Tiredness from cycling...

Jim said:

I commute twice a week from Middlewich to Chester and back. That's about 44
miles total each time / 88 miles a week. Generally manage that about 70 to
80 days a year.

This year, I am finding that even though I have done the trip on about 10
days, I seem to be getting no fitter.

Maybe this is the problem
Nothing has changed,

Is it possible to vary the route & make it different?

Jim writtificated

Quoted message said:

Maybe I have some kind of low-level bug, but it's really getting me
down. Anyone else had anything like this?

Sounds like overtraining. Take it easy for a couple of weeks and you'll
feel full of energy again.

In article <[email hidden]>, Jim
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Maybe I have some kind of low-level bug, but it's really getting me down.
Anyone else had anything like this? I suppose I could go to the docs, but I
thought I'd ask here first. I hate that feeling of getting to within a few
miles of home, and having my legs die on me, struggling to do even 12 mph.

Have a doctor check you over, if it's viral you may just need to rest
until you recover, but it could also be something like diabetes in which
case you'll probably need treatment. I had something similar and found
it really frustrating - I'd start to feel better, get back on the bike
and feel knackered again. Did you have a sore throat and flu-like
symptoms a few weeks ago?

I have had one of those winter long-lasting bugs. I only rode to work on 2
days in Jan due to [censored] weather and feeling unwell. But in Feb I felt a lot
better. Even if I have a week off the bike, then I find the ride to work in
the morning feels good, my legs feel strong, but then after that - slowville
again!

I have varied the route a bit in the past, and that does help, but the
variations add miles on, and when you're mostly interested in getting to
work / home as fast as possible, I tend to use the shortest route each time.

Maybe I need to have a check-up, but I always feel like a pain in the [censored]
asking the doc about these things, since it's something waffly and
unspecific, like "I feel tired!". But then again, I suppose it might be
better than not knowing.

Thanks for your replies.

Jim

Jim said:

I have had one of those winter long-lasting bugs. I only rode to work on 2
days in Jan due to [censored] weather and feeling unwell. But in Feb I felt a lot
better. Even if I have a week off the bike, then I find the ride to work in
the morning feels good, my legs feel strong, but then after that - slowville
again!

I have varied the route a bit in the past, and that does help, but the
variations add miles on, and when you're mostly interested in getting to
work / home as fast as possible, I tend to use the shortest route each time.

Maybe I need to have a check-up, but I always feel like a pain in the [censored]
asking the doc about these things, since it's something waffly and
unspecific, like "I feel tired!". But then again, I suppose it might be
better than not knowing.

Thanks for your replies.

Jim

How hard are you trying on your rides to work? It could be that you
are trying too hard, which makes it harder to recover. You need to
ride so that you could easily carry on a conversation, not be out of
breath. Paradoxically, you probably need to slow down in order to
speed up. This might be one time that it helps to talk to yourself 🙂.

Plan your ride time to take just that little longer, and concentrate
in taking it easy. Your aim will be to drop into working in your
aerobic zone. If you have a few quid to spare, buy yourself a basic
pulse meter and find your pulse for riding at this easier pace. Give
yourself a zone of plus and minus 5 bpm on this heart rate, and this
will guide you as to wether you are working too hard or not hard
enough. You will be socket, at first, as to how slowly you need to go
up hills to remain in the zone. The rule of thumb of 220-your age for
maximum heart rate and 65% of this for aerobic target has proved very
hit and miss for me.

David L

"Jim" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I commute twice a week from Middlewich to Chester and back. That's about 44
miles total each time / 88 miles a week. Generally manage that about 70 to
80 days a year.

This year, I am finding that even though I have done the trip on about 10
days, I seem to be getting no fitter. It just completely wears me out, so
my 9pm I'm ready for bed. I'm only 34! My average mph this year for this
time of year is well down on previous years. Nothing has changed, I'm not
getting less sleep, eating worse, riding with my brakes on, etc. etc.

Maybe I have some kind of low-level bug, but it's really getting me down.
Anyone else had anything like this? I suppose I could go to the docs, but
I thought I'd ask here first. I hate that feeling of getting to within a
few miles of home, and having my legs die on me, struggling to do even 12
mph.

I'd try a break. It sounds like a build up of tiredness to me. Other options
would be something disturbing your sleep - recently my bird had a terrible
cough, and I didn't realise but she was waking me up in the night coughing,
and I ended up absolutely shattered after about 3 days. Noisy neighbours or
perhaps even something like sleep apnea, though it's unlikely if you're not
overweight / obese / already snore terribly.

