okansas.blogspot.com

okansas.blogspot.com
Occassional thoughts about orienteering

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Over training

Per Elofsson is a world class cross country skier. Here are his total training hours for the last nine years:

1994: 412
1995: 480
1996: 530
1997: 600
1998: 650
1999: 720
2000: 790
2001: 830
2002: 850

Except for the increase from 1994 to 1995, Elofsson increased his training volume fairly moderately every year (by moderate I mean close to the conventional wisdom that you shouldn't increase more than about 10 percent).

Still, Elofsson is suffering from over training if you believe recent Swedish newspaper articles.

Elofsson is also known for taking a lot of rest days. His normal week includes two days with no training. There aren't many top level athletes who take that much rest. From his web page:

He trains five days a week and rests for two days. His training is so hard that he has to rest for two days to let his body recover.

I wouldn't try to diagnose the reasons behind Elofsson's problems. But, I found a quote from the Swedish national coach that might hint at it:

It is like burn-out. Both the body and the mind suffer....Unfortunately we don't know very much about over training. Three are no easy answers for why it happens. It is complicated and involves physical, mental and social aspects.

So what does this have to do with orienteering?

Nothing really. But, I'm interested in training and I'm interested in "suffering sports" (distance running, bike racing, skiing and orienteering).

posted by Michael | 8:25 PM

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