Signs of Overtraining? (Read 1458 times)

Since Friday, I have been a bit tired, moody and jittery and have been a little less focused than usual. My goal is eventually to get to 30-40 mpw. Might I need to scale back the length of my runs? What are the signs one is overtraining? Has anyone experienced the feeling he/she needed to scale back? How did you change things? Thanks!

Those signs are what I usually experience when I don't run enough, not when I run too much. If you want to build up the mileage, I would focus on adding days rather than adding on to your current runs. To run 30-40 miles per week consistently, you would probably be better off adding those miles during the week and keep the long run in the current range. Remember to work this up gradually. Good luck.

I'm a big fan of running for a half hour on any day that you would otherwise not run.

Since Friday, I have been a bit tired, moody and jittery and have been a little less focused than usual. My goal is eventually to get to 30-40 mpw. Might I need to scale back the length of my runs? What are the signs one is overtraining? Has anyone experienced the feeling he/she needed to scale back? How did you change things? Thanks!

I went through the same thing over the summer. I went from running 35-40/week to 45-60/week. When increasing mileage to new heights, I read from Pfitzinger that it's best to do it with lower intensity running, while building up a base. Then once you reach your goal range of mileage, if you can maintain it for at least a couple of weeks and feel pretty good and injury free at the end of those 2 or 3 weeks. Then you can allow yourself to start doing more higher intensity runs at that higher mileage. That being said I still managed to run myself down sometimes. Most of the time I would only feel run down for about 3 to 5 days and then I would snap out of it and come back stronger. But if it persisted much longer than that, I would lower my intensity even more or take an unscheduled day off and then I'd feel better. Even though mileage might be low for the week, I would continue on schedule the next week, even though it may appear to be a big jump. Since it's only been a few days, i wouldn't worry about it too much, just make sure you get some extra sleep if you can. It could very well be some other stress that's causing you to feel this way. Your log shows that you've been able to run at 35-40 before and lately you've only been hitting around 20. So i don't see any real reason why you'd be overtraining.

Normally overtraining come with a lethargic feelins, tired legs, sniffles and when its time to run, you really dont want to, but you force yourself out the door anyway....sore legs, boredom ... other such stuff.... I am also guessing that your not overtraining based on your logs (tho we all react to stress differently so you may be stressed at your current level and need rest). I tend to agree with most of the other comments that you should consider running more consistantly and a few less miles per day and also, its entirely possible that you are running too fast and that can be making you feel tired at lower mileages.... Make sure you are running slowly enough to get your miles in and feel good afterwards (like you have some left and could do it again - remember the talk test - and dont hesitate to throw in a few one minute walk breaks-they do wonders for endurance and for the mind also). Also consider running more days, but a few less miles if we want to get up to 30... My 30 Mile week looks like this: Mon - Rest, Tue - 4, Wed - 5, Thur - 6, Fri - Rest, Sat -5, Sun - 10. This gives me some easy days and one long day.....One long day is all you need per week......with a couple of moderate days and a few easy/rest or off days..... I 'think' if you change your training schedule around a little and slow down, you will have more consistant and reliable results and wont feel so tired or overtrained..... least thats mi $.02......

One thing to note that I've seen on various running forums... For some reason people always take offense to somebody asking whether they are "overtrained". Well, yeah, few of the people asking have that classic "overtraining syndrome" which is basically a chronic fatigue syndrome where something is seriously outta whack. But that doesn't mean that the person asking is not doing too much running for their fitness level or their ability to absorb more running due to the additive effect of running on top of other stressors in their life. I can run too much and still have it be detrimental to my training without falling into the classical "overtraining syndrome". If I can't sleep, can't focus, or do the other things I need to do in life, that still means I ran too much! If you are trying to increase your mileage, use the stairstep approach by leaving it the same level for a few weeks, then increasing a little more and holding that amount for a few weeks again. That way you can increase mileage incrementally while letting your body get used to it. If you try to just keep increasing every week, you are steadily increasing the stress on your body without letting your body get used to it. Some people can get away with that, but many cannot. I also like to take a cutback week when I feel burned out. I will run 20-30% less for a week to give myself the chance to bounce back a little. Some people schedule these regularly (say every 3rd or 4th week for example) to avoid falling into a rut of fatigue -- I prefer to just play it by ear. I am a big fan of sleep as well. Like EGH3 said, get enough sleep -- most adults do not! Eat nutritiously. And if you have some other irregular symptoms, the recommendation of getting checked by your doctor is a good one just to rule out some underlying health issue. Good luck!

+1 I was going to say that 10 beats or more of a resting heart rate, but Jimmy beat me to it.

Overtraining? Hogwash. Run until your legs fall off.

That's over-rated (check my log.) For the O.P. - what's overtraining? A drop in performance despite increased training. (daily easy runs are not indices.) Or, it's injury.