Is the commuting on top of other riding as well? If you're doing the commute
and riding most days as well, I'd say that's almost certainly the problem.

Jim said:

I commute twice a week from Middlewich to Chester and back. That's about 44
miles total each time / 88 miles a week. Generally manage that about 70 to
80 days a year.

This year, I am finding that even though I have done the trip on about 10
days, I seem to be getting no fitter. It just completely wears me out, so my
9pm I'm ready for bed. I'm only 34! My average mph this year for this time
of year is well down on previous years. Nothing has changed, I'm not getting
less sleep, eating worse, riding with my brakes on, etc. etc.

Maybe I have some kind of low-level bug, but it's really getting me down.
Anyone else had anything like this? I suppose I could go to the docs, but I
thought I'd ask here first. I hate that feeling of getting to within a few
miles of home, and having my legs die on me, struggling to do even 12 mph.

Thanks

Jim

When commuting a similar length I found having one of those whey based
protein drinks - 3 scopes at each end (morning and night) helped to
reduce tiredness during the day and keep the legs ready for action.

Occasionally they'd still be a 'bonk ride' where your body and mind
just aren't into it at all - the rides frustrating, unpleasant, boring
and tough going. Weird thing is I could never spot a pattern -
sometimes you had a great ride when you should be knackered (4th day
on the trot and it's windy), other times you had a bonk ride when the
weather's great and it's the start of the week. I just accepted the
bad ones, took it easy and tried not to let it bring me down - luckily
they were only once every 1-2 weeks.

Maybe you've got psychologically stale with your kit and need some
retail therapy to bring the passion back - new tyres, gps trip
computer, drive-train or something - have you entered into any races
for the summer so you feel you're ride is not only a commute but a
valuable and required training session. Maybe vary your route, try
some new turns, I think it helps if you can look forward to your ride
or feel it's something other than a simple commute.

Good luck with sorting it out!

HTH,

Duncan

David Lloyd said:

How hard are you trying on your rides to work? It could be that you
are trying too hard, which makes it harder to recover. You need to
ride so that you could easily carry on a conversation, not be out of
breath. Paradoxically, you probably need to slow down in order to
speed up. This might be one time that it helps to talk to yourself 🙂.

I was going to suggest similar [not that 'fitness and speed' is my
problem... I have neither]. All you have to do is unplug your cycle
computer and allow yourself to 'keep going' instead of 'squeeze the speed'.
This is a useful discipline if you're an 'always on time - why is
nobody else!' sort of bloke as it teaches you the value of relaxing - or
else you end up with ulcers. This doesn't mean you have to give up all
flogging of the flesh, you can still blast up that ****ing hill etc. /if
you choose/.

An obvious point perhaps, but you are feeding and watering your body on the
way home or just before?

In case it's any conciliation there's a lot of 'lingering tiredness' about.
I'm a victim - I should know because I'm an expert - with years of
experience of the are of laziness.

--
Peter Fox
Beer, dancing, cycling and lots more at www.eminent.demon.co.uk

"Jim" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I commute twice a week from Middlewich to Chester and back. That's about 44
miles total each time / 88 miles a week. Generally manage that about 70 to
80 days a year.

This year, I am finding that even though I have done the trip on about 10
days, I seem to be getting no fitter. It just completely wears me out, so
my 9pm I'm ready for bed. I'm only 34! My average mph this year for this
time of year is well down on previous years. Nothing has changed, I'm not
getting less sleep, eating worse, riding with my brakes on, etc. etc.

Maybe I have some kind of low-level bug, but it's really getting me down.
Anyone else had anything like this? I suppose I could go to the docs, but
I thought I'd ask here first. I hate that feeling of getting to within a
few miles of home, and having my legs die on me, struggling to do even 12
mph.

Thanks

Jim

Possibility only: get your thyroid checked. I had low thryoid coming on
for years before I got diagnosed when it got really bad. Just this sort of
thing in the early days, sudden loss of stamina and tiredness, in spite of
good fitness and activity.

Barb

"Doki" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Jim" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I commute twice a week from Middlewich to Chester and back. That's about
44 miles total each time / 88 miles a week. Generally manage that about 70
to 80 days a year.

This year, I am finding that even though I have done the trip on about 10
days, I seem to be getting no fitter. It just completely wears me out, so
my 9pm I'm ready for bed. I'm only 34! My average mph this year for this
time of year is well down on previous years. Nothing has changed, I'm not
getting less sleep, eating worse, riding with my brakes on, etc. etc.

