I’m due to do the Trans Provence Tour at the end of june. 6 days riding, each with about 1200m of off road climbing and 3000m of descending. So I’ve been trying to get myself decently fit.

It all started off pretty well at the beginning of the year. I’ve been trying to make Sat & Sun big days (1 on road, 1 off), plus another 2 hr-ish ride during the week and a couple of days of commuting and a session at the climbing wall thrown in. I guess 300-400 miles a month, so nothing too excessive. (I used to ride a minimum of 6 days a week, and knocked up 100miles commuting/week as a min)

Except for the last month or so, I’ve been feeling completely wasted, mentally and physically. My legs work, but there’s no zip/spring to them – the last big road ride I did, admittedly a tough one, had me showing the lowest average speed I’ve ever recorded – 3mph down on what I’d call acceptable. Any attempt to work flat out just leaves my legs screaming. Breathing is fine – rarely getting stressed in all honesty, but it’s just like there’s no fuel there. I’m doing a daily stretching/yoga session (done this for years), but my legs still feel sore for 2 or 3 days after even a moderate ride.

Mentally it’s rather scarier. One of my strengths has always been my ability to focus absolutely on what I’m doing – proper tunnel vision stuff, except now I’m away with the fairies. I’ve just come back from a morning in Greno, and I’m riding atrociously. All kinds of basic numpty errors – target fixation, looking into corners not through them, forgetting to drop my heels and getting bounced off the pedals, despite not having used SPDs in the last 6 months. I’m finding myself hammering into things thinking about tonights dinner!! And I just can’t make myself focus for more than a couple of secs at a time. The same was true yesterday, and on Sunday too.

The whole thing feels rather like a low grade sugar crash, except I’m eating normally, and a snack has no effect. (I had an apple when I finished riding today, and was still as spaced when I got home). One thing that has changed is that where I used to be absolutely wide awake in the morning as soon as the alarm goes off, I’m now struggling to wake up at all, and wandering round in a daze for 20 minutes after I’ve finally dragged my sorry corpse out of bed. I’m not aware of sleeping badly, although the missus reckons I’m thrashing around a fair bit.

Any ideas? I’m starting to hate the idea of going out because I’m riding like such a plonker, and it’s absolutely knocking my confidence for six. I’m 2/3rds the way through my training period, and I’m riding worse and feeling less fit than I have done for years.

Thanks!

Rest is more important than you think! Also, ditch the commute – maybe doing more damage than good. Throw in another climbing session or evening ride or something….

a canoeist mate of mine had similar symptons when he was training for competition , doctors told him that at a certain level of fitness the bodies immune system can be compromised, you get every bug and can tend to feel crap, that or you might need to look at a diet plan to make sure you’re eating enough , maybe supplements could be useful ?

Sounds to me like a bit of a burn out… try having a week off, sit around an do as little as possible and then get back to it….

Another vote for “stop for a bit”. Maybe a week or two, it’s not long enough to de-rail your training and turn you into a useless lardy lump, but might give you the chance to shake off whatever’s dragging you down

What Banks said. The problem a lot of ‘amateur’ athletes have is forgetting that rest is not a four letter word…

My two thoughts are rest and fuel. It seems to be helping with my tri training as the volume increases.

Overtired

rest days are still body training days, its when your body rebuilds stronger. Take a break of say 3 or so days, myabe spin but nothing hard, dont break a sweat. And as others have said eat boy eat.

I knew people would come back saying “overtraining”.

Sorry, I genuinely don’t believe it’s possible for someone riding casually 3 or 4 times a week to overtrain, unless they’re doing 3 or 4 centurys in that time.

Go back 2.5 years to when I lived in London, I was doing 4 days commute (min of 10 miles, sometimes up to 30 if I was on site lots), 1 day of “leave early and do some laps of Richmond Park on the way into work”, a day of play-biking (Chicksands, Esher Shore etc) and a full day MTB ride. The current workload is a fraction of that. Largely I think I’ve got (physically) soft, but no idea what’s happened to the brain!

I can’t cut the commute – although I live in Sheff, I still have to do 2 days work in london/week, so it’s my transport from home->station, and then St Pancras -> office, plus meetings etc around town. I detest public transport, and driving in London is just pointless.

