Am I overtraining?

OverTraining

The symptoms of overtraining may include:
1. Trouble sleeping or insomnia. Especially if your sleeplessness is related to symptoms like restless leg syndrome or any kind of pain.

2. Symptoms of a suppressed immune system may appear; like frequent colds, sore throats, fever blisters, gum problems or for women: bladder infections, yeast infections, and amenorrhea.

3. Resting heart rate or target heart rates increases. Blood pressure may increase.

4. Unexpected weight loss or gain of more than a few pounds. Any unusual swelling of either the limbs or the abdomen.

5. Loss of enthusiasm for running or other symptoms of depression or exaggeration of symptoms of OCD or a general increase in obsessive tendencies. Sure signs would be if you ask your doctor to increase your SSRI dosage; prescribe a medication for insomnia or pain.

6. Other mental/physical stress related symptoms would include nail biting, hair pulling or teeth grinding. A new nervous tick could develop along with increasing agitation and aggressive responses towards other people.

7. Bowel symptoms similar to IBS may occur. Abdominal cramps with either diarrhea or constipation or some combination of the two.

8. Impaired racing and training times.

9. Slow recovery from training.

What test could you use to find out if you are over training?
Two methods of identifying over training is to the measure heart rate, either the resting heart rate in the morning or the target heart rate while running. An increase of more than 5 beats per minute above normal is an indication of over training If your target heart rate increases more than 4-5%, then it could be that you are over training and you should reevaluate your training strategy.

The cure? Train less; give yourself more recovery time.

Prevention? Know yourself and listen to your body.
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