[Closed] A week of no cycling or gym and I feel ....

I had a week off just walking a dog and got the flu. (man flu).

Give up, eat pies and drink beer.

The opposite sex will adore you.

😆

You'll also be faster when you get back on the bike.

As I've found on more than one occasion this year, while riding to improve my fitness at 43, it's very easy to over-train.

This will bring on symptoms like sleeping badly, being moody, feeling fatigued.

This week has been a new lesson for me, don't do intensive training while feeling ill, even if you are way short of your usual weekly training program.

I've done two short intensive rides this week besides commutes and considering their duration, I felt dead towards the end of both. The second ride was last night and I've spent today feeling completely wiped and full of a headache.

Have a rest, feel better than James Brown. 😉

Rest is a big part of being fit and healthy IME.

You're probably overdoing it - trying to fit in an early morning session, maybe sacrificing a bit of sleep to squeeze in a night ride, etc. Easy to do, I'm guilty of it myself. Every now and then an easy week is a great idea.

My usual week would be 2 * (2 * 20 mile) commute + 2 PT sessions and a ride at the weekend of 3 hour duration.

I'll be honest and say that I starting to think why. It's too much and no good for me. I was commuting to work and getting to my desk and feeling spaced out all day and struggling to concentrate.

I do about 15h a week on the bike, and work with kids so although my body is often knackered, I rarely feel tired coz the kids don't let me! I'd be dozing off sitting at a desk.

I was commuting to work and getting to my desk and feeling spaced out all day and struggling to concentrate.

Really does sound like a lack of sleep more than anything else - the amount of exercise doesn't sound too excessive TBH.

What wipes me out are the two days a week I hit the gym early, it means getting up at 6:15 or so. Unless I get to bed by 11 at the latest the night before I'm dying at work the next day, and at 45 (like you) I'm still dying the next day...

I quite enjoy the early start on commute days (0605 ish) but I'm in bed at 10, and asleep by 1030.

But, more than a couple of commutes a week and I don't fancy a weekend ride so it's not worth blowing yourself up on crappy commutes when there's good stuff to be done at the weekend.

Better than ever. Not stressed and moody and slept better than ever.

Could be a sign of over training. I used to get seriously over trained in my younger days and would wake up dreading having to pick up the weights but still having to drag my self out to do it. Now I just cycle and keep it at a level where I never lose the enjoyment; it's easier to exercise because you want to do it, rather than feel that you have to.

Sufficient rest/sleep (to recover and gain) is an essential part of exercise.

Now I’m in my 40s I find I can’t train continuously any more. I need to have a complete week off every 6 weeks. So I’ve written all my running plans to fit that and it seems to be working. For the last year, according to my Strava Fitness & Freshness graph, whilst I lose a little during the recovery week, I end the next block fitter. My VO2Max increases bear this out as well.

Just need to start timing races so they fall at the end of a recovery week.

All these training plans etc sound a nightmare; real risk of taking the whole fun out of cycling ... and unless your a pro - then fun is all really what it's about.

I guess it comes down to why you ride... I ride to commute and save money while getting a bit of exercise, the recreational cycling I started this year was a lot !ore about regaining fitness than cycling purely for fun.

But unlike many, my job as a postie and cycling is pretty much 99% of my sport/exercise outside vacations. If I did other sports regularly as well, I would be more inclined to make more rides fun.

Of course the cycling and gym sessions are good for you, but so is having a rest once in a while to let your body recover.
I went all-out with cycling training last winter and got into a mindset where having a day off seemed "wrong" to me, I found it very hard to do no exercise for a day or two!
Following a mechanical problem with my bike I had a few days off, got back on the bike thinking I'd be slower but instead found I had more energy and seemed to perform better for the same or less effort.

I've now slid the other way and rest more than I ride 😆 must be a happy Medium somewhere...