Question from reader Henning L.: For some time now, I have often suffered from an elevated resting heart rate - for no recognisable reason. For example, after a 40-kilometre tour, my pulse rate was still around 108 beats per minute an hour after returning home. It took another hour and a half for it to normalise. During the tour, after just 30 kilometres he was no longer cycling properly. The examination by the cardiologist revealed no findings, organically everything was fine. Now I don't even know whether I should take a bike with me on holiday. With my limitations - I also have a torn muscle fibre - probably not?
Answer from Dr Robert Eifler: That sounds like overtraining: In addition to an elevated resting heart rate in the morning, this includes symptoms such as headaches, sleep disorders and reluctance to train, which indicates that the psyche is involved. This is also indicated by doubts about cycling on holiday. Equally typical is an increased susceptibility to injury, which in your case would be a torn muscle fibre. You should take the warning signs seriously, because overtraining is not a trifle: if you don't take countermeasures in good time, it can take a very long time for your body and mind to recover from the overload. Have you perhaps set yourself over-ambitious training goals and planned too little time for regeneration?
The cause of overtraining is an imbalance between stress and recovery, whereby the stress can be either too much intensity or too much training. However, other stress factors, such as work or family, also contribute to the overall strain. As a result, the symptoms mentioned occur and performance decreases. In any case, treat yourself to a proper break as soon as possible - without a guilty conscience! Perhaps a holiday is actually an opportunity to temporarily take a break from cycling. When your strength returns, you should critically review your training plan, build up your form again carefully and without pressure and, above all, regain your enjoyment of cycling.
