Amir R. Pakdel

Some of you may know my story...
well, I'm glad to annouce I'm slowly getting back on the saddle.

But there is something I would like to ask experienced trainers here.

There reason I love cycling is the rush I get from pushing myself to the limit... tackling the hills... the feeling of grasping of breath into my lungs... the feeling of my legs pumping power like engine pistone.

I just made it over my favorite hill, being careful not to push myself too much, but still enduring quite a bit. When I got off the bike, the ol' crazy feeling kicked in. Lightheadedness, serious loss of appetite, and then a panick attack.

Numerous doctor appointments have confirmed that there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with me physically, so then my guess is that the feeling is from the pressure I put on myself.

I was wondering, how dangerous it is to keep onto doing this even though it will cause those problems for me? I'm guessing if I keep at it, and my performance will increases, and eventually my body will adapt.

On the other hand, I could just not push myself as much, since for some reason my body is not as ready as it was before. However, that way I really do not have motivation to keep at it. I'm not looking for a quick solution, but taking it easy is not really the reason I got into the sport in the first place.

Ha anyone else come across a similar situation? Let me know how it worked out for you.

jmlee

I am glad to hear that you are back in the saddle.

(I am not a psychologist, but I've had my share of "issues". So I offer friendly advice, but don't take it as a diagnosis or something--I am not trained for that).

Since you have determined that your difficulties are not physical, they are most likely related to stress and as you say "the pressure [you] put on [your]self." The panic attack is a sign that you are facing some sort of psychological reaction here.

While I doubt you can do much physical damage by continuing to train, I think you need to focus on what is going on psychologically. Unless you do that, your body will not adapt--because it is not a matter of physical adaption. Rather, without negotiating the psychological side of all this, your body will continue to give you problems as it tries to express the stress you are experiencing.

I would suggest you seek some psychological advice--whether in the form of reading books on stress and panic attacks, attending "stress-management courses", or perhaps even a counsellor of some sort. If I recall correctly that you are a university student, you should see whether your university has some of those resources.

As to the bike riding, I would scale down your expectations. Don't try to ride hard, just ride for the pleasure of having the wind blow through your hair.

I wish you all the best,
Jamie

DnvrFox

Personally, I am concerned that you are pushing yourself so hard so soon.

While you may not have any physical "problem" as such (i.e., heart condition or disease) I think it is still possible that you have had an "overtraining" condition, something which the doc's may not have a lot of knowledge about or may not have diagnosed.

I think you need to get back into riding rather gently and easily, with the long-term goal of building your body and endurance back.

Also, you might like to try finding other values in riding besides the endorphin and adrenalin rush and other things you get out of riding. Such things as the quiet and peacefulness, the camaraderie, etc. Otherwise, as you grow older, and it is more difficult to get that rush, it is even possible that you may just stop riding, as others in your situation seem to have done.

Good luck!

From: https://www.ultrafit.com/faq_general.html

cycletourist

Only racers "train". The rest of us ride :-)

Ovara

I think you're riding too hard. Get some more base miles in and don't do more than two hard (high heart rate) sessions per week.

Amir R. Pakdel

After some thinking and your comments I decided it is more sensible to tone it down some.

I'm gonna lower the pressure until I get to a point where I won't feel like that after the ride, and then build up from there.

R600DuraAce

I think you train too hard. If the hill is any longer, you would probably run out of steam in the middle of the climb.

fubar5

Sounds to me like you VO2 max isn't high enough for the level you are riding at and when you stop, you don't have near enough oxygen getting to your brain. It also sounds slightly like dehydration. A newbie in my club passed out the other day because he did 20 miles at about 20 mph with out taking a drink. We were riding along and I noticed he was looking dazed and having a tough time keep ing up, so I asked when the last time he drank was, he said, "right beofre we started". When we stopped he stood up for maybe 5 mintues, then his eyes rolled back in his head and my buddy noticed he was falling soon enough for me to run over and catch him.
Take a few weeks and build up and aerobic base, then do intervals to work on your V02 max. And make sure you are hydrated. Starting a ride dehydrated is a really bad idea, don't just hydrate on the bike, hydrate all day so that when you start riding you are already ahead of the game.

