Fatigue / Exhaustion

[Perthite]

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping I can please get some advice from fellow runners about fatigue.



I'm relatively new to running (and exercise!).. about 11mths now. I'm a 40 year old female who is running about 22 kms a week., which is made of a long run of 8-12km's and several shorter ones.



Over the last 3 mths, I' have upped the intensity of my workouts, and am trying really hard to increase speed and endurance.



A few weeks ago I went from sleeping my normal 4-5 hrs a night before I toss and turn the rest of it, to not being able to keep my eyes open. This went on for almost a week.

One training session during this tired phase had my heart rate at 185, where normally it would have been around 170 for the same effort.



After not feel better the week after I went to the doctors, who told me there's nothing wrong with me, as my last blood test 5 months ago was good.. my iron was just inside "normal", my cholesterol was under 2, my blood pressure low as always. in fact my doctor said it's the healthiest she's seen me, and now this extreme tiredness.



I'm now back to sleeping as I was before (poorly), and yet I'm still really tired, I can't string two days of training together, I'm working too much, my running is suffering.



Am I over training?.. I'm worried that my fitness that I've fought so hard to get is slipping away, along with my motivation to run because I'm so tired.



I'd really appreciate any comments



Thank you.

[Clarkey]

I would normally say that you need more sleep.

But in reality I can go many weeks without having a full nights sleep & still manage to train fairly well for 10hrs+ during the week plus all the normal 'life' stuff.



So perhaps it mas something to do with the level of food / energy you are taking in.

I'm no expert or dietician or anything, but I would imagine that if you are training harder but not increasing or improving the amounts of carbohydrates and maybe even protein, then that could lead to a feeling of tiredness or depletion.

[rohan]

I would normally say that you need more sleep.

But in reality I can go many weeks without having a full nights sleep & still manage to train fairly well for 10hrs+ during the week plus all the normal 'life' stuff.



So perhaps it mas something to do with the level of food / energy you are taking in.

I'm no expert or dietician or anything, but I would imagine that if you are training harder but not increasing or improving the amounts of carbohydrates and maybe even protein, then that could lead to a feeling of tiredness or depletion.

You'd have to have a spectacularly bad diet for it not to cope with a relatively low level of running.



What was the iron level? Different docs describe different levels as normal. mine say 30... but will not get too stressed if women go as low as 20. I can tell you I felt like utter crap at 9.

AIS suggests 50 for athletes.. but they're talking fairly serious there.



Protein is hard to get too little of... it's in everything. (just about)



I'm surprised at how little sleep you have, and when adapting to exercise you need more... so I'd be trying the extra sleep route if you can.

[Clarkey]

If you ignored the mix of food how much of a difference would volume make? ie I have known some women to eat like sparrows....

[rohan]

If you ignored the mix of food how much of a difference would volume make? ie I have known some women to eat like sparrows....

it would make a difference, but we don't know if perthite is of the non-eating kind.

some diets would make also it hard to feel good exercising eg. hi protein/low carb.

[suzyrun]

I'm not a doctor ....

but is your skin really dry too? Noticing more hair loss than normal?

this and really crapping sleep patterns and fatigue were signs of an underactive thryoid for my sister.

Check with your doctor about whether your previous blood test looked at thyroid function...



or maybe its stress (too much work?) ....



I hope you get an answer or start feeling better soon .....

[Yvem]

i reckon you need to make sure you eat enough straight after your run...banana, or honey and bread, or just a piece of fruit. If you are not refuelling properly, you will feel tired for twenty four hours after a run....some people's nutrition needs are more finely tuned than others...it is pretty important if you want to keep training, even just a little bit. I find i get tired if i am trying to lose weight...it can totally sabotage your training efforts.

[wendy]

Hi Perthite,
I was feeling exactly the same with my running. I happened to have some routine tests done and was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid and can't run at all for a little while. I agree that you should perhaps get your thyroid checked.
All the very best to you!