I’ve had a tough few weeks training and last Friday I started to feel very tired with no energy, then on Saturday I started to ache in my joints with headaches, sweats and generally feeling very weak. Today, I seem to still have all the symptoms but the aches have subsided.

I realise that I need to rest but for those of you that have experienced this, how to you know when the time is right to step up training again? I’ve never experienced this so I obviously want to do the right thing.

As ever, thanks for your advice.

Hard to put down into words, I just know through experience. If I do feel like that I’d rest and eat, eat loads. Then do a controlled session say a day after and compare the numbers. Raised HR or poor power then rest more, else continue.

I’ve been using an iPhone app called ithlete – http://www.myithlete.com – which I’ve found interesting and quite useful – basically gives you a recovery measure based on heart rate variability. It mostly backs up what my body/instincts tell me, but takes some of the guesswork out of the equation.

I’ve been wiped out by viruses a couple of times and I wait until my HRV score is back around normal before any sort of harder efforts. Quite useful in combination with a bit of gut instinct and past experience.

After a reasonably tough weekend, I’m sitting at my desk and my HR is 90bpm. That means I need to rest!

I don’t train hard per se, but I train hard in relation to my lifestyle and free time.
I hit a bad patch about two weeks ago.
I didn’t need a degree in rocket science to tell me I was ****ed.
Ease right off, do a little gentle tester. Ease off again and then re start gently.
I’ve had a lingering cold like illness, then thought I was okay so did a reasonable 80 miles on Sunday and now I’m typing with tissue up my nose and sore red eyes.
I was supposed to be racing tonight.

I’ve gone a bit TSY Mad in the gym, recently.

Result ?.
Significant ache on the outside of my left elbow.

Think I’ll give the weights a miss for a bit.
🙁

I’ve had a lingering cold like illness, then thought I was okay so did a reasonable 80 miles on Sunday and now I’m typing with tissue up my nose and sore red eyes.

That’s where the ithlete thing is quite cool. It’s a more sophisticated measure than RHR or gut instinct and is pretty good ime, of telling you when you’ve recovered from illness. Or a really intense session. Or just from being knackered and stressed and not sleeping well. It’s very good at stopping me from hammering myself senseless, which I’m quite capable of doing when left to my own devices.

Works for me anyway.

I use the same ap as badlywireddog. I think it’s great, I follow it 100% and have yet to overtrain whilst using it.

There’s a free HRV app.

OP, no one can say. I’d plan to give yourself more time than you think.

There’s a free HRV app.

which is?

You have tried a search?

There are a few I think. No idea, which, if any, are for athletes.

Thanks for your input. Currently off work with this, but on speaking with my employers it seems there are quite a few off with the same thing, so maybe I’m just unlucky and not overtraining at all.

I’ve had a look at the myithlete app that bwd and dgoab are using and it looks like just the thing. £50 + the cost of the app does seem expensive though.

I don’t regret spending the money on it and get so much out of it, that i recently bought the other HRV ap for using during exercise.

I’ve had mine for quite a while now. They have just upgraded the ap (free) and i log my sleep and training on it too. The upgrade means you can monitor your recovery after training too as you can log multiple readings.

I’ve learnt a lot from using it about how my body adapts and responds to training. FWIW i’m continuing to use this even though i’m working with a coach now rather than just doing what i like/want and so (in theory) less likely to overtrain anyway.

I feel just like the OP, after riding 200k (in several stints)at the weekend, the last being a 100k PB.

Not sure if the illness that some other people in the office have got, or overtraining. Still, ‘m resting before BORS next Sunday and only have a gentle 30k planned for Thursday night ot keep my legs warm.

Hopefully I’m still alive by Sunday and its not ManFlu.

I’ve learnt a lot from using it about how my body adapts and responds to training. FWIW i’m continuing to use this even though i’m working with a coach now rather than just doing what i like/want and so (in theory) less likely to overtrain anyway.

dgoab, like you I have a trainer, so through feedback I give, my plan can be adjusted to suit, but as I’ve only been training and racing seriously since December, I am still in the learning process of listening and understanding my body in terms of fatigue and training output.

