Help - Fatigue!

Everyone experiences things differently, but I live in a big city and grind the commutes on a regular basis.

I like to hammer it from the stops, and so forth, as you suggest. Coincidentally, also just switched back to a road bike after a few years on an MTB. To be honest with you I liked the extra ruggedness of an MTB on the city riding, but the Road bike is growing back on me now. It is no easier on the road bike really, but you average a slightly higher speed for the same amount of effort.

On getting burnt out though, sometimes the ride just catches up with you. Especially if you are doing that strength work on the weekends on top of it all. In my case, like clock work, about very 5 weeks I just get burnt out. Also, you don't really get to change your routine around like someone who rides stricly training type rides. Maybe if you don't depend on the bike, drive the car for a week, or ride easy, really easy, for a week, at maybe around 130 BPM max, like someone else suggested (resist the sprints - no matter what!). If you're like me after FORCING the rest, you will come back ready to Rock'n'roll.

Secondly, look up a good recipe for a sports drink you can mix up --> glucose, salt, flavoring, caffeine, or what-ever. Or buy one of the pre-mixed powders. You'll keep yourself more stabilized. I used water only for a bunch of years, but sipping on the sports drink, instead, after you are into the ride, will keep you feeling a lot better. It has some extra calories you'll have to watch, but if you are replenishing your stores as you ride it is far more likely you won't want 5 sandwiches when you get home, like I used to when drinking water only, instead of the sports drink.

Finally, good choice on checking with the doctor, no advice might compare to a professional looking you over. Good luck to you.

Off topic JR,

I've got to go to Sydenham st, Brookvale one day this week. I'll drop my bag in North Sydney and then ride down to Brookvale to arrive at 7.30am hang around for around 15 minutes and then ride back to North Sydney. Can you suggest a route for me? I've only ridden that way on a Sunday morning with a cycling club, so don't know the traffic issues that well.

I'd stay on Military Road and then Spit Road down to the Spit since it follows the ridge top and the altrnate routes are circuitous and hilly. You will probably encounter the northbound traffic queue at the bends at the top of The Spit hill.

The last set of lights before the Spit Hill is Medusa St. If the traffic is queued you can legitimately ride the footpath from either the next street (Ida Ave) or the one after (Pearl Bay Ave) all the way down and then across the shared cycleway on the western footpath on Spit Bridge. Beware of traffic turning right and across the front of you into Pearl Bay Ave.

An alternative is to have dismounted and crossed Military Road much further back and taken the old tramway down that is now Parriwi Road. You'll need to stop at the lights and cross again at the bottom

About 200m after Spit Bridge take the turn left up Battle Boulevarde as I thnk you know. At the top swing right and then right again into Edgecliffe Esplanade. Don't forget to check out the views!

At the end of Edgecliff turn left up Panorama Ave and then first right into Ponsonby. This merges into Sydney road. Go straight thru the roundabout and onwards to the Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation (BBCD) intersection.

A small number of cyclists turnleft here and use the BBCD freeway, but I'm wary of recommending it to a lone rider because the closing speeds are high and motorists are not expecting to see a cyclist there AT ALL, so they could easily clean you up despite the fact they should be able to see you for some distance. I've nearly done it myself. :o

My suggestion is to continue across the intersection and take the first left immediately after the lights, down Dudley Street.

At the bottom of Dudley is the (very narrow) entrance to a shared cycleway that runs next to BBCD. Turn left after the little overpass. If you find yoruself in the tunnel you've gone right and need to do a u-turn. Go with the flow the rest of hte way as it runs more-or-less downhill next to the creek.

Towards the end is a tree-lined culdesac, but you will need to switch left and follow the path as it continues on the expressway side of the concrete barrier. Cross over the Ped X to the traffic island at the very end and when the traffic lights allow tag along with traffic turning right past Freedom Furniture to rejoin the flow northbound from BBCD into Condamine St.

The rest of the way you should be fine running along Condamine Street past the Mall until you get to Brookie.

Coming back I'd follow the same route using the cycleway alongside BBCD, except at the end of Dudley St instead of heading across BBCD into Sydney Road and fluffing around through Seaforth, just turn left and rejoin the flow heading down Manly Road directly to Spit Bridge. After the bridge turn left at the first set of lights - where it says "no left turn bicycles excepted" - and enjoy the traffic free climb up Parriwi Road.

If you find yourself in that danged tunnel again, you've missed the ramp that exits up off to the right that you need to take to get into Dudley Street.

