STOP SIGNS

Even the recreational rider can get caught in the trap of overtraining. Cyclist looks at the dangers and the best ways to avoid a dip in performance

We all want more. It’s only natural to yearn for a bit more power, crave some extra speed and strive to get just a few more miles under our belts in order to build performance to the point where we are at our absolute peak. Every keen cyclist wants to go from thinking, ‘I could do that,’ to saying, ‘I did it.’

Having goals – and aiming high – is no bad thing, but there’s a danger of taking things too far. In aiming to reach that very personal summit it’s very easy to become obsessed with training, to the point where you’re doing so much it becomes detrimental. The risk of overtraining – and finding that you’re going backwards, even though the wheels are still just about going forwards – is very real, even for recreational riders.

‘Overtraining occurs when a rider’s workload or training exceeds that which he or she is capable of, in terms of intensity and/or volume,’ says coach Martyn Frank (coachingrevolutions.com). ‘I like to think of it as your brain writing cheques that your body can’t cash. Typically it occurs when a new rider doesn’t ease into training by building volume slowly, but instead goes from doing very little to training six days a week – the body finds it hard to adapt. But it can also happen to an experienced