I don’t know about you but I clearly remember a quote throughout my life that goes back a very long time and that is “No Pain, No Gain” but when reflecting on that quote now you can clearly see the flaws in this. 

I don’t know about you but I clearly remember a quote throughout my life that goes back a very long time and that is “No Pain, No Gain” but when reflecting on that quote now you can clearly see the flaws in this.

On a regular basis when talking to anyone about their training they always seem to put the speed work in more than the easy work. I always seem to hear the same thing “I am tired but need to do a hard session” and “my leg is hurting but I need to go out and do a hard session”…the list goes on but why?

Well a lot of people think if they train hard all the time they will improve if they do, like if you run faster all the time you will get faster. But of course that is not the case and in fact if you train hard all the time you will see your training going backwards and you are likely to get injured and of course if that happens you are then chasing fitness when you come back. By training hard more than 20% a week you’re increasing the chances of getting injured but also become in that over training area. When you keep going hard you break down your body and it becomes harder for your body to recover and therefore struggles to keep up.

Recovery is the key and should not be underestimated and should be part of anyone training program. Its simple recovery is where you make a lot of gains. However that is for another blog.

So how do you know if you are over training, well it is simple I always go by the 80/20 that’s 80 percent easy and 20 percent hard. But the problem here is that most people make the mistake with their easy training and go into the moderate zone which is very common. Keeping to lower zones are key, I have written blogs about this in the past. Sleep can show this, if you’re sleeping badly then this is also a sign.

People are simply not patient and they expect instant results and that won’t happen overnight so be smart with your training as the easy stuff has huge importance in your training schedule and also has a huge impact in your progress. So that is why it is even more important to put the right training plan in place.

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Yiannis Christodoulou

NHS Performance analyst from Canterbury

Age group: 40-44
Club: Canterbury Harriers, Ashford Triathlon Club, GB Age group team, Age group 2017 Aquathlon team captain
Coach: My self in running Level 2 coach in running fitness, Craig Coggle Strength coach, John Wood Swimming coach

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