61. Immune Suppression & Training

We are in the middle of a world-wide health pandemic. We all know that exercise has positive health effects. Exercise can boost the immune system, but have you ever heard of immune suppression? Have you ever gotten sick from overtraining? We wanted to do a deep dive about how to avoid over training but still work to gain fitness and work towards your goals. Overtraining has A LOT of negative side effects and immune suppression is one of them.

-What is overtraining and have you ever worked with someone who had fallen into the trap?

- How can you tell if someone is overtraining?

Depressive Mood, Loss of motivation, Hard workouts, not feeling recovered

- drastic Mileage increase, 90+ min long runs weekly, lack of rest days, running too fast

What are other signs you may be overtraining?

How should someone approach their training to ensure they do not over train?

Consistency with where you are at, add in a “few” workouts

Monitor resting HR

Use the heat acclimation adjustment (Adjust running pace in heat)

Is it better to toe the line and see how much fitness you can gain & risk getting sick or stay healthy and be slightly under your potential?

Is there any type of workouts you would avoid doing if you are worried about immune suppression

Hard speed workouts over 60-90 min in duration

Long runs over 2 hours

Long runs over 90 min with a lot of marathon pace or faster work

Racing with lack of recovery between

Doing anything with lack of recovery

Exposing immune system to potential viruses within 3-5 days of doing these tough workouts

What will be your longest long run?

What mileage will you build?

Is the training plan set in stone?

What if races end up being cancelled?