ypsetihw

Hi everyone -

Well it's been a fun and interesting journey so far, but I seem to have hit a wall . . .

I started riding a road bike in the spring and have been training as much as possible given a full-time work schedule and a 4 month old baby. I'm approximately 6', 30yo, male, and I have lost over 25 lbs and I'm down to ~190 from a max of 217. I still have more to go, as my "ideal" weight according to BMI is somewhere around 177. I could probably go lower still but that's my goal at the moment. I have done several 30+ mile rides, several fast group rides of 20+ miles, I commute 15-20 miles almost daily, and even I participated in a Cat 5 race this season (it wasn't pretty LOL). Now that I have lost a bunch of weight and established a base level of endurance and fitness, I've been trying to work some intervals including hill sprints and tabatas.

After this weekend I hit a HUGE wall. My commute feels like I'm dying, my legs just feel like lead weights. I feel heavy and like I'm pushing a block through the wind. When I started it was my cardio that wasn't up to par, with my legs feeling fine most of the time. Now it is the other way around. My lungs barely get warmed up and my legs just burn. I can't seem to sprint to keep up with traffic, my cadence is falling back down into the 80s even though I've been spinning 90-100 for the last few weeks and very much enjoying the increase in speed and power.

Some things I've noted already (I know these questions are coming) - my nutrition over this last weekend was garbage (family reunion and the Taste of Buffalo meant lots of salt and alcohol), I haven't been able to get a full 8 hours in many days, I'm drinking a lot of water but feeling dehydrated every morning, I probably haven't been stretching enough after rides but it's hard when I ride to work and then immediately go from spinning to sitting at a desk chair for 8 hours, and my base miles AND interval training have fallen off due to my schedule these last couple weeks, but the general sluggish feeling isn't making me motivated to get back out there! It's a feedback loop and it SUCKS - my weight loss has stalled and I feel like I couldn't catch a grandma if I tried.

Has anyone else hit a wall like this?! It's like I'm going backwards! AHHH so frustrating. How do I kick start my gains again?!

Mithrandir

Fellow Buffalonian here, how's it going?

I hit a slump about 2 months ago and I wasn't sure why I was dying. I had altered my diet a few weeks prior to that, so I think that may have had an impact. I toughed it out and kept going, and now I'm doing great again. I think my body just needed to adjust to the new macronutrient ratios I was eating.

Another thing could be electrolytes. I find that I tend to die easily if I don't get enough electrolytes with my food. Low salt diets kill me, but a potassium deficit is awful as well. For lunch every day I make sure to get enough spinach and garbanzo beans (Potassium and Magnesium) and it seems to work.

WonderMonkey

How far is your commute? Do you do it daily or just a few times a day?

ypsetihw

If I go straight to work there is just under 7.4 miles one way, if I take a less direct route I can get it between 8.5 and 10 miles, which I often do on the way home. Total miles for the day is usually 15-20 miles, unless I take a spin at lunch, in which case total daily miles usually gets up to around 30. I basically ride to work every day that weather is favorable (I don't mind training in high-wind or light rain, but I don't like doing it on the way to work as I don't want to be soaked at my desk) which means sometimes I'm riding every day all week, sometimes a lot less. I wear a backpack (probably 10 lbs of crap) on the to and from work sections, but I wear regular bike kit (jersey, shorts, clipless) on my training and lunch rides. I average (on the computer) 16-17mph for those commuting miles, 18-19 on training rides, over 20 when I'm training over short periods (like 5 mile flat sprint work). Group rides are MUCH faster, like in the 24mph range, but drafting makes it easy. Total weekly miles is 75-100. I feel like I could ride a lot more, I just don't have the time.

My commutes are all through the city, lots of traffic and stop and go. My training rides are usually on a MUP, so once I get to the trailhead I can just put my head down and go with only a couple major traffic crossings over a 25 mile circuit.

WonderMonkey

I overcame a slump in riding AND weight loss by working in some mind-numbing intervals. Do you have the option to ride in on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and either drive or take public on the other days? If so maybe next week you do intervals on the way home M-W-F and use T-Th as rest days. Just to see if that kickstarts things for you.

TrojanHorse

Your body probably needs a short break, even if it seems counter productive.

Tundra_Man 

I've found that happens to me occasionally as well. No idea why, but it always passes. Seems like I will make some gains and then my body needs a week or three to catch up, then I start making gains again. But during that catch-up time I can feel pretty low, both physically and mentally.

indiana_jane

Maybe this is a dumb question, but have you given your bike a good once over in terms of maintenance recently -- are you maintaining proper tire pressure, is the shifting working correctly and smoothly, etc.? Sometimes mechanical issues can make the bike sluggish, and your description that you feel like you're "pushing a block through the wind" makes me suspect that might be the case.