Maybe I have some kind of low-level bug, but it's really getting me down.
Anyone else had anything like this? I suppose I could go to the docs, but
I thought I'd ask here first. I hate that feeling of getting to within a
few miles of home, and having my legs die on me, struggling to do even 12
mph.

I'd try a break. It sounds like a build up of tiredness to me. Other
options would be something disturbing your sleep - recently my bird had a
terrible cough, and I didn't realise but she was waking me up in the night
coughing, and I ended up absolutely shattered after about 3 days. Noisy
neighbours or perhaps even something like sleep apnea, though it's
unlikely if you're not overweight / obese / already snore terribly.

Is the commuting on top of other riding as well? If you're doing the
commute and riding most days as well, I'd say that's almost certainly the
problem.

Does this mean that those of us with a 10+ mile commute one way can never be
car independent, since in this situation plus maybe one club outing on the
weekend I could never recover sufficiently?

I wonder how these people managed it:

http://www.londonskaters.com/cycling/why-commute-by-bicycle.htm

Claims that a 15 mile one way commute is nothing, anyone can do it and even
a 125 mile outing is nothing much, so presumably there must be a way
somehow.

Adam

"Jim" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I commute twice a week from Middlewich to Chester and back. That's about 44
miles total each time / 88 miles a week. Generally manage that about 70 to
80 days a year.

This year, I am finding that even though I have done the trip on about 10
days, I seem to be getting no fitter. It just completely wears me out, so
my 9pm I'm ready for bed. I'm only 34! My average mph this year for this
time of year is well down on previous years. Nothing has changed, I'm not
getting less sleep, eating worse, riding with my brakes on, etc. etc.

Maybe I have some kind of low-level bug, but it's really getting me down.
Anyone else had anything like this? I suppose I could go to the docs, but
I thought I'd ask here first. I hate that feeling of getting to within a
few miles of home, and having my legs die on me, struggling to do even 12
mph.

Thanks

Jim

I have a very similar problem to you. I do a 24 mile hilly round trip
commute and find I can only manage this around three times per week
otherwise I am too exhausted. It is definitly a recovery thing as when I am
leaving work in the evening I can still feel the morning ride in my legs
over eight hours later.

I am trying a sports recovery drink which is whey protein + simple carbs
taken after the weekend club ride and when I get home from work in the
evenings to see if that helps. One question - are you sure you are eating
enough? Try eating something high in carbs and calories as soon as possible
after finishing the ride. You could try eating healthy snacks at regular
intervals throughout the day to keep yourself topped up, then have something
high in carbs before going home in the evening.

Also, if you find that you really can't face the cycle journey, don't cycle.
Listen to your body.

Adam

In article <[email hidden]>, Adam Lea
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Does this mean that those of us with a 10+ mile commute one way can never be
car independent, since in this situation plus maybe one club outing on the
weekend I could never recover sufficiently?

Maybe you're working too hard - commuting should be at a lower intensity
than a training ride otherwise you'll wear yourself down really quickly.
Are you getting enough protein, vitamin B ... ?
I used to ride 10 miles pretty hard most mornings then take it easy on
the way home, 10 mile time trial some evenings (plus maybe another 10
miles to get there and back), 10 or 25 mile time trial on a Sunday (plus
maybe 20 miles to get there and back) and/or club run (typically 50+
miles including riding there/back) or off-roading. And for a while I
was doing circuit training once or twice a week (but I used to drive to
that). I had Mondays off. :-)
If I was tired or the weather was really nasty I'd drive, or if I'd
ridden in I'd get the train home - I wouldn't have liked to be totally
dependent on bikes for transport, but if I was more disciplined I could
just have left more time and managed more of those journeys at a slow
steady pace (or taken a few more sick days: I was never one for taking
time off work to the extent that I was occasionally sent home for being
ill/damaged, or forced to take holidays - it's great when you enjoy your
work!)

Rob Morley said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Adam Lea
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Does this mean that those of us with a 10+ mile commute one way can never be
car independent, since in this situation plus maybe one club outing on the
weekend I could never recover sufficiently?

If you allow yourself enough recovery, your stamina will gradually
build up. One method of checking overtraining is monitoring resting
pulse. Take your pulse first thing in the morning before you get out
of bed. Do this when you are definetly not overdoing it to get a base
figure. Then, if you find it's a bit high the day after riding, it
shows something is not quite right. It might be too much exercise, but
other things, such as a virus, can increase your resting pulse. Either
way, it's a sign to take it easy. When I used to run and cycle, my
base rate would go up by 5 bpm when I didn't allow enough recovery
time. And the older you are, the more recovery time you need.

