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Learning from sport burnout and overtraining
Learning from sport burnout and overtraining

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1 Case study: Elinor Barker

I was exhausted and I just didn’t want to ride my bike; in the eight years I’d been riding it was the first time and it was such an alien feeling.

(Barker, 2018)

This was OU student Elinor Barker speaking in 2018, recalling a period five years previously.

A head and shoulders shot of Open University student and 2016 Olympic gold medal cyclist, Elinor Barker.
Figure 2 Open University student and 2016 Olympic gold medal cyclist, Elinor Barker
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A head and shoulders shot of cyclist Elinor Barker. She is wearing her cycling kit and has her hands above her head, lifting her cycling helmet as she looks to one side.

Figure 2 Open University student and 2016 Olympic gold medal cyclist, Elinor Barker

In the activity that follows, Barker describes her own personal experience of the early stages of burnout, opening up new avenues for you to explore the causes and symptoms.

Activity 1 Elinor Barker in conversation

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Listen to this radio clip of Barker in conversation with Eleanor Oldroyd (BBC presenter) and Steven Finn (England cricketer) and respond to the following questions.

  1. What were the sources of Barker’s emotional and/or physical stress?
  2. What else did you learn from this clip about contributing factors and recovery from burnout?
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Transcript: Audio 1

ELINOR BARKER
And it took me quite a long time to get my head round. So I was only 18 at the time, but I've just been to my first world championships and I was doing my A levels as well. And I'd missed so much of the school year that trying to catch up on it was really difficult. I'd also just signed for a pro team for the first time, so I was trying to do what felt like three jobs at once.
And I kept thinking about, I'll get to the end of my exams, and everything will just be really, really easy. I'll just cycle. It'll be great. And it wasn't. I was just exhausted. And I didn't really want to ride my bike, which was the first time I think I'd been-- in the eight years I'd been riding at that point, it was the first time I didn't want to ride my bike. And it was such an alien feeling.
I just needed some time off, so I think I had about-- took me about two or three weeks to get back into it. And then probably, to be completely honest, about six months to feel completely better again, just from trying to do too much too soon, I guess, or too much at once.
STEVEN FINN
What did you do in your time off? Did you escape from the sport, or did you stay in touch with cycling, or--
ELINOR BARKER
Completely escaped it. Yeah. I guess I wasn't really too big on social media at the time, so I didn't really keep in touch with anybody and I wasn't seeing anybody posting about it or anything. So I was quite detached. Just slept most of the time, to be honest. I was so tired. Took a little bit of a holiday. I had about a week away in Spain. And just relaxed and tried not to think about always feeling like I had to be doing something or achieving something.
STEVEN FINN
It's interesting because the thing about sport and about elite sport is that you've invested your whole life in this thing that you're doing. And you feel guilt when you don't give your full attention to it all the time. I certainly know I do. I feel guilt if I'm making decisions or doing things that are not helping me become a better sportsman. And it's actually being able to teach yourself to let go and have time completely away from whatever you're doing is sometimes the thing that will freshen you up. But it's so hard to do.
End transcript: Audio 1
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Discussion

  1. At that time, Barker had recently taken part in her first World Championships, completed her A-levels (including catching up on school work due to being away) and signed for a professional team. This suggests a combination of physical and emotional stress, in particular the cognitive load of juggling three different projects.
  2. You may have mentioned the following contributing factors and felt that the comment about the length of time it took to recover was significant:
    • a.her unease at the new, strange emotions of not wanting to do her sport after eight years of enthusiastic riding
    • b.her comment about how not being on social media much helped her to escape from cycling whilst recovering
    • c.the six months it took her to fully recover
    • d.the comment from Finn about the guilt of not training and teaching yourself to get away from your sport to stay fresh.

This was a revealing and insightful glimpse into the early stages of burnout; had Barker and those around her not responded to these early signs, there could have been serious consequences for her well-being and ultimate success in her sport.

This is why considerable research into the causes of burnout has helped explain it in more detail. It is these explanations that you will turn to next.