Overtraining vs. Under-Recovery

A few days ago, I quickly tapped into the idea of recovery and the importance of taking a day off. I just came across a very insightful discussion someone posted on the internet about a keen difference between overtraining and under-recovering and thought this would greatly apply to my training philosophy and perhaps many of you hard-core triathletes who try to juggle as many workouts as possible.

Some weeks, we feel like superman (or superwoman). We can't go a day without at least some form of working out (even if it's a 35 minute swim), and we think we're pretty good at scheduling stuff so we're not overworking the same muscles two days in a row. We might even be working out twice a day, because we can. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about...that's exactly you. In fact, let's look at what one of my typical weeks probably looks like:

Monday: Crossfit WOD
Tuesday: Crossfit WOD + 14 Bike TT + possibly 5 mi run
Wednesday: 7-9 mi run
Thursday: Swim 1-2mi + Crossfit WOD (or weights)
Friday: Crossfit WOD + maybe some long run/bike
Saturday: Swim 1-2mi + 26mi Bike
Sunday: Bike 15mi + Track Runs + Swim 1.5mi

Some of you may look at this and think of insanity. I don't really leave any room for a "rest day." I even forgot what a "rest day" really meant. But I don't feel like I'm overtraining at all...I have the energy to be able to complete all of this believe it or not!

But...we're missing the point.

The point is, we have to realize that you and I may be actually under-recovering. You might think that all of these back-to-back training sessions might be greatly increasing our athletic abilities...but it's hard to really know when we feel like we can only give 95% effort about 6 days of the week. Although we do have the energy to train most days, we actually do go into a lot of workouts with the mindset of "ok I should try and take it a little easier today."

Without proper recovery days (where we decide we aren't going to train whatsoever and just let our muscles rest and be), our muscles will always be working at sub-optimal levels. We can never really know the true potential of what our muscles and cardiovascular ability are really able to do when we give them proper time to repair and when we aren't over-fatiguing ourselves.

You may be reading this and thinking, "well duh, isn't that what taper periods are for?" Yeah, but this applies to all training and not just tapering. "Tapering" is of course, backing off of our mileage, dropping the heavy weight-lifting days and giving our muscles the time to repair to tackle that race full-force. But we need to have smaller, shorter tapering periods within our actual training period. Our training volume/intensity doesn't gradually increase more and more over time; instead, you increase your intensity/volume for a few weeks, then take a week to back off. Then you start increasing again for a few weeks, then back off for one. This cycle of having a "recovery week" amidst your training can help your body repair a bit to tackle the next volume/intensity increase at full force.

But lastly, there are recovery days that fall within an even shorter time frame. Do you have at least one day a week where you don't even think about touching your bike, getting your running shoes on or your swim cap? I don't yet...but maybe I should. I know, you and I feel so obligated to getting a workout in because we're afraid we might gain back those extra lbs, or fall out of the groove or feel of our workouts. But we have to start realizing when the mileage we're putting in are quality miles or if they are merely junk miles. 

One (or two) rest days aren't going to destroy our fitness....fitness is a long term project, and it therefore takes a long time to really lose fitness unless you decide your career is being a couch potato. Also, you've got time. Triathlons aren't your life! Make sure you live your life as well...actually go out with some friends. Instead of being intimate with your aerobars, go out to some real bars (not the day before a race though)

Train smarter, not harder. Do the minimum you need to do to get in the best shape you can be in. Don't overtrain, of course. But make sure you aren't under-recovered.