Overtraining is the result of your body’s inability to cope with the total amount of stress. Several symptoms are associated with the overtraining syndrome: Decreased performance, mood changes, weight loss, decreased appetite, muscle soreness, reduced motivation and fatigue. I guess most cyclists have experienced at least one or more of these symptoms, but that doesn’t mean that most cyclists have been overtraining.

Understanding the term overreaching
Distinguishing overtraining from overreaching is important, because overreaching is a very natural process when we train. If you take a look at one of my training programs, you will see that it is based on three weeks with overreaching followed by one recovery week. When you get to the third week, you will not feel stronger than you were in the first week, but after a recovery week with super compensation, you will be stronger than you were when you entered the program. Using a training program structure like this is what I call ‘controlled overtraining’.

Overtraining doesn’t happen overnight
Many riders use the term ‘overtraining’ for both overreaching and overtraining and I guess that is why many riders diagnose themselves as overtrained. The problem is that if you are really in an overtraining situation, it can take several months before your performance is back at 100%. If you have overreached in a period, a week or two is normally enough to get you back on track. This principle is often used in tapering protocols, where training volume is reduced the last two or three weeks before a big event. Overtraining syndrome doesn´t happen over a night or week. It takes 6 to 8 weeks or even longer to develop.   

The cure is recovery
The cure for overtraining syndrome is often a significantly reduced training volume and intensity. Your body needs time to fully recover from the total accumulated stress in the past months. When you are overtrained, you have probably forgotten about basic principles of recovery. A differential diagnosis could also be that you have reached a training plateau, which is also a very natural thing, still frustrating though. I covered that topic in two posts – Dealing with training vacuum – Part one and two.

Theories about overtraining
Our understanding of what overtraining really is relies on theories that are not yet proved. Sympathetic and parasympathetic overtraining is often discussed, referring to the autonomic nervous system. In this model the symptoms are caused by an imbalance in the autonomic nervous system. This theory was made back in 1958, but still one of the most referred theories about overtraining. 

Minimize the risk
As we don’t know what overtraining exactly is, we should try to use our knowledge about basic exercise physiology to prevent development of overtraining. A good strategy is to write a training diary. When you notice some of the symptoms mentioned above, then consider whether that is caused by an insufficient recovery from the past training. In this way it is possible to minimize the risk of overtraining, because a training diary implies you to react early.

Back in January 2007 I did a Power Meter Project to find out how people I didn´t know personally responded to some of my training theories. They performed a 12 week training program with power profile tests in week 1, 6 and 12. The results were really impressive with progress in all major physiological parameters.

Now I’m looking for riders who want to be a part of my project:

Increase your threshold power in 31 days

Requirements:

• Age: 18 years or older
• Own a power meter (SRM, PowerTap, Ergomo or Polar CS600)
• Training amount: 10-14hrs per week.
• Follow the training plan strictly

What do you get?
You get a free 31 days training program that will increase your threshold power. There will be self performed physical tests on day 1 and 31. Training amount will be 10 to 14hrs per week. The training program will be personalized to your current physical fitness based on self performed tests.

If you are interested in being a part of this project, please leave a comment on this post. I will contact you via email with more info.

Last chance to participate is July 7th.

It wasn’t an easy decision to choose the winner, actually it was a very close race. One of the reasons it was so difficult was that it is different what kind of tips a beginner needs and most beginners can benefit from a majority of the tips participating in the competition. But I have announced that I will choose one winner and I decided the following comment from Ian, Australia to be the best comment (winning $25):

When someone starts cycling I usually suggest a few group rides that are good for beginners or get them to do one of the longer challenge rides.

Getting in a well paced bunch teaches them alot about cycling, gives them friends to ride with and makes the starting process alot more fun.

The challenge ride, like around the bay in a day, set them an achievable goal which encourages them to go beyond what they thought their limits were. I am currently trying to get my 60year old mother to register for a 100k ride with the offer of doing it with her.

But Ian wasn’t the only person to come up with great tips for beginners. Thus, I will highly recommend beginners to visit the thread with cycling tips for beginners.

There is currently a competition going on at Training4cyclists.com. You can win $25 to your Paypal account by entering your best beginner cycling tips here. If you don’t want to win these money, you can still get some really useful tips from the participants. So far there are 5 entries to this little competition and I guess there are more to come. The winner will be chosen on June 5th.

I often get questions about cycling tips from beginners looking for fast improvements. I introduce them to the basic training principles and basic rules for optimal training I know. Training consistently for a long period is a cornerstone in every cyclist’s success and using some principles for recovery accelerates the progress.

Nevertheless, it can be a good idea to hear what you readers say to your friends when they ask you about beginner cycling tips.

Best comment on this post wins $25
The winner will be chosen on June 5th and the prize can be paid to PayPal accounts only. Training4cyclists.com is allowed to present tips entered in this competition in future posts.

Now it is time for competition: What are your best beginner cycling tips?

I will try to make an update of my link section soon. I want to make my link section to a high quality page with a lots of powerful links to the best cycling resources in the world. Thus, if you have some links that you will like to share, please write a comment in this post.

I’m looking for:

• Cycling coaches
• Personal pages (Rider diaries/blogs)
• Resources (News, forums etc.)
• Other

You’re welcome to include a link to your own blog if you believe it belongs to this link section.