What happens when you race too much?

It is easy to forget it is possible, or maybe it is just me that you can over race, just like you can over train. I have done 2 months straight of racing more than once. And when you are somebody like me you can easily get caught up in all the fun, and not realizing how many back to back race weekends you have planned. For example, I signed up to do an ultra at least 6 months in advance, long before other races popped up on my radar. Then I signed up for other race local events, and not wanting to fall far behind in mileage, or points, or swag (but I ill be honest, I do not expect to stay high on the point scale). and I raced for 6 weeks or so after the ultra marathon (Infinitus, great experience, I truly think many things can be learned running ultras, but that is another story). Now you are probably thinking, why would you race the week after an ultra? well you shouldn't, PERIOD, but I also already bought another ticket, not realizing how close they were (the next week) and it kept happening. So please learn from my mistakes, and do not be afraid to take time off from racing, running, or just working out. Do not forget that REST is an equally important part of training. Without rest, your body can not build itself back up stronger than before. After tearing and regrowing muscles, trashing legs with running. You also need rehab days for your body, with things like yoga, recovery runs, or recovery tools for running, now matter what kind (I wrote something about how to re-purpose tools for recovery, that work as well as the more expensive stuff, you just need to know what you are doing). You can always cross train, but, you still need to work in rest. I just hopped back into the water after over a decade out of it, and not having a strong swimming backround. And man, it was hard! Proving the point that even if you think it is okay to keep going, as long as you switch up what part of your body you work on. You may feel fine for a wile, but eventually it will catch up to you. I have pretty good endurance, and can handle myself, and know my body. So when I tell you that for those 2 month spans of races all I did was my monday night training, and the race each week, you know that I had plenty of "rest" but my workouts suffered. My strength stagnated, at best, and my legs were beaten down, so for all my post ultra races, I had slowed way down, like half speed down. I had a knot in my left leg, on the line between my hamstring, and it band. Whenever i tried to push, I was forced to slow down. So like I said, sooner or later, it will catch up to you (I am at 20 races this year already, that is the number I did last year! and I have way more planned!!). It is easy to get caught up in all the memes that say rest is for the weak, but truthfully, you will be weak if you do not rest! It is also easy to have your mind be full of doubt because you have not worked out in a few days. Even if you do not have D.O.M.S. It is just a fact of life. So be sure to get plenty of sleep, rest and plan out your races so you have down time, and still get excited for races, after all the is the main point of these types of events.

Until next time

Stay active

Stephen