Overtrained #@!?!!!!!!

Overtrained  #@?!!!!!

 

Intro

What does that mean anyway????

Overtraining is a physical, behavioral and emotional condition that occurs when the volume and intensity of an individual’s exercise exceeds their recovery capacity (*Wikipedia’s definition- worded the best out of all the ‘scientific’ websites- well so I kept it)

 When training for the Ironman there was a lot of warning not to become overtrained.    You look for it in your waking and resting heart rate.  You measure it in how fatigued you are during the workout or in your desire to even start the workout.   Those are the two main things to measure to detect if you are being overtrained.  And even then, I think people think it just means you are fatigued- but what happens is your Body decides to call it quits on you.  

This will be broken down in sections

1.       My workout schedule, where I want to emphasize- this is not the normal person’s schedule but it is NORMAL for me.  

2.      The life balance part and again why my past experience with training gave me every reason to believe I wasn’t being silly.   

3.      More about overtraining and general symptoms and my health why I jumped to the conclusion of needing a doctor, overlooking that this could possibly be overtraining. 

4.      Recovery which is a learning in progress right now.  What next?

 

So First thing is first:

My Workout Schedule

As my Blog has mentioned- I am addicted to Endurance.  That addiction has evolved over time and it’s not just endurance, but it’s the endorphins of working out.    I start working at a gym, start taking more classes, start wanting to add it all in and do it all.   There isn’t just one class I Love- I try one and see the benefits and how it adds balance to what I already do and somehow you figure out how to fit it in.    So I started off a runner, added in Yoga for Balance, then started to Bike and Swim to do the Ironman thing, teach at a gym, so you add Pilates, and Barre, Interval/Bootcamp to the mix, and know that strength training is important so try to focus on a core workout and an arm workout (and sadly the one I usually ignore since I have Pilates and Barre and Bootcamp- is a legs focused workout).

 Since 2011- Ironman Training, I have found it natural to complete “two-a-days”   so since then, in some form or another, I have just continuously done two-a-days.     (And sometimes three-a-days).    I make sure I get one day a week of rest (at least)  and if I’m not feeling a workout- as long as I’m not teaching it- I will skip it knowing it’s okay because I do a lot and there is no need to be crazy about it.

 As I have said previously, I have tried to find a way to make the workouts revolve around my life and not the other way around.    The constants are the classes I teach and when training for a marathon like the last few months, those runs.  While I used to run 6 times a week, that has been cut down to 4 since I have all this other stuff.   Then I tend to assess the week on Sunday and make my game plan for the week (If my boyfriend works the weekend, I will likely make the rest day be a week day and then have two good weekend days to workout- but if he has the weekend off- I make it so I have my rest day(s) on the weekend).     This is what a typical workout week might look like for me (things in Pinkish are what I teach- at least through February)

 

Now I look at that and I see- that’s a pretty awesome week!    Let’s say Thursday I don’t swim and do arms, I might make that up after the long run on Sunday.   For me- this is a good mix.  I used to have all cardio- More Cycle More Swim More Run.    Now I’m more focused on the conditioning.  

I mean, I still look at that and think- where did things go wrong??!?!  That seems like a good mix it seems balanced, it seems NORMAL – for me.  I never grew tired of doing this or feeling like I just didn’t want to go to the gym (note:  there is a difference between lazy tired and fatigued tired… you have to enjoy the gym or have some sort of rhythm that is thrown off balance to experience the fatigued tired).   My resting heartrate is an awesome athlete heartrate of “are you even alive?”   (Checked this morning at 48bpm).  So again, where did things go wrong?

 Now your schedule might just be a 30 minute run 5 times a week- and that’s your normal – and you do it every day- and guess what-   you too, could become overtrained!    That’s where we get into part 2- The life Balance part.

