Overtraining as a New Runner
Guide To Signs & Symptoms Of Overtraining In Preparation For A Race
Runners training for a forthcoming race will follow an 8-week, 12-week or 6-month plan counting down to the day of the race. In each week of the plan there will be recovery days and in the final fortnight a tapering down of distance and intensity of sessions.
Overtraining
All elite and serious runners, regardless of their length of time running, will push themselves during training. Training alone with a plan – without a coach or a running group – does not offer immunity to overtraining. Overtraining plays no favourites and can affect a new runner.
Runner’s Early Warning System
A new runner – in their first year of training for racing – may find that they feel a dip in their enthusiasm for running during preparation for race day including:
- the quality of their sessions starts to plateau
- they seem to catch every common cold around
- legs and arms ache
- ‘stitches’ appear on long runs that had become easy on a Sunday
These are signs from the early warning system of the running body and symptoms of inadequate recovery from high level training.
Symptoms of Overtraining
In a 1993 review of overtraining in endurance athletes published in Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise (Volume 25 Issue 7), Lehmann and colleagues report that, over the past 50 years, symptoms of overtraining have changed from sympathetic forms such as excitation and restlessness towards parasympathetic forms such fatigue, reduced performance, mood changes, muscle soreness/stiffness and reduced competitiveness. Once in the overtraining zone, it may take weeks or months to make a complete recovery.
Balancing Recovery and Running
Preventing yourself as a new runner from entering the overtraining zone requires you to respect your body’s early warning system. Sam Murphy, who enters races from 5kms to 100 miles long, writes in her book Run for Life (2003) “OK, so your schedule might require a threshold run tonight, but if your body is screaming ‘no way!’ you would be wise to heed its advice.” (p.125)
Training Plans and Diet
Not enough rest and recovery after pushing hard in training frequently results in symptoms of overtraining. Diet and the design of a runner’s training plan can also signal potential burnout. As a new runner, if you find that you start a session with little to no energy, the chances are that the intensity of your training regime needs you to eat a higher calorie diet with more carbohydrates and greater hydration.
Keep a Running Journal
Writing a brief journal of your training log with concurrent notes on physical and psychological changes will help a new runner understand their body as it adapts in the first year of training for a race. Such vigilance can help a new runner steer clear of overtraining.
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