I’m 55, post menopausal woman. I work a physical job, on ave walking 10 miles a day with digging, lifting all in… 4 days a week. I’ve just come back to tr to use it for duathlon training. I’ve signed up to a tri plan doing 2 runs and 2 rides a week strength stuff ( extra to work lol ) 2 days. My ‘rest day ‘ is Fri but I work that day, as I don’t want to waste the time I have on my 3 days off for longer training. I just seem to be constantly tired now and am sure my fitness is going south not improving?!? Any advice or am I just making excuses. Have been training 4 months now.
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Check your carb intake. I would get chronically tired until I figured out that 300-400 grams of carb per day would keep me quickly recovering from workouts and my legs fresh. And I’m not doing a physical job on top of training.
I eat a lot of slow carbs (oatmeal, brown rice, cereal) over mainlining sugar.
Do you really need to lift on top of it all especially as we getting near the spring season?
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Think I eat pretty well, probably could do more quality carbs I am a bit protein heavy.
Don’t really lift as such, more core and upper body stuff. Thanks for your reply.
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I would try adding a second rest day and see how you get on. Or maybe substitute one of your strength days for a work day if its appropriate.
I’d try to have one of your off days completely off.
Also if you already do a physical job with lifting etc, maybe you don’t need to do strength training right now? Could you maybe periodise that so when you increase the bike and run time, you drop the strength work?
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Thanks yes guess I could incorporate some core stuff into work and not add to it in the evening or on my Monday off.
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Thanks I think I just need to put some thought into balancing things out. Maybe try having a complete rest day 
and adding in carbs for work and training days. It’s just finding what works I guess. Loving all these suggestions 
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I’ve worked a physical job my whole life. The best rest day is a Sunday. However much I rail against ‘losing’ a valuable training day, it’s an irrefutable fact that if I allow myself to be lazy, I can train and work harder the following week.
My only other key rest is Thursday night. I may well train in the morning, but that evening I’m always knackered so i make a big dinner and let it go.
Hope this helps a little.
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@grawp thanks. You hit the nail on the head there. I really don’t like the idea of losing a training day… but it makes sense that rest is needed for adapting and building stronger. Will give it a go for a month and see if there’s an improvement.
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I’m 62 this year and have a physically demanding job - lots of walking, lifting and carrying heavy weights. The older I get the harder it’s becoming to balance the demands and effects of my job with training and getting adequate recovery. The nature of my job, coupled with my age, means my legs are in a constant state of tiredness and aching. My training’s really taken a hit since last summer.
There’s no doubt that nutrition and recovery can go a long way towards mitigating against some of the effects. However, the brutal and, sometimes, unpalatable truth is that it doesn’t take as much to take more out of the body and it takes longer to recover than it did in recent years. All I can suggest is that you really need to work on your nutrition (regard every day at work as a very long workout) and recovery. At least one day a week of zero activity is crucial.
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