How it feels during the progressive overload training period

Let's first make something clear:

Before you jump into an overload training phase, you need to have a coach who understands very well the concept behind the periodization training plan and who can apply it specifically to you and adjust it along the way depending on the circumstances and your unique, personal needs.

You can read more about it in one of my previous posts here:
The porgressive overload as part of a periodization training plan

When it's time to enter the progressive overload period of my training plan, I have just come out from the base and transition periods. The former (base) requires lots of slow, long miles and the latter (transition) lots of sort, power exercises that make different muscle groups work one after the other. Before the overload period, I probably weigh 2 to 4 pounds more, I feel a little tired but not worn out, and I may (or may not!) get a week of easy workouts: every day I would do about 1 hour of easy spin or 20min of jogging or 45min of technique swimming or just 20min of light weight lifting.

Then the fun begins. Progressive Overload.

One week the total miles stay the same but the intensity ramps up, the next week the intensity stays the same, but the miles shoot off. There are weeks with 4 to 5 hours of daily training and little intensity or weeks with 3 to 4 hours of daily training and plenty of intensity. It feels like you are about to break down but you are not. You are just on the edge. It takes a very experienced coach to design a plan like that (so that it doesn't burn the athlete out) and an athlete to fully believe in the plan.

Legs burning, heart jumping, lungs hurting.
Yet you gotta spint!

I will tell you that it is not pleasant. I lose weight, I hurt a lot, my legs are really heavy, I feel like I can't swim fast anymore, I feel I am not able to complete even the simplest running interval workout...I think: am I really running slower? And probably I am, just a little bit. But here is the magic of it: If I can complete a hard workout by working 100% while my body is so tired that can produce 70%, then when I rest, my 100% effort will produce not 70% but 110%. The difficulty here is to be able to push when you hurt (so it is more mental than phsysical), and trust me, this kind of pain is way worse than any pain you may feel during any kind of race. But I prefer to experience the worse during a workout rather than during a race. Learning to overcome adversity has to happen during the training sessions so you can battle absolutely anything during the race.

Some races hurt more than some others

Who said that you have to feel and finish strong in every single workout? No. There are periods that I feel crap in the beginning, I feel crap during and I feel crappier after the workout.

And it gets even worse. The various races scheduled throughout the overload period feel horrible. During these races, I learn how to race dog-tired, my legs are heavy, my mind is shut down, my moves are mechanical. For these races I have zero expectations. I may win or I may finish dead last. It doesn't matter. The cool thing is that I try to race the same races year after year during the overload phase, so I can monitor my own progress: hey, I was dragging my feet last year and I did "x" time, this year I did "x-1" time, I was faster!

The progressive overload period of training sucks. But, I love and respect it. It trains my mind, it makes me mentally strong. It teaches my body to overcome the

pain when it comes. It makes my body stronger. It ultimately teaches me how to overcome adversity. And this is the most important part of the journey. Not the goals, not the races. Just this part of the journey: progressive overload.