OVERTRAINING VS UNDER RECOVERY

Much of the discourse around overtraining misses the mark. True overtraining is rare — what most athletes experience is under recovery, a temporary mismatch between stress and adaptation capacity.

Every athlete has a unique threshold for tolerating and responding to workload. Normal training fatigue typically resolves with short bouts of easy recovery work. But when hard sessions stack too close together without proper restoration, *functional overreaching* creeps in — leading to performance decline, not progress.

Signs You’re Not Recovering Well

- Persistent muscle soreness

- Increased perceived effort during routine paces

- Mood shifts, irritability, sleep disruption

- Reduced max heart rate

- Diminished appetite and training enthusiasm

- Immune suppression (frequent colds, sluggishness)

These symptoms often build gradually over weeks and reflect a nervous system that’s been pushed too far, too fast.

Resetting the System

Fortunately, under recovery is reversible. One to two weeks of reduced load — prioritizing sleep, nutrition, and lower-intensity movement — usually restore balance. Glycogen depletion is often a contributing factor, as is *low iron*, which can be identified via a simple blood test.

Once you restore your body's capacity to absorb stress, the *positive loop of stress, recovery, and adaptation* reactivates — and sustainable progress resumes.