Too deep? Now what?

A reader posed the very obvious question related to the last post on recovery.

Brian, in your research, or personal experience, what do you think is the best course for an athlete that does hit the over-trained state midway through the season? I feel that may have happened to me this skimo season and I still have 3 races to go. Along those lines...how long do you think it takes an athlete to recover from an over-trained state?

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Recovery Science

I've been going to the line in various athletic competitions since I was 14 years old. I joined my high school swim team and began my infatuation with suffering. Honestly, I do not think there is any high school sport that even comes close to swimming in terms of training volume, intensity and general discomfort. The rising popularity of rowing in high school athletic programs might rival swimming nowadays but crew was not an option when I was a kid. Oh sure, football players love to think they're such bad asses doing two-a-days in the August heat. But let's face it, they're standing around doing nothing half the time and their actual efforts last about 10 seconds. Compare that to swimmers doing between 8,000 and 14,000 yards a day in the typical program. Hell, back then, before we knew better, we did hard intervals everyday and did so without drinking a drop of liquid or downing a single calorie for the typical 2.5 to 3 hour workout. God, we were a bunch of over-trained knuckleheads!

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Short and Fast

There should be no doubt in any reader's mind that I believe in training long to go long.  It is not the only type of training I recommend but you will not perform at your best in long events if you have not put your time in. Yes, I know, you can find a few entities on the web that suggest otherwise but you will be hard-pressed to find any of those athletes who train short to go long at the top of elite competitive ranks in any endurance sport.

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Back to Base(ics)

A couple of days ago I came across a post on Mountain Athlete's website where a reader was asking Rob Shaul advice regarding training for endurance sports. Although Rob would never claim to be a true endurance athlete, he does dabble in longer efforts in the mountains and is surrounded by athletes he trains who are true competitive endurance types.

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Staying Fast

There are few endurance sports that demand speed and explosiveness quite like bicycle road racing.  Not only do many road races end up in sprint finishes, there are numerous occasions during most events where attacks determine the make up of the final winning finishing group.  So, not only must a road racer possess the endurance to make it to the finish, he or she must possess the speed and power to make the break and finish fast.  Yeah, so?

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