I have been diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. When it first started kicking in I didn’t know what it was. As it affected my mood at first I thought it was a mental health issue. That’s ok, I thought, exercise is good for mental health so I started smashing it on the bike. Then instead of just being mentally exhausted I was also physically exhausted- getting dropped on Club rides etc. I also lost a stack of weight rapidly (from 71kg to 55kg) That was a big wake up call for me. I started tracking my HRV and periodised training plans. This bought some balance back to my training and enables me to carry on riding even though I don’t have the energy for general life. This confused my but the specialist wasn’t surprised. Managing my cycling energy is relatively easy with things like power meters and HRMs. ‘All’ I have to do now is bring that discipline to pacing other activities. The good news is that my general fitness should see a quicker recovery that the general population. But my specialist estimates 2-3 years rather than 2. Too long to save my job. Good point on sleep. I was ensuring that I averaged over 8 hours a night but my rehab team identified that my Garmin was recoding very low amounts of deep sleep - when the body repairs itself. The rehab is focused on the activation of the Autonomic Nervous System’s para-sympathetic response (the rest and digest response) through the use of breathing exercises, meditation, and relaxing yoga. It’s still early days but there are promising signs of recovery - that was until I finally succumbed to Covid this week 🤦🏻♂️
'Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker' is a phenomenal book with lots of detailed research and experiments on sleep. If you lose two hours of sleep, you have the same inflammation and probability of Cancer as a Chain Smoker. During the winter, I have mild inflammation in my lungs due to Asthma. This makes my FTP 30% less in winter, and I feel tired more often because the immune system is fighting the perpetual asthma inflammation. GCN has done special vids on the heart (Cardio) and muscles (Power). Perhaps they could do a special vid on the lungs (Oxygen Intake), and include asthma.
When my daughter was younger, I had an adrenal tumor (Pheochromocytoma) that raised my adrenaline, I basically never got tired. Not a solution for everyone but it worked for me!
Feeling tired may be far more commonly a mental challenge than a physical one. When I finish a ride and review Garmin Connect, and it tells me the ride was "Unproductive," I can be tempted to feel discouraged and "tired," but I know that ride was in fact productive in the sense that it burned fat, got my heart rate into Zone 2 for more than 30 minutes, etc. Bottom line: Over-focus on fitness/training data can make us feel discouraged, which we misinterpret as feeling tired.
100% mind is key, I’ve done extreme mental challenges, many of those hills where filmed I’ve ran, done the fan dance many times on no sleep/ incapacitated. Ran marathons on a whim, funny ending. Story for another day
I really like the „serious topics“ videos with Si. What really helps me to recover is a „wind down hour“ before going to bed. I don‘t look into a screen any more and I do stuff like tidying up, washing my water bottles or so. Getting the head clear and a little sense of accomplishment really increases my sleep quality.
My cause of fatigue is staying up late watching addictive GCN videos on You Tube. Seriously this is an excellent video, Simon talks a lot sense. This video has given a bit of wake up call. All that he has said I know, but it has needed for someone to tell me remind me what I am doing wrong. Honestly recommend this video to you friends.
I was one of those "go hard or it doesn't count" guys for a loooong time. Hit a plateau, bought a training plan from a real coach and now I have more energy that I can remember! Hard sessions are now much harder and the easy zone 2 sessions are longer and more often. Weird, but ride slow to go faster is a real thing. Who wudda thunk it. LOL!!! Love the videos and the real advice!!
If you don’t mind me asking. What was the training plan you bought? I’ve been cycling for a couple of years, only doing around 100k per week at the moment and could do with a structured training plan. Many thanks.
The thing that really gets me is seasonal change. During the spring and summer I'm unstoppable but as soon as the fall starts it seems like I'm running on a lower gear.
This one hit close to home. I ride to deal with anxiety and depression and it’s got to the point if I’m not riding I fall into depressive episodes but now I’m starting to feel tired and hungry all the time because I can’t rest. I typically ride 350-400km a week but recently struggle to get the power out.
yeah I feel that - almost becomes a tool and crutch, removes from everything else, but I can see why you're struggling to put power down at 400km a week!