 

Life Balance

As I have been reading a lot about being overtrained, many stories discuss people with less demanding workout schedules that become overtrained.  Why?  Because everything else in their life becomes hectic and crazy and that just increases the stress hormones in your body and takes up all your energy so your body becomes depleted.   

 Once again, if you look at my schedule in January and February, it will appear that I’m just overbooked and have worn myself out because of that.  BUT once again, I had reason to believe it was all manageable.  

 When I trained for the Ironman, during peak training, I also was moving from Chicago to San Francisco.   I mean I had 3 days of intense training, a flight to San Fran, a day to rest and then I started my new job.    This was end of July into August.  My lease came up in June and all of July I bounced around to friend’s homes living with them until I moved.  Then once I moved, I still didn’t have a permanent home until after the Ironman.    I was completely fine- It was a skill acquired in college, when you have an overwhelming schedule (at one point two part time jobs that put me in at 30+ hours a week and 17 credits).  You just put your head down and become a task master- just get from one thing to another and don’t look to far ahead or you will become stressed.

 So I relate everything in my life back to the Ironman Peak training and tell myself- you are a machine- you can do it all.    In January, my boyfriend and I moved into a new place.   With some setbacks late December, Erin and I decided to cut out one ‘step down’ long run and so the week of the move we ran 18 miles, the following week 20 and then 22.  I have done this before- so no big deal.     Also, while we were moving, my parents were out of town, so I also had to house sit/clear their drive way.

Joe asked me if it was too much, with the training and moving- and that makes me want to push harder- I told him about the Ironman and said I would be fine.  So take my workout schedule – the part time job of teaching at a gym, the full time job, add more drive time to go to my parent’s house and taking care of it and the cat, add the need to pack, the stresses of moving and my first home purchase and long runs – it was a lot.   I had an amazing boyfriend helping out where he could, and, again- I’ve done it all before so I figured I could do it all again.  I did have one breakdown before the move- that I just was so stressed and saw no light at the end of the tunnel until our Door County trip which was 3 weeks away (the weekend my body shut down- so it was a little too late). 

 End of January- we are moved, and I’ve quickly lost 5lbs- I kept off until recovery (bittersweet- right?  It’s those nasty 5lbs you want to lose but when it comes with your body shutting down- you know you have to find a different way to lose them).

 February- it was taper time, I start to relax and unwind with our wonderful trip to Door County.   I had some amazing runs that first week of taper, though my stomach had already started to give me problems.  And then my body became dehydrated even though I was drinking a lot of water.    My insides start causing problems- but still, I don’t see my energy level dropping.    I was feeling so good with runs 8 minute miles were becoming the “feel good” pace.     I didn’t have an elevated resting heart rate- so I did not see that I had become over trained.  So let’s get to some Overtraining 101 and see where I still didn’t see that I was overtrained as we connect my symptoms.

  

(Mis)connection Overtrained 101

As I stated earlier, there are three basic issues to lookout for when worried if you are overtrained:

1.      Is your resting heart rate elevated above normal levels for you?

2.      Are you dreading the workout in front of you?

3.      When working out- does your body feel heavy and worn out, as if you were running with weights on your legs?

 If you said yes to one or more of these- I would say, take an extra day of rest and see if that helps.     For me- I didn’t have any of these symptoms.

What was I noticing?  (Okay personal information coming your way…)

Well first digestion issues.    As a runner, your bowel movement is usually frequent to the point, we runners all talk about it.  Maybe we talk about it to feel normal, but we end up not being embarrassed by it and know all is working good and healthy when you have that frequent movement.   Mine slowed near to a stop causing great discomfort.   Doctors have one word for it that people whisper as they say- ‘constipation’.  But I know my body, and two weeks of that, is not normal.  To the point I’m trying everything and anything on the more natural side to help and it does nothing.  Only the heavy stuff kind of worked- momentarily.   

There was also a concern I might have some kidney issues issue given some “flank pain”  so the doctors checked for infection and issues there- and I was fine.

