like, "Hmmm, I could have done a little more." i love this feeling in the shower. Then I KNOW I've done it right. Doing every workout at maximum effort is an injury waiting to happen.
2. Enjoy the easy runs.
Almost every training plan includes easy runs each week. I love mine, and look forward to them when I am struggling with hill repeats or a long run. These runs, as defined in several books, are designed to keep your base mileage up and help keep you limber between stressful workouts. As I have been struggling with tendon stiffness all year, I use easy runs to their fullest. The problem is many runners blast through the easy runs as if they were high stress workouts. If every run is a hard run, you greatly increase your chances of injury, peaking early, or burning out.
3. Respect your REST days.
Forget the idea that rest is only for the weak. Something I have to repeatedly remind myself of prior to and during. I also let it be known to friends that it's a rest day. My girlfriend will be the first to remind me, as she wants some of that rest day for couple's time. It has to be remembered that rest is equally as important as that weekly hill repeat or long run. Your body needs time to rebuild the muscle tissue that's broken down with each workout. If you never let your body rest, your fitness level will decline and affect all of your runs. No rest will unavoidably lead to injury. Also, the older you get, the more rest you will need. Presently, two rest days are the habit of this 40+ year old.
4. Follow the hard/easy rule.
Overtraining can be a result of repetitive exercise. If you don't vary your workouts and you're constantly subjecting your body to the same stress over and over, those muscles can become over-trained. This is a problem that I have throughout my running life. And as recent as last year. A good rule of thumb is to wait at least 48 hours before working the same muscle groups again. So for example, if your do a chest/triceps workout one day, you should wait at least two days before working those muscles again. Professional bodybuilders will often work a muscle group so hard in one workout, that they'll wait an entire week before working that muscle group again.
In running, it's good to think in terms of hard/easy. Hard (or stress) workouts can include speed workouts (intervals, repeats, tempo runs, hill repeats). Even though the long run is an easier pace, it's considered a hard run because of the distance. Easy workouts include short or mid-distance runs that are run at an easy to moderate intensity. So, if you do a hard run one day you should wait at least two days before running your next hard run.
5. Cross-train.
Though I do not cross train, I am adding this as it is a valuable tool to keep from overtraining. If you add a couple of cross-training days into your weekly training, it is a great way to maintain your conditioning without overworking the same muscles. See above. On cross-training days, do anything aerobic that's not running (i.e., elliptical, row machine, cycling, swimming, circuit resistance training, etc.). These activities will give you a great aerobic workout as well as conditioning other muscle groups helping to increase your overall fitness, while giving your "running muscles" a break.
6. Sleep.
My favorite means of keeping overtraining away is sleep. Lack of sleep is a big cause of fatigue which can increase your chances of overtraining. It must be said that your body does most of its repair and rebuilding while you sleep. If you're not getting enough sleep, then you're not giving your body time to heal. Sleep requirements can vary from person to person. Most adults need seven to 8 hours of sleep a night. Fatigue can result when your normal sleeping hours are shortened for whatever reason--stress of a new job, a new baby, exercising too late at night, or that heartburn you got from the giro you ate just before bed. If you're not getting your normal amount of sleep, then you need to back off on your training until your sleep hours are back to normal.
7. Know the signs.
An elevated pulse is a good indicator of possible overtraining or even sickness such as a respiratory infection. If your waking resting pulse is elevated more than a few beats, you could be suffering from overtraining. Good thing to check your heart rate while still laying in bed first thing in the morning. In either case, taking a day off may be the best thing. Again, rest is the best thing to avoid overtraining.
Below are more over-training signs to look out for and respect if they occur....
-persistent achiness, stiffness, or pain in the muscles and/or joints (beyond the typical delayed onset muscle soreness felt after a workout)
-lack of energy
-fatigued and/or achy muscles
-frequent headaches
-feeling lethargic or sluggish
-drop in athletic performance
-not able to complete your normal workout
-depressed, moody, unmotivated
-nervousness
-lack of sleep and/or appetite
-weight loss
-lowered immune system
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