I’d love to do more climbing, but a combination of available time and the cost means it’s hard enough to justify once a week, let alone twice.

are you drinking alcohol – that could be the cause of the slow mornings?

eat boy eat

Crosspost.

I’m actually a bit overweight at the mo, not by much, but by enough to notice, (I’m a skinny bugger – “race weight” is 10stone), and i have a very sweet tooth, so the last thing I want is to end up being able to justify eating crap to myself. Currently I’m eating far more fruit than I’ve ever done in my life (ie some!), bu the lure of choccy hobnobs is always there and always preferable to healthy stuff…

Take a week off and ride your bike just for fun, preferably with some really slow mates so you can’t accidentally tear around like a nutter! Pick somewhere you like riding, phone some friends and just rip round in the woods for a hr, remind yourself why you like riding your bike. forget everything about training, working out etc etc just ride with a smile on your face!

drinking alcohol

Very little. I probably average a unit a week, if that. (an occasional beer with Sunday dinner, the odd tiny tot of single malt)

Too much and too soon. Rest until you feel better then re-build up gradually.

Just have a couple of weeks of no riding, other than essential commutes etc.

Then start riding for fun, without worrying about getting fit for your event.

I’m training for an Ironman, but am just riding, running and swimming for fun, pushing a bit, but with the emphasis on enjoying it.

Being too regimented in training can make it a chore and slavishly following a training plan can mean that you are not listening to your body.

I’m sure you are experienced enough to know all this, but you did ask.

I’ve had a few 6 week plus layoffs over the last few years due to injury. I thought I would be unfit when I picked it back up, but I actually got stronger quicker on returning to activity.

Rest is your friend.

I’ve had the same thing. Honestly, no matter whether you agree with the overtraining comments or not, you need rest. It’s the only way you’ll get back to feeling how you were. Exactly the same thing happened to me.

vitamin B and iron will help convert that fat to energy – any ‘listlessness’ is probably due to not eating enough of the right stuff and not resting to regenerate your body

nutrition

supplements

Getting older?

The obvious options are largely covered but as someone who got to that a few times, you certainly described overtraining perfectly.

The volume you’re doing now against what you used to do previously is irrelevant unless your fitness is the same. Sounds like you set a goal and hit the training harder than your body was able to cope with at the time. Overtraining can creep up on you like that. And it’ll mess with your head.

Do you check resting pulse? that’s a good way to see if you’re recovering properly.

And if it’s not that then some low level infection for which you should ask the doctor to run blood tests, etc.

And as above, regardless, rest is almost certainly going to be the cure.

A GP friend of mine did his own blood test when he was feeling pretty pooped and a lack of go… turns out he had glandular fever, so it’s not just for teenagers then?.. might be worth a trip to the docs.

I’d be booking a checkup with the GP, if only to rule out possible illnesses like the onset of diabetes or some such.

For all the “overtraining” responders – what do you class as an acceptable amount of riding then? Genuinely i would have thought that any one who calls themselves a biker of any description would be out at least as much as I am. I’m also “just riding” – it’s not like I’m doing monster interval sessions or hill reps or stupid stuff like that. Just going out and (attempt to) have fun on my bike.

Getting older?

I’m only a month older than I was this time last month! And if 39 is past it, then shoot me now!

The problem with taking time off is that I lose so much so quick (and this is from repeated experience). If I miss a weekends MTBing (ie a fortnight gap between rides), I’ll have utterly lost my handling skills and it’ll take me 2 or 3 rides to get my edge back again. Likewise for fitness – it won’t affect stamina much, but my top end power (what there is of it!) will just vanish and it’ll take me a lot of grunting and gurning and sweating to get it back again.

How strange, it was if as I was writing the OP. I’ve felt pretty pooped since a week on Wed; I look exhausted and I have cold sores. Hopefully this Easter holiday will put me right

Have you had a blood test done? Your symptoms sound similar to what happened to me last summer, I saw the docs and had a blood test and it turned out to be a thyroid issue (underactive). I’m now on medication but the leg power is yet to return, maybe its worth you getting it checked out?

You sound like you’re physically and mentally exhausted and in a complete state of denial!

Regarding the skills thing, I noticed that riding with less good as well as better riders does wonders for my confidence (because it reminds me I’m not that bad!) and when my confidence is better then so is my focus and thus my skills.

