Overtraining?

V

vb66

0
Hi!
I'm an 18 year old girl and am training for hockey at a considerably high level. My offseason training began about mid-May. It went very well for about two weeks where I was training about 2 hours a day 5 days a week with a bike ride on Sat. and rest on Sunday. I then came down with a recurring sore throat that flared up with any activity so I had to stop training for just under two weeks. When I felt better I returned to training but during workouts my HR has been significantly higher than normal. I will be beating around 170-180 during exercises that are not all that taxing where I would normally be beating around 160. Also, my morning HR isnormally around 40-43bpm but for the last week has been 51. I'm very frusturated because since I've been sick I have incorperated many more rest days in my schedule. It seems like I can't train consistantly and am falling behind. I have a major competition in 3 weeks and don't know what to do. Any advice is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!
 
vb66 said:
Hi!
I'm an 18 year old girl and am training for hockey at a considerably high level. My offseason training began about mid-May. It went very well for about two weeks where I was training about 2 hours a day 5 days a week with a bike ride on Sat. and rest on Sunday. I then came down with a recurring sore throat that flared up with any activity so I had to stop training for just under two weeks. When I felt better I returned to training but during workouts my HR has been significantly higher than normal. I will be beating around 170-180 during exercises that are not all that taxing where I would normally be beating around 160. Also, my morning HR isnormally around 40-43bpm but for the last week has been 51. I'm very frusturated because since I've been sick I have incorperated many more rest days in my schedule. It seems like I can't train consistantly and am falling behind. I have a major competition in 3 weeks and don't know what to do. Any advice is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!
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Your problem is you have gone straight back in at too higher intensity. Your heart beats 40-43bpm? I'd be happier with 51 if I were you. Still taking any drugs for your throat? Drinking lots of water? Maybe try a doctor if need be.
 
Thanks for your response! I did go and see the doctor when I began to get sick and she prescribed rest and fluids but no medications, which did the trick to help my throat. My main concern with my HR being higher than normal is that when I'm training I get fatigued faster and can't train at as high of level as I would like.
 
It's because your bodies not used to it. You can't just jump straight back in. Gradually build up over a week. Your heartrate should improve with it.
 
Also, my morning HR isnormally around 40-43bpm but for the last week has been 51.
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If your resting heart rate. (HR in the morning) is higher than usual it is a sign of over training. The actual number does not matter. If it is 10 beats higher than usual it is a sign.

If you always take a resting HR you may be able to use that to your advantage on gauging what you should be doing in your workouts for that day.

If it is unusually high you may do some lower intensity type stuff.

If it is normal or low you know you can train at a higher intensity for that day.

The better shape you are in the more days your resting HR will be normal after your high intensity training days.
 
Overtraining syndrome is a diagnosable physiological event that lasts for several months. It has specific recognizable symptoms associated with it, and it is devastating to performance and condition...it's highly doubtful that you're suffering from true overtraining (although you were engaged in a LOT of exercise, and apparently without proper periodization to allow proper recovery cycles, unless you left that out of your description...).

Overreaching, which is the pre-cursor to overtraining syndrome, is what most people incorrectly call "overtraining," and if you were indeed overreaching, then two weeks off would have allowed for recovery, and you would no longer be overreaching. Overreaching and overtraining dn't occur overnight, either: they develop gradually throughout the course of training, and it's likely that you would have felt signs/symptoms before this (unless, of course, your sore throat itself was one of the first signs, which would be brought about by a weakened immune system, one of the results of overtraining).

What's most likely is that you're either not fully recovered from your illness, or that your cardiorespiratory endurance/conditioning was affected by your sickness and time off...as your conditioning improves, this should go away. If not, then you may indeed need to see a sports medicine doctor familiar with diagnosing and treating fatigue/overtraining disorders for a proper evaluation.

Best of luck!
 
Thanks again for the responses! My RHR has come down a bit the last few mornings to 47-48 so hopefully I'm on the road to being back to normal.

goergen1 I think you're right in saying I should gage my workout intensity by my morning HR. If it's up 10 beats from normal my body is obviously under some sort of stress so its probably better not to push it.

bipennate Reading the info you gave since I became sick after only two weeks of training it is probably not likely it was overtraining. However the high intensity too fast could have weakened my immune system making me more succeptible for infection. My guess is that the upper respiratory infection might still be kicking around because I dont' think I would have lost too much fitness over the two weeks.
 
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