staging

Is Your Running Life Too Ambitious?

The exhilarating feeling you get after crossing a finish line is so powerful you can't wait to experience it again and again. As soon you get home, you immediately register for more races, quickly filling your calendar for the next few months. You train all week, then race hard each weekend.

But is chasing that finish line feeling setting you up for injury and burnout?

"Racing too often can leave a runner flirting with overtraining," says Dr. Cathy Fieseler, a sports medicine physician in Tyler, Texas. "When the runner is training to race and then racing, chasing a time or place goal, or both, the body is under a great deal of stress."

Here are five signs that your training and racing schedule is too ambitious, plus solutions for how to get back on track.

Discuss This Article

Get ACTIVE on the Go

Couch to 5K®
Couch to 5K®

Couch to 5K®

The best way to get new runners off the couch and across the finish line of their first 5K.

Available for iOS | Android

Connect With Us