How to Tell if Your Marathon Training Plan or Program is Overloading you

A Marathon training plan or program is great in helping marathon runners achieve their goals. However, if you are using an unreliable program, your marathon training can quickly become a disappointment. As I mentioned in another article in this blog, overtraining is common especially with beginner marathon runners, but with good planning and by following a good marathon training plan or program overtraining can be prevented. But how do you know when you are overtraining? What are the signs to look for? There is a fine line between optimum training and overtraining and only experience will help in this case. In other words the more marathon running you do, the better you become in knowing your marathon training limits.

As You Follow Your Marathon Training Plan, Here are Some Overtraining Symptoms to watch for:

• If there is a consistent decrease in your performance both in marathon training and running
• If you are taking too much time to recover even after light training
• If your muscles feel weak before, during and after your marathon training
• When you are struggling or not being able to complete the scheduled workouts or sessions as required by your marathon training plan
• When there is lack or loss of coordination throughout your different systems
• If your heart rate increases even at rest or during very light marathon training exercises
• If your body demands or takes up too much oxygen (beyond the expected level) even during light training
• You will experience reduced maximum exercise capacity, in other words you will not be able to do much in relation to the energy expended
• Though marathon training and running helps to lose weight, you may witness drastic decrease in body weight and body fat beyond the normal level
• You may also experience poor or lack of sleep if your marathon training plan or program is the cause of overtraining
• Your body will go through chronic fatigue that normal short recovery (as prescribed in your marathon training plan) may even not help
• It is also common to experience lack of appetite and stomach problems even after you have completed marathon training session of the day.
• In addition to fatigue, your muscles will constantly feel sore even after the recovery period (as prescribed by your marathon training plan or program)
• There is also an increase possibility of muscle and joint injury
• Overtraining will decrease the strength of your immune system making you vulnerable to constant colds, flu and allergies
• You may also see swelling of your lymph glands
• Due to the compromised immune system caused by overtraining, you will be susceptible to increased bacterial infection which may cause the healing of minor cuts really slow.
• There will be a decrease in vital minerals in your body such as iron, zinc, phosphate and calcium among others
• Women marathon runners who over-train may experience menstrual dysfunction (amenorrhea)
• Overtraining by following a poorly designed marathon training plan or program can force beginner marathon runners to quit, as a coach I have actually witness this a lot.
• There is also lack of concentration in training and sometimes fear for competition both in your marathon training and marathon running
• Overtraining can lead to low self-esteem and unpredictable mood change. You tend to get annoyed even by little things that don’t really matter in normal situations.

A Good Marathon Training Plan or Program is the Best Way to Prevent Overtraining!

It is not practical to say that you can watch for all these symptoms of overtraining in marathon training, but by following a good marathon training plan, you will be fine. This is more important for beginner marathon runners than the elite.

The best rule of thumb that I usually tell my athletes and the folks that I coach is to focus on quality and not quantity. Just follow what your program says, no more, no less! Most people get over-trained by adding their own extra stuff to their marathon training plans, sometimes little is better. So, once again, just have faith in your coach or marathon training plan or program and follow to the latter!