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    Many speed programs and/or coaches do not emphasize or even mention the effect rest and sleep have on the speed skater. I believe it is imperative that we include this vital element in our training program. Bodily growth and repair occur only during rest or sleep, never during training. Successful development of a speed skater is always a delicate balancing act between three variables:

·         A training program of progressive overload,

·         The correct raw materials (nutrients) to maintain and repair tissue and build new tissue,

·         Sufficient rest and sleep to permit the repair and new growth to take place.

Many programs and coaches discuss only the nutrition you need before, during, and after athletic performance. But that's only half the picture. The main business of nutrition is to build a better body. That work takes place only during rest. Even if your training and nutrition program came straight from the best Olympic Coach available, without adequate rest your body will fail to adapt.

Some skaters have said they only need six hours of sleep a night. My reply is, "Maybe you can get by, but you will never reach full potential." The short sleep athletes are the first to succumb to that big killer of sports careers - over training. Many recent studies document that the over training syndrome occurs primarily because of insufficient rest.

The great coaches have always known. You have to allow your nutrition the space it needs to work. Coaches who prescribe appropriate allocations for rest and sleep within their training programs will invariably present the greatest opportunities for their skaters to excel.

There's no way you can gut it out by will power. Just the opposite. Skaters who are falling into the over training syndrome often start to train harder to "break the plateau." Instead of improving they get worse faster. You can't beat over training with more work because, by the time it becomes noticeable, your body is already shot.

The Technical Stuff:

Studies show that the neuroendocrine system becomes exhausted, altering hormone levels so that optimal performance is impossible. Some severely over trained athletes have developed Addison's disease, characterized by the permanently reduced function of the adrenal glands, so that they no longer maintain proper hormone levels. That's the finish of any elite sports career.

The other big problem is suppression of immune function. Over trained athletes become progressively more susceptible to infection. They also get more injuries, especially muscle and tendon injuries, the type that can cut training for months.

Compelling evidence of depressed immunity also comes from athletes with poor training advice, who increase their training intensity without increasing their rest. They almost all get sick or injured, which promptly cancels any benefit of the extra work. In contrast, carefully balanced training and rest can enhance immunity. So if you want optimum performance, you better get it right.

The general rule for rest is to get 7 1/2 - 9 1/2 hours sleep a night. For athletes who train twice a day, and you should if you want the maximum training effect, a 30-60 minute nap after your first training session, is invaluable. It may be a hard habit to get into, but persevere.

The basic conundrum a skater faces is, how intense should training be? There is a wide range of biochemical individuality in responses to exercise stress. And this genetic component is further modified by past training and by nutrient intake as well as rest. The trick is to have an individual monitoring system for signs of over training that tells you to back off and increase your rest. The system I would suggest using is very simple yet very effective.

Waking Heart Rate: The first sign is waking heart rate. Here’s a simple rule of thumb: Get into the habit of taking your pulse immediately on waking and recording it. Do it before you get out of bed. It is less accurate at other times because emotions, activity, having just eaten, type of food, caffeine, and alcohol, all affect heart rate. The rule is, if your waking pulse on any day is elevated by more than eight beats per minute above its average level for the preceding week, you are falling into over training. I'm not necessarily an advocate who would suggest using a heart rate monitor for all your training but I am a proponent of using one to help me determine how hard I am training.

Waking Bodyweight: The second sign is waking bodyweight. Your weekly average weight should not vary by more than 2 lbs, even if you are frantically working to gain muscle. Most athletes working hard at the weights gain less than 10 Ibs of muscle per year. The rule is, if your weight drops by more than 3 lbs on any day from a previously stable bodyweight, you are falling into over training. If you are on a weight-loss diet and training program simultaneously with your speed skating program, using this method to determine over training becomes a little more complicated. However, most skaters who want to lose a few pounds of body fat typically gain some or most of the weight back in muscle mass unless there is a large initial disproportion of fat-to-muscle content. In other words, if you must lose more than 20 lbs of “fat” in order to reach your ideal weight, using this method to determine over training becomes a little more complicated.

Insomnia: The third sign is insomnia. One complication is training late at night. I would recommend that all training cease at least 2 hours before your normal bedtime. This gives the body a couple of hours after training to “wind down” prior to going to sleep for the evening.  I would advise against training late at night because the adrenocorticotrophic hormones (e.g. adrenalin and noradrenalin) generated by the exercise, interfere with normal sleep. The rule is, if you don't train at night yet start to suffer from restlessness, inability to fall asleep, or too early awakening, you are falling into over training. You may also experience abnormal mood swings during the day, and a loss of motivation. If this is the case, cut back!

How Do You Cure Over Training?

You cannot resolve over training by simply increasing your sleep. From experience, I would recommend a 3-day-cure rule of thumb for all speed skaters...

2.       Reduce protein intake to 15% of total calories.

3.       Increase carbohydrate intake to 70% of total calories.

4.       Increase antioxidants to 20% of usual intake.

5.       Increase sleep to 9 hours solid per night.

Better still, avoid over training. Monitor the signs and back off training and increase your sleep at the first inkling. Even if you follow every detail of our program to design a brilliant individual nutrition program, it will not help unless you also have sufficient rest and sleep to enable the nutrition to do its work. It's better to skip a day of training than it is to dip into an overtraining phase.

Remember, it’s all about the details… when everything else is the same; it’s the skater that has meticulously paid close attention to the details that will have the edge on their competition!