Dealing with a Deep Level of Fatigue from Endurance Training

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A few weeks ago, I woke up one morning feeling tired, depressed, anxious, irritable, muscle soreness, low sex drive, lack of motivation toward my training and zero motivation to move my family’s small business forward. My girlfriend was wondering if our relationship was causing too much stress. My coworkers and friends were telling me I had too many irons in the fire. I was going through a bout of insomnia. In my head, I was thinking maybe I have low testosterone or HGH levels, or maybe I had a nutrient imbalance or a carbohydrate intolerance. I could continue to list the thoughts I have running through my head, but I’ll digress.

Of all the things I was blaming my emotional and physical health on, I never thought running higher mileage than I ever have before or HIIT workouts 3x per week on my indoor cycling trainer could be a major cause for concern. On top of these workouts, I am usually swimming 3000 yards/week in an indoor pool (I train for triathlons year-round). I use training peaks to track all my workout data. Looking back at the data, I could see that my weekly training hours were close to 8 hours a week for the past few months. I realized that I had been training at my peak a month leading up to my first half ironman, and after a short 1-week break (which I still trained on), I went right back into my high-volume training.

Over time, the symptoms I mentioned in the opening paragraph above grew worse. I was driving myself into a deeper state of fatigue with every additional week of training. I was waking up consistently at 3am in the morning for about 2 weeks.  I can do a lot of things and deal with a lot of stress. One thing I have trouble dealing with is a lack of sleep. I grew even more emotional without sleep and decided it was time to take action.

Some things I am doing to improve my overall well-being:

  • No training schedule until I feel motivated and ready to follow a plan again
  • Only running and cycling when I feel like running and cycling. Doing these workouts for fun and only being intense when I feel like it.
  • Going to the pool, but enjoying my time there. Doing drills and fun sets. Nothing I don’t feel like doing
  • Keeping track of how much food I take in. Eating whole foods and cooking as much as I can.
    • I tracked my macros for the first time in years yesterday and realized I have been significantly under-fueling. I would guess I rarely consumed more than 2000 quality calories without the help of dominos, Halloween candy, or McDonalds. Fueling was not a priority during the 2017 season. It will be moving forward
  • Sleeping as much as I want.
    • I had been sacrificing sleep for workouts. I realized that I need 8-9 hours in order to feel good. This is my best recovery tool and I will do my best not to give it up moving forward.

Joe Friel says Training = Stress + Rest. I had been doing a whole lot of stressing and not a lot of resting. I think I can apply this to many areas of my life. I don’t want to make a habit of constantly stressing about all areas of my life without some time off  to reflect and let my brain/ body rest.

Over the past week, I haven’t done a swim/bike/run workout. I haven’t set an alarm. I have been focusing on what I feel like focusing on and constantly working to stay present and not letting stress creep into my life. Don’t get me wrong, I am not giving up on being the best version of myself. I am resetting, or “resting”, so I have the energy for the next big push to a new level.

My family and friends were right. Trying to be a business man, a good partner in life, a pro-level triathlete, a good friend, the best investor, a consistent meditator, a blogger, and a constant consumer of information on self-improvement is tough. I need to take the pedal off the gas to feel better. I was tired.

Since I put the brakes on my workouts completely, my sleep has improved. I have been getting the rest I need to perform optimally. My overall mood has improved. I feel better than I have in months. I will continue to rest as long as I continue to feel better. I am not a doctor, but I have read other athletes accounts of fatigue and many of them state rest of up to several months is what they needed to feel better.

-SD