ASK THE EXPERT
We ask a fatigue specialist what bike-related burnout really means, and how to avoid it
Traditionally overtraining has been defined as a prolonged impairment in an athlete’s performance lasting for several months despite reducing the workload. As the name suggests, the chronic reduction in performance is due to excessive training without enough recovery. However, more accurately, it is the state of chronic fatigue, and most of the time it’s chronic mental fatigue.
Of course, you have to exclude any underlying disease or pathological condition, by a process of exclusion – and if you find nothing, the diagnosis is overtraining.
What causes this long-term fatigue?
The psychological load of training and competing is a big component. With muscular or physical fatigue, even if you have muscle damage, after a few days of rest you’re OK again – it doesn’t take months to recover. Mental fatigue may take longer to resolve. It can be caused by the psychological load associated with training and competing. Among amateur athletes, the psychological load may be coming from work, family and relationships. These non-physical stressors produce an effect actually very similar to too much training. This is because, like training, they involve cognitive functions and, at brain level, the structures involved are the same.
Currently there’s no blood or medical test for overtraining. It is signalled by feelings of fatigue, tiredness and a lack of energy, with a notable reduction in vitality. Tiredness increases, and mood can be negatively affected too. Athletes also tend to become less disciplined in their training, due to a downturn in motivation.
Perception of effort. If your effort level feels higher than usual for a given power output, that’s usually a sign of fatigue. After a period of rest, if the perceived exertion remains high, this is probably a sign of overtraining.
Not necessarily. If the fatigue is physical, perceived exertion and heart rate would be higher. If it’s mental fatigue, the heart rate stays the same or decreases. If you can use heart rate, power and perceived exertion together, it’s easier to distinguish between mental or physical fatigue. Those who find they are fine after a week or two of rest were probably not experiencing overtraining.
How long a period of rest withou
