On Tuesday evenings, you’ll find Lara Stone at the local high school track in Hood River, Oregon—clipboard in hand, long blond ponytail flowing out of a trucker hat—helping runners of all ages. Every now and then, she runs too, flying around the track like she used to.
You’d never suspect the 35-year-old mother of three—a former collegiate runner and professional triathlete—has been battling bouts of extreme fatigue for nearly a decade.
At 26 years old, Stone moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco to join a professional triathlon team. As she began training, she noticed that despite pushing harder, she was performing slower, which she chalked up to tough workouts and the stress of moving to a tiny studio apartment.
Then the flattening fatigue hit.
“There were mornings I just couldn’t get out of bed—my whole body ached,” Stone said.
For months, she fought skin, ear, and bladder infections, but each time she finished a round of antibiotics, she’d get sick again. She had occasional bursts of energy, but they didn’t last.
Then at the 2007 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, her final race of the season, instead of sprinting past her competitors during the run segment of swim-bike-run, she walked.
“I dragged myself through a lot of races that year,” Stone said, “but that last one was really heartbreaking.”
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After ruling out numerous underlying medical conditions, Stone attributed her downward spiral to overtraining. Clinically recognized as Overtraining Syndrome (OTS), the malady has as much to do with under-recovery as it does with excessive exercise.
Andrew Fry, Ph.D., an overtraining expert at the University of Kansas, says that OTS is more common than many people realize, especially with the emergence and growing popularity of ultramarathons and other long races. Research shows that one-third of non-elite adult runners report experiencing OTS at some point during their running careers. For elite runners, it’s nearly twice that rate. According to some estimates, 60 percent of females and 64 percent of males have been afflicted by OTS at least once.
“Overtraining really exists as a continuum,” Fry said. “On one side is optimal training—the most perfect training program in which you’re getting optimum results. On the other end is the full-blown, ‘I am overtrained, my performance is down, and I’m really in trouble.’”
The key to preventing OTS is somewhat simple—strike a balance between training and recovering. If you feel like you’re going overboard in your training, and you’re doing it on your own, it might be time to hire a coach to keep you in check.
“One of the characteristics of a good coach is they know when to pull back on the reins and when to allow someone to recover,” said Fry, an athlete himself. (For more on finding the best guide, check out Why You Need a Running Coach.)
You should also schedule in your rest—and abide by it. Whether you’re training for a marathon or a 10K, it is recommended to schedule at least one passive rest day a week, which means no running or cross-training. Plan a longer, active rest period—cutting back on training after a hard racing season—to give your mind and body adequate time to recover, Fry said. Your goal at this point should be to stay in shape with regular workouts while adding other elements to your routine, like more strength-training or yoga to break up the monotony.
While no two cases of OTS are exactly alike—symptoms may include loss of motivation, fatigue, suppressed immune function, insomnia, and sore muscles—what is common is a prolonged decline in performance. According to Stone and other experts, one of the first caution flags that you’re heading toward overtraining is a lost desire to run.
If you suspect you’re dealing with OTS, it’s important to see your physician to rule out common diseases or conditions that may be contributing to reductions in performance, such as thyroid disorders or iron deficiencies.
Complete rest or relative rest (very light training) are the main recommended treatments for OTS, the duration of which depends on the individual. For instance, some experts recommend running from five to 10 minutes a day until you can run for an hour without symptoms, focusing on volume before adding intensity. However, putting that into action can be difficult for the highly motivated.
RELATED: Fortunately, as the doors to Stones pro-racing career closed, others opened
Fortunately, as the doors to Stone’s pro-racing career closed, others opened.
In 2009, she returned to her hometown of Portland, Oregon, where she landed a job as a strength and conditioning coach at the Portland Athletic Center of Excellence (P.A.C.E.), known in part for its work with world-class runners.
Stone’s health and outlook began to improve. In 2010, she got married and trained more. She also ran a few races including Portland’s Shamrock 8K, where she was the 2nd overall female finisher with a time of 29:51. Today she continues to coach for P.A.C.E. and train other athletes.
And although she still struggles with fatigue, she has learned what has made her stronger while helping her clients do the same. One of the biggest lessons she’s learned is to be compassionate toward her body when it needs to rest.
“More is not always better,” she said.