The second doctor decided they would actually pay attention to it a little more since yes- I’m a runner so this is a little odd especially for two weeks (and we are now at 4 weeks still no normalcy).  We took blood tests to check my thyroid and blood levels and all that was normal.  So now the doctors see this fit person, with no issues they can see so they tell me it’s all normal and will run its course.   

 The Saturday before my race, I woke up dehydrated- this was another one of my issues.  I can drink 100oz a day and I will still get dehydration headaches, when you wash your hands they prune up right away, constantly cotton mouth but also constantly drinking and it going through- they did test to see if I was hydrated, and they said I was.

I had a dehydration headache before I ran but I felt strong and fast, we ran strong and fast, but after 8 miles it was hard, the last 2 took a lot of effort and I ended up being light headed.  An hour later I’m sitting at my parents’ house with my head between my knees breathing heavy trying not to pass out.  

Then I wake up the Tuesday before the race with the Flu.   I have run sick before-   but if you read my race write up- the race did not go as expected compared to other races I’ve been sick.

 All these issues – with no answers.     While the first noticeable symptoms of overtrained are as noted above, I think my creature of habit, of “just do it” overrode any fatigue, my natural ability to push through fatigue could have just made those initial factors never be noticeable.   And heart rate?   All I can say is my body is weird and reacted differently- or maybe my cardiovascular health is in the best of the best shape?

 

So now let’s briefly get into some smart talk how our body works specifically to overtrained…

Your Autonomic Nervous System (“ANS”) is the control center influencing your internal organs- it’s not something you can control by saying “just work right”  and it not only controls heart rate- it also controls Digestion and Urination.   Peeling one more layer back- from the ANS- is your PNS- the Parasympathetic Nervous System it’s a slow reactor and- it’s responsible for “Rest-and-digest”  Activities that occur when the body is at rest include urination, digestion and defecation.  Being a slow reactor it takes time to get it back to reacting normal.   It makes sense that when you don’t have enough rest- this stuff stops working because you are never allowing your body time to make it work.

 My digestion track just decided to shut down.   My body stopped processing things like electrolytes and water right- even if peeing in a cup didn’t show that-my brain and my body stopped communicating right.   I’m overtrained -this isn’t something you push through- you can be tough but your body is in charge – my Parasympathic Nervous System needed time to catch up to let my body function properly again.

Looking again at the factors that could lead me to being overtrained as mentioned above.  I need to remember a few things.  Yes, at times parts of what is above might have been my norm but all the factors together, maybe there was just one thing that put me over the edge.   I did increase intensity – not that I haven’t run a 3:40 marathon before, but not while all the other life factors were going on.  During my last two moves I was focused on endurance- slower pace never too intense.    I also think I started to become faster where it felt natural to go an 8 minute for my easy runs- maybe I needed to force the slow to truly let my body benefit from an ‘easy run’   Teaching 3 high intensity classes a week might not have been factored in as much as I should have because I have trained myself to always be “on” for those no matter how you feel- which puts you in “Cruise control”  always calling it a workout for the member- not a workout for yourself-  but really-  it is a workout – it needs more credit. 

 After that horrible marathon- I looked back at all this and decided- maybe I really am over trained and it’s time to take some time off and that’s where we talk about recovery.

 

Recovery

 

Concluding that I’m overtrained wasn’t easy for me to do.  The Friday before the marathon, Becky, from the Greenfield WAC mentioned she thinks I could have Adrenal Fatigue.  After all my research, I would say Overtrained is the athlete’s term of Adrenal Fatigue.  

 Once I said the words “I think I’m overtrained”    My best friend Marie said “I didn’t want to admit he was right, but Justin said that the other day”   Justin has many certifications and degrees in the Health and Fitness world, most recently with a Master’s of Science in exercise science – sports performance.   So he is knowledgeable beyond where I’m at and is someone I listen to.   At first I thought recovery meant I could still teach my classes and just take it easy even though articles about overtrained might have suggested otherwise.   Justin said “NO this is yoga only, nothing else recovery” So without any ‘ifs ands or butts’ I listen to Justin.

