Overtraining

My Marathon Countdown – 6 days! (gulp!)

It’s amazing what you learn about the human body when you start to do more intense training.

Like the fact that you can go too far, too fast. I’m thinking this is where I am.

I’ve learned that there are wise ways and foolish ways to train for a big event like a marathon. I’ve managed to incorporate both – foolish at the beginning, and wiser now. Much wiser, I hope.

But here’s the problem. My marathon is in 6 days, and while I’m not suffering any pain or injury, I find I’m exhausted. I can hardly get through the day.

I know that I started the training with too much enthusiasm and not enough knowledge (so what else is new?) I have corrected my training along the way as I’ve done my research, but alas, I find myself less and less able to get through what have been easy, invigorating walks for me. This seems to be due to the phenomenon of overtraining.

I guess you can have too much of a good thing.

So, the plan of attack now is rest, water, good nutrition, while still keeping myself limber with easy walking instead of Bionic Woman stuff. Things any good ADD A-type personality is really great at. Sigh.

But I have found a great resource for the next time around: The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-Stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness

Happy walking!

Darlene

Tags: exhaustion, fatigue, overtraining