Are you under-adapting or overtraining?

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DEEP DIVE

Are You Overtraining or Under-Adapting?

Something weird happens with the athletes who seem most bulletproof. The sprinters who bounce back fastest from hard sessions are often the same ones who mysteriously plateau or burn out six months later. Athletes who look "weaker" on paper? They keep progressing steadily.

This pattern doesn't match what most of us expect, but it reveals something important about how overtraining actually works.

The athletes who recover quickly from individual sessions might be masking a deeper problem. Research suggests some sprinters have naturally high cortisol clearance rates, so they bounce back from daily stress but accumulate systemic fatigue more quietly. They don't show obvious warning signs until they're already in trouble.

Most coaches think overtraining happens when you do too much training. That's backwards. Overtraining happens when you do the wrong training for too long.

The sprint athletes who break down aren't usually doing massive volumes. They're stuck in training patterns that stopped producing adaptation months ago. Same speed sessions, similar times, everyone assuming things are fine because the athlete "handles it well."

Your nervous system doesn't just count meters. It responds to novelty and challenge. When training becomes predictable, even moderate loads can become excessive because there's no adaptation happening. You're accumulating stress for no return.

Sprint coaches often get praised for keeping volume low and intensity high. Smart approach, but intensity without progression creates its own version of overtraining. Athletes grinding through identical movement patterns with zero meaningful adaptation, while research indicates some can handle 45+ sets per week if the stimulus keeps evolving.

Instead of asking "How much is too much?" try asking "What is this session actually changing?" If your sprinter ran identical times six weeks ago and today after consistent training, you're probably creating overtraining through stagnation. The load feels manageable, but there's no adaptation payoff.

Monitor adaptation, not just fatigue. Watch reaction times, force production consistency, and technique under pressure. When these plateau despite good recovery protocols, the problem isn't volume. It's staleness.

The athletes who stay healthy long-term aren't necessarily doing less work. Their training keeps evolving with their current capabilities. Maybe overtraining is just under-adapting wearing a disguise.