Recap: A Few Words on Overtraining

Last week, I had the distinct pleasure of speaking to the Slater Street Running Room’s Normandy Challenge (10-miler) clinic about the perils and pitfalls of overtraining.

For anyone who knows me well - or even remotely - it wouldn’t be surprising to hear that I opened by joking that I thought that I was being Punk’d, and instead of a presentation, I had been invited to the Running Room for an intervention! I’m notorious for pushing myself and my body. I take on many responsibilities, relentlessly pursue exciting opportunities, and embark on tough physical challenges. And, I refuse to do this at anything less than 100%.

The classic overtrainer and I have alot in common - in fact, you could argue and I would readily admit to be an over-pretty-much-everything-er. I get excited about life, about the things that I’m doing, and I just want to do more (not necessarily because I think that more is better, or because I’m afraid of missing out, but because I genuinely want to experience as much of life that this world has to offer).

The invitation to speak about overtraining was a good opportunity to check-in with my own personal journey and balance, inside and outside of running. A lot of what I spoke about, I knew from personal experience and could directly relate to (although I’m very pleased to report that, at the moment, I’m feeling balanced and focused, with healthy amounts of stress. Ask me again in a few weeks, once the Fall semester gets rolling…).

Here’s a brief overview of what I covered during my presentation:

With all that said, I asked the question, “can you really overtrain?” - a timely question for me personally, as I was about to embark on a self-proposed challenge to take 450 fitness classes at my gym (not including the other physical activities that I take part in) in the next 365 days (more on this to come!). My research suggests that there are mixed philosophies on whether overtraining is actually possible, but what we all can and often do is under-recover.

So, how can you avoid over-training and under recovery?

It’s always a pleasure to step into the Running Room - a place that I credit for fuelling my love of running - and an even bigger pleasure to speak to them about the sport that I love so much. Thank you Slater Street for having me last week!