I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that as AG'ers, none of us have ever reached a status of bieing overtrained as it is usually defined, myself included. What we DO suffer from is the mental fatigue of trying to accomplish ALL of our training as well as our day to day lives. Pro's who do nothing but train can reach a state of overtrained, but they have 8 hours per day/ 7 days per week to train whereas we do not.
Now, as far as being sick of training due to fatigue or other responsibilities, you betcha' ya'!

Not sure if this is relevant, and I'm by no means a doctor, but back in my HS swimming days I was doing lots of two a days and I began becoming lethargic, sleeping in school, having crappy workouts, grades dropping etc.

Now I wasn't training any more than any of my other teammates, but I was working on weekends and taking lots of classes yada yada, and I was burning the candle at both ends so to speak. I'm sure many of us with jobs and families can relate to that.

I saw a doctor and the biggest thing for me was nutrition, specifically I wasn't getting enough of it. I had lost five pounds in a month that really didn't need to go, and I should have been keeping better track of my eating habits. My coach and I started recording what I ate, and I started carrying around a bag of bagels in school, which my teachers thankfully were cool with.

Flash forward to today and I find I'm still much more ready and willing to train hard when I've eaten sometimes more than I think I should. Again I'm sure everyone gets tired for different reasons, and I've seen a number of athletes get burned out for a variety of reasons, but if you think it's overtraining and the desire is still there it could possibly be nutrition related. Sometimes just taking time off is the best approach, same with work-related stress.

Good luck and I hope you feel better whatever it is!

Hey guys and gals,

it doesn't matter if you are a novice or a veteran to the sport.
Everybody that excersises run the risk of getting overtrained.
If you don't excersise at al and just start training 15+ hours a week, the chance of overtraining is about 100%. Pro's can train more, but can rest more too, so the recuperation is better. So actually, maybe...we run more risk.

Back to the topic:
Recently I thought I was pretty close to overtraining.
The training wasn't all THAT much, but it was a lot of interval; running, swimming and just too much speedwork.
Took it down a noch for about 2 weeks, just a few workouts less and more aerobic miles, rest a lot.
Worked like a charm, one of the big things a (tri)athlete should learn ( according to Mark Allen among other coaches) is
LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

Noel.

Appreciate the responses. Yeah, back-to-back hard days and, um, no days off. I'm an idiot. Just enjoy training and dislike off days. I was talking to a cyclist friend who told me of his burnout two years ago. He was hammering almost every day on the bike and racing anyone that tried to breakaway... just couldn't let someone go. One day in late July he was at the end of his group on a climb, feeling like a cold was coming on, dead legs, zero motivation, and basically wishing he was anywhere but on a bike. Long story short he took almost a month off except for a little hiking and leisure riding with his kids. Went from killer instinct to didn't care within a few days. I'm gonna mix some days off with recovery type training and see what shakes out.

I have overtrained some when I was gaining weight. I wanted to gain weight, but I didn't want to waste it so I trained a lot. It was okay, though. Eating more calories than I burned helped.

I'm sure that worked for Floyd...Better living through chemistry and all that.
All you have to do is look at folks who used to be "great" in their respective endurance sport...Tri,marathon,road racing...and who are no longer around...due to injury and burnout...the direct result of overtraining...pushing too far for what their body is capable of and paying the price. If you've been around endurance sports long enough you know these people...or even..you used to know them because they don't show up anymore.

I've been *ahem* accused of "overtraining," and I may catch some slack for this comment. My last HIM had been in Nov and I took the rest of month off. I slowly got back into running in December, then hit running really hard in Jan. My first race of the season was a half marathon in February. I pushed distances quicker than I should have, and paid the price with the mental and physical fatigue. BUT, I ran my fastest half-mary ever (by like 13 minutes) and mentally that in itself has really made a difference this tri season. Sometimes its ok and maybe even necessary to push yourself beyond the normal limits of training...I think doing that has helped me realize that I can go faster, farther, stronger, etc. I also appreciate the Trifuelers telling me to back off sometimes too ;)