If you’re athletically-oriented, your approach to fitness and workouts is structured. You have goals. Plans. A solid routine. You make room for changes and unexpected bad days, but what happens when you hit your goals and it doesn’t feel fulfilling?
This happened to me recently. I’m a lifelong runner, and my latest goal was to go from five miles a day to six, then duplicate that distance six days a week. It took weeks of hard work, but I when I finally got over the hump, I felt nothing, just a strange, unfamiliar combination of flatness and fatigue. It was a vexing problem, and it took me a while to understand that I’d succumbed to one of the most common problems in fitness — overtraining.
A common story
Having overtrained before, I had a history to tap into, which gave me a solid starting point. But getting good advice to deal with overtraining is much harder than it looks, and Kristina Centenari, a trainer for Tonal, usually starts with a basic approach to the problem.
“I look at patterns,” she says. “[What’s] the training load? The volume? How about frequency?”
But those basic patterns often aren’t enough. Sometimes Centenari has to go deeper into the problem and ask questions she hopes will be more revealing.
“What role is lifestyle stress playing?” Centenari adds. “Are there holes in [your] nutrition?”
The sum total of these questions is often psychological. Taken together, they can expose a mindset that sets up a situation where overtraining is all but inevitable.
“You won’t feel motivated every day, but when you feel sluggish, really lacking enthusiasm, or even heightened stress or anxiety, that’s when we should take a look at the bigger picture,” she explains. “You need to track your recovery like you track your training, and don’t wait until your performance drops to do it.”
Overtraining adjustments you can make
This kind of analysis and thought process can lead to a viable plan. Centenari has a laundry list of steps that can help with overtraining, and there’s no room for a “one size fits all” approach in her process.
- More “deload” weeks
- Reduce overall volume
- Implement lighter intensity days where you incorporate walking, working on mobility, etc.
- Set protein goals
- Set sleep goals
- Encourage some form of breath work or meditation
How I solved my overtraining problem
So how did I solve my own overtraining problem? The solution definitely incorporated analyzing my own patterns, but beyond that my solution was very individual.
In making the jump from five miles to six, I’d been focusing on long, slow distance. It took me a while to figure it out, but finally I realized that my pace was a real problem.
Simply put, I was running too slowly. This produced a lot of flat, uninspiring runs where I was simply going through the motions in any ways.
As a result, I began increasing my pace — slowly, a little bit at a time. When this proved easier than I thought I would be, I realized I was on to something. My runs became more lively and enjoyable, and I also made some minor nutritional adjustments while adding extra naps to my routine.
Given my tendency to set goals, I know I’ll probably overtrain again at some point in the future. But having a list of possible adjustments is comforting, and anyone can incorporate them into their routine. Overtraining doesn’t have to be a debilitating problem, especially if you recognize the signs early on and take steps to alter your routine.
