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The other day when I had ‘ask me a question’ on my Instagram story I was asked by a few people about overtraining. I have written posts relating to overtraining previously but I have never addressed how you can ‘stop’ and my story. *Warning: I open up a lot in this post. I have never opened up about the extent to which I overtrained so this isn’t easy and is quite scary but I want my experiences to help others before it gets out of control. **Also please read the captions of the photos. I suffered from overtraining for about 2 years. Before I injured my knee in 2017 I was running 7-10 miles a day, so about 60 mile weeks which is ridiculous at such a young age. It became routine; coming home from school and then heading out for a run, I felt good and was improving. I would then do core work in the evening but because I wasn’t fueling sufficiently for the amount I was running, my strength didn’t improve, it deteriorated. I had a really bad relationship with running. I felt very guilty if I didn’t run that day so would get very agitated. I would not go to social events if it meant I would miss my run. I knew it was spiraling out of control but more training means you improve right? NO! Repetitive training leads to burn out, injury and many other complications such as hormone deficiency, amenorrhea (in girls), low bone density, fatigue and decreased heart rate. All of the above I suffered with which then led to even more complications. Looking back now I am so annoyed and upset at myself but I have learnt so much from being in that bad place. Effects on your mental health I knew that I was suffering from compulsive exercise disorder and mild orthorexia but didn’t want to do anything about it because I was ‘happy’. I became trapped in the cycle and felt like I couldn’t talk to anyone about it. There is such a stigma around mental health in today’s society and I don’t think there is enough focus put on it as it is a bit of a taboo topic. But how did I get out of this cycle? It was only when people started saying they were worried that I would cross that dangerous boundary and find it much more difficult to get out of the vicious cycle. When I became injured in 2017 I decided I was going to adjust my training and get out of the cycle. I began to change but then fell straight back into it again because it was easier to just go out for a run. So the 6-7miles a day began again, I was still suffering from complications and an extremely low heart rate, basically my health was not good which meant regular trips to the doctor and hospital :( I had started to decrease my mileage towards the end of 2017 before I then became injured again in 2018 due to repetitive running with awful biomechanics. It was my current injury that made me realise how much my training needed to change. I needed a fresh start. Starting triathlon has been one of the best things for me as it means I must focus on lots of different aspects of training rather than just running. In no way am I saying that you should get injured or go and start triathlon to get out of the cycle of overtraining but I am just sharing my personal experience. The most important things that I have learnt:
What can you do?
I am not a coach and don’t have any specific qualifications but I am sharing these things from personal experience and research. There is such a fine line between overtraining and balanced training and it is really difficult to watch people step over the line. It is often hard to offer advice because it is very personal and people shut it away. I just want to stress again the importance of tailoring your training to you as an individual, everyone has a different physique and body composition of which can stand different tolerance levels. Some people are more prone to overtraining, a reduced BMI and hormone imbalances than others. SO PLEASE LOOK AFTER YOURSELF TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE! Thank you for reading. Can’t believe I just shared this. I am so happy I have developed a healthy relationship with exercise and running because I flipping love it! If you want to talk about it more please message me, I am very happy to help xx Big love, Immie <3
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RACE RECAPS TRAINING BESIDES RUNNING SELF CARE BACK TO SCHOOL OVERTRAINING THINGS I AM LOVING LATELY TRIATHLON NEW YEAR Month/year
August 2023
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