I’m done with Overtraining in Sport

October 23, 2009

… quite literally Today I had book exam about the book “Overtraining in Sport” from Kreider, Fry & O’Toole. I’m sure I passed it – may it won’t be the best exam ever but pass is pass.

Reading the book and being a competitive runner it’s extremely interesting when you can link the theory of this book the experience you went through yourself and what you have experienced in running community. I would even say that if I would have read the book some 7-8 years ago and would have understood it as I did know, I could have saved some years that I eventually lost because of overtraining-induced injuries. Of course it’s difficult to monitor all the biochemical markers such as plasma cortisol, free testosterone, CK, glycogen, BCAA (broad chain amino acids), urea etc. – especially as an athlete. However, it’s easy to monitor mood states, muscle soreness, weight, recovery time and other symptoms of overtraining. After all the line between overreaching and overtraining is a thin one but I stepped over it a couple of times in my athletics career. Now I have both the experience and the knowledge to avoid crossing this line and find the right point when it’s time to recover and let the overreaching process (i.e. the process where you actually increase performance after heavy training and some days or weeks of rest) take place.

I could write a lot more about this topic but for now it’s back to the books and thesis – I have maturity exam on next Thursday and my final book exam the week after. But first of all I’m going for a run and gym.