How Tired You Get Affects How Fast You Get After Rest
Functional overreaching: the key to peak performance during the taper?
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
When triathletes train really hard, some get tired but still perform well, while others get too tired and perform worse. After resting, the ones who were just tired got faster, but the ones who were too tired didn’t improve much and got sick more often.
Surprising Findings
Overreached athletes showed no significant VO2max improvement despite tapering.
Most assume rest fixes everything — but here, even 4 weeks of taper didn’t restore aerobic gains in overtrained athletes.
Practical Takeaways
Monitor performance and fatigue closely during hard training blocks — if performance drops, ease up to avoid overreaching.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
When triathletes train really hard, some get tired but still perform well, while others get too tired and perform worse. After resting, the ones who were just tired got faster, but the ones who were too tired didn’t improve much and got sick more often.
Surprising Findings
Overreached athletes showed no significant VO2max improvement despite tapering.
Most assume rest fixes everything — but here, even 4 weeks of taper didn’t restore aerobic gains in overtrained athletes.
Practical Takeaways
Monitor performance and fatigue closely during hard training blocks — if performance drops, ease up to avoid overreaching.
Publication
Journal
Medicine and science in sports and exercise
Year
2014
Authors
Anaël Aubry, C. Hausswirth, J. Louis, A. Coutts, Y. Le Meur
Related Content
Claims (5)
When male triathletes take a break from intense training, most hit their best performance in the first two weeks, even if they were really worn out before — heavy training doesn’t seem to delay their recovery during this rest period.
If triathletes feel tired but still perform well during intense training, they tend to bounce back stronger after a rest period—gaining about 2.6% more peak performance—compared to those who push too hard and burn out.
If triathletes train too hard for three weeks and get overly tired, they don’t get better at using oxygen when they cut back to rest—unlike those who aren’t overdoing it, who do get noticeably better.
Triathletes who push their training too hard without enough recovery are way more likely to get sick—7 out of 10 had infection symptoms, compared to just 2 out of 10 who were tired but not overtrained, and 1 out of 10 in rested athletes.
When athletes push too hard, their performance might dip at first — but if it's 'functional' overreaching, they bounce back stronger. If it's 'non-functional,' they stay weak even after resting.