over training

I don't agree with everything you can read in this document, but if it can help you understanding few concepts that pertain to over training, over reaching, tapering. I think that Dr.Rushall is making a strong case against training for long periods of time with a level of acute fatigue that prevents from swimming at a decent speed. www.roble.net/.../rushall7.html

i don't appreciate ur negative criticism.but if it's because u don't know the facts then thats fine. i've trained very hard in the water, and read books, and studied strokes, more than i've done dryland, and running. i am not a body builder, sir, i am a swimmer. and i know what i am talking about when i say overtraining in the water. thank you very much Who are you swimming for? (teams) How often are you training in the water, in the weight room, drylands? What yardage are you getting in? What other exercise are you doing? What are you eating? How much sleep are you getting? What are you drinking? When is your taper meet? When do you start your taper? How many days until taper starts? How many hard practices is that? When you are training, how much time are you spending on technique, race pace work, aerobic work, kicking, etc? What are your training times for 10x100 free, ***, flutter kick and *** kick? Most importantly: What is your and your coach's plan to drop 10 seconds in the 100 ***?

i used to take my heart beat rate every morning, lately i haven't because it was the same every day. it used to be low, like in the low 50's. for the past year i thought my heart suddenly became weak or something cause it was always mid 60's. sometimes, after doing a simple agressive free set about 1,000 meters, it would jump up to 70 for the next morning, which never happened before.

freshman year, February...i started training on my own with distance freestyle sets. march, i began with distance plus sprint *** stroke sets (i was a *** stroker) total yardage per day: 6,000 may: i started doing morning practices, (lot's of *** stroke kick and drill) and afternoon practices, same as before, distance and sprint *** during these first few months, i had no idea that i should have swam in cycles (train hard, recover, train hard, recover)...so i pretty much swam as much as i could. my mind set was the more u swim the faster you get, given time...but that is not the case. that summer i continued training, with additional biking, running, and dry land...as well as swimming doubles 4 times a week. sophomore high school season started up, and i was anticipating fast swimming...but i was shockingly disappointed with same times as my freshman year. that high school season i just swam with the team, under a coach. he continued to help me with my stroke,...we did dryland everyday, and swam, then tapered for the end season meets. our team was pretty tight, we were ranked 5 th in the state (bridgewater raritan regional high school). after the season, i went right back to training... the time between my sophmore and junior year, i trained harder then i ever have in my life. by may, i finally realized i had to take a week brake sometime between the month training cycles, or i would just die. that summer, before my junior year...i trained hard, 6 hours a day, until it got to the point where i got stomach cramps every morning when i took my first big breath in. i could barely walk about a flight of stairs, and my heart rate was very sketchy/inconsistent. i did taper, and rest up for the summer club championship, but i didn't give myself nearly enough time, given i trained as hard as i possibly could for three straight months...doubles everyday, lots of kick sets, biking, running, lots of body work. championships...i swam the slowest i ever have in my life...i was shattered...i wanted to quit, i cried that night. my junior year in highschool was all about trying to swim somewhat decently again....and try to rest enough so that i could get back into my previous training pace. it worked out somewhat succesfully, at the end of my junior season i went a 29.3 in the 50 *** sprint in yards(relay start), and 24.5 in 50 free. but i still didn't feel right, i felt as if i had so much more in me, from all that training. so after that all i did was swim easy, for about 4 months....just 50's in the water every day at warm up pace. little did i realize, that only swimming 50's was not enough to get my blood flowing...and not enough to increase recovery speed, and get me swimming fast again faster. but nonetheless i was recovering, and i was happier. the summer between my junior and senior year, at summer club championships, i went a 1:07 in the 100 yard ***...still not what i expected...considering the potential i had, as far as body strength and endurance, i wanted to go a 1:03. and now, im in that same position of trying to get my body to its full potential. i used to be able to do push ups like i weighed no more than a feather, but now for some reason everything just chokes up... but the difference this year, is that instead of 50's, im swimming hunderds on 2:00, and usually holding 1:35 (warm up pace). this really gets my blood flowing, and keeps my muscles warm, so when i go to bed that night my body gets stronger faster. today, i actually had a great swim. i swam 10 x 100's odds freestyle sprint, evens, 100 im. i was going 1:17's in a meter pool on the 100s....and i was pleasantly surprised. the thing is, i know my body well enough to say without doubt, i still have a lot of recovering to do, and that's why i think i can go so much faster than i am....and that's what i meant by overtraining.... the overtraining set me back a lot....and now im just trying to recover... and lastly...i don't have a coach...i figured almost everything out on my self...and maybe thats the problem...if i had a coach i wouldn't be dealing with these problems and frustration...

