Overtraining in Runners

Overtraining in runners is waaaaay too common. Consider this scenario: It’s a Monday—it’s time to drag your tired self out of bed and get out for a run. Trudging to get out the door is an understatement—and once you do get out the door, you feel like you have cinder blocks glued to your feet. You survive your run, get back to your house and start getting ready for the day, but you just feel wiped out and the day has barely started! Sound familiar?

Whether you’re training for a race or use running as a part of maintaining your fitness, it can take a toll on your body. When you exercise and stress the body too much and don’t give yourself enough rest, you can develop overtraining syndrome. Learn more about the nitty gritty details in our main article here. As a runner it’s not only your mileage and the intensity of your runs that you need to take into account—how’s your sleep, stress at work/home, nutrition to fuel your exercise, daily movement habits, what do your rest days look like?

How do you know if you’re in an overtrained runner?

• Decreased motivation—not wanting to go for your runs, do cross training, or participate in other activities you enjoy
• Increased fatigue/tiredness—no just during your runs, but feeling overall tired or fatigued throughout the day
• Decreased performance—running at the same pace for a run you’ve done in the past may feel like it takes 10x the effort, or you feel like you’re putting in the same effort, but you’re going much slower
• Injuries or nagging pains—you can’t seem to get rid of the pain that now plagues you, no matter how much stretching or foam rolling you do
• Sickness—you’re more frequently getting sick from the little “bugs” going around the office or home

How do I monitor my response to exercise?

• Measure your morning heart rate (HR)— A simple way to test this each morning if you don’t have a smart watch/heart rate strap, you can use an app on your phone that uses the camera light to measure your heart rate. Instant Heart Rate by Azumio was found to be both reliable and valid compared to a Polar chest strap for measuring heart rate. If it’s 7 beats per minute (bpm) higher than your usual resting heart rate, you’re not fully recovered, and should take that into account for your workout that day. This means either taking a rest day or going for a very easy jog or walk.
• Take note of your sleep and motivation level— How rested do you feel in the morning? If you didn’t sleep well, if you try to go for an intense or long run, it will put undue stress on your body. Also, rate your motivation level each day on a scale of 1-10. 1 being “You couldn’t pay me a million dollars to get out and run” and 10 being “I am so excited to run today, I could run to the North Pole and back!!!!” If you’re in the 1-3 range, you probably shouldn’t train that day, again go for a walk or do some light activity that you enjoy. If you’re in the 4-6 range, it would be a good idea to take it easy on intensity.

For recovery tips and tricks, check out our main article here.

For a specific tips for CrossFitters, read that article here.

For more details, watch the videos below.

How do you know if you are an overtrained runner?

How can you monitor overtraining as a runner?

What can you do to avoid overtraining as a runner?

Picture reference: https://runkillarney.com/what-is-overtraining-syndrome/