Many training variables play a role in the benefits you gain from your workouts, including intensity, duration, frequency, distance, pace—and an important one: recovery. When you start to overdo it on any or all of these, or if you start skipping out on rest days, you could be setting yourself up for some serious issues, like overtraining syndrome.
“Overtraining syndrome, put simply, is doing more than your body can handle over a long period of time, and it can take months to recover properly,” Garret Seacat, C.S.C.S., USA Cycling-certified coach, tells Bicycling. “It occurs most often when athletes are trying to take on a much larger volume than they could possibly handle, and often you won’t realize you’ve done too much until it’s too late.”
That said, there are some signs and symptoms of overtraining that may help you notice when you need to dial it back, Seacat adds. The most notable is reduced athletic performance, which is one of the hallmarks of overtraining syndrome. This can show up in increased fatigue on the road or the inability to hit paces or distances that typically felt easy. But there are also some other, more subtle signs.
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Think of this list of overtraining symptoms as an early detection system, alerting you that you’re veering toward a decline in performance and the need to reverse so you don’t get sidelined.
4 Signs and Symptoms of Overtraining Syndrome
Loss of motivation
You don’t really feel like training today, but it’s on your plan, so you’re going to power through anyway. If that happens every once and a while, that’s okay, Seacat says. But when it’s every day? Pay attention.
“This is a common first sign [of overtraining], and it may come with other signs like lack of concentration,” he adds. “It can be hard to recognize this, especially if you struggle with motivation in general, but if this is happening day after day, take time off.”
Poor sleep
According to a 2018 study in Frontiers in Physiology, poor sleep and overtraining can be bidirectional: If you have several nights of disrupted sleep, that could negatively affect your training. Or if you’re consistently overtraining, you can start to develop sleep issues. Regardless of the starting point, the researchers are clear that both will worsen if nothing changes.
Sleep quantity and quality declines following too-fast increases in training load, researchers found via that study, and poor sleep is a common complaint among overtrained athletes. That can lead to a bigger ripple effect, given all the health risks associated with poor sleep, including depressed mood, lower immune function, and poor heart health—for example, one study found irregular sleep patterns in older adults double their cardiovascular disease risk.
Fatigue and crusty attitude
Connected to both poor quality sleep and lack of motivation, fatigue can tank your mood and lead to being crabby, reactive, and generally miserable, Paul Warloski, C.P.T., USA Cycling-certified coach, tells Bicycling.
“[Overtraining is] a state of being perpetually irritable and tired,” he says. “One way to know if this is connected to overtraining is to take a few rest days and do other things, like go for a swim or watch movies—anything but train. If you feel a sense of relief, that tells you something.”
Physical changes
Other signs of overtraining to keep in mind, according to Warloski: Increased resting heart rate, more prevalence of injury or illness, and muscle soreness that lasts longer than usual.
Keep an eye on your heart rate variability too (if you have a watch that regularly checks this), as a high HRV has also been linked to overtraining, according to research.
How to Address Overtraining Syndrome
In general, it’s a tricky balance, says Warloski. After all, “functional overreaching” is a goal for anyone who wants to progress in a sport, including cycling. That’s the point where you’re overloading your body with enough stress that it has to adapt, becoming more efficient and fit, he adds. Monitoring heart rate variability can be useful, he says, but in many cases, the signs are more subjective—like irritability and tiredness.
The only way to recover is to rest and drastically reduce volume for a minimum of one month, Seacat says. He suggests starting with one to two weeks off the bike completely—and that means totally, not even for leisurely rides—then you can slowly add easy rides into the rotation. Even then, he advised against long rides or intervals.
“After a month, if you are still showing signs of overtraining, you may need an additional two to six weeks to get fully recovered,” Seacat explains. “If you have a coach, now is a time to increase communication to make sure you don’t accidentally start training too hard, too soon.”
To prevent overtraining from becoming a problem again postrecovery, sometimes it’s better to look at the most common causes first, says Seacat. Although a dearth of recovery time is a major factor, it’s also important to look at others like the volume of races, heat, or altitude exposure, and even stress in your personal life. Go over your training plan and see if you can pinpoint when signs of overtraining began, and then look at the months before that. It may be frustrating to downshift initially, but Seacat says proper recovery can keep you cycling in a healthier, safer way. And maybe even keeping you cycling for longer once you get back out there.
Elizabeth Millard is a freelance writer focusing on health, wellness, fitness, and food.
