This article will fortuitously be a continuation from the article “Breaking Apart the Year.”  The only reason this is a “Part Duex” is because my mind wanders so aimlessly, sometimes things come together in order.  Also, I wanted to thank you for the emails and postings wishing me luck on the Achilles injury.  The MRI results came back and neither the tendon nor sheath is torn.  On the other hand, I do have edema in my talus (I only have a hypotheses on why, so I would be curious if someone out there has an opinion) and in the sheath near my fibula (where the pain is).  Thus, with some treatment and a “smart” comeback things are looking brighter.  If you would have been in the doctor’s office prior to the MRI you would understand why I did not sleep for a few days.  I am now convinced that Flotrack has special medicinal powers, though I am not sure science can prove the “why” with the Flotrack healing.  Some things are better left unknown anyway.

In the last article we looked at two specific hormones, cortisol and growth hormone.  So we observed how much these two hormones can change in a given microcycle depending on the workload.  Today, I want to take a step back and break apart the 2 types of overtraining and look at some ways physiologists and coaches can quantify overtraining hormonally.  I am not intending this on being the one-stop shop for all the hormone information.  One reason is I simply do not know everything, or even a small percentage of everything.  While studying up on hormones I experienced the cliche’ “the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.”  My intention is to keep the wheels rolling in your minds with the advancement of the science and track and field relationship. 

So we are on the same page, we need to have a working definition of overtraining.  What I think of is; athletes that have too much stress combined with too little time for regeneration.  As an athlete, I had coaches tell me running poorly is mental.  Just “get tough” and you will be fine.  Well, mental aspects are a part of the overall equation, as alterations in mood are an affect of overtraining.  But, research has found significant decreases of maximal power output, VO2 Max and maximal heart rate resulting from overtraining.  Also found was increases in blood lactate concentration at a given workload.  In other words, toughen up as much as you want, the body does have a limit.

There are two types of overtraining according to research done in the 1950’s by Dr. S. Israel.  Athletes typically experience either an Addisonoid or a Basedovoid syndrome.  Both are the result of an unbalanced autonomic nervous system.  Addisonoid type of overtraining is when the parasympathetic system and vagal tone or dominant.  Basedovoid overtraining is when the sympathetic system dominates and the athlete is in a hyperadrenergic state.  Basedovoid overtraining encompasses the more classic symptoms you have probably all experienced: sleep disturbance, lack of appetite, high resting heart rate, depression, and irritability.   As a distance runner you would experience this during the intense workout part of the season, and it is generally encountered in power sports.  Addisonoid overtraining is harder to diagnosis because you do not show the classic symptoms, but the end result, a.k.a. your performance will be hindered.  Addisonian overtraining is typically a result of high volume monotonous training, as seen in base training.  Bringing it back to hormones; these types are both related to adrenocortical subactivity or thyroid hyperfunction.  I have experienced both of these over the years and I can say the Addisonoid overtraining is far more frustrating.  Everything felt fine, even the easy running days were ok, but once I had to “hammer” it felt like I had a restrictor plate on my engine.  Frustrated, I would run my workouts ever more intense.  As a result, I was so fried I had to shut down an entire track season and rest completely for 8 weeks.  Overtraining “rest” is different then a injury because even cross training can have a negative impact.

As science evolves, coaches and athletes will monitor hormones to gain more information.   It should be noted that science does not know everything.   Yet, what we are trying to do is get closer to identifying if the athlete should rest or needs to “get tough” in the midst of underperforming.  Look at the Olympic Development teams in the US.  Most of them have their athletes getting regular blood checkups during training.  What the blood profile will focus on is any drop cortisol (this may be counterintuitive to you, any guess on why?), growth hormone, catecholamines (think adrenaline) and testosterone.  It is important to keep in mind that this is not as straight forward as we would like.  If the athlete is experience a hyperadrenegic type of overtraining the catecholamines will be elevated, though the sensitivity drops.  Thyroid hormones are also considered but for this to be monitored correctly it should be done long term because of the life span of the hormone….(as goes with everything mentioned above, base line levels are very important to the individual, science tries to qualify everything  but keep in mind we are different beings).

Similar to most of you, I like to be old school and monitor body adaptivity simply by performance.  Plus, doing regular blood work takes time and a lot of money.  So this is not a marketing stunt to get you running in to see your endocrinologists or doctors!   The paradox of our sport is track and field is one of the most basic activities out there.  Yet very complex because of how hard we push our mind and body daily and the outcome is decided by 100ths of seconds and millimeters.  During training it is important to keep in mind all the “in and outs and what-have-yous” (had to use a Big Lebowski quote) and when applicable use the scientific tools available to avoid digging yourself a deeper hole.