One of my staff members came in yesterday, for the third day in a row, looking absolutely exhausted. She runs on a cross country team at a local college and had just completed another of her coach's daily, 2 hour workouts.
Competitive cross country races at this level are a total of about three miles and typically take between 16 and 25 minutes to complete depending on the course.
Simple question... Why would you train athletes to run for 2 hours if the performance you're looking to improve takes less than 30 minutes?
Unfortunately, this is typical of current athletic coaching... even at a fairly elite level of athletics.
This is something that makes my blood just boil. We are trusting our young athletes to a community of coaches that either doesn't understand or doesn't care about how the human body actually works.
Here's my lesson for all of you today: The governing principle by which the body makes changes is known as the S-A-I-D principle. (Specific-Adaptation to-Imposed Demand) The body Adapts to exactly what you Demand of it very Specifically... and it's adapting all the time.
Your body gets better at whatever your doing, EXACTLY. If you try to create too great an adaptation too quickly, you get injured.
This is a simple concept, but coaches still don't seem to understand how to apply it.
If I run, grueling, 2 hour workouts, my athletes will become better at performing grueling 2 hour workouts.
Does that improve race performance? Not necessarily.
Does the excessive volume create increased chance of injury? DEFINITELY!
Bottom line... the type, volume and frequency of training should be directly related to increasing the performance of the event. THE PURPOSE OF ALL TRAINING SHOULD BE TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE EVENT WHILE MINIMIZING POTENTIAL FOR INJURIES.
Be aware of what's happening to your own body. Pain is one indicator that something's not right. Training should remain pain free. Other indicators of overtraining include: irregular appetite, poor sleep, lethargy, chronic illness (may seem like allergies), depression, declining athletic performance.
If you think your coach's workout program is excessive or inappropriate, talk to him about it. If that doesn't work, find another coach or look for other places to compete.
Regardless of your sport or level of competition, you are ultimately responsible for keeping your body healthy. A healthy, properly trained athlete is the only one capable of performing at the true peak of her potential.
