I hear this all the time at this time of year

* Don’t do too much intensity in the winter.
* Don’t race hard or do cyclocross races if you’re road racing next season
* Don’t hammer it
* Do loads of base miles and up the intensity in march
* Don’t be a christmas star (on club rides)

But for a mere mortal like me where i’m not planning on racing every weekend from March till September next year does it really matter racing or doing this much intensity now?

Reason I ask is i’m loving the few cyclocros races i’ve done but i’m also going to be doing some hard training sessions at the track every thurs with a view to racing on the track.

I can understand it for people at a much higher level than me that might get burnt out if they have a full calendar of racing ahead of them. But surely if i feel a bit burnt i can take a few weeks off and recover? Or are there lasting effects?

Is overtraining (or under recovery) common amongst amateur racers? Locally I see many elite roadies racing every cross race and i know they have a full season ahead of them.

Can i see a reduction in performance by hammering a few races now (cross and on the track) I’ve seen joe friel describe as only having so many matches to burn in a season.. Is this true?

Any thoughts?

I’d have thought that regardless of level, you need to rest/take it easy at some point in the year. probably good for your mental health too!

Overtraining can be a problem for all – IF – you increase your training stress too quickly – AND – don’t factor in adequate recovery.

ps. I am an exercise physiologist and I can help with training etc – email in profile.

Is overtraining (or under recovery) common amongst amateur racers? Locally I see many elite roadies racing every cross race and i know they have a full season ahead of them.

Yes. Plenty of keen sportspeople hear about what the pros do and try to copy them. I’ve seen it countless times. Or just simply try and do too much training with not enough recovery – eg more than their level of fitness allows.

The easiest way to avoid it (and avoid training too hard while ill which will prolong recovery) is to monitor your resting heart rate every morning – you’ll see that the day after hard training it’ll go up and if you keep training hard, it’ll typically go up a bit further still. If you’re not recovering to your normal resting heart rate at any point then you’re over training. Another relatively easy way to check is to use an HRM when training – if you’re feeling tired a lot and you can’t get your HR up to its normal max then you’re likely overtrained.

Basically, you get fitter when you recover. If you never recover, you won’t get fitter. You should try and organise your training/riding/whatever so that you have hard weeks and easier ones.

I know there’s a few people on here who are actually pretty quick, do some races and even do the training thing but surely the advice for the rest of us would be “keep going out riding your bike”…?

surely the advice for the rest of us would be “keep going out riding your bike”…?

Depends. Yes, so long as you’re not absolutely beasting yourself every ride or if you are that you’re having enough rest/easy rides between to recover properly.

I find the easiest way to avoid over-training, is to buy a case or two of a really decent red wine, a bottle or two of claret, a good selection of cheeses, and bake your own full-butter mince pies.

This effectively curtails any possibility of over-training.

Well i’m pretty good at the training thing. I paid for a coach last year did a few fitness tests and stuck to the plan every month (this year i can’t afford such luxury)

My fitness has rocketed this year but I want to do a lot better in races next year being my 2nd season. I don’t want to waste too much time doing loads of zone 2 riding and equally don’t want to ruin myself by doing too much racing and high intensity stuff now.

I’ve been advised not to do any winter season races either and to wait until april

anotherdeadhero – Member
I find the easiest way to avoid over-training, is to buy a case or two of a really decent red wine, a bottle or two of claret, a good selection of cheeses, and bake your own full-butter mince pies.

This effectively curtails any possibility of over-training.

Actually… it’ll make your recovery worse so if you then train it will increase your chances of overtraining 😀

I would disagree with the idea of not doing any races for the sake of not doing them but I would suggest that the focus should be on getting good quality volume now – eg building up your aerobic base.

Racing will build up your anaerobic capacity but since that’s quicker to build up than aerobic, you’re better off leaving that until you have a good base to build on. Good aerobic capacity will ultimately determine how fast you are, aerobic capacity will fine tune how many people of similar aerobic capacity you actually beat.

