Yeah so i am in the OT boat… and not having fun… but to minimize my time on this ride i was wondering what might be the best way to get out of this hole that i have dug for myself. Not sure if sitting on my ass is really the best thing… could VERY VERY easy riding and swimming be better than bier trinken? Any links, thoughts, studies, or personal anecdotes are welcome. Thanks a bunch. 
sorry I cant point u to any studies but I have been where you are now and did see a sports med guy who did some research on OT and recovery from it. The research was done on international caliber rowers following them for an entire year. His prescription was to continue training but at low intensities - his advice to me was to go and just ride easy for as long or as short as I liked but not to go hard. Inevitably you will come back. I also found that the addition of extra protein into the diet and sleep makes a huge difference in brining myself round/
Train harder than when you were crumbling, the body will dig itself out of the hole.
That’s how I do it at least. Always double down!
uhhhhh… thanks… sadly… actually already tried that before the enormity of the situation hit me
How did you come to the conclusion that you’re overtrained? What symptoms do you have?
rest and eat some menudo.
I have been there too. I found it best to do other low-intensity activities for a while, and as SimpleS stated, more sleep, more protein and more FAT in your diet (good fats, like avocado, etc. not bad fats like potato chips). I spent a month doing some easy to moderate hiking, some rollerblading, some easy tennis, that kind of stuff. I didn’t ride, run or swim for about 4 weeks. By the time 4 weeks was up, my sleep patterns and resting HR were back to normal, and I was keen to get back into it. Mentally I was ready to start again. So I did, but I started easy, kinda like rebuilding a foundation that has a big ole crack in it, you have to tread carefully…
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4 hours of sleep a night for months on end… two variable here and trying to remove one from the equation at this point.
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in may and june i had this HUGE motivation problem… i didnt want to do ANYTHING… but my strong swimmer mind and thoughts of “no pain no gain” kept me going doing 4.5-5k in the pool in the morning… and 3hrs on the bike after work, no matter HOW MUCH I HATED it… and no matter how little i had slept the night before.
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a general feeling of overall weakness… i have not felt “powerful” in the sense that i was feeling in April early may since then… also it just feels, even now like my quads are lacking sufficient power… i just “walk” up the stairs… i dont BOUND up them…
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after some time off after CdA i returned and slowly started up an informal (but proven) speed work program… 4 weeks later i was STILL getting very similar results…
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AVG speed… avg HR… avg Wattage… this has been very telling… JAN/DEC i was doing 105-110 avg HR on 4-5 hr rides that were 20 mph or so… now the HR is just through the roof on the easiest of things…
more but got a spreadsheet to dive into… still at trabajo
it not a good place to be Mark.
Maintenance training only during the week and then race everything local on the weekends. Start putting the fun back into your schedule. Race fun run, cycling events, swimming events etc. This will put you in the social scene and give you some good hard workouts around some postive people. Don’t even worry about results and who beats you, just get out there and challeng yourself every weekend and only do maintenance work during the week until your fired up again.
I used this approach in the past and it really gives you some positive expereinces and it improves your motivation and fitness.
fluro
thanks… sounds like the ass-at-work idea is one that i had better scrap here… time to get back into stuff… but only doing it VERY VERY EASY
appreciate all the ideas folks… keep’em coming
I’m almost convinced…
How’s HR dynamics? Like if you do a progressive set on the bike or run, does it climb easily, or you get that heavy leg sensation early and it is hard to get HR up?
two data streams to consider…
April 1hr TT… AVG HR= 174 AVG WATTS= 302 AVG SPD= 26.5
may 6.5 hr ride avg HR= 125 avg watts= 229 avg spd 21.9
Aug. company group ride… avg hr= 117 avg watts= 85 avg spd 13.0
Just answer the question 
Because I wouldn’t expect anyhting less from a Company ride
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I would like to point out the SIX AND A HALF HOUR RIDE
And I know that wasnt just once. For my first Ironman I started training 2 months ahead and my longest ride was a WHOPPING 3 hours. I believe I did that once. Oh, and most of my rides were on a mountain bike.
I went 5:40 - not blazing, but fast for someone who should have fallen over a died according to everyone that claims you need to ride 10,000 hours a week.
Screw any ride over 5 hours. You’ve got talent but kicking yourself in the nuts 20 hours a week isn’t gonna make yourself ANY faster.
PS - my marathon was about 4 hours as well - again not fast, but my longest run was 6 miles (I think I averaged 20 miles a week)
PPS - I’m slightly faster (and fatter) now…
okay… NOW I’m Jealous… hehehe
How’s HR dynamics? Like if you do a progressive set on the bike or run, does it climb easily, or you get that heavy leg sensation early and it is hard to get HR up?
Heavy legs… shit i dont have to get on the bike to get that feeling sometimes… that is what i meant when i said i havent felt power in the quads… as for HR… notcing that i suffer at much lower HR’s then where i should suffer… where i should be sreaming for mercy at 178-184 i am losing it in the high 150’s
**Just answer the question Because I wouldn’t expect anyhting less from a Company ride **
Haha… LOL… yeah it was fun… didnt want to drop the CFO and President ya know… they’re great people and i only hope to get more involved in riding. It was fun.
Been their already this year, overtraining is defiantly not fun - well, I was more over reached than overtrained - If you can get some access to a university library/journals their’s some interesting stuff on pubmed (well, we use OVID here); I found that sleeping, and increasing the food intake definatly helped me - I increased protein and fat (ice cream) and that defiantly made a difference for me - but it only took 2 weeks to return to normal.
- Training was really easy, absolutly no intensity and pretty minimal volume.
I’ll do some searching tommorow and see if i can dig up any articles (I have them at work, but i was just told that my summer student funding ran out and to be back in september- good ol enforced vactation!)
I’m no rocket scientist, only because I didn’t choose that area, but I’m hereby certifying you as OVERTRAINED!
Find a GOOD Endocrinologist, and have him/her run some tests for Testosterone levels (including Free Testosterone), DHEA, Adrenal Fatigue (cortisol), and Thyroid (T3/T4 - don’t settle for TSH only) just to cover the bases. Overtraining can profoundly affect your endocrine system making it very hard to recover from it. By treating any deficiencies, you will likely come back around much faster.
Also, GET SOME SLEEP…short sleep is an absolute killer.
Good luck.
Haim
very interesting… i will look into this, seems very logical. thanks a bunch