In the literature you find also the terms short-term overtraining instead of overreaching. This may perhaps the better term, because it implies that they are both species of the same kind, that differ only quantitatively. Overtraining is often going along with a shift from an autonomic parasympathetic condition towards a sympathetic predominance. Balanced training overload is characterized by a balance between a sympathetic and a parasympathetic state. Status shifts and imbalance in either direction can be indicators for the development of an overtraining state. Data suggest that heart rate variability* is a good surrogate marker to indicate an autonomic balance or imbalance due to training overload respectively. Overtraining is characterized by a decrease in flexibility to adapt to demands be it in a race or in training. The result is decreased performance.

Heart Rate Variability

I raise this topic today, because I am amazed how many professional endurance athlete have to retire due to heart problems or other health hazards. Heart condition in young athletes like cardiomyopathies, myocarditis or disturbances of the conduction system of the heart are in my opinion a consequence of a chronic training overload, a consequence of a lack of recovery over many years. Stress, a dysfunctional immune system and hormone imbalances induce a broad variety of specific and unspecific symptoms due to regulatory disturbances within the nervous system, the immune system and hormones. The more unspecific the symptoms (loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, unstable mood, drop in performance, injuries that won’t heal etc.) are the more they are ignored by the athlete and put into a misleading cause-effect relation. (more…)

Today was not a too good day. I was not efficient at all. Days of this kind are days of doubts, necessary days, days of renewal as one recognizes only later in the process. I started to read, this is always a process of refueling for me, if the books don’t turn out to be stupid, but stirring up. It is like pressing the reset button, and that’s good too. Step beyond the daily rush and routine, and start questioning.

Why the heck, did she put this photo in this place*

This is how I came across a paragraph on Seth Godin’s blog. I donate these lines to all my young co-workers who seem to be so straight on track, that I envy them sometimes.
“Some people read (business) books looking for confirmation. I read them in search of disquiet. Confirmation is cheap, easy and ineffective. Restlessness and the scientific method, on the other hand, create a culture of testing and inquiry that can’t help but push you forward.”

by Seth Godin

*Photo by Fritz Oelberg

Since I am working with biestmilch and endurance sport I am just amazed how often I am confronted with the diagnosis of a chronic virus infection, first of all with Epstein Barr virus. Virus infections, especially if they take a chronic course, are a typical sign of overreaching. A virus is a small particle that needs a host for replication, because they don’t have their own protein synthesis apparatus. They are ubiquitous creatures, that means they are everywhere, outside and inside our body.

Electron microscopic image of two Epstein Barr Virus virions (viral particles) loosely surrounded by the membrane envelope

Viruses like the Epstein Barr virus (EBV) interact very closely with our immune system, and with our body as a whole, how is not yet too well understood, and science lacks detailed knowledge. But one thing seems clear, the condition of our immune system determines the outcome of the infection, whether it will be acute, subacute or chronic.

An organism under stress, be it physical or mental, or both tends to be immunosuppressed which means immunity is impaired. Endurance sport and strenuous training in many cases is the reason for an impaired immunity. This is a condition that gives room to viruses to spread and may be contained under normal conditions. (more…)

I just read a brief summary of  a survey performed during the Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt. Out of 52 athletes 28% complained gastrointestinal complications. It is well known that endurance performance influences the guts motility and permeability as does the food we eat.
Due to mechanical reasons, especially running hits the gut hardly, alterations in blood flow, body temperature or blood pressure, metabolic dysregulations and sympathetic over-stimulation a bundle of complications may arise, not only acute symptoms like a jelly belly, nausea, vomiting, pain, or diarrhea, but also those that show later days or even weeks after a tough race or intense training sessions. (more…)