Not sure if this borders medical advice but it would be great to see people’s thoughts and if anyone has experienced anything similar.
I’ve been training consistently for about 12 weeks, and progressed steadily from 3.95 to 4.5 watts/kg.
A standard week was aprox 400 TSS with 2 or 3 strength sessions in the gym. I’ve been feeling great.
Recently did a cycling trip and packed 850 TSS within 4 days with structured efforts each day. But since i got back i’ve been feeling completely floored and feeling extremely flat with lots of muscle fatigue. It’s been 11 days since the trip and i’ve been doing nothing but a few zone 1/2 spins and not any closer to being able to get back in to training again.
I’ve been riding for quite some time and a lot of trips away, and also pretty in touch with my body and recovery so something unordinary is definitely happening. I don’t have any other sickness symptoms apart from the fatigue.
Usually i’d be more than ready to get stuck back in to training, so starting to get concerned of an underlying issue, especially when i don’t have any other sickness symptoms to explain what’s happening.
750TSS a week is a lot. It may just be that you’ve overdone things so you probably just need rest. You don’t say how old you are but increasing age also means you need more rest and recovery time.
When I’ve overdone things I just feel a general lassitude and want to go to bed at 6pm, start to nod off when reading a book or watching TV, that sort of thing.
Woops, did that calculation wrong. More around 400 per week normally. which essentially translates to only 2 hard 1hr turbo sessions and 1 hard long ride a week.
I’m 34. The strange thing is that i’m very much used to the load and what to expect after a cycling trip or a hard week. so something definitely feels different and out of the ordinary
You can definitely just have one symptom like fatigue from fighting a virus. 11 days of easy rides, or easy/no rides? It sucks but at that point it’s probably best to simply rest until you start to feel better. and obviously, go see a doctor if that’s possible with today’s current climate.
I’ve poured on just even a little more TSS in the last two weeks than I’m used to and I am having to take it easy this week to stop digging the fatigue hole. I think sometimes just even a little extra TSS can really affect our recovery processes. I usually only ride for 1 - 2 hours and I’ve been trying to do some longer 3-5 hour rides, and even at z2 or maybe a touch of tempo, they’re crushing me. While I can knock out a 1 hour VO2 Max workout with no problems.
It’s super strange, something’s not right. it’s like i’ve got a serious flu, but no other symptoms but the fatigue. Doesn’t feel like i’m recovering from a big training block anymore. maybe it’s just a weird virus?
I’ve had a similar issue in the past, no respiratory or GI symptoms or even fever, aches or pains - just “general malaise”, lethargy, and feeling down in the dumps.
Pound water to the point of flushing, take in some vitamins and try to get some extra sleep and rest. I also like to drink a lot of herbal teas when I’m down.
That’s one of the reason’s this forum is so great, it’s a support group for exercise addicts! It’s hard when we can’t get the fix from riding, especially when you find that momentum in training. We’ve all been there and it’s an impossible goal to remain healthy at all times especially with the added stress we put on ourselves from training. Find a good show to binge, catch up on some bike maintenance, put in some extra time with family/spouse.
I have recently upped TSS from LV to around MV and the first week were exactly the same. I was flat through 2 weeks to the point I had to make one easier week. The underlying cause was nutrition outside the bike. I was on a healthy meals that suppose to cover all macros but even with “theoretical” calories intake I felt flatted. Three days of “all limits are off” and simply eating whatever I wanted changed everything - the energy was back and my overall feeling improved a lot. I am very lean so this had no impact on my weigh but definitely I was lacking calories.
So maybe this is also a direction you want to check out.
If you have data on resting heart rate or HRV, that could help understanding things. Similarly, sleep tracking would provide valuable information.
All that being said, if you are otherwise showing no signs of illness you may actually want to try an opener style workout with some short hard efforts. Sometimes after a rest period it is normal to feel sluggish and it may take some sharper efforts to shake those feelings and get the body going again.