  

And breath- this is hard- I teach 9 classes in two weeks, 4 of which were yoga so that meant finding subs for 5 classes!   Luckily, the moment I texted Maddy from Greenfield WAC- about the first Monday, she said she will take both, and from there she has become a big supporter. Someone who I fully respect and admire, someone who has had to find the balance in her own life to not push to insane levels (and her non insane levels are insane for the normal person so … she gets it!), so I can’t tell you how appreciative and meaningful her words and support are! 

 This made it easy for me to stick with admitting to my peers at the gym that I was “unhealthy” and needed subs.   Even still- I was asked to sub someone’s class “off the bike” Recovery isn’t just about not working out, it’s about decompressing- reducing all the stresses of life, so this wasn’t a time I was going to add one more thing on and I just said “sorry, my sports trainer (Justin) says no”  

I didn’t find a sub for one of my classes, so I had to “teach, not do. “   Do you know how hard that is?   I still demonstrated with light weights and I would do some of the movements but it took A LOT of restraint not to just start doing the class with them.   And by the end, I still had a decent sweat.

 Recovery is where the basic symptoms of overtraining have become apparent.  I surrendered to my body and my heart and brain said “thank you” instead of the usual “I need movement!!!” after a day or two of nothing (which is the norm).  It took 9 days for me to think “I need movement” 

 It wasn’t just the workouts that I didn’t miss.   Overall, I can cram a lot in my day- I mean- I am the efficiency queen to pack in as much as possible.   So I’m having to take a step back and watch myself- again recovery isn’t just about the workouts- it’s taking a step back in life to fully let your body rest.   You know what I realized when cutting down to the bare minimum?   I am still busy- it makes me question?  How do I work out 12ish hours a week AND do all this that I’m doing?  And more?    I definitely have to start listening to the book I’ve been reading “the Best, Yes”   you can’t possibly say “Yes” to everything.  This includes workouts. 

I have talked with my friend Veronica, “V.”  She is training for rim to rim to rim and actually hired a coach to help tell her – while training for running an ultramarathon, she needs to cut back on the other workouts- so she is only able to bike once a week.    What a concept!   We can’t do it all!  We want to- we LOVE it…but we need to remember our Bodies need to rest too! 

 Tri-Faster posted a video on facebook a few months ago that’s a great analogy to needing rest.    Imagine your workouts are water and you are a sponge.  When the sponge is filled with water- the rest just drips out.  There will come a point where those workouts are no longer absorbed into your body and so it’s pointless.   I’m going to take that one step further.   What happens to a sponge when you don’t ring the water out of it?   It gets filled with bacteria and smelly and gross over time- that time is your Parasympathetic Nervous system taking action and that water, your workouts, are now making you unhealthy for being “too active”.    While a sponge needs water/moisture to not get dried out and become a hard brick, it needs to find that balance – filling with water and then rinsing it out- to be a healthy sponge.  Your body needs that balance, of rest and recovery and while I can push and have a lot going on that is not “norm” maybe my recovery times are faster- but I still need to find that balance to find MY equation of Healthy.

Healthy = X(Rest) + Y(Workouts+Life)   X & Y = Time

 These are the things I’m having to figure out.  And the thing is- as my life has shown, it needs to be measured on a regular basis because one factor changes in your workouts or life….  And everything else changes.  

 I’m finishing this write up on the 10^th day of recovery.   Guess what happened on the 10^th day?    Two days in a row of normal bowel movement – naturally!    That’s a HUGE accomplishment.   Hopefully all this progress continues.  4 more days of the yoga only to go- then I will have another 2 to 4 weeks to try to slowly add things back in and figure out how to find the perfect balance – so I can keep doing what I love- in a balanced way – for years to come.