Recovery time after training - am I broken?

[BMWBen]

My usual routine is a pretty strenuous one - I usually cycle 30 miles 4 days a week, two days, break, then two days, interspersed with weights sessions, not usually more than twice a week, and more for tone/endurance than muscle building.

Then at the weekend I train specifically in my chosen sport.

Over the last two weeks I've taken it pretty easy, only 2-3 days of cycling and one day of sport training.

Then this weekend I had a majorly hard day on sunday. Pushed myself to the absolute limit (4-5 hours of intense training), and have now tried to drop back into my regular routine.

But I can't! I'm absolutely knackered! Destroyed! I took my ride on monday and tuesday very gently. But I hardly made it home on tuesday. And today after a day of complete rest I'm still feeling achy, lethargic, weak...

What could have caused me to hit the wall like this? What can I do to recover? I'm training for a major event (world championships) at the beginning of july and really can't afford any downtime. I need to be back to 100% by the weekend or it's going to have a real impact

Or is my body actually just rebuilding itself in the normal way that it should after training, and perhaps I pushed it so hard on sunday that this is taking a few days?

Help!

[goldblum]

You've overtrained.Take an entire week off.If you don't you'll be knackered for July.

[BMWBen]

goldblum said:

You've overtrained.Take an entire week off.If you don't you'll be knackered for July.

Hmmm. Is there anything I can do to speed my recovery from this sorry state as well as rest?

Also wise old google says that you usually find your resting heart rate increases when you've been overtraining.

I've had that before, and a bit of a break made things progress properly again, but at the moment it's pretty low, 44-48, but it has been lower in the past, i.e. 42-45.

All the other "symptoms" are present though.

Edited by BMWBen on Wednesday 9th June 20:19

[Animal]

Active recovery: walking, stretching and some hot baths.

I trained my legs on Friday evening and they're still sore today. I was so sore over the weekend that I couldn't go out!

[goldblum]

No,there is absolutely nothing you can do.There is no way you will be 80% by the weekend.What's more if you don't take at least a week off you wont even be 80% by July.Think of what you have done to your body as a dose of flu...and treat it the same way.If you want to compete in July the only way to save the season is to gamble on rest and a clever taper, built on a solid training base,to carry you through.For every day you exercise whilst tired now,add on another 4 days recovery.That's how much st you're in.

[rich85uk]

goldblum said:

You've overtrained.Take an entire week off.If you don't you'll be knackered for July.

what he said.

i weight train 4 times a week and box 1 night a week aswell, and i find a week off cardio and weights just lets my body rest and fully recover, and is perfect if i start to feel drained etc or more importantly...injured

take a week off and have a healthy balanced diet that suits your training (just incase you dont already)

[BMWBen]

rich85uk said:

goldblum said:

You've overtrained.Take an entire week off.If you don't you'll be knackered for July.

what he said.

i weight train 4 times a week and box 1 night a week aswell, and i find a week off cardio and weights just lets my body rest and fully recover, and is perfect if i start to feel drained etc or more importantly...injured

take a week off and have a healthy balanced diet that suits your training (just incase you dont already)

Right, week off it is then. After a really good nights sleep last night (9.5 hours) I'm feeling a fair bit better. So same again tonight and friday at least and no more cycling until next week. I've got an small event (3 short races) this weekend but tbh the weather forecast is making it look like it'll be very easy on the body so shouldn't stress me in the slightest (no more so than going for a bit of a walk for the same time period).

Sport is sailing:


if that makes weather based intensity more sense :P (That's not me btw)

[Henry Hawthorne]

BMWBen said:

Also wise old google says that you usually find your resting heart rate increases when you've been overtraining.

I've had that before, and a bit of a break made things progress properly again, but at the moment it's pretty low, 44-48, but it has been lower in the past, i.e. 42-45.

Wowzer! You must be incredibly fit.

[JRM]

BMWBen said:

goldblum said:

You've overtrained.Take an entire week off.If you don't you'll be knackered for July.

Hmmm. Is there anything I can do to speed my recovery from this sorry state as well as rest?

Also wise old google says that you usually find your resting heart rate increases when you've been overtraining.

Edited by BMWBen on Wednesday 9th June 20:19

It might be overtraining (or unexplained underecovery syndrome) or you may just have a bug your are fighting off in which case just rest will sort you out.

If you have other symptons, similar to post-viral fatigue, runny nose, tummy aches on top, then it could be more like overtraining. I've been through it, thankfully not too severly when I was rowing and got some great help from one of the BOA doctors.

The annoying paradox you get with overtraining is that if you are used to a certain heart-rate for a certain effort - easily monitored on ergo's, your HR will actually drop during the same intensity of exercise, so you THINK you are getting fitter, but it's actually caused by your heart not being able to pump quite as fast, which is when it gets a bit scary.

The best advice for recovery is the active recovery someone already mentioned, you can maintain fitness tickover with 20 minutes activity at UT3 for a couple of weeks and then gradually build up - I've got loads of info on recovery programmes if you are interested, and if it's not just a bug causing the fatigue.

See how you get on with a decent amount of rest first though.