Quoted message said:

Maybe you're working too hard - commuting should be at a lower intensity
than a training ride otherwise you'll wear yourself down really quickly.
Are you getting enough protein, vitamin B ... ?

Tiredness can be the sympton of lots of things. With me, taking extra
Vitamin B makes a massive difference. Shortage of iron also causes
problems. But so do lots of other things. Hopefully your doctor will
help but I understand what you mean about going to the doctor with non-
specific systems. Mine was very good, but I found the vitamin B thing
by myself.

I'd assume you're just overdoing the exercise at the moment.

Rob

Quoting Adam Lea <[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Does this mean that those of us with a 10+ mile commute one way can never be
car independent, since in this situation plus maybe one club outing on the
weekend I could never recover sufficiently?

I infer from your other posting this is a serious question. I used to
clock 11 miles each way, 5 days a week, plus any other riding I'd get up
to (for example, Tuesday evenings I'd often ride 20 miles home from a
friend's house), including CTC runs on a Sunday. Those were pretty gentle,
but the commute was done quickly so as to maximise sleep etc.

I dunno what the problem you get is, but the riding itself is certainly
not impossible. No gizmotic energy drinks or whatnot; I ate normally
(well, lots).

Logically people doing an E2E in 2 weeks x 60-odd miles a day would find
it impossible, that being a much stiffer schedule than 5 x 20 mile days
and a weekend off. We arrived in JOG in much better shape than we set out
from LE in; if we'd had to have ridden another day the next day it would
have presented no trouble at all.
--
David Damerell <[email hidden]> Distortion Field!
Today is Saturday, March - a weekend.

Jim said:

Maybe I have some kind of low-level bug, but it's really getting me down.
Anyone else had anything like this? I suppose I could go to the docs, but I
thought I'd ask here first. I hate that feeling of getting to within a few
miles of home, and having my legs die on me, struggling to do even 12 mph.

Others have suggested you're doing too much with not enough rest -
could you possibly reduce the distance you ride? Possibly ride into
work but on the way home catch the train from Chester-Nantwich (or
similar) then ride the rest?

I've upped my commute to 11-12 miles but I can't manage that every day
so the other days I go a 6 mile route instead (with options to cut it
down to 4 or 2 mile route) if I'm not feeling up to it.

Someone else suggested varying your route to make it more
interesting. I'd recommend this even if boredom isn't the problem as
finding new routes and new obstacles makes the trip more enjoyable.
Going a different way is a perfectly good reason for getting to work 5
minutes later (as long as you're not 'late'!)

peter

"Rob Morley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Adam Lea
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Does this mean that those of us with a 10+ mile commute one way can never
be
car independent, since in this situation plus maybe one club outing on
the
weekend I could never recover sufficiently?

Maybe you're working too hard - commuting should be at a lower intensity
than a training ride otherwise you'll wear yourself down really quickly.
Are you getting enough protein, vitamin B ... ?
I used to ride 10 miles pretty hard most mornings then take it easy on
the way home, 10 mile time trial some evenings (plus maybe another 10
miles to get there and back), 10 or 25 mile time trial on a Sunday (plus
maybe 20 miles to get there and back) and/or club run (typically 50+
miles including riding there/back) or off-roading. And for a while I
was doing circuit training once or twice a week (but I used to drive to
that). I had Mondays off. :-)
If I was tired or the weather was really nasty I'd drive, or if I'd
ridden in I'd get the train home - I wouldn't have liked to be totally
dependent on bikes for transport, but if I was more disciplined I could
just have left more time and managed more of those journeys at a slow
steady pace (or taken a few more sick days: I was never one for taking
time off work to the extent that I was occasionally sent home for being
ill/damaged, or forced to take holidays - it's great when you enjoy your
work!)

I recently got myself a heart rate monitor to check whether I was going too
hard. It tends to vary between 130 and 150bpm but exceeding 160 especially
in the last two miles. Highest recorded so far on a commute was 169bpm. I am
not sure if that is too high or not.

Unfortunatly I can't get to work by train - well I can get halfway there but
the ride from the station is undulating and due west so often into the wind,
thus is not much less effort as the full commute so I have to drive if I
want a rest. I would like to have a go at time trials this coming summer
which are held on Tuesday evenings but I need to somehow speed up my
recovery time.

I might try the vitamin B, I didn't realise that helped with recovery.