How to Know If You Are Overtraining or Under-Training, & How to Prevent It
Overtraining is more well-known for its dangerous effects, but under-training might be more prevalent among us runners. Here's how to identify and prevent them to maximize your training potential.
Running is hard, we know this.
But sometimes we find ourselves in a bit of a training rut, where things are feeling harder than they normally do. This can be really frustrating, especially when we don’t know the cause, and it can lead us to lose our enjoyment in our running.
The good news is it’s likely not just in your head. The bad news is that you may be over or under-training.
More good news, there are ways to combat this!
Overtraining tends to get the spotlight more often. Overuse injuries, extreme fatigue and exhaustion— all things that are well-known by runners as symptoms of doing too much, too soon.
But what about under-training? The reality is, this can also be a major cause of our training rut and lack of motivation.
Both can be harmful to our training, our mentality as it relates to fitness, and our performance potential. Let’s dive into how to spot these ruts, and how we can avoid them.
As mentioned earlier, overtraining is a more well-known case among runners, especially long distance runners like marathoners.
We can define overtraining here as stressing our bodies under too much effort and/or frequency without adequate rest that allows us to get stronger.
The way training works is we build a fitness base, we push the boundaries of that fitness level (read, workouts), and our bodies respond to that stress by getting stronger when we rest. That part is emboldened for a reason.
When we don’t give our bodies enough rest and refueling to recover and get stronger, it results in overtraining.
You may know the more well-known symptoms of overtraining— injury, irritability and extreme exhaustion, but there are others that can be more severe, detrimental to our running, and even dangerous.
Starting with the physical effects of overtraining, as they may be easier to identify right away, injury is indeed a big one. When we run, we place stress on our muscles and bones, which stimulates muscle growth (otherwise known as hypertrophy), and the formation of bone-forming cells and calcium deposits that increase our bone density. When we don’t rest and continue stressing our bodies, we interrupt this process, and it puts us at great risk of injury.
Other physical symptoms include deep muscle pain (again, lack of recovery), poor sleep, long-lasting soreness, and a decrease in our performance.
The decrease in our performance can present itself in many ways, with easy runs feeling hard as a prime example. If you notice yourself dragging through a pace that normally feels easy for you, and there are no other external factors that could be affecting your performance (extreme weather, illness, poor sleep, poor nutrition), it might be because you are overtrained.
Another example of decreased performance is a literal inability to run hard. Being overtrained can lead to a decrease in lactic acid production, making it very challenging to push your pace or sprint.
As for the mental side effects of overtraining, athletes can feel irritable, frustrated, a lack of motivation, and in extreme cases, anxiety and depression. Being overtrained can take a large toll on runners— they are likely putting in a lot of hard work that is now feeling harder than normal and not yielding the same positive results and endorphins as before. Overtrained athletes tend to be ones that are training for something intense, which typically comes with dedication, passion and sacrifice.
Below is a summary of symptoms to look out for when it comes to overtraining, some common causes and how to prevent it from happening to you.
Symptoms of overtraining:
Injury
Irritability
Anxiety, depression
Decreased performance
Delayed recovery and soreness
Easy runs feel hard
Decrease in motivation
Extreme exhaustion
Deep muscle pain
Poor sleep
Causes: not enough rest in your training plan, not resting between sessions, not eating properly, not sleeping, not taking mental breaks.
Prevention: don’t do any of those things ^. In all seriousness, honor your rest days, refuel your body, and give yourself permission to think about things other than running.
Now onto the more sneaky training pattern of under-training.
Under-training doesn’t come close to having the same potential of harmful effects on our bodies and minds that overtraining does, but it certainly can have adverse effects on reaching our running potential and maintaining motivation!
Most leisure runners are likely under-training, which we can define as not pushing your body with the optimal frequency and effort of workouts that will allow you to achieve your “best running shape”.
I say that with air quotes because unless you have endless time, a coach and nutritionist, this can be very hard to do for regular people like you and me.
The idea is to be the best version of you based on your reality and life. Everyone’s “best” should be based on where you are in life right now and what you are capable of committing to. Plain and simple.
However if you’re training for an upcoming race, or simply have been working on improving your fitness, and you feel like you haven’t seen any improvement in your performance or your perceived exertion for weeks (or months), it’s very possible you are under-training.
The symptoms of under-training may be slightly more difficult to spot than those of overtraining, but they are important to look out for.
A clear indicator that you are under-training is when your base pace is not getting any easier for you. Or those 2 laps around the block still feel just as hard as they did when you started doing them 6 weeks ago.
As we gain fitness, we become more optimal. What this means is that your body becomes smarter and more adept at completing a certain activity with less effort, ie., a lower heart rate. This will feel easier for you. You will notice workouts that once felt impossible or super challenging actually moderating in effort. When you are under-training, this process gets dragged out, and may not even be happening for you.
For my more seasoned runners, you are actually even more susceptible to falling victim to under-training because your base fitness is already so high that challenging yourself is a lot of work!
If you’re feeling 100% all the time, you are probably under-doing it. Soreness and some tiredness is normal when we stress our bodies with workouts, so if you’re not feeling it, you’re likely hitting a bit of a plateau.
Lastly, a common mental side effect for under-training is boredom. A lot of the excitement runners get with this sport comes from hitting new workout PRs, a new mileage distance, or crushing a hard speed workout. If you’re doing the same thing, at the same pace, and not feeling yourself improve… this can lead to discouragement, frustration and most definitely boredom.
Below is a summary of symptoms of under-training, common causes and ways to prevent it.
Symptoms of under-training:
Boredom
Nothing feeling any easier
Feeling 100% all the time
Stagnant in pace and distance
Frustration
Lack of motivation
Causes: never increasing mileage, not doing speed work and/or challenging paces, not running enough mileage or frequency.
Prevention: ^ don’t do any of those things. In all seriousness, if you are looking to make progress in your fitness and running, throw in some speed play, switch up your route, and add a longer run to your weekly schedule.
You may now be feeling like there’s this narrow sweet spot of training you have to fall in, and while that may be true, it’s not very narrow.
Remember that everyone’s starting points are different, and everyone’s goals are relative, awesome, and worthy. Challenge yourself, have fun, and don’t forget to take some breaks.
Fall races are right around the corner, and they are made in the SUMMER! Hop onto my Calendly for a free consultation on how we can work together and achieve your potential (in the sweet spot of course).