New York Times article on overtraining

edco76 · #1 (**permalink**) September 4th, 2008, 02:15 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/he...=1&oref=slogin

Interesting. To me the interesting part was this

Quote:

“It doesn’t happen over a two-week period of time,” Dr. Keteyian said. And it is unlikely to strike someone running 20 miles or so a week or doing the equivalent amount of another endurance sport, he said.

“Twenty miles is nothing,” Dr. Keteyian said. “Talk to me when you are running 50 miles a week. If you are a runner and have a steady history of running 40 to 70 miles a week and now you are pushing it to 80, 90, 100 miles a week and your times are dropping and you are feeling sluggish, then I’ll start to listen.”

Interesting because you read so much about "overtraining" on diet and fitness websites aimed towards casual athletes who will never or are atleast years away from logging 50 miles a week.

maleficent · #2 (**permalink**) September 4th, 2008, 02:19 PM

last summer when I was training for the 3 day walk - 0k i wasn't running but i was walking 60+ miles a week... closer to the event I'd be doing 30+ miles on a weekend.

I see a lot of the marathon training groups that this week -the group is doing 20 miles... and that's just one day -most of the people do run during the week and the majority of the people are regular people...

edco76 · #3 (**permalink**) September 4th, 2008, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maleficent

last summer when I was training for the 3 day walk - 0k i wasn't running but i was walking 60+ miles a week... closer to the event I'd be doing 30+ miles on a weekend.

I see a lot of the marathon training groups that this week -the group is doing 20 miles... and that's just one day -most of the people do run during the week and the majority of the people are regular people...

I know people do it. I was just stating how often you read in articles etc. about overtraining when targeting novice athletes. ie. "Be sure an take days off during training. You don't want to overtrain" I think it is just people either don't know, or don't care to explain the difference between overtraining, and recovery time. Maybe "overtraining" is just an easier concept to grasp than "recovery"

Steve · #4 (**permalink**) September 4th, 2008, 05:36 PM

People need to understand the difference between overreaching and overtraining.

They also need to understand the different impacts metabolic vs. CNS-intensive work has on the body, locally and systemically.

Not all training is created the same.

maleficent · #5 (**permalink**) September 5th, 2008, 05:28 AM

I think overtraining in some communities, is becoming the new starvation mode...

I strongly doubt it's possible for me to overtrain - while I don't totally slack - my body is incapable of working at a super high intense level... it's that inability to breathe that slows me down... I'd get into overbored mode before I'd ever fall into overtraining mode...

LaurenS11 · #6 (**permalink**) September 5th, 2008, 08:45 AM

I try not to over train, because I can tell when Im almost at that point. I am glad my body reacts if I train too much and too hard.

thundaflash · #7 (**permalink**) October 23rd, 2008, 10:55 AM

Some people get in a mindset where they strive for an unattainable goal and adding a lot of pressure on that goal.
Some runners can do 30 miles a week and push to 50...which is hard. Some people are striving for 20, everyone has different attainable goals.
You just have to know themselves.

and have fun doing it!

surferguy78 · #8 (**permalink**) November 1st, 2008, 02:35 AM

We have a term in the surfing world "surfed out" I get this towards the end of every surf trip where we score good waves. On average we spend 5-6hrs in the water everyday over a 7-9 day period, by the end we are all just kooking each wave, falling off getting up too slow. Up til now I just thought this was general fatigue, do you guys think it could be overtraining esque?

Steve · #9 (**permalink**) November 1st, 2008, 05:36 AM

No, I do not.

surferguy78 · #10 (**permalink**) November 1st, 2008, 06:29 AM

Care to share your reasons there Steve?

Steve · #11 (**permalink**) November 1st, 2008, 08:09 AM

I think it's general fatigue. There's a difference between becoming tired and the state of overtraining.

surferguy78 · #12 (**permalink**) November 1st, 2008, 08:32 AM

coolio! probably due to the stoke dripping all the energy out of my bones!

ABBAgirl · #13 (**permalink**) November 11th, 2008, 11:51 AM

Thanks for posting this article, it was interesting.

ABBA

jadedazurite · #14 (**permalink**) November 17th, 2008, 05:44 AM

I wish there were more articles of this quality that address the issue in terms of women's health. I may not have had a true diagnosis of this, but I've definitely experienced changes in my menstrual cycle when the only factor that had changed was doing large amounts of cardio over several months time (and my body fat % hadn't yet dipped below the minimum for women at that point). Then things went back to normal after a few months of doing a more reasonable workout schedule again.

a runner · #15 (**permalink**) November 23rd, 2008, 07:26 AM

I think overtraining is often over diagnosed.
When you're training for a race and running 85+ mile weeks, you're going to feel worn out.
No amount of healthy eating or sleep is going to fix that.
The way I see it, the line between training hard and overtraining is when your resting heart is way above normal for at least 5 days, and you're getting random pains all over your body. To train right and train hard, you have to know where the line is.