I’m sitting here on the internet reaping the rewards of going out on my mtb for a damp weather, chilly, hilly offroad hour with a hacking cough (at the end of a week of no riding in mid December when my son was ill with cough and cold) and getting slapped with a dose of the man flu.

It’s made me realise that although I factor in a good amount of rest, at the ripe old age of 44 it doesn’t take too much to overdo it especially at this time of year. Earlier this year I was gunning for Mayhem solo after a stunning winter for me, only to ‘get greedy’ in May and hit my highest monthly mileage ever, and then I caught a severe ear infection with a week in bed and two weeks antibiotics. Mayhem big result over.

So, I started thinking about how to work out/realise/understand when I’m overdoing things. Is it when I’m tired/grumpy or what? How do guys like Terrahawk off here who is a top level endurance racer avoid it? Or what about someone like Chris Froome?

Just what are the red lights that come on that tell them when they are pushing too much?

Is it partly that the more training those riders do, the more their bodies are able to adapt and cope with training/race stress? Of course they factor in lots of good quality rest, and that’s one of the most vital elements in training.

But can I get my body to adapt like that? And what’s the best way to do it?

You know how, in races, when you lap the 2nd place rider for the second time. There really is no need(unless it’s a time trial). Just getting to the line first is enough, maybe half a lap to give leeway for an off or minor mechanical.

Crikey! There’s no racing going on like that for me. Most of my riding is solo round the woods and lanes where I live with the aim of being healthy and staying as fit as possible, and having a good crack at some of the events I do like the Marathons and Mayhem.

You already know the answer – as stated, the more you do, the more structured, regular and routine it becomes, the better your recovery will be, the harder you can train.

You can’t just train for part of the year – it’s a permanent thing in top racer’s calendar.

Sorry, must have forgotten my smiley. 😆

I don’t have a competitive bone in my body, so I’m happy with just not leaving it too many weeks between any sort of a ride, and popping a few extra ones in if I’m planning a longer trip, that and using the town bike more for bobbing about to keep the legs turning.

The simple answer is – it’s complicated 🙂
So without knowing you anyone attempting to answer the question accurately would have to write a book length response.
Try googling –
training peaks overtraining
or
Joel Friel overtraining

as starting points.

I do train year round, but it seems that when the bugs hit they hit really hard and about 4 times per year they take me out for a week or in this case it’s going to be 2 weeks.

IanMunro i’ll check out your Google recommendations and see what they say.

Stop hugging your kids, seriously, they’re dirty horrible little feckers! Also avoid everyone at work, they too are horrible horrible people full of disease.

It’s a big investment but a power meter coupled with Training peaks, clearly show you on a graph, how your fitness is building and how your fatigue is expected to be.

Biased answer – get a coach 😉

Simple answer – as soon as you feel any inkling of something not being right, stop training. A lot of people have a bad nights sleep when they start to feel sick, so take that as your cue to stop riding for a couple of days. Don’t think that taking paracetamol or cough medicine means you can keep training either. Total rest BEFORE the cold hits is the only way to come out the other end unscathed.

Ignore what people like Chris Froome are doing, because they have so much support from doctors and coaches that they can maintain training loads that would be ridiculous to anyone not on a pro team.

Not usually over training but under recovery that is the problem, unless you’re riding 20+ hours a week. Good diet, plenty of mobility work/foam rolling and strength work should see you alright. Also found taking Vit D3 in the winter helps with the not getting colds etc….

a couple of days off with an easy ride once a week then every 4th week very easy should see you right. I’ve always found that the body can withstand more punishment than you think.

Diet is as important as recovery. LOADS of green veg, lean protein and avoid booze is the best I can think of.

(I’m always grumpy, BTW. Nothing to do with overtraining, I’m just grumpy)

I blew myself up a few years back and got CFS from massively overdoing it and not listening to my body so I now keep an eye on things.

One tool I have which has given me a good guide is a Polar heart rate monitor – their Training load function has been great to help me understand when I can and shouldn’t push. It’s also helped to warn me that I’m coming down with something just by seeing how different a regular ride is.