burnt...?

You may have noticed a thinning of positive race reports of late. This is owing mainly to a thinning of positive results....

Below is my training/race log. Pink is training or racing and black is time off the bike. Green however, is a note reprisenting a bad race.



Since the beginning of this cross season, I've got progressively slower. I'm now into my second week completely off the bike. Doctor diagnoses nothing wrong and blood tests show up no illness so I can only conclude that I am overtrained or under-rested.

From Wikipedia:

Overtraining may be accompanied by one or more organs concomitant symptoms:

Persistent muscle soreness (Delayed onset muscle soreness) -check.
Persistent fatigue -check.
Elevated resting heart rate -check.
Reduced heart rate variability *
Increased susceptibility to infections 2 x chest infections in 6 months
Increased incidence of injuries
Irritability -always
Depression
Mental breakdown -not quite
[edit] Effects
Physiological

Lymphocytopenia[5]
Excessive weight loss
Excessive loss of body fat
Increased resting heart rate -check.
Decreased muscular strength -check.
Increased submaximal heart rate -check
Inability to complete workouts -check.
Chronic muscle soreness -check.
Fatigue -check.
Increased incidence of injury
Depressed immune system -check.
Absence of menstruation -check.
Frequent minor infections/colds
Insomnia -check.
Heart Palpitations -check.
Lower Testosterone Levels -dunno
Higher Cortisol Levels -dunno

Psychological
Depression
Loss of appetite
Irritability -check.
Loss of motivation -check.
Loss of enthusiasm -check.
Loss of competitive drive -check.

Performance
Early onset of fatigue -check.
Decreased aerobic capacity -check.
Poor physical performance -check.
Inability to complete workouts -check.
Delayed recovery -check.

* I just took purchase of an interesting iPhone App called ithlete. Using a retrofittable dongle, it receives from any analogue HRM strap (Polar, Garmin etc). You breath in then out and it measures your HR Variability. From this, it then gives you a traffic light style indication of your bodies ability to train -Green = good to train hard, Amber = adjust your training accordingly, Red = Do Not Train. Just waiting on my dongle to arrive...