2manybikes

How many rest days have you had lately? If you have a lot of hard training/riding on the weekend a day or even two off might be a big help.

ypsetihw

Yeah I definitely need to up the intervals, and maybe a rest day or two wouldn't hurt. I just hate when I don't ride, my energy levels are usually great and I get all antsy if I don't work out or break a sweat at least once a day.

ypsetihw

Funny you should ask, but I actually just rebuilt my whole bike. I found out the frame was crooked and the manufacturer actually sent me a whole new bike for free. I swapped over the wheelset, cassette, chainrings, brake pads, saddle, stem, cages, etc. etc. all last night. It is running perfectly, so I'm pretty sure it's not the bike. Probably just the motor :-)

jsigone

sounds like good case over training.

Commute should be the easiest part of the rides you want to do. treat them as maintenance miles

Intervals should be 1-3 times a week outside of commute rides.

But for now, take a week off, if you must commute shift 3 gears easier than you normally would on ever part of the commute. Just spin w/o mashing or effort. You will only be a few mins slower than normal on those 10 miles. For me, when I stack miles, I ride for 5 weeks, take 1 off. I can avoid burnout and over training this way.

MikeRides

+1. This. I was commuting 40-ish miles a day on top of 10-15 mile recreational rides back to back in May, and found myself burning out rather quickly. A couple days off and I was back to normal.

bassjones

Sounds to me like a few rest days are in order. Maybe cross train.

RISKDR1

I think this is a normal thing. We all have cycles of high energy and low. You need an easy low stress week or maybe two. Your statement that you have a 4 month old leads me to believe there might be a sleep issue as well. Been there.

bassjones

You don't have sleep apnea do you? Ever been tested? CPAP changed my life!

Black wallnut 

Thirsty plus fatigue could be warning signs of medical problems. When was the last time you talked to your Dr. or were screened for diabetes?

brawlo

Sounds like a simple matter of rest, although it may also be worth getting yourself checked out medically. Never underestimate the power that adequate rest has in the performance of an athlete (yes you are becoming one, you don't have to be a pro to be an athlete). It is easy to think that working harder and harder is the key, but hard work without adequate rest can actually be detrimental. If you've had a big weekend on the bad food/drink doubled up with inadequate rest, then dial things back a bit until your regular rhythm is back in check. Also don't push yourself EVERY commute. If you're riding all weekend on top of your commute, make 2 or 3 of your commute ride days a very easy spin to allow your body to recover. The other commute days should be fine to give yourself a bit of a push.

PatrickR400

Whoa there buddy; ALWAYS blame the equipment...

ypsetihw

Haven't ever been tested but it's crossed my mind, my GF says I'm a snorer, especially after drinking, and I wonder if it's contributing to the fatigue because I'm not sleeping as heavily as I should.

ypsetihw

It does run in my family, my mother has Type II and so does my grandfather. I have never had any symptoms and my weight is under control, it's not impossible at this point in my life but maybe it's something to talk to the doctor about. When I say fatigue I just mean sluggish, like my muscles aren't ready for hard work. Pretty sure I just need a day out of the saddle. And when I say thirsty, knowing my diet, it feels more like I just drank a lot of booze and ate an abnormal amount of salt for a few days, which I did do, so I'm not all that surprised. The dehydrated feeling has gone away as the week has gone on.

It's funny but when you don't take care of yourself and you're not training and are eating/drinking too much and overweight, being tired and dehydrated and having poor nutrition feels so normal that you don't notice that you actually FEEL LIKE CRAP ALL THE TIME. Then when you start working hard and watching your diet for a few months, just a day or two of slipups in diet, bad sleep, and over training and you feel it for a week LOL.

It's a journey not a destination - this too shall pass . . .

Drew Eckhardt 

You're over-training. You need rest days so you're fresh enough for your hard days, rest weeks (typically 1 in 4) so you can adapt to the training stress, and to periodically ease off.

You can rest on the bike, although it has to be a relatively easy pace. If you haven't worked on your aerobic fitness that might be where kids pass you on tricycles.

chaadster

I'm putting my money with all the heads from TrojanHorse on down who call it as overtraining fatigue. Some time off, and slow, easy rides should get you primed to attack the intervals in a couple of weeks.

bikesd

I found that when I took a longer break, my riding improved by huge amounts. Sometimes you can push yourself further than you think you have and not even know it.

ypsetihw

Just an update, took some time off while I waited for my new bike to arrive. IT WAS A MAJOR HELP. My weight backslid about 2 lbs but nothing a good week of flogging can't remedy. I ended up coming back to my group ride and took a leap of faith for the A group. It was awesome! My legs felt amazing, I was totally comfortable, and the pace wasn't an issue at all! I did end up going to the doctor and had them do a full battery of blood tests just to rule out any physical ailments (just waiting for my results) but I am leaning towards over training, under resting, and generally not fueling/hydrating properly for a week or so.

Thanks everyone for your input! Nice to be back in the saddle and off my slump!