come from a pretty strong cycling background, and had the fortune to do some testing with an olympic coach. many years ago now, but what he said has really stuck with me.
'you don't get fitter through training, but by the recovery in between'.
now this doesn't mean we don't have to train, but that basically if you don't give you body enough time to recover in between training, then you'll not be getting the benefit of your training. it's the rest period that lets us actually get fitter as our body adjusts to the effort of training. it's the reason that tapering before a race makes such a difference.
If we are honest, we are probably all guilty of overtraining at some time. We often criticise others for over doing it but it is very difficult not do silly things at times. Typical is the mentality that if we (particularly those from a running background) miss a few sessions (say through a cold or something) then the best thing we can do when we first set foot out of the door again is really go for a very punishing session to make up for lost time!
We know it is plain daft but we still do it. I have recently picked up Joe Friel's "Triathlete's Training Bible" and it is very good on advice about training and the tendencies to overtrain. I recommend it - it has certainly made me think twice about how I approach things.
ytriguy
Posts: 40
Comments
the initial statement got my attention.
come from a pretty strong cycling background, and had the fortune to do some testing with an olympic coach. many years ago now, but what he said has really stuck with me.
'you don't get fitter through training, but by the recovery in between'.
now this doesn't mean we don't have to train, but that basically if you don't give you body enough time to recover in between training, then you'll not be getting the benefit of your training. it's the rest period that lets us actually get fitter as our body adjusts to the effort of training. it's the reason that tapering before a race makes such a difference.
matt
We know it is plain daft but we still do it. I have recently picked up Joe Friel's "Triathlete's Training Bible" and it is very good on advice about training and the tendencies to overtrain. I recommend it - it has certainly made me think twice about how I approach things.
chis