After what you’ve said then maybe it is a good investment. Is your coach aware of it, and if so, does he/ she have an opinion on it?

Yes he is aware of it and says its more sophisticated than the RHR rule of train or don’t train. I just tell him both hr and hrv readings and what it means (ie rest, train lightly or normally). He is more than happy for me to keep using it, and i give him daily feedback on pretty much everything anyway so its just one more factor to include. I’m only on week 2 of my training plan, and beginning to race / train harder this year so i’m also needing to learn how i cope with more riding (around 11hours atm) than i’ve previously been doing and the ap is a very good way to do that.

Before i started being coached, it was my only way of knowing how much rest i needed/how my body responded to training – for example, after 1 hour of weights in the gym, my hr is lower and hrv is higher than next morning than a day of complete rest. I also feel better for it. Its also been interesting because sometimes i’d feel tired after a day in work, but the ap says fine to train as normal – so i’d go out and find i was much stronger on the bike than i thought i would be. On days where it said train lightly, if i ignored it and did say hard intervals, it’d show up red the next day.

AFAIK you can spot when you had the onset of a virus (before you have symptoms) as your hrv will drop dramatically so its good from that point of view too.

Excellent. Thank you. I have just downloaded the app and ordered a receiver. 🙂

Its also been interesting because sometimes i’d feel tired after a day in work, but the ap says fine to train as normal – so i’d go out and find i was much stronger on the bike than i thought i would be. On days where it said train lightly, if i ignored it and did say hard intervals, it’d show up red the next day.

Snap on that – when I have ignored it, it’s generally been right and the HRV score’s reflected in how strong I feel. It’s changed the way I approach training, I tend to juggle sessions more now. I won’t do hard intervals, say, if my HRV is down and the thing is giving me an amber, but the flipside is that if my HRV is high, I feel confident that I’m recovered enough for a more intense session.

Also, in really broad terms, it tends to be intensity rather than volume that really hits you. But things like sleeping badly or general stress are also factors.

I seem to remember the app as being about a fiver and the dongle thing 25 quid or so, though I guess you also need an HRM belt if you don’t already have one. I feel like it’s money well spent, but I guess that’s a subjective sort of judgement and others won’t.

Oh, and if you do get a proper virus, your HRV goes through the floor… Or mine did anyway. But it’s handy for monitoring recovery.

I tend to juggle sessions more now. I won’t do hard intervals, say, if my HRV is down and the thing is giving me an amber, but the flipside is that if my HRV is high, I feel confident that I’m recovered enough for a more intense session.

+1. Now i know roughly what sort of impact training has, its easier to move the sessions around to ensure i get the best out of each one and don’t end up in the red.

MM, it needs a week or so to establish your baseline. It might be worth waiting until you feel ‘normal’ again otherwise your baseline could be much lower if you have a virus/overtrained, and then when it jumps, you’ll get warnings instead of it being the norm if that makes sense?

My hrv reading this morning is a bit poor because i ended up looking after my bf in hospital for hours immediately after a race without any proper food/hydration. My hr is normal but i feel far from normal/good which is reflected in the hrv reading…so its also interesting to see what difference proper food/drink/recovery makes and the impact stress has on your reading.

How are you getting on with your coach – seeing results?

The app was £6.99 and the receiver was £31.99.

I’ve picked up two bugs in three weeks and annoyingly they’ve both been the week leading up to races and lately because of this, it seems I’m training with no purpose.

If nothing else it will help me understand my body more with the intensity of training that I do.

Edit;

How are you getting on with your coach – seeing results?

He’s been fantastic for me. First competitive season and in my last race (3rd ever mtb race) I finished 11th out of 54 starters in my class.

Training is very hard but I’ve never had this sort of intensity so I guess I’m still adjusting.

I’ll know how well I’ve truly improved when the cyclocross season starts again as I’ll have last season’s results to compare against.

From the British cycling article on training