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I'm trying to figure out what on earth is going on with my body at the moment. My power has fallen off a cliff. Less than two months ago I was racing at the Strathpuffer and setting the fastest lap times in my team, lapping consistently and we even won our category. Now, on hills and into headwinds I've got nothing to give. I end up crawling up stuff.
My legs don't hurt particularly, they just won't push any harder. I've been riding roughly the same amount as usual (10hrs a week) but I did have a week off in late January. Occasionally I feel fine, but not often. It's almost getting to the point where I'm not enjoying riding, it's just a struggle, even on a lovely day like today.
Anyone got any idea what might be happening?
You got old.... 😉
Worth going for a blood test, check for anaemia? Maybe it's "delayed" fatigue?
What's your HR and blood pressure like? Elevated HR could indicate illness / fatigue...
Have you been overtraining? If you feel tired, it might be worth taking a week off and seeing how you feel.
Maybe a bit of underlying lurgy or something?
I sometimes have a week or two feeling like this, but it has always passed - touch wood.
Perhaps drop your weekly riding time for a couple of weeks and then hopefully get back to it afresh?
Private health MOT maybe? We get one every 4 years from Bupa through my work. It's pretty detailed and gathers a lot of data (blood work and the like). Also includes an hour's sit down with a GP. You have the option to add in a FTP test, but I imagine that's something you'd be able to do yourself. You get a given a very detailed portfolio of results to pour over at the end.
Pretty expensive - it's currently £869 or £1119 if you add in the FTP test. I was pretty happy with the service, but then it didn't come out of my own pocket.
Hope you're feeling better soon.
Almost certainly cat aids.
...or fatigue.
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/bike-forum/have-i-overtrained/
Did you take the advice from this thread onboard at all?
Yeah, I did mert. I took a week and a half off, did a lot more zone two work and was generally doing OK. My fitness was good, then fell off a bit in the second half of the year. Now the problem is a lot more persistent. It's hard to tell if I'm just unfit, unwell or have overdone it.
It seems like it's been going on for a month now.
It seems strange that overtraining might be a problem. I don't ride my bike that much compared to a lot of people, I don't ride particularly hard and there's people smashing out way more miles, a lot harder and a lot hillier than me.
Old and cold is my excuse currently. My brain wants to pedal like it used to but my body says no. I'm hoping when it warms up a bit I'll find a little bit more oomph.
Did this power slump follow a bout of covid?
~2.5 years on, I struggle to manage ~220W for 20mins, on a very rare good day it will near 240W. I used to consistently manage 295-320 when I hadn't recently been ill.
My stamina has fallen off a cliff too, a handful of steady 2hour+ rides besides one on an ebike have left me wrecked for days afterwards, I used to do two rides of 2-5 hours most weeks while attacking hills full gas.
Having turned 50 ~14 months ago, I always expected my fitness would stop improving and go into decline, but not as dramatically as this.
Also includes an hour's sit down with a GP.
That's like a popstar meet and greet, right?
it's currently £869 or £1119
Taylor Swift is cheaper! 😀
It seems strange that overtraining might be a problem. I don't ride my bike that much compared to a lot of people, I don't ride particularly hard and there's people smashing out way more miles, a lot harder and a lot hillier than me.
It's different for everyone though. If you're used to riding that sort of mileage, have a decent diet, recovery and so on, it'll be fine and obviously you're only seeing what people are putting on Strava, not what they're eating, when they're resting, if they're getting sports massage...
However if you're doing "peaks and troughs" style riding, it's very easy to overdo a week or so of it and then suffer. Sometimes things will click and you'll feel amazing; more often than not your body won't know what the hell is happening to it from one day to the next and it'll feel terrible.
Add in underlying stress, fatigue, illness possibilities... Like how Cav felt crap for months, rode through some of it, but was finally diagnosed with Epstein-Barr Virus.
