My Five Biggest Training Mistakes

I’ve made many training mistakes over the years, which resulted in overtraining and injuries. It can be difficult to build mileage or increase pace without these consequences. My goal was to strengthen my endurance and run faster. Initially, I didn’t know how to train or recover properly. I paid the price and learned a lot from my mistakes.

I wanted to write a blog post so that others can hopefully avoid the same mistakes that I made. Below, I provide a brief summary of what I learned. To be clear, this does not constitute any form of medical, physiotherapy, or nutritional advice.

Mistake #1: Training too intensely.

My biggest mistake was training too intensely. Although I ran, biked, and swam a lot, I trained hard rather than smart, and injured myself several times.

Endurance athletes tend to spend somewhere between 80-90% of their training volume in Zone 2, which approximates 70-80% of their max heart rate. While training in Zone 2, people can carry on a conversation even though it is uncomfortable. Zone 2 training generally involves high volume and low intensity.

Previously, I spent too little time in Zone 2 and too much time in higher heart rate zones. It was difficult to recover, and my body couldn’t handle the increase in mileage and intensity.

Now, I am much more diligent about training in Zone 2. I watch my heart rate closely when I train, and if I notice that my heart rate increases above 130 BPM, I will slow down for several seconds — almost to a shuffle — until it drops back down below 130 BPM. Physically, it feels like a car down shifting from a higher to a lower gear.

Training principally in Zone 2 helped me safely and gradually build mileage and run faster. Over a period of months to years, my body became more efficient and adapted to the training load.

Rich Roll — who heavily influenced how I approach training, nutrition, and recovery — has an excellent adage that helped me stay on track. To paraphrase him, one of the big mistakes is training too hard on easy days and too easy on hard days.

By sticking more closely to Zone 2 training, I’ve been able to avert some of the injuries that I developed previously.

Mistake #2: Too little recovery.

My second big mistake was that I didn't emphasize recovery sufficiently. Perhaps more accurately, I didn't really care about recovery or understand it’s importance.

Endurance training pushes our body to adapt to greater physical stress and volume. But we reap the dividends during recovery periods. Recovery allows our body to acclimatize to new physical demands, and helps us prevent over-training. In the part, I took few to no days off. I also didn't incorporate recovery weeks. My training stagnated and I deteriorated rather than improved over time.

I now emphasize recovery in four ways.

First, I take one day off per week. During the day off, I do active recovery. I bike at a very low heart rate, walk, lift weights, do core work, or swim. I sleep as much as possible and take naps.

Second, I take a recovery week every fourth week of a training cycle. During a recovery week, I drop my mileage by 50% or more and I avoid double runs. I avoid threshold sessions.

Third, I take more days between threshold training sessions (meaning training in the heart rate zone right below the maximum). I do very easy and slow runs on the day after a harder threshold training session. For instance, I may do threshold training on Tuesdays and Saturdays, which gives me more time to recover between harder runs.

Fourth, I sleep a lot. I aim for 8 hours of sleep per night. The quantity and quality of sleep makes a major difference in how I feel when I train.

I also focus more heavily on sleep hygiene. I set an alarm clock for roughly one hour before I sleep. After that point, I don’t work or use electronics. I use that time to read and relax. Sometimes, if i feel anxious or stressed before I sleep, I write a to-do list for tomorrow’s tasks so that I do not think about them.

These changes have improved my recovery significantly. Plus, I feel better emotionally and am less anxious.

Mistake #3: Bad refueling and too few calories.

My third mistake related to refuelling and nutrition. More specifically, I didn't refuel sufficiently post-workout. I also ate too little protein. I eventually overtrained and needed about 10 months to recover.

Now, I drink a vegan protein shake after each run. It helps me get the daily necessary amount of protein, and keeps me quite full until the next run.

I make sure to consume more carbohydrates so that my glycogen stores are replenished for the next day. I eat more complex carbohydrates, like beets, apples, and bananas. I also like to eat beans and chickpeas.

Mistake #4: Increasing volume too quickly.

My fourth mistake was classic: increasing volume too quickly. The general rule is to increase mileage by a maximum of 10% per week. Earlier on, I upped my mileage by closer to 20-30% certain weeks. And I didn’t periodize with recovery weeks. Unsurprisingly, my bones couldn’t handle the increased load. I got injured and it took roughly 2 months to heal. On the bright side, the injuries introduced me to water running to maintain aerobic fitness, which was very boring but effective.

Now, when I build mileage, I do not exceed more than a 10% weekly increase. So far, it has helped me avoid injuries.

Mistake #5: Too little pre-hab

Fifth, in my view, I was more susceptible to injuries because I failed to incorporate a pre-hab routine. There is an excellent saying related to running, (which I believe I heard on Rich Roll’s podcast): if you have a weakness, the mileage will find it. I injured my shins and hips repeatedly.

I decided to incorporate more exercises to strengthen these areas, such as monster walk, kettle bell swings, calf raises, and bucket handle raises. I also devoted more time to core strength. These exercises have helped a lot. I feel stronger when running and when at rest.

I hope this post helps others avoid the same mistakes that I made.

Note: All views expressed in this blog and in this blog post are my own. They do not constitute medical, physiotherapy, or nutrition advice.