Burnout After Huge Improvement?

[JoeRunning]

All right, there's a kid on my team, junior, who just started track this year. He went to a conditioning camp during the fall (apparently never did running before), did indoor track, and now does outdoor track. In Indoor Track his first time was maybe a 5:35.. he went to 5:23 at the end (because they made him run the 600 for thre second half of season). First race of outdoor track he ran a 5:19, next race a 5:11, then the next race a 4:57.. Kids on the distance team have gotten mad at him for going too fast on workouts, especially LSD (long slow distance), but he's been improving a ton, I mean a 14 second PR to break 5:00.. those two meets were separated by two days. Do you think he'll burn out? and if he does, will he just be stuck at the time he's at, or get worse?

[VoidSix]

It's not really "burning out" so much as it is "peaking."

Depending on the intensity of his training, he could maintain for awhile, or drop off quickly thereafter. It could be either. I know a kid in CO trying to hit the prequalifier of 4:36.26 that has been running 4:36.5's since the second meet of the season. Too much anaerobic training early on did him in.

On the other hand, it's called a "peak" and not a "plateau" for a reason. If he is in fact burning out, he'll probably get worse.

[ski.bike.run.live.]

could lead to over training, especially since he's new to all of it. tired/starting to get sick/worsing results = oopsies

[JoeRunning]

I dunno, maybe it is peaking, I can't tell for sure. He collapsed after his last two races (needed support for a minute, it was like he feinted), so that might mean he's overtraining. Not sure though, never seen this problem personally before.

[VoidSix]

I dunno, maybe it is peaking, I can't tell for sure. He collapsed after his last two races (needed support for a minute, it was like he feinted), so that might mean he's overtraining. Not sure though, never seen this problem personally before.


Well it's not a problem until it's a problem. As long as he's getting better--more power to him. If he overtrains or burns out, hopefully he'll learn the lesson early.

[Sum_Bum]

No man he is totally gonna burn out if he runs another step. Tie him down to his bed as quickly as possible; he has a lot going for him

[watchout]

I dunno, maybe it is peaking, I can't tell for sure. He collapsed after his last two races (needed support for a minute, it was like he feinted), so that might mean he's overtraining. Not sure though, never seen this problem personally before.

that is'nt burning out or peaking, that just means he ran his @$$ off to get those two big PR's.

Back to the question, if he runs 3 or 4 races well off his others, then you can say he is probably peaking/burning out. Until then, since he has been improving and is yet to stop, I'd say he's doing a great job so far and he should keep up the good work - it's paying off for him.

[ZackCampbell]

Physical burnout is a myth.

[watchout]

Physical burnout is a myth.

but psychological burnout isn't.

[VoidSix]

And neither is physical burnout.

[themanontherun]

And neither is physical burnout.
The only real form of physical burnout is an inury that puts a permanent limit on your running/training, or simply getting older (past your prime). Otherwise, you can always train to return to at least match your previous best (psychological problems aside).

[Swoosh13]

I dunno, maybe it is peaking, I can't tell for sure. He collapsed after his last two races (needed support for a minute, it was like he feinted), so that might mean he's overtraining. Not sure though, never seen this problem personally before.

thats called having some balls my friend

[xcrunna]

And neither is physical burnout.
Overtraining is not a myth, but physical burnout is.

[caveman017]

but psychological burnout isn't.
Agreed - track is so long that if you kind of stop improving you get a little down about it

[wmcmiler33]

Agreed - track is so long that if you kind of stop improving you get a little down about it

thats exactly whats going on for me. Freshman year indoor last year I went from a 5:15 all the way down to a 4:59 and then for outdorr I ended up with a 4:47.

This year for indoor I went down to a 4:41 and right now I am stuck in the 4:49 range for outdoor. I don't understand because about a month and a half ago I ran a 4:26 1500 and 9:33 3000 indoor and now I can't even break 4:30 or 9:50. I was out for a week and a half with shin splints but I don't think it could of affected toooo much.