I've been like the OP ever since I had covid. No real improvements after a couple of seasons and I can't sustain enough regular training because I accumulate fatigue quickly and take longer to clear it. Ho hum.
So. Underlying virus perhaps?
There's a lot of viral stuff around atm. I copped some sort of ongoing low-level crap for a couple of months late last year. No top-end power on the bike and general fatigue rather than anything dramatic, but still quite debilitating. My HRV and RHR both suggested something was up.
You might have something similar. Or not. How much recovery did you take after Strathpuffer, which sounds like a pretty intense load? And what about non-cycling factors - major stressors like career change/pressure, family stuff, diet, 'life' basically, which on top of an otherwise reasonable training load, can push over an edge.
I listened to a podcast recently where, I think, Joe Friel suggested that people can cope with family, career and training, but if add in something additional like voluntary work for example, you'll end up overstretched and do them all badly as a result.
How do you feel generally, when you're not on the bike? Sleep? Fatigue?
I suspect the bottom line is that it could be any number of things. Blood tests would be good for ruling out deficiencies etc, but my experience is that often it just comes down to having a few weeks of taking things easy, then building back up. Bear in mind that you do lose top-end relatively quickly, and you can't expect to come back at the same level after time off the bike, so you need to be a little patient.
You can get a pretty good comprehensive blood test done by someone like Balance my Hormones. I then took it to a private Urologist, but you can take to your GP and discuss. I have exactly the same. The thing is the blood test is a good check, but in reality I know what it is.
Gradual depletion of exercise intensity, super busy with SEN twin 14 your olds, wife away a lot with work, quite difficult job, 58
The blood tests said everything was really good with the exception of Cholesterol which was on the high side and Testosterone was bordering on the low side. I have gone away and for the past almost three months I have kicked my diet up the arse. Next I am going back to see again next month and maybe if the Cholesterol is sorted/better we look at HRT
Diet was okay'ish and dont smoke or drink really. Good stuff is eaten, but too much and a load of junk on top. Too much cheese.
Changed it all. Super good diet, binned cheese 100% since December, eating water made porridge every day, etc etc. Started a better exercise habits again. Getting there...
I am still really tired sometimes but feel a lot better the rest of the time
Nothing scientific / useful to add, so you'll have to make do with 'anecdotal'!
I feel like this from time to time, just lack of power and no top end. Mates that'd I'd usually match for speed/fitness just dropping me up a climb etc. I don't ride with HR monitor or power meter, so have no understanding of my base fitness and how that varies, so this is all just about how it 'seems' to me.
But, insofar as I can speculate/identify reasons, my guesses/observations are:
- I'm 57. So, not old, but not as young as I was. Age is a factor, and I've felt the fatigue more in the last 3-4 years than in my 40s/early 50s.
- I just ride. I don't do anything structured. I don't do any turbo/Zwift stuff. I don't do intervals/threshold/hill reps/sprints etc I just ride my bike. I think that keeps my overall fitness at a good level, but as I never really train around speed/top end/hill-climbing, those areas don't particularly improve over time.
- I ride nearly every day, plus a 8-10k trail run maybe once or twice a week. Most weeks, I do something (ride or run) 6/7 days. I probably don't have enough 'rest days', and just keep plodding on. I do find that when I give myself 2 or 3 days off exercise, I come back feeling noticeably more refreshed and buoyant (physically). So, I do think I tend not to rest enough, and then become more susceptible to fatigue.
- I ride a lot of Singlespeed, both MTB and gravel. And quite a lot of my other MTB riding of late has been winch and plummet, so 8-12 steep climbs and then the descents. Whilst each ride is often only 1-2 hours, I can feel the cumulative effect of the muscle fatigue in my legs.
- I'm not very good at stretching or strength-building. I do it a bit, but find that when I get into a pattern of doing it regularly, eg 20-30 minutes 3 or 4 times a week, it makes a noticeable improvement, particularly if combined with rest (from cycling/running)
Hope you get to the bottom.of whatever is happening for you.