Also, it depends very much on how much training you can do. If you can only train once a week, you’ll need to do harder sessions than if you can do it 6/7 days a week in which case you’ll need to do easier sessions to avoid overtraining.

clubber – Member
Actually… it’ll make your recovery worse so if you then train it will increase your chances of overtraining 😀

Maybe I should have said ‘This effectively curtails any possibility of any training at all’ 😉

A good and fair point, well made…

PS emailed you

I will be training about 8-10 hours a week (Sometimes more)

All my base training last year was done at an hour at a time on rollers and this really worked on improving my ‘base’.

I was so focussed last year that i didn’t mind all the indoor training. THis year i’m trying to ride outdoors as much as possible and go racing when i can as i love it.

I’m training for JOGLE next year (but don’t like to talk about it 😉 ) – I aim to do base fitness with a few longer rides mixed up with indoor high intensity – spinning/rollers etc – but I too took Friday and Sunday off and did no biking at all – I over trained last winter and you just hit a wall – Keep it going yes but take plenty of days off if you are doing long stuff or intense stuff!

What works for me personally is taking a rest in October/November then just doing what I can when I can over December – March and then using early season races (and occasionally a trip away somewhere sunny) to “race” myself to full fitness.

Seems to work and I had a season (a few years ago) at 1st cat based on that thoroughly unscientific approach (although back then I also had a lot more time to ride).
Mixing it up works well to avoid over-training. I do a bit of track racing/riding for the short/high intensity and I ride my CX bike quite a bit for the lower intensity stuff. Great winter training bike that cos it’s so versatile, it means I can do long road rides with off-road bits thrown in.

What works for me personally is taking a rest in October/November then just doing what I can when I can over December – March and then using early season races (and occasionally a trip away somewhere sunny) to “race” myself to full fitness.

I did my last few races in august and a couple of TT’s and then i properly downed tools until november.

I’ve spoken to a couple of guys i know that raced a lot (including winter series) and did really well. A mate was 4th cat last year and is now 1st cat.

I’ve spoken to a couple of guys i know that raced a lot (including winter series) and did really well. A mate was 4th cat last year and is now 1st cat.

That doesn’t tell you anything about overtraining though! It just tells you that they have the time and money to do loads of “easy”* winter crits!

* easy in the sense that picking up points at crits is much easier than moving up through the categories using road races alone…

I’ve spoken to a couple of guys i know that raced a lot (including winter series) and did really well. A mate was 4th cat last year and is now 1st cat.

And that’s exactly how and why people end up overtrained 🙂 What works for someone else won’t work for everyone. I used to be able to train 10-13 times a week. If I tried that now, I’d be done in after a week…

That doesn’t tell you anything about overtraining though! It just tells you that they have the time and money to do loads of “easy”* winter crits!

* easy in the sense that picking up points at crits is much easier than moving up through the categories using road races alone…

Or that they’re naturally talented. Or that they’ve trained really effectively. Or that they have a lifestyle that allows them to train well. Or that they have indeed been out point-hunting 😀

Sorry That wasn’t in relation to over training. Just what he’d achieved.

I’m thinking of not bothering with the castle combe crits this year. the 3/4 races were like a fast club run. I think 1 break stuck in the entire series

* easy in the sense that picking up points at crits is much easier than moving up through the categories using road races alone…

Definitely agree with that. I had my arse kicked in a 2/3/4 road race in June (my 2nd road race as well)

I used to be able to train 10-13 times a week. If I tried that now, I’d be done in after a week

is that hours?

I know I can put in around 8-10 hours a week as this is what i was doing last year (although like i say the majority of this was done indoors)

No, sessions so considerably more than that number of hours. That was for rowing, mind but it did include cycling as training.

But that’s not the point which is that just because someone can manage something, doesn’t mean it’s right for you.