of wearing themselves out,” says coach and RW contributing editor Nick Anderson (runningwithus.com). But a classic symptom of overtraining is fatigue coupled with an inability to sleep. Plus, the burst of adrenaline and endorphins that comes with running
performance. If you felt bad and ran slowly without any obvious cause, it could be a sign of over-training so ease off for a day or two. Drawing a blank "The downside of a training log is that you can be a slave to it and run when you should really have a
to tryA rise in resting heart rate (best taken in the morning right after you wake up) often indicates that you're overtraining. A heart rate monitor can help make this diagnosis. For this you'll need a monitor that stores information for later recall
they are working well, they allow us to love every step, so it’s a priority for all runners to keep them healthy. Feet and ankles are built tough, capable of sustaining two or three times our bodyweight. But when they are abused (overworked, overtrained
should be done as genuine recovery runs, but I see so many club runners doing them as steady runs – it puts you on a fast track to fatigue and over-training." Slow it down – use a heart-rate monitor, train with a plodder or take in some chilled, view
the foundation of your basic endurance and muscle strength. You wont regret it: it will minimise your risk of injury or overtraining as you follow the schedules.Rule 2: Set a specific but realistic goalEvery plan needs a goal; the marathon is no exception
, as overtraining can also contribute to race-day blues. If all of your sessions are eyeballs-out, then come race day, theres a good chance your legs will let you down just when you need them most. Make sure that you never follow a hard training day with another
to build up slowly, and be prepared to revise your marathon goal. Better to aim low and be pleasantly surprised than to doggedly overtrain and face almost-certain disappointment on race-day.Q: I've got a last-minute charity entry.A: The key here is damage
-tune your training regime and plot a perfect race-day strategy. Plus, keeping an eye on your heart rate means you'll be able to spot looming illness and the effects of overtraining and side-step the risks of running under the weather. GETTY IMAGES
your monitor to work out sensible heart rate limits for different types of session of a particular activity, as you did for running. Here, more than ever, your monitor should be helping to protect you against overtraining.
