Login | September 18, 2024
Stepping over that invisible line
PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World
Published: September 9, 2024
I’m going to come clean here and admit that I went a bit too far in my training a few weeks ago.
And this is awkward to admit because it’s coming from a guy who coaches people not to go too far.
But I believe there’s an upside to this admission in that maybe by publicly outing myself as a perpetrator of this gaff it just might serve as a stark reminder to those of you who are not as steeped in training science as I am that it’s pretty darned easy to step across the invisible line which separates overreaching from overtraining.
And to show you just how easy it is to step over that imaginary line, I’ll dissect my situation for you––exactly as I do with my client’s training situations––chronicling when, where, how and why I likely overstepped that invisible boundary.
So I underwent back surgery six months ago to correct a painful, debilitating and out-of-alignment L5 vertebra that had gotten so serious that my right leg was becoming abnormally weak.
Apparently, various nerve roots running down my posterior right leg had become severely constricted such that some of the muscles had begun to atrophy and weaken.
The surgery pretty much eliminated my back and leg pain but I was cautioned that the constricted nerves would take a year or more for their activation and innervation levels within the posterior leg muscles to return to normal.
Nonetheless, I was given the green light to return to normal daily activities, initiate a PT protocol and resume an exercise regime that proceeded in a slow and gradual manner.
Over the subsequent months I experienced notable improvements in my cardiorespiratory fitness and in my right leg’s strength and sensitivity as I incrementally increased my training intensity/volume/duration parameters.
And it’s at this juncture where I believe my story could very well be any athlete’s story, because when you’re consistently achieving your fitness goals you can become emotionally intoxicated by your own success.
And unfortunately, that’s precisely when such sensations can cloud one’s decision-making process.
So while on an out-of-state cycling sabbatical, I went well beyond my dictum of alternating hard and long rides with short and easy rides.
Instead, I went “hog wild,” doing four long, hard rides in a row, despite my intuitively knowing better.
Consequently, during the last ride I began experiencing a tweaky pain along the medial side of my right knee, which by ride’s end was downright painful when dismounting the bike and walking.
Now thankfully due to years of experience I had the good sense to immediately shut the whole show down and begin a RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) protocol throughout the following week rather than continue on until the wheels actually came off.
Subsequently, the knee pain dissipated and I was able to progress from light cycling to moderate cycling to a return back to my normal bike training regime.
Luckily I dodged the bullet on this one by immediately recognizing what I’d done.
So that’s what it looks like when a so called “learned” athlete oversteps the boundary between overreaching and overtraining.
And as you can see it’s not that difficult to substitute emotion and ego for instinct and intuition.
Now looking back on this little blip in training I can say that there were definitely several subtle signs that pointed to my stepping over the line.
Ride number one felt awesome all the way around, then by the end of ride number two, my leg muscles were beginning to feel pretty sore to the touch.
After ride number three I was beginning to feel a bit beaten down mentally, while at the same time my legs were feeling lethargic and heavy.
Yup, that third ride was likely the overreaching line.
Thus, guided by those manifestations, I should have deemed ride number four a very easy noodle.
As you can see, sensing those subtle mental and physical signals can be the difference between overreaching and overtraining.
So by intelligently monitoring your mind, body and training protocol you can continue to achieve your fitness goals without stepping over that invisible line…like I did.