I keep telling myself not to worry about this but it just doesn't happen. And my problem is if I don't PR the next meet I get down on my self too easily.

[RHSRunner]

i hit a wall too, I didn't do anything athletic till I started track my freshman year. So you can say i got a late start :( . But I dropped my time from 6min at the end of freshman year to 5:05 a couple meets ago. I've been stuck for three meets running 5:06, 09 then 15! I was really upset with the last one.

[ZackCampbell]

And neither is physical burnout.

Actually, you're wrong, but someone already covered it a couple posts up talking about overtraining, so theres no need to reiterate.

[caveman017]

thats exactly whats going on for me. Freshman year indoor last year I went from a 5:15 all the way down to a 4:59 and then for outdorr I ended up with a 4:47.

This year for indoor I went down to a 4:41 and right now I am stuck in the 4:49 range for outdoor. I don't understand because about a month and a half ago I ran a 4:26 1500 and 9:33 3000 indoor and now I can't even break 4:30 or 9:50. I was out for a week and a half with shin splints but I don't think it could of affected toooo much.

I keep telling myself not to worry about this but it just doesn't happen. And my problem is if I don't PR the next meet I get down on my self too easily.
Ditto. I ran my PR of 10:19 by myself (led by 10 seconds) second meet indoors. I have ran a 10:19.6, 10:19.8, 10:22.5, 10:20.6, 10:19.4, So i'm finally getting down the decimals...

And its not like each race is the same either. Ive gone out in 5:11 for one, 5:08 for others, and 5:02-3 for 2 others

[zoomwaffleswithsyrup]

A confusing thing for me is that at my school coaches say that a former athlete "burned out" his senior year, when he actually ran 4:20 at states to set the school record. I wonder how they can avoid that fact?

[Swoosh13]

A confusing thing for me is that at my school coaches say that a former athlete "burned out" his senior year, when he actually ran 4:20 at states to set the school record. I wonder how they can avoid that fact?

I don't know y a coach would say an athlete burned out since it is basically the coaches fault if it is true.

[xcviking07]

a kid on my team ran a 2:08 800m and a 4:52 1600m last year..he ran ok his soph xc season and kind of broke out the last race..he ran 2:06 his first indoor race, then dropped to about 2:03 outdoor and 4:38 for the 1600...he really hasn't been training at all so most of the team figured that was about it for him this year..until at the last meet he ran 1:58 and 4:29..im still waiting for him to burn out...hopefully he doesnt though..

[Jeremy Stuckey]

Kids on the distance team have gotten mad at him for going too fast on workouts, especially LSD (long slow distance), but he's been improving a ton, I mean a 14 second PR to break 5:00.. those two meets were separated by two days. Do you think he'll burn out? and if he does, will he just be stuck at the time he's at, or get worse?

Maybe they are running too slow. If the other distance kids aren't as fast as he is and they've been out for a few years then they should take some pointers.

[coolrunnings]

I personally dont believe that physically burning out is a myth. Until you personally have experienced/seen a teamate struggle with it i doubt you know how bad it feels.

Try running a XC race an knowing that you can run faster, in fact you have ran much faster on the same course, but no matter what, your legs for one reason or another just wont pick it up. One race, understandable, you had a bad day, but try and figure it out after it happens twice, then three times, each a week apart, to end your season.


Im not saying it is all physical, yes having negative thoughts mentally will make it worse, but there is definetely a physicall part to it as well that affects you.


And overtraining can be fixed after a bad race, but when it occurs numerous times, i have to believe that the person is just tired and has nothing left in the tank.

[ZackCampbell]

I personally dont believe that physically burning out is a myth. Until you personally have experienced/seen a teamate struggle with it i doubt you know how bad it feels.

No one you know has ever 'physically burned out.' If they faded out it was because of overtraining (too much anaerobic or LT work too soon) or an unhealthy diet (lack of iron often gives the illusion of 'burn out').

Edit: And that's a fact.