Are you Overreaching or Overtraining?

The thought process that ‘the more you do the better you become’ is widely used but there becomes a point that the training becomes detrimental to performance. Those not following a structured plan often find themselves overreaching or overtraining. These 2 terms can seem very common to most cyclist but are not always fully understood. Here’s a run down on what they mean, how to spot them and what you can do to avoid ever having to worry about them!

What is overreaching?

Overreaching is brought on by consecutive days of training beyond the individual’s threshold to be able to recovery for the following training day or block. There are 2 forms of overreaching:

Functional overreaching – The training load will lead to physiological adaptations and improvement in performance post recovery.

Non-functional overreaching – The training load is too high without sufficient rest which does not create the same adaptations.

The correct and planned amount of overreaching is required in a training plan to elicit the specific responses and improve performance in training and racing.

Overreaching is created by a short-term overload which can be managed within a few days. Although, if the overreaching is persistent without the correct recovery, it can develop into overtraining.

What is overtraining?

Overtraining (AKA overtraining syndrome or systemic overtraining) develops after weeks or months of overreaching and exceeding an athlete’s physiological ability. It creates a negative training adaptation and decreased performance; it means you will be getting worse rather than better from each training ride. Overtraining (OT) will typically take 6-12 weeks to recover but may continue longer if the athlete returns back to overreaching.

How to identify overtraining?

Personality – Your mental state may be one of the earliest indicators of overtraining. You will be left feeling generally lethargic and sensitive to anger, depression and a decrease in sense of well-being.

Resting Heart Rate – Resting heart rate can be taken every morning as a sign of fatigue and training stress. Increases of 10% or 10bpm in your average RHR over consecutive days is an accepted signal to slow the training down. Make sure that you do this over a few days rather than a single reading.

Performance – Cyclists have a number of different metrics available to them which allows them to track performance. If you see a deterioration in one of these or a drop in maximum HR, now is a good time to have a rest and allow your body to recover.

General fatigue – Muscle inflammation (soreness), sore throat and irregular bowl movements have also been used as signs of OT.

Sleeping – Changes in your normal sleep cycle, falling asleep easily, awaking abruptly and the feeling of needing a nap can be associated with OT.

Blood markers – There are a number of biochemical markers which can be used to identify the early signs of OT from a blood test. They can include resting and exercise cortisol levels, norepinephrine levels, and lactic acid clearing after maximal exercise.

How to prevent Overtraining?

The most obvious answer to this is controlling your training load. Regulate the amount of volume, intensity and recovery time. Ensure you are pushing your training within your own physiological limits. You can do this by monitoring your Chronic Training Load (CTL), Acute Training Load (ATL) and your Training Stress Balance (TSB).

Make sure you also factor in your overall lifestyle, working patterns and stress on the body. Proper nutrition is equally important because one of the contributors to overtraining can be chronically low glycogen levels. These should all be considered when estimating your training load.

Having the right balance

Having a properly constructed training plan will give you the right tools to put your body under the optimal strain for your body to promote the responses needed to become faster and more efficient. Having a coach can give you a structure to periodise your training and target specific energy systems to aid improvements in performance.

There is a fine line with creating a training load for the best results. Your body needs to dip into the acute overload and then overreaching phase to be able to recover and adapt to the new demands placed on it. Those that go into this phase without the adequate recovery will start to move into overtraining.

Contact us

Get in touch with us to help you find the perfect training balance and prevent overreaching and overtraining! You can get in touch with us for a free coaching consultation via our ‘Contact’ page.