I took a week off after the Puffer. I've not had any bugs or viruses since last summer. I've not been able to train as hard or ride as hard since I got a concussion about 18 months ago, but the wall I've hit now is like nothing I've experienced before. I've had my blood tested a lot in the last 18 months and there hasn't been anything abnormal, although I've had none since things got worse a month ago. There's no stress in my life (other than I want to ride my bike and can't do it properly) and I'm in my mid 30s.
My riding is pretty consistent - no peaks and troughs, similar hours and mileage each week (unless it's the week after a race). Off the bike, I have been sleeping a lot since I got the concussion and am tired a lot. I'm also on some anti-depressant meds to keep my mood stable after the head bang.
I think I'm going to take the rest of March off. I went out this morning and for the second time in two weeks had to cut the ride short. I could barely get up the hills and, except for the descents, just wasn't enjoying myself and that seems like a reason to give it a break for a while. It's riding a bike, it's not meant to be a chore, it's meant to be joyful. If the rest doesn't help I'll look into new blood tests.
Thanks for the tips and stories.
Anyone got any idea what might be happening?
Most likely the concussion, but sounds very much like how I felt (except I was never particularly quick!) when I'd gone into AF. Met some STWers for a ride and for the first time in my life just couldn't keep up. Was embarrassing how shit I was, and it was only Swinley forest! HAd to cut ride short and go home. From then on riding was just a stupid amount of effort.... Keep pushing and something nasty could happen. Like you collapse off your bike having a TIA. That was bloody weird.
What's your weekly training look like? Two thoughts.
1. If you're overtrained it doesn't take a week to get over it.
2. Have you changed how you train from the last thread? There's a reason people don't usually recommend just hammering in zone 3 all the time. It's good for your ego a bit but you tend up being very stale, and that might fit your symptoms very well.
Off the bike, I have been sleeping a lot since I got the concussion and am tired a lot. I'm also on some anti-depressant meds to keep my mood stable after the head bang.
Err, yeah, that's quite a thing. I've had concussion and antidepressants. Neither of them is particularly conducive to consistent training. Antidepressants pretty much put me off the bike for 2 years (went from racing elite to tagging on to the back of the touring group). Concussion (very mild) about 3 months before i could confidently dig deep without having issues for a week or so afterwards.
Was that from hitting the dog? As if it was, i'd quite confidently say that would be my "most likely" route cause for the whole thing. This time and last time.
Since I posted the last thread, I started focussing on easier rides and there was definite improvement. I was really fast by early June. I've kept mixing it up since and it's pretty mixed week to week. So, in a ten hour week of riding, I'll be doing a couple of short rides that might have some high intensity bits, or just mixed cadence, or some 40/20s, two rides of about 2.5 hours that I just ride, no consideration for training but one tends to be relatively fast while the other is more zone 2, then a couple of more relaxed hours with mates at the weekend.
mert - interesting to hear you found anti-depressants affected your training, as I wondered if that might be the case but couldn't find any evidence of this online. Nothing seemed to say drop in performance was a side effect - research papers, the leaflet, anecdotes. I hadn't started the medication last time I asked about this though.
Sounds like if three weeks' rest doesn't cure it I'll need to see the GP.
Just flicked through your dog thread. Hadn't put 2 and 2 together /despite posting on it!). Now i have, i'd be *extremely* surprised if this isn't all linked.
Concussion and ADs both had similar effects on the ability to a) push hard physically and b) the mental will to even do it.
I've been slowly weaning myself off Sertraline for the last ~6 weeks after being on it since summer '23 and I've had a number of days in the last two weeks when taking ~12mg (0.25 of a tablet) that my legs have felt completely drained. But there's been odd times while taking the correct full dose that my legs have fely inexplicably dead and even rarer days when I felt great compared to most days over the last 2.5 years of long covid.