To Train or to Overtrain, That, is the Question

(3/14-3/22)

After two days of being nauseas, exhausted, and irritable, I was finally able to accept / admit that something was wrong with me. Following my training session last Wednesday something just didn’t feel right. I was queasy all day and just the thought of food made me sick. A disinterest in food is always cause for alarm for me – that just doesn’t happen; not to me, at least! I tried to blame it on the cupcake I ate before my ride but after the feeling persisted I had to give up that theory. Even though I should have been famished after my brutally hard work out, I couldn’t eat. Over the course of the next three days I hardly ate at all, slept nearly round the clock and lost two and a half pounds.

My husband and my coach both were able to identify the signs and knew this wasn’t a stomach bug or virus. These were clear indications of Overtraining. The Overtraining was brought on by a sequence of events. In Joe Freill’s Cyclist Training Bible, he describes overtraining as an “imbalance between training and rest”. This imbalance was a combination of too frequent workouts, for too long, at too high an intensity, over a short period of time. During the workshop on Saturday, 3/14 we had done a 90 minute class with 60 minutes or so of interval training (anaerobic). On Sunday, 3/15 I went for a long training ride – 45 miles in 3 hours. We neglected to bring fuel so my glycogen stores were completely deleted about 2 hours in. I could feel that something was seriously wrong after the ride because my heart rate didn’t recover to its normal ambient heart rate, even hours after the ride. Then I had a hard power workout on Wednesday, 3/18 for 2 hours, with over an hour being spent in Zone 4. I had increased my training load by too much in too short a period of time, without giving adequate rest or any chance to adapt. This was its way of fighting back.

Fortunately we caught it early on enough that it only required 3 or 4 days of rest. Now that I am feeling good, I’m ready to get back into my training! I do plan on continuing to work hard and increase my training loads, but will try to have a better training plan, making sure to increase the loads by no more than 10-15% at a time. Now that I know some of the warning signs, I hope I can be disciplined enough to back off when I need to.

Mmm cupcakes

3/18/09

I discovered today that chocolate cupcakes are probably not the best thing to fuel up on before a long hard training session. Being that I workout at 5AM, it doesn’t give me a lot of time to eat breakfast so I thought a cupcake would provide the immediate fuel I needed (wishful thinking, I guess). While it may have provided fuel and tasted incredible, it didn’t agree with my stomach! I’m not completely sure it was the cupcake though as I’ve been feeling a bit queasy all day. I always say that you know you’re working really hard when you get that feeling like you’re going to throw up…well, I know I was working hard today.

We previewed the Global Ride Italy series DVDs today, which were great inspiration for my training! The footage was absolutely breathtaking and the climbs were intense. There is a counter for each section of the ride which helps to keep you motivated and to section out your ride. The music was just right to get me focused and to inspire me when I needed it most.

Today’s training was based on Power, using the Keiser M3, and my goal was to maintain 210 watts for 2 intervals of 30 minutes. In reality, here’s what it looked like:

 Warm Up: 25 minutes, increasing resistance by one gear every minute or two minutes. By the end of the warm up I was at 200 watts.

 1st Interval: 30 minutes at 200 watts, varying positions on the bike. If I stood up I had to increase the gearing to make sure I maintained 200 watts. Occasionally I did peak around 210-220 but mostly stayed around 200.

 Recovery for 15 minutes at 140-150 watts

 2nd Interval: 25 minutes at 190-200 watts. My legs were more fatigued at this point so it was harder in the beginning to maintain the wattage. I alternated sitting and standing to mix it up, each time increasing the amount of time I was in or out of the saddle.

 Recovery for the last 10 minutes at 160 watts

 Cool down for 10 minutes.

I’ve already exceeded my Heart Zone points from last week and still have Friday’s class to teach. Tomorrow will be strength training and possibly swimming in the evening.

First Team Training Ride

First I would like to say thank you to all of you who have donated and are sponsoring me in the Giretto. Your support and donations are greatly appreciated! In just a few short days after announcing the Giretto as a Livestrong fundraising event, you have helped me to raise $1,732.00!

We had our first team ride on Sunday. Originally it was supposed to be 25 miles but we felt great after the first trip down River Road (just about the only stretch of road in this part of Western Pennsylvania that is flat!) and back so we decided to do it twice. It was great to be able to ride as a team, really finding a rhythm and learning that we seem to work very well together.

Even though my heart rate stayed primarily in Zone 2 and 3 for the entire ride, my legs really fatigued at the end making the climb back to Gino (my Dad)’s house quite intense. My quads had pretty much given up so I couldn’t stand on the last climb, forcing me to stay in the saddle working my hamstrings. I definitely need and look forward to a rest day tomorrow.