Overtraining?

How can you tell if you're overtraining? I'd like some "expert" advice from some 50 somethings (or a coach of 50 somethings!) about how to know when what I'm doing is too much. I've added weights to my swimming - I go three times a week for weights - which I follow by a fairly easy swim to loosen up my muscles. I'm still frequently sore the next day (and the next, and the next) however - but I know this is to be expected - if I didn't feel sore, I wouldn't feel like I was actually even pushing myself. the other three days of the week, I generally put in a good 90-120 minutes workout, getting in from 4500-6000m. Sometimes, like today, I get to the point where I just can NOT muster up the energy to put any real effort into the swimming - today, for instance, I did fairly well for the first 3000m, but then once we started the "real" workout, the first main set, I was just pooped. I could swim, but at only a slow pace. (By this I mean that an interval I usually can keep on a 200 by about 10 seconds, I missed by 1 second - and I was wearing zoomers. And the thought of doing like a 50 sprint, was out of the question.) This was NOT a day that I swam following weights, BTW. Do you think this is a nutrition problem, and that I'm just not getting enough protein in my diet? I have to say categorically, that eating BEFORE practice is out of the question - I swim at 5:30 in the morning, and would probably barf if I ate before practice, although I do sometimes eat some Shot Blox. Am I overtraining & need to cut back somewhere? Or is this a short term transition (it's been going on & off for weeks now) & I need to just hang in there? Thanks in advance!
Parents
  • Bonk This should be a scientific term. When your body says you can't do more, trust it. It's not worth the injury risk to push it. It's probably not a bad idea to experiment with different diets and see if it helps (it might!), but if you do bonk, just bail, and don't feel bad about it. You pushed your body to its limit, and that's as good as anyone can do :)
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  • Bonk This should be a scientific term. When your body says you can't do more, trust it. It's not worth the injury risk to push it. It's probably not a bad idea to experiment with different diets and see if it helps (it might!), but if you do bonk, just bail, and don't feel bad about it. You pushed your body to its limit, and that's as good as anyone can do :)
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