MarkAllenOnline Forum

Mark and Luis

I have used MAO off and on over the last several years with great results. It has allowed me to build mileage far beyond what I was doing before. I have competed in tri's for over 11 years but the past 1.5 years has been a struggle. You helped me last year get through some severe recovery issues without stopping training, as I did a lot of recovery workouts. The last 6 months though it seems I have suffered from Overtraining Syndrome even though I continually cut back to where I stopped swimming and cycling in Feb and just ran. However, even that wore me down. I have not trained at all for the last 3 weeks as I decided to just shut it down. I am 55 and perhaps that is a key factor in my recovery. My question is how do I know when to start backup? I dont want to go through the process of stopping and starting. I dont have any issues with thyroid,etc so there is nothing coming up medically speaking. Is this something I need to take off for a long while to totally recuperate? Is there a maintenance plan that would work for someone in my condition when the time is right? As always, many thanks for your help!!

Kenny

Kenny,

I do not think there is going to be and absolute answer for you that will guarantee that if you start back up you wil not have to back off. However, I think you will know when to start when the symptoms of over training are no longer there and you start with the less stersfull exercises and do then for 5, 10 minutes and build as long as the symptoms are not there.

Now what you also have to look at is what else are you doing besides training to cause over training sysmptoms. Sleep, nutrition, hydration, stress in life etc. All of these can also affect your adrenal system.

Luis Vargas