Triathlon Training

Training Stress

20 February 2020

08:07

Training = Stress + Rest

For most age-group athletes, the lifestyle aspect that is nearly always the easiest to reshape in order to avoid distress is training. If your jo, family, health, finances, living conditions, or some other critical aspect of life becomes overly stressful, the stressor that you must immediately reduce is training.

Risk and Reward

Similar to stock market, training with low risk equals low reward, and high risk equals high reward.

The following activities have a high risk, but potentially a high reward.

Running is the riskiest sport in triathlon because of orthopaedic stress and eccentric contractions (the muscle lengthens as you attempt to shorten it).

Running on soft but stable running surfaces, such as trails, grass and dirt, reduce some of the risk of running.
Cycling and swimming rely primarily on concentric contractions, this type of contractions is very low-risk

High gear pedalling, especially on a hill and in the seated position

Inadequate gearing (not enough low gears) is often associated with knee soreness and loss of training time

Plyometrics can be a risky but potentially rewarding activity.
Heavy load, low repetition weight lifting is also risky, but it has a high potential payoff if done correctly.
Very high speed sprints done much faster than usual
Hill training of any type
Early season racing, before fitness is well established

Overtraining and Overreaching

See the progressive stages of overreaching and overtraining in table below

Progression	Stage	Common Symptoms
1	Moderate overreaching	High perceived fatigue Minimal change in performance Training restored by 24-36 hours of rest Performance improved following rest
2	Functional overreaching	Very high perceived fatigue Performance decline possible Several days of rest required to restore training Performance improved following rest
3	Non-functional overreaching	Very high perceived fatigue Performance decline apparent Several days of rest required to restore training Performance not improved after rest
4	Overtraining syndrome	Very intense perceived fatigue Performance suffering chronically More than 1 month of rest needed to shed fatigue and restore training Performance greatly diminished after recovery Competitive season over

Overtraining

If you are truly overtrained, merely getting out of bed in the morning is an accomplishment. Common symptoms of overtraining by category:

Category	Common Symptoms
Physical	Resting heart rate higher or lower than usual Weight loss Greater hunger than normal Loss of appetite Lethargy Restless sleep, insomnia Chronic fatigue Muscle soreness Muscle and joint injury Minor cuts heal slowly Menstrual cycle dysfunction
Performance	Greatly reduced performance in hard workouts Low bike power at a given heart rate Slow swim and run pace relative to effort Inability to complete workouts Decreased muscular strength Loss of coordination Deterioration of skills
Psychological	Moody, grumpy and emotional Apathetic Low motivation to train Poor concentration Decreased self-esteem Very high level of race anxiety Loss of competitiveness Depression
Physiological	Low level of peak lactate Low heart rate at high power or pace High heart rate at low-to-moderate intensities High perceived exertion at a given power or pace Low heart rate variability Increased oxygen consumption during submaximal exercise Reduced maximal exercise capacity
Immunological	Increased susceptibility to colds, flu and allergies Swollen lymph glands Bacterial infection Abnormal white blood cell differentials
Biochemical	Reduced muscle glycogen concentration Elevated serum cortisol Decreased serum ferritin Decreased bon mineral density

Overreaching

Overreaching is necessary to achieve the highest possible level of fitness. Overreaching is flirting with overtraining, with the difference that if you are overreaching, a few days of rest of recovery will rejuvenate your body. If you are overtrained though, short term rest has no benefit. If you are overreaching and keep training with the same intensity, you will certainly become overtrained.

Overreaching is achieved by carefully balancing stress and rest.