Credit: Milay Galvez, Advanced Sports International
I’m an American professional cyclist and have been racing at the World Cup level for five years now. I live in Austria and race for the Italian UCI team Diadora Pasta Zara.
I hit a serious plateau over the past two years, and after a lot of blood work and research, I now know that I have been severely overtrained since 2010. I’m now finishing a two month hiatus from training in which I’ve been working with doctors to correct anemia and hormone imbalances; from here, my coach and I are working on a plan to build back my fitness without overtraining.
Now, if the ithlete tells me I need rest, I can take the day off without questioning my decision. I can recover far better without the deleterious effects of second-guessing myself. Likewise, if the ithlete says I have the green light to train at full gas, I don’t wonder whether I’m pushing myself too hard again. Not only has it helped me to get more from my physical training, but it has also relieved a huge amount of mental and emotional stress.
Find out more about me and keep up to date with my news by visiting my website http://www.fiercepierce.us/
In 2011, I spent 6 months trkacing my HRV with a Suunto T6d watch, software from Firstbeat and from Kubios. The idea was to evaluate HRV change over the period while adding in a reasonable amount of exercise. So I wasn’t trying to make day-to-day changes to volume, intensity, or whether or not to train, but rather to determine the effects over time.