I had the same thing about a year ago when I decided to regain some lost fitness. I was shattered after far less than what I would consider a strenuous ride. Like you, there was no way I was knocking it on the head because it wasn’t a big amount of exercise at all.

What made a huge difference to me was protein. Being veggie I guess I wasn’t getting enough anyway, but I made a conscious effort to eat protein with every meal, particularly having a large portion of quorn every evening along with a protein supplement after every exercise whether I felt I needed it or not. The change was almost immediate, physically and mentally.

The other thing you can’t ignore is that you may be psyching yourself out, unsettled sleep, lack of focus etc.

I don’t know the answer to this one cos I don’t compete!

stress? doing me in at the moment for ‘not much’ exercise, not flu, not even cold really, just out of sorts..

Eating normally….

What dos that mean for you, are you feeding your riding sufficiently? getting enough carbs in?

Certainly all the symptoms you are describing could be over-training, but it also could be lack of fuel, or a low grade infection. Either way, get off the bike for a week or so, and put your feet up, It won’t effect your prep.

The burn out comment from me was from experience. A few years ago I was mega fit and then upped my training for a high altitude mountain climb, and that was enough to send me completely out of sorts, both mentally and physically. I spoke with a couple of the personal trainers, took a weeks solid rest, adjusted my diet and added a protein suppliment, dropped back to my normal training program for a couple of weeks before upping it again. The diet change gave me the right fuel but more importantly the weeks rest put me back on track and I felt twice as good when I got back to it. After that I had a weeks rest every 2-3 months depending on the intensity of the excersize. Hth

Eating normally = no lack of carbs.

Brekkie – 250ml OJ, porridge – 2 tablespoons of oats, skimmed milk, sultanas & glace ginger. Espresso

Lunch – 2 cheese & pickle doorstops (1/2 a 400g loaf), apple, yogurt

Tea – cuppa, maybe some biscuits/cake etc. (this once or twice a week, usually on riding days)

Dinner – What the missus fancies cooking. Usually contains meat, normally semi-healthy(ie no fry ups!) and plenty of veg & carb content. A couple of squares of good chocolate afterwards.

Sunday dinner is usally a proper Sunday dinner (beef/roasties etc) with a proper pud – apple crumble & custard or similar).

sounds nice! not too different to me. but I ride a bit less than you so are you losing weight?

It sounds as though you are probably ill. There have been several low grade viruses that just make you feel overly tired and lacking the ability to exercise without you feeling so tired that you have to stop for several days. There are no other symptoms other than the tiredness so you can feel a bit of a fraud.

In short go and see your GP and get a blood test. This type of thing can last over 5-6 weeks and is depressing if you are used to doing a lot of exercise. It may be that your body has been using all its resources (possibly see depleted iron) to fight off the virus so the blood test is a good way of seeing what it is.

Don’t take chances and go and use your free GP.

Few days rest, you’ll be itching to get out again and feeling strong having given your muscles chance to repair themselves properly.

Hmmmm…. diet looks fine, maybe a little carb heavy but thats not an issue with the work load. Personally I would add a protein/recovery shake after your bike sessions. Plus go see doc to get checked for virus

Sounds to me like a bad case of denial too. Happened to me and it got to the stage where I didn’t even enjoy the event I was training for. Afterwards I took about a week off the bike and the next weekend I was fighting fit again. Was kicking myself that I hadn’t done it before the event and reaped the benefits.
As others have said, 1 week off won’t make a difference. If you do lose top end power then it’s no big deal – you’ll be in a far worse position than that if you keep going the way you are going.
Finally, if you are not concentrating then you could do yourself a mischief (probably by an easily avoidable accident caused by lack of focus) and end up missing the event or worse.

Take a break.

It doesn’t need to be bike related; how are things other than riding / training? Stress at work, money worries, relationship worries, mid-life crisis; any of these can have a knock-on effect. Be brutally honest with yourself and if everything else is hunky-dory then get and see your gp.

Are you hydrated properly? *job head on*
We started distributing OSMO at 2pure and my job means I have to learn everything about what we sell.

I have spent a few months reading science papers etc. Anyway, I started using it and BLAM, massive change. Heaps more energy but eating less, getting faster on the bike(still slow though :-)) and feeling more alert and alive after exercise and more ‘ready’.

Take a look on their site and do some reading-it may be something like this or as others point out, you could just be doing too much.