Update:
I've been to see the quack and he could find nothing immediately wrong. Blood pressure, listened to my lungs, felt around lymph nodes, abdomen and so on. All good.

I had my asthma script renewed, so hopefully getting back on the wagon with medication and symptom management will help with sleeping.

He's written up paperwork to get some blood tests done. I think his thought is around iron levels. I'll keep you posted with results.

In the meantime I'll cut the cycling days to M-W-F until the sleeping patterns stabilise. Cutting the intensity will be a challenge, with the hills on the route being what they are. The homeward journey is the tougher one, with Battle Boulevarde being steeper though shorter, and the climb back up Allambie Road around 3km in length.

I'm looking to get a road bike - would that help much?[/QUOTE]

Here is one more thought, because I've just done this. Because you have asthma, and you started commuting in the cold (6mth ago? was winter, yes?) you may have also contracted a lung infection. My docter missed it on the initial "listen, feel, blood count" exam. Only when 1 day of fatigue turned to always fatigued, after 3mths or so (I'm real stubborn with a high threshold of pain), I ordered a chest x-ray. Seemed I had a "spot" on the back of the lung. That "spot" was the size of a peach! Bacterial infections are sneaky.
You probably don't have this issue, but I thought I'd mention it in case nutrition and sleep don't help. Incidently, I'm 43, but feel much younger. But 40 somethings have to watch out for all those past physical competitive activities that rear their ugly heads later in life.
Good luck! 🙄

j.r.hawkins said:

Coming back I'd follow the same route using the cycleway alongside BBCD, except at the end of Dudley St instead of heading across BBCD into Sydney Road and fluffing around through Seaforth, just turn left and rejoin the flow heading down Manly Road directly to Spit Bridge. After the bridge turn left at the first set of lights - where it says "no left turn bicycles excepted" - and enjoy the traffic free climb up Parriwi Road.

If you find yourself in that danged tunnel again, you've missed the ramp that exits up off to the right that you need to take to get into Dudley Street.

Done the deed this morning. Thanks for the advice. I almost went into the tunnel and then I remembered your advice. Then I bumped into Catheryn a tri gal riding a mtb with very long hair platted and she escorted me back to North Sydney. Thanks J.R.

dhk2 said:

Sounds like you're riding too hard too often. 7&1/2 hours a week of daily commuting in stop and go traffic doesn't sound like a picnic to me.

"Buzzing" until midnight, and then waking up at 3-4 am is a sign of overtraining...

Suggest you start by resetting your HRM training zone to 110-130, and never exceed that 130 max. Also, I'd put in an extra rest day each week, so you're riding M-W-F, with a rest day after each riding day. It will take some discipline to ride this slowly, but believe it will really help you in the long run.

Just wanted to say thanks for all the useful feedback you guys to the time to give, and to provide a follow-up report.

I've taken on dhk2's advice about keeping the heart rate down, but I've blended the approach.

I'm still going just as hard on the workbound trip, but I'm using the HRM every day on the homebound trip aiming to keep the heart rate to 130 or below. I don't succeed on the climb up Battle Boulevarde from The Spit, where it climbs to 140-145 even though I'm only ambling up in second gear (remember: MTB) and up the early stages of Allambie Road, but the heart rate average for the entire homeward trip has been 130 or lower.

And yes, it has been very tough resisting the temptation to sprint, especially in busy traffic. I had one State Transit bus driver menace me deliberately after the Parriwi Road climb in a road rage moment, and I'll be taking that up with his employers. 😠

I'm still getting a little tired at the end of the week, but today I had enough energy to manage a surf with my son, and didn't feel like I had to sleep all day to catch up. This is after riding FIVE days - one more than previously.

So it looks like overtraining was the culprit. I'm yet to get the blood test done because the fasting requirement knocks it out midweek and taking my young bloke to Saturday morning cricket has been a distraction that's gotten in the way on the weekend. I will get to it in the next two weeks, however.

I'll provide another update when I have something to report.

Hi J.R.

Good to hear that things have improved,.

Mate, how do u keep HR down to 145 on the hill? I don't even want to think about where mine would go.

Cheers Mike.

mikesbytes said:

Hi J.R.

Good to hear that things have improved,.

Mate, how do u keep HR down to 145 on the hill? I don't even want to think about where mine would go.

Cheers Mike.

Mate, thanks for your advice!

Either I'm fitter than I thought <haha> or it's the low MTB gearing, the slick tyres and about 9km/hr. Not caning it until then is probably a factor too.

Pootling along is getting easier with practice. I still get urges to chase moving objects though. If I believed in past lives I'd be guessing I was a dog.