of these symptoms frequently, and your strength and performance have been declining steadily for several weeks or months, you may be overtraining. And it can do serious damage. Put simply, overtraining is when you do more training than your body can recover from

't running long distances, you could still be at risk of overtraining. If you're super-busy at work, stressed or having relationship problems, it can impact upon your training and trigger UPS.What are the symptoms?Elevated resting heart rate Overtraining can

such as allergies, headaches or acid reflux strike mid-run, as they did to Jeukendrup's patient, it is sometimes hard for you – or your doctor – to figure out and fix the problem. Here, experts offer simple solutions to six symptoms that strike runners.Symptom: A

individual is so different. Symptoms are so different in each person, and there is no one set recovery plan or definition.Overtraining should probably be called "under resting", as we can all manage different training loads. It's how we recover from hard

later) I suffered horrible cramps in both calves. I put this down to overtraining, so three weeks before my next marathon I eased down and did a lot of stretching. Despite this, I started cramping even sooner than before – at around 18 miles. I think I

to give the worked muscles a break. Higher heart rate, feeling of tiredness, a drop in performance and increased susceptibility to viruses are all symptoms that you appear to have. To reverse the effects of overtraining, you should stop training completely

by reducing menstrual symptoms. These runners prefer taking the pill so they can control their cycle and don't have to race when they are having their period. Although it is safe to manipulate the timing of your period, experts generally agree this practice

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

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

sign of overtraining." Take at least one rest day per week and additional days as needed. Check your pulse for 60 seconds before getting out of bed. If it's 20 per cent higher than normal, you're due for a rest day. If you're training for a marathon