i've been battling my coach trying to convince him to let me rest, and understand my situation and lastly...i don't have a coach...i figured almost everything out on my self...and maybe thats the problem...if i had a coach i wouldn't be dealing with these problems and frustration... Dude, that really does sound frustrating... just kidding, hope you find a coach who can help.

There is one very simple yet accurate method to find if your overtraining or fatigued, getting ill, etc and are better off resting. It is your heart rate as soon as you wake up in the morning. If should be within 5 BPM every day. If any higher you simply need more rest. Mine is the same within 1 bpm Even if your not overtraining and did a super exhaustive workout the day prior it will be higher than normal and you can use it to judge when and how hard to go again, or if time permit's, how much more sleep you need. It can also indicate if your getting ill. Unfortunately it isn't as accurate if you use an alarm. Good luck

and lastly...i don't have a coach...i figured almost everything out on my self...and maybe thats the problem...if i had a coach i wouldn't be dealing with these problems and frustration... Why don't you have a coach? A full taper is usually 3 weeks. Have you had a physical and described your recovery issues with a doctor? Maybe one who deals with lots of athletes? Another possibility is that you are not getting enough food. If you workout 6 hours a day and eat 2400 calories, you are not even close. If there is nothing medically preventing you from training intensely, you can train much harder than you currently are. It is not common for swimmers to train hard for 3 weeks and take it easy for a week, but it is common for the intensity of their workouts to vary and train 22+ hours in the water/week. But as a swimmer, you might not ever notice because your coach is trying to give you just enough rest that he can crank up the intensity again. Quite often you are too tired to notice that workout was easier than usual until taper time. I think you need a coach, and you need to try listening to what he has to say about training and just do it. Listen to your body if you have a pain in your shoulder, not when you are exhausted. Let an experienced third party guide you down the appropriate and very painful training path. Our state meet is in 8 weeks if I remember correctly, that would mean that districts are in 4. If districts is your taper meet, I don't think you can taper 10 seconds off your breaststroke time. Sorry. Crazy was the term you used, and I thought for a near taper meet, crazy was an appropriate term for a 10 second drop.

You're young, you should be able to take hard training. train hard in season then rest / get stronger / get faster as you approach your big meets REST isn't the answer to swimming fast, it's just part of the puzzle Training hard and smart is the answer. you should be Swimming at least 6 times a week weight training 3 times a week & doing exercises 2 or 3 times a week Swim Faster Faster can help you Read and apply the tips Ande

I used to overtrain. For a couple of years, I worked with a personal trainer once a week and he absolutely pounded me and I had trouble really being able to concentrate on my swimming, but my mindset at the time was "no pain, no gain" When my company cut my pay by 10%, I had to drop my trainer, and now I really think that was the best thing. All of a sudden I had a ton of energy for swimming. During the summer, I managed to take off 40 seconds from my 800, and that was with not swimming quite as much and no pt.

I think you are crazy. Why did the coach need to rest you? Because you are over training outside the pool. If you are over training outside the pool, how is that going to help you get faster in the pool? You probably look like you are in shape right now. You are probably lean, but who cares? There are 50 yo fat guys on this forum that will whip you in any stroke any distance. Why? Because technically they are good swimmers. If you are training harder outside the pool than in the pool, you are not working toward being a good swimmer. Being strong will only get you so far, but if you think you have been over training for 3 years, you probably aren't even that strong. You probably have a month until you start tapering. If you want to drop 10 seconds between now and your taper meet, you need to focus on becoming a better swimmer. Breaststroke is very technique dependent, so it is possible to drop 10 seconds in a couple months, but for the most part, I think you are crazy.