I'm a little confused by all the different (and contradictory) advice concerning overtraining.
I have been doing a lot of winter mileage between 13-15 hrs a week including time in the gym. Recently I tried to do an 8 mile TT to assess my current fitness state - and found that I could only sustain a heart rate of around 168bpm average (LT). I did a similar test at this time last year (after less winter mileage) and the average was about 181bpm, this is a big difference. If its any help I think my max HR is 193bpm, I'm a 22 year old male, and my resting HR is about 42bpm.
I thought I was overtrained, and I've had about 2 1/2 weeks off, with light recovery type riding (no more than 4hrs a week). I tried again to raise my HR in a testing environment today, and it was still around 168-170bpm.
I feel fine, and don't have any 'symptoms' of overtraining, so could it be that my heart is just much more efficient after a lot of aerobic winter miles (i.e bigger stroke volume - doesn't need to beat as fast?) or am I overtrained?
Another alternative, is that since I've not done much anaerobic training over the last 4-5 months my Lactate threshold has dropped off? - still it seems like a big loss.
I'd appreciate any advice anyone can give.
Thanks.