{"id":291481,"date":"2025-11-18T18:05:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T18:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/291481\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T18:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T18:05:08","slug":"are-you-just-tired-or-are-you-overtraining-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/291481\/","title":{"rendered":"Are you just tired, or are you overtraining?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every cyclist has days when motivation is missing and the legs feel like wet cement. Most of the time, it\u2019s just fatigue from training, work and life piling up. But occasionally that \u201coff day\u201d is something deeper \u2014 a sign you\u2019re pushing too far<\/a>. A recent study on recreational athletes, published in the European Journal of Science and Sport<\/a>, offers clues on how to tell the difference between ordinary tiredness and the early stages of overtraining.<\/p>\n

The study behind the findings<\/p>\n

Researchers followed 24 athletes through three phases: three weeks of normal training, two weeks of heavy overload and one week of recovery. They tracked both heart-rate data (resting heart rate and heart-rate variability (HRV), recorded at night) and subjective measures, such as soreness, sleep quality and \u201creadiness to train.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overtraining and overcooking it: \u201cFast Life\u201d Ep. 6<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

When the intensity spiked by roughly 80\u202fper\u202fcent, half the group adapted and got stronger, while the rest hit a wall. Despite all the extra work, their time-trial performances slowed slightly \u2014 a state known as functional overreaching. The combination of nighttime heart rate, HR-effort index and readiness-to-train scores correctly identified who was struggling with more than 90\u202fper\u202fcent accuracy.<\/p>\n

Elisabeth Scott, coach and host of the podcast Running Explained<\/a>, says: \u201cThe study shows that both heart data and how you feel are powerful indicators of fatigue. Neither alone gives the full picture \u2014 but together they can help you train smarter and avoid burnout.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happens when you overreach<\/p>\n

The athletes\u00a0 who faltered not only felt sore, but their bodies showed measurable stress. Average nighttime heart rate rose about three per cent, while heart-rate variability dropped. Sleep quality worsened and motivation plummeted. Others, however, thrived under the same load, showing lower heart rates and slightly improved HRV \u2014 proof that recovery capacity is highly individual.<\/p>\n

\u201cFatigue is personal,\u201d Scott explains. \u201cTwo athletes can follow identical programs, and one will thrive while the other crashes. It\u2019s not about toughness; it\u2019s about how your system handles stress and recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour feelings are data. When motivation disappears or everything feels harder than it should, your body is sending you useful information,\u201d says\u202f Scott.<\/p>\n

Heart data meets real-world feelings<\/p>\n

The heart doesn\u2019t lie, but it can whisper instead of shout. A single elevated reading isn\u2019t a reason to panic. What matters is the trend. If your resting heart rate climbs for several days or HRV keeps dropping, you\u2019re likely not recovering fully. Low\u2011tech signs are also important: heavy legs, poor sleep, irritability or a sense of dread before workouts. In the study, feelings of low readiness and high soreness were among the first red flags. Listening to those cues early can save weeks of frustration later.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour feelings are data. When motivation disappears or everything feels harder than it should, your body is sending you useful information,\u201d says Scott.<\/p>\n

Putting the research into practice<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t need a sports lab to apply these findings. Start by keeping a simple log that pairs your daily effort level with how you actually feel. Write down your mood, soreness and sleep, along with heart\u2011rate or HRV data if you track them. Over time, patterns start to emerge: one tough day isn\u2019t a problem, but when several stack up, it\u2019s a sign to ease off.<\/p>\n

Building recovery into your plan, such as an easy week every few cycles or rest days before fatigue forces them, helps you stay consistent. Pay attention to how your body responds to the same training load. If your speed or power is steady but your heart rate keeps climbing, that\u2019s a cue you\u2019re not bouncing back.<\/p>\n

Scott reminds her athletes, \u201cThe goal isn\u2019t to collect data \u2014 it\u2019s to understand yourself well enough to know when to push and when to pull back.\u201d A few mindful adjustments, guided by both numbers and intuition, can make the difference between steady progress and hitting the wall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every cyclist has days when motivation is missing and the legs feel like wet cement. Most of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,131738,61],"class_list":["post-291481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-overtraining","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}