My experience with Overtraining

Thanks for sharing, Chris.

Something we see said in the forums here and on ST frequently is that AGer's aren't at risk for OTS.  I've suspected for a while that this simply isn't true, because even though most aren't doing the volume or intensity that pros do, they don't have the same genetic gifts for supercompensation, and they have other priorities in their lives that can inhibit recovery and adaptation too.  A hard driving amateur athlete who has the ability to put their head down and grind it out like you describe in your blog can be at risk.  I have a female athlete who I believe may be flirting with OTS right now.  We think we caught it in time, and I sent her to her doctor earlier this week, but I'm waiting to hear back.  It's not something to take lightly, because as your experience demonstrates, the road back is measured in months, not days or weeks.

I wish you well with your continued recovery.

Chris, you and I have replied in the same OTS threads over on ST.  I too struggled with this, and like you never saw it coming.  I haven't raced since Ironman Canada in July 2014 (DNF) and have not completed a triathlon since Ironman Florida 2013.  I took a full year off from training and have been back at it the past few months.

Hindsight is 20-20,  

Try to find the positive in the experience - The knowledge gained from it can make you a better athlete in the long run.

Something else I tell athletes, and personal training clients who are hard driving, is that more isn't always more when it comes to training and fitness.  At a certain point, we begin to apply more stress to our body than it can handle.  Once that happens, at best we're achieving smaller gains than we're capable of, and at worst we're doing the type of damage associated with OTS.  The objective should be to find the balance between stress and recovery that maximizes adaptations.

Marc, do you use HRV to monitor stress/recovery?  I understand the principle fairly well, from sessions at personal training conferences, but haven't employed it.  Instead, we just keep an eye on subjective symptoms such as mood and fatigue as well as objective symptoms like RHR and menstrual cycles in females.

If you're using it, what technology do you use, and what's your general experience been with it?

My ex ran into an OTS issue a few years ago, had doctors trying to diagnose her as diabetic.  Good news, after she rested and let her body get back to normal, she became an even better athlete having earned the lesson of rest and recovery.  Hang in there and take care of yourself!

and nice skinsuit

That's what got me.  I had taken a somewhat minimalistic approach to training my first few years of doing IM or 70.3 racing.  Almost qualified for 70.3 WC in 2012 on about 8 hours per week doing a typical 3x SBR per week.  I went to 4-5x SBR per week for 2013-2014, and double the training hours.  15-16 hours isn't a tremendous amount compared to some but taking into account that all my training is done in the blistering heat and humidity of Houston, TX and you can imagine the toll that it takes.  2013 went pretty well.  I trained for three IM's (Texas, Whistler, and Florida), so I was at it from Jan-Nov.  By the time I did FL my body was trashed.  So like an idiot, I basically signed up to do something similar in 2014.  It was a disaster.  My body revolted.  I went to the doctors about 30 times in 2014 (I'm not kidding).  Some of that wasn't due to OTS.  I had two bouts with epididymitis early in the year and I had open inguinal hernia surgery in November, but the other 20 doc visits related to figuring out what was wrong with me.  The initial thought was OTS but I think I talked my docs out of that one.  Like Chris said, there's no exact diagnosis of OTS.  It's sort of a nebulous and undefined problem.  My blood work was normal.  So the focus shifted to my heart.  My heart vital signs were all over the place at times so I spent about three months getting every heart test imaginable... to thankfully find out my heart was more than fine and functioning perfectly.  Focus shifted back to OTS.  Docs just told me to rest and my body would tell me when it felt better.  That took about a year.

Lee - out of curiousity, and more than a casual worry about my continiously driven kid, who moves from triathlon to xc to swimming to track to triathlon season with hundreds of races, what were some of the blood markers that were used to diagnose OTS for you.  I get twice yearly Ferritin tests for him, but it's a constant vigil for me because I have seen times when he sleeps a crazy inordinant amount, or is especially crabby and edgy.  I'm constantly trying to balance what I see with his training, and what his coaches have him doing, with what I see at home......and the boogyman in his case is that he is also still growing, so that also takes a toll.

Now I have to go back in this thread and figure out what HRV is........you guys are ruthless with the information overload.

Heart Rate Variability.  In very simple terms, when we're healthy and well rested, there is more variability in our heart rhythms.  When we're tired, sick, stressed, there is less variability between contractions.