Markers of excessive exercise

Overtraining is a serious concern to long-distance runners and will affect 65% of them at some time in their competitive career. The clinical presentation is nonspecific but the classical symptoms include fatigue, mood disturbances, frequent upper respiratory infections and injury, and a decrease in performance. Dysfunction of the hypothalamic pituitary axis from repeated stress, of a physical or nonphysical nature, represents the most likely pathogenesis of this condition. There is no single biological marker that is diagnostic of an overtrained state; however, several parameters deserve further study. The time to volitional fatigue on a cycle ergometer at an intensity of 110% of the individual anaerobic threshold represents a possible laboratory test. Salivary IgA holds promise as a useful immunological marker of the overtrained state and further research is needed to determine the validity of plasma glutamine as a blood marker. The most promising tool at present is a measure of the athlete's mood state, and several psychological tools can be used for this purpose.