I read this on a bumper sticker yesterday while riding my bike in Virginia Key. It struck me as a good answer to give to people when they question your belief system or way of life. Triathletes are often accused of being mad or insane for all of the training they do and their tendencies not to drink or socialize that much. Lately, one of the questions that I have been facing is the “Are you sick?” or “You look so skinny!” This is very good for triathletes and runners but to other people in the USA it is a sign of not being a big, strapping American. In my opinion, the majority of people in America are overweight, (and by the way, it is not just my opinion) so losing some weight will benefit you not only in your sports but also in your life.
I was talking the other day to a really good runner, who is now in his forties. He told me how he used to run so fast in college because he weighed 125 pounds and was 5’11” tall. “ Now I am one-hundred sixty, too heavy for faster cadence of the legs.” When I asked him what happened, he told me, “too much junk food.” For me it was sad because this athlete really enjoys being out there and competing, and at the same time he felt hopeless about his situation. The extra weight really puts a lot of pressure on his cardiovascular system and joints. Imagine running while carrying seven extra five-pound sacks of potatoes! So what can he do? The advice that I gave him is the same that I will give you.
There is so much junk food out there. So you eat a little today, some tomorrow and after a while it starts to add up. By the end of the year you have added a pound or two if you are lucky (some people add more) and after ten years … well you do the math. So you get used to this new, larger you accepting it as the way it should be. You know as you age you are supposed to gain weight and be less active, right? I don’t think so. I have seen many people become healthier in their forties than when they were in their twenties. I am in better shape now weighing 158 pounds than when I was twenty-five and weighed in at a whopping, muscle-bound 180 pounds. My friend, Omar, certainly is a lot fitter now than when we started running together six years ago. He has lost twenty pounds and now weighs 132 pounds, running a 5:30 mile like it is nothing. Omar today follows a raw food diet that is really paying dividends for him. I am not at his level yet, but I certainly watch very closely what I eat. I eat foods that are very high in water content like vegetables and fruits. I also eat lots of grains like quinoa (very high in protein) and all kinds of beans. I started controlling my food choices. There was a time back in those 180 lb. days that I could not go through a day without eating ice cream! Eating healthier has a domino effect. The healthier you eat, the easier it is to make that choice. You are actually programming your body to want healthy food instead of junk. Now that I am in the off-season I am choosing to go down in my weight instead of up, like most people do. I am choosing to commit and be disciplined. You have the same choice. A few quick facts before you eat that next bowl of ice cream: about 60% of America is now overweight with high cholesterol and people that maintain the same healthy weight for long periods of time live healthier lives than those who do not. Now it is up to you… dare to be different. Dare to be more fit and healthy.
Triathletes are mostly type A personalities, with a subconscious thought that more is better. They also have to handle three sports that overlap themselves with a competitive season of more than six months. The propensity to overtrain is high, but there are a few things that we can do to avoid it. I am going to use Jack Daniels’s (the running coach, not the whiskey) definition of overtraining because his is the one that more simply and clearly defines it. Overtraining is “training more than what is actually needed to perform at a level that can be attained with less training”.
Overtraining has devastating consequences for athletes, like feeling mood changes, increased cortisol (stress hormone) levels in the body, decreased testosterone levels, and altered immune status. All these changes will plateau performance or decrease performance.
So, how can we avoid this state? The first thing that all good coaches recommend is to rest and recover after big efforts. Improvement happens during the resting part of training. During rest the body has the time to adapt to the stimulus it has just received. If you do not give the body rest time, the next time you apply another stimulus the body will not be ready for it and you will not assimilate it. Remember this simple rule: one hard day, two easy days. You will be safe and will gradually improve if you follow this principle.
Another piece of advice from the top is to keep a training log. There you can monitor volume, intensity, resting heart rate, weight, general health, how a workout felt and any other variable that will give you feedback on your progression. A very important variable is sleeping patterns. If you start having restless sleep check how your workouts are feeling. If that is giving you another red flag then back off you training because something is out of balance.
Another important strategy that you can use to avoid overtraining is periodization. (some periods where you back off and some where you tax yourself more) By changing the systems of the body that you are stressing, you dramatically reduce your chances of overtraining and injuries. Aerobic development involves lots of time running, swimming or biking at low intensities. With this type of training if the athlete overdoes it stress injuries are going to knock on your door. Anaerobic training is based on strong efforts with little rest in between each set. If you overdo these the hormone cortisol, is going to run all over your body disrupting your sleep, altering your heart rate, and changing your mood, not a fun state! So periodization, and being conservative are the words of wisdom here. There is a saying in the athletic community that it is better to undertrain than to over train. There are also plenty of medical studies that show that for twenty-one days a decrease in volume at the same intensity will not reduce performance.
Finally, remember that ultimately we do training to be healthy and happy and to improve our performance. Overtraining is a state of the ego. Avoid it because it is a waste of your valuable time and effort.
