I'm so tired

I need somone's help - I think I've been overdoing it recently and right now am completely shattered (i.e I could fall asleep right now and my body aches) however I haven't really been doing much more than normal. Why am I suddenly so tired? Haven't lost my appetite - shame!! and am starting to panic as I am doing the Capital City Challenge 10k on Sunday....

Comments

  • You should be resting now if you're doing a race at the weekend. Between now and then you're not going to get any fitter but you are going to knacker yourself out. You don't have to be doing more or less than usual to suffer from over training. Your body just needs a rest every now and then. Most of the training programmes I have read focus on hard weeks and easy weeks in a cycle. That way your body doesn't get drained. If you have been doing all the same every week your body is probably crying out for an easy week.

    I say, do a short run today and another on Thursday (no more than 3 miles) to get your legs moving and spend the rest of the time on your butt!!!

    But heh, what do I know. Do what your body tells you.
  • I would agree with Gordon, sounds as if your body is saying enough already. Plenty of fluids(non alcoholic I'm afraid), rest up and enjoy the race.
    Good luck!
  • Thanks,
    I've done 6 miles this morning and attempterd a bit of rowing and very slow running in the gym at lunch time - I just find that resting makes me feel so lazy and it's always the same that when I'm resting I see people out running everywhere i go - this makes me feel even lazier!!!
    Going to a Morcheeba concert tonight so after I walk the dog at tea time I'll be spending the evening sitting on my butt!!!
    Would a couple of gentle miles up hill tomorrow night be too detrimental or what about cycling ?(sorry you'll see that I find it very difficult to do nothing)
  • Gillian,

    I think the best thing you could do this week (if you down right refuse to sit on your butt) is to swim. Gives your body plenty of support and gives your legs a rest from the pounding.

    Is your diet ok? Plenty of iron etc... anemia (which you know females are much more susceptable to for a very particular reason) will make you feel exhausted like you've described.
  • I am very anaemic but I'm prescribed iron and have my blood checked every 4 weeks so that's OK, I know my diet isn't the greatest - it is very healthy but everyone says I should eat more, but like being inactive I feel guilty if I eat too much.
    Swimming sounds a good idea as the pool is 5 mins from my work for lunch time and the one down the road from my house opens at 6am.
    Thanks for your advice
    Gillian
  • Gillian,

    I don't know your reasons for running or training and I won't pretend to know you but I am surprised about how often you feel guilty. You sound like you train twice a day every day.

    For me, I train to keep the weight off and to be fit and healthy. If I am over training I don't feel as fit and healthy and if I don't eat enough I don't feel as fit and healthy. I listen to my body, when I'm hungry I eat and when I tired I rest. It seems to do me just fine.

    We all get a little bit guilty if we eat naughty things and don't train as hard as we think we should have but I train to improve the way I live. I don't live to train.

    But, everyone is different. It would be a very boring place if it wasn't so.

    G.
  • drewdrew ✭✭✭
    Gillian, if you feel guilty taking a "day off" then simply schedule it into your diary as part of your training, because rest is certainly a key element of any training schedule.

    It sounds like you need at least two full days off, taking things very easy. Are you eating enough?

    Alternatively, if you feel "off" then you may be suffering the first signs of a cold or the flu. Either way a good rest will be of more benefit than anything else.

    Do it - you know it makes sense (it's what you would tell someone else to do!)

    As for the rest of the week - if you haven't done much swimming recently be careful as you could end up getting delayed muscle soreness which wouldn't be very good a few days before your race.
  • Gordon I run just now to stay in shape and try and loose a bit more weight although my main reason is that I love doing it - although I've recently developed an aversion to treadmills as I've been getting such a buzz from running outdoors (which could be a problem as a lone female runner in the dark mornings/nights)
    I must admit that common sencse tells me that what you're all saying is true - I'm going to try and lighten up a bit this week, although I am going to go for a gentle swim before work for the rest of the week as I'm quite an early riser anyway and - the alternative would be to go into work early and realistically that's not an alternative I'm even considering!!
  • Enjoy the Morcheeba concert, and enjoy your running! I was in a similar state earlier this year training for FLM, really started to beat myself up about training etc, then I decided that it was becoming like a job! I relaxed, threw away the training regimes and tried to get back some of the sheer enjoyment I had for running when I started out. I didn't do the time I had hoped for at London, but I got a hell of a lot more out of it.
    Chill!!!!
  • Good god .. nothing is bad enough to make you go into work early!!!

    G.
  • Gillian, please forgive me for sounding like your least favourite auntie, but I can't help being worried about you. It's not normal to feel guilty about taking rest days or to regard the running done by other people as running you're not doing yourself. If people tell you that you should eat more, they're not trying to sabotage your weight loss (well, most aren't), they're likely to be right, especially as you acknowledge the possibility yourself. And while many female runners grumble along with mild anaemia, being very anaemic isn't normal either, although anaemia tends to make you dizzy and breathless rather than sleepy.

    Could you have become addicted to exercise and, more damagingly, addicted to restricting your food intake?

    If so, it's a difficult pattern to break, but you are going to run so much better, and enjoy your running and other training more, if you ease off. It isn't all or nothing. Missing a session, or having a couple of days of doing nothing more energetic that walking to and from the car, doesn't mean that your exercise programme is up the spout. Eating enough to fuel your exercise won't turn you into a blob.

    You will do that 10K in a far better time if you ease off now and let your legs refuel properly and your body do some repair and strengthening work. Realistically, as Gordon says, you could do a very good 10K with no more training between now and then. Don't blow it by forcing your tired body to exercise and getting injured as a result. Our bodies are very good at doing whatever it takes to get us to take a much-needed rest (my best personal demonstration of this was having a grinding work schedule unexpectedly interrupted by, of all things, a dose of chickenpox - at 22 years of age) and something will go wrong.

    Never forget - the training effect takes place on REST days. Less can be more.

    Cheers, V-rap.
  • Thaks V-Rap, I usually am really sensible and personally would give someone like me the advice you just gave me (I think that mada sense!!) I am going to try and eat a bit more and be realistic with the exercise I do!
    I had a lie in this morning until 6:30 - which is a luxury and I feel totally great for it. I'm going to have a gentle swim at lunch time and then a big walk/play in the park with my dog this evening.
    I really want to complete the course on Sunday in 42 min and deep down I know I'm capable of it - so until then I'm going to have a bit of a lazy life as I don't want to find that I'm too tired on the day.
  • Excellent Gillian. 42 minutes is a great time. Good luck.
  • 42 minutes? I can only dream....And anyone who calls getting up at 6.30 a lie-in probably eats velociraptors for breakfast. My alarm goes off at 6.45, on a good day I'm up by 7.00, and the only morning run I do is the school run.
  • Gillian, see the posting I've stuck up under calculating body mass index. I suspect you're underweight and overdoing it! Rest for the weekend and I hope you have a good run.
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