Recovery / hormones
Overtraining, low testosterone, and ego miles
Men often measure progress in weekly mileage and pace — but chronic overload suppresses testosterone, raises cortisol, and breaks sleep before you notice a formal 'injury.'
Persistent heaviness on easy runs, needing more sleep but waking unrested, loss of motivation, irritability, or libido drop during peak training.
Signs to watch for
- ·Resting heart rate elevated 5–10 bpm above your normal for a week+
- ·Easy pace feels hard despite consistent training
- ·Night sweats or broken sleep during heavy blocks
- ·Loss of morning erections or reduced libido (non-specific but worth noting with other signs)
- ·Minor injuries stacking — calf, Achilles, knee — without a single clear cause
I kept adding Sunday long runs because Strava said I was 'behind.' My doctor ran labs — ferritin was tanked and testosterone was low-normal. A deload month fixed more than any new shoe.
How to avoid
- ·Adding miles because a training partner runs more than you
- ·Skipping rest days to 'make up' for a bad week
- ·Racing every weekend while also building base mileage
- ·Using soreness as a badge — chronic soreness is a load problem
How to fix / recover
- ·Schedule recovery weeks before you feel broken — every 3–4 weeks, cut volume 30–40%
- ·One full rest day per week minimum; two if you're over 40 and new to running
- ·Sleep 7–9 hours — poor sleep disrupts testosterone and recovery hormones
- ·If symptoms persist 3+ weeks after a deload, see sports medicine for blood work (testosterone, ferritin, thyroid)
Smarter progression
- ·10% weekly mileage increase is a ceiling, not a target — many men do better at 5%
- ·Hard days hard, easy days truly easy — most miles should feel conversational
- ·Strength train 2× per week — it supports hormones and injury resilience
When to see a specialist
- ·Libido loss, erectile dysfunction, and fatigue together during training — GP or endocrinology
- ·Overtraining symptoms that don't improve after 2 weeks of reduced load
- ·Repeated illness or injury every time you peak — sports medicine review
Related: Avoiding injuries · Training plans
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