I’m 51yrs old, on the heavy side, and I’m in week 8 of my masters training plan. It is 4 hours a week. this is the best I have ever done in a Trainer Road plan, and I’m so pleased it’s going well. However, in the last week or so, for the same amount of rest (adequate, according to my Fitbit tracking) my readiness scores have plummeted due to a decrease in heart rate variability, and a slight increase in resting heart rate, which had been trending downward. I have been lying in on weekends for the first time in forever (I am normally up around 0730) because I’ve been, well, knackered for want of a better word.
The week’s ‘big’ workout on Saturday (75 minutes) really beat me up, but I finished it. I’m just wondering if i’m overdoing it. I’m going to complete today’s 60 minute VO2 max (I am usually good at these) and see how it goes.
Thanks for the advice. I neglected to mention I’ve had a a strange post-nasal drip for about two weeks now, the kind you get in allergy season. i thought I was getting sick, but maybe I’ve just been overdoing it.
Maybe you’re pushing too hard and you’re now getting sick.
Alternatively, your illness could be what’s affecting your recovery and performance.
Regardless, I’d say that all of the above advice is super solid. Take some time off so that you can bounce back when you’re ready. There’s no sense in digging yourself deeper into a hole.
It looks like you’re pretty regularly adding a fifth workout to your training week. It might be best to avoid that for a while.
When coming back to training, start slow and easy and work back up to 3-4 days a week. If at any point you start to feel weak, take an extra day off and consider dropping another day until you feel strong again.
I used the sick day calendar thing for Tuesday’s ride. Still did not quite feel right so bumped Thursday’s to Friday. I hate to do this because historically, or me, it’s the first sign of dropping out of a routine, so I resolved to try Friday’s ride (it was just an hour of endurance) no matter what, and I did it and felt things had returned to normal, specifically my HR numbers (and I know TR say not to focus on HR too much) was back where I expected.
Today was the harder ride, the 75 mins of Threshold, and it felt normal, i.e. i would not say easy but I could do it without thinking it wasn’t a great idea to crack on.
The program adjusted my recovery ride down tomorrow so i will stick to that and hopefully have a regular week’s training afterward.
Thanks for all the help and support, it means a lot.
