In the 2018 season, I suffered from Overtraining Syndrome (OTS), which prevented me from racing the World Championships. This was a difficult blog to write, a personal account of my struggles after being diagnosed. But hopefully it provides some advice to other athletes, so you don’t take the same path.
“Overtraining – an accumulation of training and/or non-training stress resulting in long-term decrement in performance capacity with or without related physiological and psychological signs and symptoms of maladaptation in which restoration of performance capacity may take several weeks or months.” As defined in the Joint consensus statement of the European College of Sport Science and the American College of Sports Medicine.
The capacity of the human body has always fascinated me. Some people are able to push the body to often unthinkable lengths. Take Dean Karnazes, known as the “Ultramarathonman.” He ran continuously for 350 miles (560km) without sleep, in 80 hours and 44 minutes. As an athlete, the ability to test my mental and physical limits on a daily basis, is something a relish.
As a full time rower, fatigue is part of everyday life. This can make it difficult to differentiate between beneficial fatigue from good training and fatigue that is deep rooted, difficult to recover from, without total rest. I view the training required to achieve Olympic glory, as teetering on a fine line. On one side of the line, the training load is not sufficient and adaptation will be limited. Training optimally is being right on that fine line, similar to walking a tightrope. Just the correct amount of training load versus recovery. This ensures maximal adaptation and leads to enhanced performance. Then there is the potentially dangerous side of the line. Spend too much time here and you can run into trouble. Here the body is being pushed to its limit and for a variety of reasons, is unable to recover adequately. This is the place I found myself last season.
I was diagnosed with over training last August and the months that followed, were some of the most challenging of my career. In the nine years of being in the British team, one of my mantras, has been to exploit the training programme and reap the biggest rewards possible from it. Last year I failed to do this. With a relentless desire to turn a World Championship silver into gold, I pushed too hard and didn’t listen to my body early enough. Through the World Cup series my performance was sub-par, I was making the final but was unable to find the top end speed to compete for medals. I found myself analysing video, trying to see where the speed I knew I had, was being lost, but I was ignoring the big problem, my body was exhausted. Racing poorly at Henley was the final straw and when I finally sought advice from our team doctor.
Once I was diagnosed with over-training, the only option was complete rest. The discipline it took to rest was greater, than the discipline it takes to train. My body was crying out for a break but my mind really struggled to change tack. I was worried about the fitness I would lose, but I had no choice, if I wanted to get back to my best, rest was the only option. To get my mind around it, I saw it as a training camp of recovery. I was in the situation now, but how I reacted to it and how I came out the other side would be the test. One of the most important lessons I have learnt over the years, is whatever position you find yourself in, good, bad or ugly, ensure you come out the other side a stronger and wiser athlete. This means the experience hasn’t been wasted time.
Symptoms
I wish to stress that symptoms of OTS can vary from person to person, making it a very difficult condition to navigate. Always consult a sports doctor for diagnosis. Below are just a few symptoms that may present themselves.
Mood disturbance
Mood and motivation naturally ebbs and flows throughout the year, this is completely normal. However, a prolonged period, of feeling emotionally different to normal, without a specific reason, is a red flag. Developing self-awareness is crucial here. For me, I found everything was becoming a monumental effort. The smallest household chore felt like climbing a mountain. At a time of the season, when I am usually looking forward to battling it out side by side with my competitors, I felt low and lacked my usual motivation. I knew at the time that this wasn’t normal, for me.
Body weight
This can work both ways. If you find yourself losing weight at a rapid rate, even though training and diet hasn’t changed, this could be a sign that your body is struggling to keep up with the demands placed on it. For me the opposite was true. Usually as we head into the racing season, I naturally lean up with not much effort. However, last year my body was holding on to fat mass. In hindsight, this signified it was under a greater amount of stress than normal and wanting to hold onto any energy reserves it could.
Heart rate
Resting heart rate can be a helpful marker to use. It fluctuates daily but if you find it is consistently 10-20 beats above your normal range, you may want to review with your coach how you are feeling. Personally my heart rate stayed within a normal range and wasn’t a symptom.
Hormonal changes
Hormonal changes in female athletes, can be an objective measure to show one is struggling to keep up with the stress from training.
As a female athlete, it is wise to have an understanding of your menstrual cycle. Know what is normal for you, when you are in good health. Menstrual dysfunction is a blanket term for all disorders that affect the menstrual cycle. Inadequate body fat stores, low energy availability and exercise stress, are a few factors that can predispose you, to menstrual disorders. (1) Amenorrhea (absent periods) can be associated with female athletes, but this isn’t the only menstrual dysfunction that can suggest our body is struggling. If your menstrual cycle changes, seek advice from your doctor. At this time, look to pay more attention to your recovery, nutrition and self-care, to support your body and its needs.
Decrease in performance
The most obvious symptom may be a decrease in performance. If you see your numbers on the ergo, and speeds on the water take a nose dive, this could be a warning sign.
So how can we maximise training and avoid over training?
Training zones
Use your heart rate and work out your training zones. The best way to build that big endurance base for rowing, is making sure you are training the right energy system, at the right time. In particular, ensure that you aren’t working too hard in your long, low intensity sessions. Do the easy stuff easy and the hard stuff hard!
Use training camps to push things on
Training camps are predominantly about being able to train harder, as we have more recovery time. You take away the home stresses and it is literally, train, eat, sleep repeat. If you enjoy training camps with your club, use it to push the volume and intensity of your training. Whilst at home, if you have a busy schedule, with work and other pressures, be easier on yourself.
Energy intake
The winter months is where training volume and energy demand are highest. Therefore, ensure you are adapting your energy intake, to ensure you are giving your body the nutrition and fuel it needs. I usually weigh a couple of kilos more in winter, than the summer. Carrying a bit more weight also helps support your immune system and keeps bugs at bay.
Morning monitoring
Fatigue is normal and something we should embrace, if we are training optimally. However, it can be difficult at times, to differentiate between good fatigue and when you are pushing too hard. A useful way to monitor fatigue levels and general wellbeing is morning monitoring.
A guide of what to record daily:
Body weight
Resting heart rate
Sleep quality 1- 10 (1 being a couple of hours and 10 being an undisturbed 8-10 hours)
How do you feel? 1-10 (1 being full of energy and 10 being exhausted)
My final comment would be, listen to your body. Our bodies are amazing and will tell us when they are struggling. Train hard, but also smart.
(1): The IOC consensus statement: beyond the Female Athlete Triad—Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S)
