Signs of Overtraining
Cycling hard is key when you want to increase your level of fitness, speed and endurance. But if you don’t offset your hard rides with rest days and recovery days, you can quickly bring on a case of fatigue – caused by overtraining.
Most athletes aren’t risk for overtraining like cyclists are. Endurance training isn’t like other types of exercise. The level of intensity, focus and duration are different. The demands placed on the fitness of a cyclist are more extreme.
The less fit you are, the less it takes to overtrain. A pro may ride for 3 hours and think nothing of it. But a 2 hour ride could bring on serious fatigue for you, if you’re not training regularly. What’s overtraining for one person may be a light, recovery day for another. It is entirely dependent on the individual – and how they’ve been training that week or that month.
So how do you know if you’re overtraining?
Unmistakable Signs
- Fatigue
Overtraining fatigue won’t shake off. A quick jolt of caffeine won’t get rid of it for long. It lingers. - Higher resting heart rate
If you think you might be overtraining, check your heart rate before you get out of bed for several days. If it goes up by 10 beats a minute (or 10%) and stays there for a few days, you’re overtraining. - Disrupted sleep
A significant change in your sleep cycle that is not related to outside noises or other stressors can indicate overtraining. If you wake up after 5 hours’ sleep, but then feel tired later, and that’s uncommon for you, it could be overtraining. - Altered performance
Slower training times during speed drills can be a sign of overtraining. If you are minutes slower than you were, it may be time to take a few days off, instead of pushing hard. - Irritability
When your body is stressed, it diverts as many resources as possible to making up for the problem – including the precious chemicals you need to maintain your sense of well-being and joie de vivre.
Overtraining need not be a problem. If you catch it right away, a day off can set things right. If you try to push through it, it can take weeks to fully recover.
A good training schedule will include two rest days a week, plus a day or two of easy spinning to let your body recover. The real power days are what the week’s all about. But you can’t get to them without an easy build-up. It comes down to this: Pace yourself or pay the price.