Endurance Sports are understandably hard. They take a long time to get from the start to finish line. They require a considerable amount of training. AND, they take a toll on the body: joints, synovial fluid, muscle catabolism, adrenal fatigue, nutrient and hormone depletion all come in to play.
That being said, there is huge psychological benefit to endurance training and racing. But the question begs asking; does endurance training, at least from the standpoint of physical consequences, love me? The answer: perhaps – sometimes. And others – not so much.
The truth is not everyone is built for endurance training.
At its most basic, endurance training is the act of exercising to increase endurance. The term endurance training generally refers to training the aerobic system, as opposed to anaerobic. For the sake of this discussion, we’ll consider endurance training as that which prepares us for events longer than 2 hours, i.e. triathlons, marathons, and even half marathons depending on your pace. (Another way to think about endurance training is a regimen in which your training load is 5+ days per week for 90+ minutes.)
The appropriateness of endurance training depends on both your mental and physical state. So, when should you avoid endurance training?
When you’re already stressed in your day-to-day life
- When you’re stressed, your body produces a hormone, cortisol, as a stress response.
- Endurance training is viewed by your body as a stress, again resulting in the release of cortisol.
- Chronic stress (albeit training induced or not) leaves your body flooded with cortisol in a constant state of ‘fight or flight’. Eventually this can result in HPA (hypothalamic – pituitary – adrenal) Axis dysfunction. This is when you start having disrupted sleep; night sweats, gaining weight for no apparent reason, irritability, depression, and anxiety. I think we can all agree – No bueno.
When your hormones are out of whack;
- Endurance training lowers testosterone. If you’re already suffering from hormone imbalance, lowering your testosterone could simply exasperate the issues at hand.
- Symptoms of low testosterone are as follows: lowered libido, mood swings, drops in energy and prolonged training recovery time.
When you suffer from less than optimal sleep
- Endurance training places an increased demand on the adrenal glands to produce cortisol to manage all of the stress endured physically.
- Cortisol secretion is lowered with poor sleep, resulting in an inadequate stress response.
When you’re trying to get pregnant
- In addition to lowering testosterone, endurance training can alter one’s luteinizing hormone. If you’re trying to get pregnant you are well aware that a rise in luteinizing hormone is what responsible for triggering ovulation – a key factor in fertility. Obviously messing with that can counterproductive.
When you’re trying to lose weight
- This one may be counterintuitive. Previously you may have heard calories in vs. calories out, thinking the more physically active you are (calories out) the more you can either a) eat, or b) lose weight. However, it’s not at cut and dry as that. Endurance training can throw you some curve balls;
- Endurance training in nature is a repetitive motion that your muscles can and do adapt to, eventually becoming more efficient at completing. Thus, the longer you train in a specific repetitive modality, the less energy (calories-out) it takes to complete.
- Endurance training raises the stress hormone, cortisol. Chronically elevated cortisol is linked to an increase in abdominal fat.
- Endurance training increases ones appetite. No kidding! After cycling for 4 hours followed by a 20 minute brick run you are HUNGRY. And you NEED to eat to refuel and ensure that your muscles start to recover as quickly as possible. But there’s a fine line between how hungry that training session left you and how many calories you can consume (calories-in) and still shed pounds.
When can you log the miles to my heart’s content?
If you are a healthy man or woman with no obvious life stressors (environmental, psychological or physical – beyond training) and have the ability to prioritize and incorporate recovery as part of your training program you may indeed find success with endurance.
OR
You love it and you’re willing to accept all of the above as possible outcomes.
