A new Swedish study shows that several important values, such as blood sugar control and energy production in the cells, are negatively affected by too much high-intensity interval training. The researchers behind the study say they now want to investigate the difficult-to-define phenomenon of overtraining. A person who becomes overtrained experiences even greater consequences and can hardly be recognized in terms of performance with a recovery that can take several months and in the worst case years.
In Sweden, we have had a number of known cases of overtraining in athletes, mainly in runners and skiers with well-known examples such as Per Elofsson and Calle Halfvarsson.
Runner Charlotta Fougberg has a total of 17 Swedish Championship gold medals in distances from 1,500 meters up to half marathon. In 2014, she took European Championship silver in the 3,000 meter hurdles. Now she has shifted her focus to marathon running. Almost ten years ago, she was overtrained after a drastic change in training.
At the turn of the year 2011/12, she went from running about 100 kilometers a week to increasing to 160-170 kilometers in just a few months. In the same vein, she went alone to a high-altitude camp in Kenya. In one week, she ran 190 kilometers at an altitude of 2,400 meters.
– I started to feel tougher and tougher but thought it was due to the high altitude. When you come home from a high altitude camp, people tend to feel incredibly strong and in great shape. For me, it was quite the opposite, says Charlotta Fougberg.
After having felt tough for a while back home in Sweden, Fougberg went to a doctor to check his values. They looked completely normal and it would not be a problem to continue training.
– Suddenly I could not run a kilometer for seven minutes. Usually I used to go out and run a mile in 45 minutes quite easily. Now I could not keep the 70-minute pace. I had to stop and go. I was exhausted, felt the lactic acid all the way into my stomach and had to fight not to fall asleep as soon as I sat down for a while.
Once she understood with the help of others that she was overtrained, Fougberg enlisted the help of a sports psychologist who introduced mindfulness to her. To get back, she started running alone and not with her club.
– I did not want to compare myself with others and thought it was hard to be run around. I had never really heard of overtraining and the mistake I made was that I actually went to a camp myself without my trainer.
Barely a year later Fougberg came back in competition and won the Swedish Championships in both 3,000 meters hurdles and 5,000 meters. The following year, the silver medal in the 3,000-meter hurdles was won at the European Championships in Zurich.
– I love to train so the thoughts that it could be too much were not really there. I was not mature enough to realize what was too much.
Read more:
Researchers may have solved the mystery of what is too much exercise
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