General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Overtrained and depressed - help! Rss Feed  
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2005-06-16 11:44 AM

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Subject: Overtrained and depressed - help!

I am trying to come to grips with being overtrained and figure out what to do about it.  The warning signs have been coming on for months – getting more and more tired, smelling ammonia after most runs, unable to ramp up volume, etc.  In the past month or so, it’s gotten worse and I’ve generally felt depressed and tired, even after recovery weeks and days of no activity at all.  I now have to do 12 min miles to keep my heart rate in the aerobic zone, and even that’s a challenge.  I get muscle cramps after every swim, sometimes bad enough that I have to physically pull my cramping toes straight.  I no longer sleep soundly and can’t fall asleep quickly.

I’ve been to the doctor and had everything checked.  Blood pressure and resting heart rate is higher than normal (though not overly high).  My electrolytes are within range though it looks like I could use a tad more magnesium & sodium to get into the middle of the range.  Iron & thyroid are right in the middle.  Lymphs are high (47 and range is 14-46) but the nurse said that may be due to morning dehydration.

I realize now that I should have taken a month or two off after the end of last season, but I was trying to slowly increase my volume in order to do an Oly.  In fact, I’m signed up to do one at the end of July.  My concern now is how to get the proper rest without gaining weight and losing my fitness so that I can feel good doing my Oly.  Right now, I’m keeping my workout times at my recovery week level (longest run/swim is 42 min and long bike is 85 min).  I’ve dropped my workouts to 5 a week (1 in each sport & 2 weights) and am trying very hard to keep my heart rate in the aerobic zone, no matter how slow I have to go.

Has anyone been over-trained and if so, how long did it take you to get over it?  How much did you exercise then?  Any pointers aside from “rest” (what is the definition of that? – no exercise at all, not moving off the couch, light walking – what?)?  I feel like I’ve completely f’d up my season! :-(



2005-06-16 12:36 PM
in reply to: #175945

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Subject: RE: Overtrained and depressed - help!
Insteresting. In order to see your avatar picture, one must enter the "Kitten Testing Plant" Username/Password. LOL Why are you testing kittens???

In terms of rest. Take a whole week off. It won't hurt, I swear. Well maybe your ego. But that's about it. People need to rest sometimes, we all do. I am doing that right now!! ;-) Just take it easy and hang in there. You'll make it through
2005-06-16 12:38 PM
in reply to: #175945

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Subject: RE: Overtrained and depressed - help!
Whit, thanks for asking this pertinent question. I am very interested in the repsonses you get.

Last season I trained for 26 weeks for a  1/2 IM, did that in sept., took a 10 days off and then jumped into marathon training and did one 6 wks after the 1/2. I was trashed on the mary. After this I did take some time off with no training for a week or so and then got slowly back in to things.
   Looking back, all this training did cause overtraining on the old bod and other factors in life came to a head. For the good and bad. Although I enjoyed the mary I probably should not have done it nor expected to finish within my goal time.
    Currently my training is day by day, no plan really, just doing it day by day and getting by life the same way. Somedays battling mild depressed days. I dont feel overtrained but sometimes we cant see for ourselves what is really going on.

    well, thats my story and I'm sticking to it.
2005-06-16 12:49 PM
in reply to: #175945

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St. Louis, MO
Subject: RE: Overtrained and depressed - help!
Rest means rest- don't train. Go for a nice walk and enjoy your surroundings, play frisbee with some friends, or just watch some movies on the couch. Whatever you do, don't push hard, don't worry about heart rates or speed. Take a step back and remember why you wanted to do tris in the first place. When you come back to training you'll feel much better- physically and mentally. I love to rest, so it's hard for me to hear about this I can't rest stuff... rest. It's part of training.
2005-06-16 1:07 PM
in reply to: #175945

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Subject: RE: Overtrained and depressed - help!

Whit, first of all how many hours a week are you doing?  I went through this same problem about 6 or 8 weeks ago.  Currently, I do about 7 to 8 hrs per week, with some weeks at 5.5.  Even with the light weeks, I went through a tough period of being fatigued.  Here's what I did.  I started eating more, especially before any training session morning or afternooon.  I discovered that trying to loose a couple of pounds during this training session was very foolish.  I also started taking a B vitamin and L-Carnitine. Between eating more and taking these vitamins, I noticed the fatigue slipping away in about 2 weeks.  You would be suprised by how much you really should be eating while training 5 or more hours a week.  There is some website that allows you to keep a diary and calculates how many calories you need based upon your activity level and body weight.  Hope this helps!

Bmac

2005-06-17 9:29 AM
in reply to: #175945

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Subject: RE: Overtrained and depressed - help!

Thanks for the input.  When I was going full steam, I was exercising 6-9 hrs a week.  I don't think eating is a problem since I do eat 5-6 times a day and have to work to keep my weight from going up.

I can't see myself quitting exercise cold turkey, but I will try to scale back in volume, intensity and frequency.  I have to try to remember that working out 3-5 days a week is still a lot by most people's standards! 

Anyway, so far I haven't exercised since Tuesday and I noticed that I slept better last night than in awhile.  Maybe after another week of very low activity I'll be able to start doing more regular light exercise without my heart rate skyrocketing.  If not, I guess I'll have to keep backing off.

I'm also going to look at the race at the end of July as being for training only and look towards doing some later races "for real".  That ought to give me a month or so to recover.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!



Edited by Whit 2005-06-17 9:33 AM


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