Overtrained or not?

[racingsnail]

I'm a little confused by all the different (and contradictory) advice concerning overtraining.

I have been doing a lot of winter mileage between 13-15 hrs a week including time in the gym. Recently I tried to do an 8 mile TT to assess my current fitness state - and found that I could only sustain a heart rate of around 168bpm average (LT). I did a similar test at this time last year (after less winter mileage) and the average was about 181bpm, this is a big difference. If its any help I think my max HR is 193bpm, I'm a 22 year old male, and my resting HR is about 42bpm.

I thought I was overtrained, and I've had about 2 1/2 weeks off, with light recovery type riding (no more than 4hrs a week). I tried again to raise my HR in a testing environment today, and it was still around 168-170bpm.

I feel fine, and don't have any 'symptoms' of overtraining, so could it be that my heart is just much more efficient after a lot of aerobic winter miles (i.e bigger stroke volume - doesn't need to beat as fast?) or am I overtrained?

Another alternative, is that since I've not done much anaerobic training over the last 4-5 months my Lactate threshold has dropped off? - still it seems like a big loss.

I'd appreciate any advice anyone can give.

Thanks.

 

[SniperX]

you might be overtrained cos i have encountered very smiliar situations as yourself ... i took a couple of days off and when i came back i managed to raise my average heart rate 5 beats or more man... but then theres this crazy idea i had which is maybe i got less fit taking those days off ? so when i came back my heart had to work harder? confusing huh? hehe btw how do u measure yr resting heart rate? HrM ? if ure using one which one are u using?

 

[racingsnail]

Originally posted by SniperX
you might be overtrained cos i have encountered very smiliar situations as yourself ... i took a couple of days off and when i came back i managed to raise my average heart rate 5 beats or more man... but then theres this crazy idea i had which is maybe i got less fit taking those days off ? so when i came back my heart had to work harder? confusing huh? hehe btw how do u measure yr resting heart rate? HrM ? if ure using one which one are u using?

I measure resting heart rate by lying in bed in the morning and counting how many beats it makes over a minute, by putting a couple of fingers against the neck.

 

[VeloFlash]

I would read the post on this board titled "The reason for failure to elevate HR to desired levels". I believe this covers your question about overtraining and failure to reach previous heart rate levels.

 

[steve]

Originally posted by VeloFlash
I would read the post on this board titled "The reason for failure to elevate HR to desired levels". I believe this covers your question about overtraining and failure to reach previous heart rate levels.

Here is the link to that thread The reason for failure to elevate HR to desired levels