Warning Signs...

Wow... it sure didn't take me long to overdo it.

I woke up this morning with the intention of doing my speed workout, but when I got out of bed to turn my alarm clock off, I noticed something felt off in my legs. I ran 5 miles on Sunday, only 2 days after getting over an awful stomach ailment, and I think I may have pushed my body a little too hard. Sunday night I couldn't fall alseep until close to 3 am, and last night I was up until about 12:30. I felt over anxious this morning, and my legs felt totally dead... classic overtraining.

At least I know what to call it. Overtraining is NOT some general set of symptoms that occur when you train too much. It is a VERY definite and specific response to pushing your body too hard, too fast. This happened to me last year when I decided to go from zero (Being about 30 pounds overweight, not running, drinking 3-4 times a week) to qualifying for Boston, and beating my PR by 50 minutes, in about 7 months of training. I learned my lesson the REALLY hard way.

Last June, I decided to try and run 5 miles at the Boston Marathon Qualifying pace for my age group, which happens to be a 7:10 mile. That is a very fast pace for me, just about my 10K (6.2 miles) pace NOW (20 pounds less and 2 marathons later). I did it on the treadmill because I knew that my legs wouldn't move that fast for that long on their own. I almost puked, but I survived the run. I remember that the next day, my body was just... different. My legs felt like I had cement blocks on my feet. I lost my appetite, I felt really anxious all day long, and could not fall asleep easily. My runs began to suck BAD. I went from long runs at about an 8:30-8:45 pace to almost 10 minute miles. My legs just wouldn't work, and my lungs burned out after a couple of miles. I had no idea what was wrong, and the word "overtrained" never occurred to me until I did some research and figured out that I was an idiot. I had these symptoms for about 2 weeks before stopping everything for one week. That one week off set my body back to normal, but had I caught it sooner I would have lost a lot less time (and sleep.)

It sucks to overtrain, and the only cure is to cut back on the training until your body returns to normal. I think trying to run so soon after being sick did it. This morning I decided to go to the gym, stretch a lot, and did a light cross-training workout instead. I'll see how I feel tomorrow, but I'm wise enough now to know what can happen if I don't listen to my legs. Your legs may argue with you, but trust them... they know what's best.