Amir R. Pakdel

Hey fubar

Until the end of last year September I was in excellent shape. I'd go on 20mph for two hours straight without feeling a hitch...

so will still take "weeks" to rebuild my aerobic base? Has all the work I did less than a year ago just evaported away?

fubar5

No it hasn't just evaporated. With any sport or type of exercise, if you take time off, then you have to start off slower/easier and work back up to the point you were at when you left off. Have you trained since September of last year? No athlete in the world besides a ******** one would take time off and then come back and push themselves to their limits. If you had only taken 1-2 maybe 3 weeks off then it wouldn't take long at all to be back up to where you left off. But September was a while back.

I don't think taking 2-3 weeks to do a few strength training workouts, aerobic workouts, and intervals is all that bad. It is way better than experiencing what you have described.

Amir R. Pakdel

No. I didn't do much since end of September... but it's not like I had a choice. I didn't want to take time off, but had to.

So far its progressing well though. Things aren't looking too bad.

Dutchy

As someone who took an extended break from cycling I can say this.
I feel that you have gotten back on the bike and are trying to do the same intensity of riding you were doing before your break. Your body is trying to tell you to back off a bit. I can relate to this. It is frustrating to ride up a hill that I considered very easy for myself then find that I am struggling, looking for lower gears to make it to the top, gasping for air. It is going to take several months to get back to that top shape you had. The simple answer is that you aren't as fit as you were in September. What this does teach you, is that you were very fit before. Sometimes it's hard to judge how fit we are until we take a break, then we realise pretty quickly how fit we must have been to storm over those hills.

It will take some time, but keep at it.

CHEERS.

Mark.

LittleBigMan

Yes.

When it happens to me, I have a few moments of feeling wonderful, then I start feeling nervous. Very quickly, I start to feel weak. After that, I get very anxious. Finally, I feel so rotten I can't bear it. Panic is a good way to describe the feeling.

Adrenaline. But not in the good way.

In my case, the problem is blood sugar. When I eat, blood sugar rises. My body releases insulin to bring it down to normal levels.
But in my case, the sugar keeps dropping. If I exercise at that point, it drops so low so fast that my body must release adrenaline to bring it back up. It's an emergency response, because the brain cannot function without proper sugar levels.

Exercise is also the key to controlling this condition. But here's how to do it:

Don't eat immediately before riding. Wait until you are about 15 to 30 minutes into your ride before eating or drinking any sugars. So when you do eat or drink, your body will not release lots of insulin to lower sugar levels. Exercise will do it.

It works for me, and I've suffered from this since I was 5 years old. I'm only glad I discovered how exercise can help me avoid this horrible feeling. You see, exercise depletes sugar levels so that your muscles are "hungry" to be refilled. So if you eat carbohydrates at that point, they will go to the muscles. The insulin will not be triggered as much.

Try this experiment: as soon as you sense this feeling beginning, drink something sweet. Get off the bike and wait. If you feel better within 15 minutes or so, you have discovered your problem. If that's it, avoid eating sugar, except during exercise or recovery.

lotek 

I don't want to seem over the top but I think a checkup
with a cardiologist might be in order.
I worked for 18 years in the mental health field, and
suprizingly alot of the "panic attacks" were related to
mytrial valve prolapse (where the valves in the heart misfunction)
and causes palpitations, lightheadedness, panicy feelings etc.
it may be excersize induced.
One of the things that we teach in diving is
when your feeling panicky (how do you spell that?)
is STOP, BREATH, THINK, ACT. try that when you get
that feeling, just stop what your doing and see if it subsides.
(I'd still get checked out).

Marty

Amir R. Pakdel

Ok, I think that was a big help.

Yesterday I was on a few km jog. At the end I stopped by 7-11, feeling fine.

A few minutes after, while I was deciding what to buy, the feeling was starting to kick in. I got out of there with a pure orange juice drink and fruit yogurt.

I started talking and walking with my friend for a few minutes. By the time I had finished the drink I was feeling perfect. Nothing there.

Going running again today, gonna see if it happens.

One thing is that you say had this problem since you were a kid?

I never had this problem in the previous years, and that's why it worries me.

I have had numerous visits to my doctor and I explained my situation to him many many different times. He was convinced there was nothing wrong with me. To convince me he said he'll do a few physical check. After xrays, blood and urine samples, he said everything seems to be in perfect order.
He did suggest that I see a physiotherapest to get me started though, which I haven't done.