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Rest

Over the past week, I have felt really downbeat and tired. This started on Sunday and I decided that I should perhaps take a week off to rest to see if this helped.

However, I feel really guilty about it as I now have this mind set that I should train every day to the extent that I'm sweating buckets.



Perhaps I'm overdoing as my first tri is in March?



Do other people take rest periods after prolonged periods and whilst I think if the body is telling you to rest and you do rest, how can you stop the guilty feeling?



I'm going to have decent run tomorrow and get back into the training regime but just wondered about what other folks do/feel etc[X(]

Comments

  • BoycieBoycie Posts: 189
    It definately sounds as though you're overdoing it. Resting properly is just as important as training. Your system only adapts to the stresses of training while you rest. You shouldn't only figure in rest after long periods but also shorter ones. This doesn't mean taking regular days off, but mixing easy days in with harder ones. Listen to what your body tells you, if you feel like you need a rest then you probably do.

    The weather may not be helping the way you feel either.



    David.
  • graham33graham33 Posts: 265
    I totally agree with David - for example if you do a long run, if the next day you do a hard run you can undo any of the training benifit you got from the day before.



    It's the rest and recovery that makes you stronger!



    Graham
  • Hi shadowone1



    I know exactly how you feel, just one day off and i feel like i'm letting myself down! I have a shoulder niggle at the moment, i think its due to the amount of swimming i'm doing - but if i were to leave swimming out of my training until the shoulder is better i fear it will be too long a lay off. What to do?



    Just to add to that a little, are you eating right? Are you getting all the high energy food you need to keep yourself feeling good? I for one don't [:(] I'm training a lot and eating chicken salads and then a bag a crisps!!!!! So until i get that sorted i don't expect to feel on top of the world!



    Good luck for March.





  • agent_tiagent_ti Posts: 306
    Rest is the most important component of training. Training hard gives you the potential for increasing your fitness, it breaks down your muscles, empties energy stores and then when you rest, your body will build these back up but to a higher degree, which is known is overcompensation. This is what makes you fitter. If you are feeling constantly tired, it is most likely that you are not allowing yourself enough time to recover, so you will end up burning out where your body will refuse to do anything. Unfortunately, most athletes (myself included) really don't like resting because of the guilt, but remember a week off is better than a month trying to recover properly and get back if you overtrain. Try taking a few days off completely, then do a bit of light training to see how you are then build it back up. Also check your diet to make sure you are getting enough calories and also make sure you are getting enough sleep. Sleep is the best recovery method due to the hormones it releases etc



    And hope it gets better soon!
  • DavidHDavidH Posts: 47
    As agent_ti mentioned, getting enough calories is really important.

    a couple of years ago, I had the same thing over a period of months where as I was upping my volume, I would start to feel constantly exhausted and found it hard to get motivated. I'd then rest up completely but the same thing would happen a couple of weeks later.

    I eventually found that althoughi was eating a pretty healthy diet, I just wasn't eating enough to sustain the amount of activity I was doing.

    After a few weeks of upping my intake gradually, making sure I ate more regularly and not ignoring my body when it was telling me i was hungry I felt 100% better.





    Rest, sleep and good nutrition are every bit as important as pounding out the miles / lengths.

  • Rest is where the changes happen. But as i come from a cycling background i find you get heavy legs when off the bike. So i tend to have one rest day a week and many light days....in fact alot of light days.
  • JulesJules Posts: 987
    DavidH wrote:


    As agent_ti mentioned, getting enough calories is really important.

    a couple of years ago, I had the same thing over a period of months where as I was upping my volume, I would start to feel constantly exhausted and found it hard to get motivated. I'd then rest up completely but the same thing would happen a couple of weeks later.

    I eventually found that althoughi was eating a pretty healthy diet, I just wasn't eating enough to sustain the amount of activity I was doing.

    After a few weeks of upping my intake gradually, making sure I ate more regularly and not ignoring my body when it was telling me i was hungry I felt 100% better.





    Rest, sleep and good nutrition are every bit as important as pounding out the miles / lengths.





    This interests me. I'm trying to lose some excess fat, but also trying to train. I get concerned that if I eat too much extra to cover the training, then I won't burn it off and will never lose the weight.



    Rest - I rest more than I'd like - I try to fit in as much training as I can but usually have two or three blank days per week.
  • DavidHDavidH Posts: 47
    Hi Jules



    I think it's tricky getting the balance of losing weight and getting enough calories to train effectively.

    If you eat eat too little, you may lose weight quickly but your training is likely to suffer.

    but as you say, eat too much and you won't shift the excess that you want to.

    For me it was a case of gradually increasing my intake so that I didn't feel constantly drained, but didn't put on any extra weight. I got to the point where I was weighing my all my food (and still frequently do).



    If the weight is coming off slowly stick with it and it will go. if it's not, slightly reduce your daily intake (look for empty calories that can be cut out).

    Just don't starve yourself!





  • agent_tiagent_ti Posts: 306
    Trying to eat enough to train properly whilst also trying to lose weight is always an interesting one. In terms off a calorie deficit, the recommended deficit (from GB lightweight rowing nutritionist) is 500 calories a day. This leads to a weekly deficit of 3500 calories, which is about a kilo in fat. Max is 750-1000 a day, though this is NOT recommended. If you stick to your 500 calories a day then you should see a gradual and safe reduction in weight over time. Be warned though, you will feel hungry and just have to put up with it. To try and avoid this, you need to make sure your diet is healthy and that you are eating a lot of low GI foods, which will help keep the hunger at bay. Also increase your protein intake as this will make you fuller and help with muscle recovery. To ensure that you dont end up overtraining, it is really important when you eat. If you ensure that for any exercise over an hour you have a bottle of energy drink say, and then a recovery drink straight afterwards to fulfill the energy you used up during your training, the energy should go straight back into your muscles and this should stop your legs feeling tired the next session. If you then have the 500 calories less throughout the day (which is easy enough to do, especially if you eat like i do!) you should find it OK, and you lose weight!
  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    overtraining vs overeating...hmm. Did anyone see the Ch4 thingy where they stuffed students full of food & weighed them before & after (it was a bit more complex than that..over a month) & the differences in weight gain were quite pronounced, so the 500cal per day is a bit 20 -age really. The overall conclusion was weight gain/obesity has a genetic factor & that the body seems to have a 'fat thermostat' that tries to regulate our ideal weight, but our society with 24 hour food availability can easily override.

    Back to the original question...plan workouts..monthly cycles.build to a hard week & take an easy week..start again..siplest form of periodisation.
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