Ever wondered if you are training too much and pushing so hard all the time your body is always breaking! Or if you always feel you should do more, as your always full of energy? Training load is always important to get the right balance.
Hi guys, Luke here. Today I would love to discuss a popular topic in the sports world. Training load. It can make the difference of performing at your best, wishing you had trained more or leaving you absolutely exhausted before the race has even begun.
Lots of professional athletes have a fine line between over training and getting it just right and have to be very smart about how they train. For endurance athletes such as Ironman and marathon runners, they train up to 30 hours a week, which is a lot of training so they have to know when to work hard, relax and rest.
For Example, Lionel Sanders, back in 2018 before Kona Ironman world championships. Sanders admitted to the press he was over trained and not doing so well, because he had lost lots of weight and was seeing harmful side effects to his training.
“…And then I’d lose 10 pounds in 12 weeks and I’d start to deteriorate.”
Lionel Sanders admitting to over training and losing weight.
This showed in the performance of his race on the run, he was winning, but Patrick Lange was catching him up. In the last 5 kilometers Sanders was dead and was forced to walk after using up all his energy and having nothing left.
Last year this happened to me, I over trained. It was detrimental to me as I lost a bit of weight and felt and looked really good. But when the weight just kept going down, I got colder and struggled to perform when I needed to. I never really took the hint that I was to light until it was to late really and I paid for it. It took me just over 10 kilograms and 6 months to bounce back and start to get myself racing again.
Of course there is the other way around, like general enthusiasts who like to train and have an event which they wish they had trained harder for. My friend had this happen to him. He had shin splints and was unable to run for a while, whilst we were preparing for a 10k race. He got the OK from his doctor, but he still didn’t want to push too hard. So his training wasn’t as much as he wanted and he was a little bit disappointed with his result. But he said, “I’d rather look after my legs for another race, I have time.”
So when your feeling tired, exhausted and hurting. Take a minute to look over your program with your coach or ask yourself: “Am I doing to much? What can I change?” If you feel you can take on some more or push yourself harder ask your coach for more, or try to extend yourself when you can by doing a little bit extra to improve.
I hope you have learnt something from this. I am not a coach or a doctor, so don’t push yourself if you feel it is too much.
Please feel free to leave a comment below or take a look at this website for more information about training load.
https://www.lesmills.com/fit-planet/fitness/training-load/
Luke Clatworthy (Clatters Chatter)
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https://www.coachray.nz/category/client-stories/clatters-chatter/