Overtraining

I'll leave the sports scientists and nutritionists to argue whether or not this exists.
All I can talk about is my own personal experience.

Currently my routine consists of 3 sessions a day. A run in the morning, break, morning training at 10:30 and then afternoon training at 15:00.

The individual sessions are exhausting but manageable. They push you as you would expect. Increasing your skill, endurance and fitness by consistently taking you to the point of failure. Forever pushing that little marker further and further back.

What I didn't expect was the cumulative effect of these sessions.

Emotional exhaustion.
There have been days where the physical exhaustion has directly translated into an emotional depression. The love for the sport gone, the ability to socialise, non-existent, the desire to even get out of bed - not happening. At first I tried to push through this knowing it was part of the experience and that this ability to force myself was what separated people.

I have since learnt it's better to listen to your body.
Mental fortitude is great, but when it's at the cost of your meat wagon it's not a good decision. Seemingly every time I have gritted my teeth and powered through it has led to an injury that holds me back way more than skipping a session or dodging a run.

At 32 I find the training and recovery schedule very difficult to keep up with but I plug away and I do what is asked of me. So right now it's sprained toes, pain deep behind my shin bones and a pulled muscle in my back.

It's also worth noting that the over training makes dieting way harder. Because you are training so much you get hungry all the time. Unfortunately combined with the low mood this tends to lead to bad diet choices.