Now I am gonna say that you already know. To be able to continue you really need some kind of rest. Can you ride slower? Or another easier route? And eat something with more energy? Keep fighting :-) .
That's incredible, I don't know how you do it. When I'm going through anxiety episodes I feel completely and utterly exhausted. So tired I'm barely able to concentrate enough to cycle so I just go for walks instead 😭
As someone else said, You need to make some of your rides ridiculously slow. You are then, Riding, Enjoying the scenery, out in fresh air, slowing your mental head down, recovering, fat adapting etc. Now, this is hard to do. I sometimes go out for a slow ride and end up pushing without even realising. Avoid the trap of thinking that riding really slowly is not doing you any good. It is.
Regarding too much caloric restriction: if you're female and you're training/calorie restricting so hard that your menstrual cycle changes - *especially* stops - you're in the danger zone. It used to be thought that being so lean you don't get a period was a sign of peak condition but we know now that it's just setting you up for trouble.
As someone has gone out smashing it all the time, over the past 10 months i`ve seen the benefits of a structured training plan and getting quality sleep. Back in January i got a structured training plan to get myself ready for the Fred Whitton Challenge in May with most of my training been in zone. After 2 month of training i was feeling like i was going hard enough but i was told to bear with it as it was building a good foundation. I also tried to make sure that i got 7.5-8hrs sleep every night. Come May, i completed the Fred Whitton Challenge in 8hrs 34mins and i have just returned from Majorca after smashing shed loads of PB`s...took 1min 15sec of my previous best on Sa Calobra. (Bumped into Hank, Manon and the rest of the GCN presenter in Port da Pollenca) All this after returning from a brain operation to remove tumour two year`s ago. Great video Si.
I think we can feel it in the body when to train hard and when not to. When feeling strong and going harder is not bothering me, I know I'm good to go. When feeling weaker I should probably just take it easier and recover more.
Finally another quality Si video and his favorite sweater... This video really checked off everything on my list of reasons for when I should cycle and for when I shouldn't. This will go on my play list inorder to listen to it regularly. All hail 🤴 Si.
One of the better episodes GCN has done! You dove right in to a lot of deep and possibly unpleasant subjects and were brutally honest about what's going on. For valid support of your bike riding audience, this is a blessing. The outline and description was very concise and to the point. And what can be done to face these items and address them was wonderful. Congrats to you Si- great presentation. Wonderfully done. And a big ack to the producers for putting this together. This sort of production is what creates a depth of coverage of bicycling that not many, if any, other YTU channels will ever cover (and why I am here). Thanks DenCoDave
Thanks Si. I have previously experienced LEA previously and it was torrid. Thankfully all behind me now and for me good sleep and nutrition helps. I get 8-9 hour of sleep per night and I now fuel my training sufficiently.
I was a active cyclist for 8 years until I got my Corona vaccination.... Since then, things haven't been going so well for me. I took a complete break for 9 months (thanks to the driving license I finally got, to stop commuting by bike) and now it takes me a week to recover from 2 hours of normal zone 2 cycling. So I can still cycle and I also have power (not so much endurance), but after that I'm done for days. For me 40 km is as exhausting now as 70 km was back then.
Do your research about the vaccines, a lot a people end up with side effects after the jab,the plandemid,excuse me the pandemic was a....u get the ideea.
Great segment Si! Very informative and enjoyable. As an avid recreational cyclist who usually tries to ride 2+ hours a day 7 days a week (not training for any races or anything specific) I have noticed a few of the things you touched on. I find that I have a higher average speed after a night of carbo loading (usually pizza and "mineral water") than if I am trying to be careful and not eat as much. My legs usually tell me very quickly on the first climb whether I can go hard that day or not. I also found that "weight loss legs" are real - I'm 5'10" and when I was losing weight intentionally and down around 147 lbs at my lowest, I was struggling to keep at 17-18 mph for my usual rides, but now that I've eaten myself back up to around 170 lbs I can routinely knock out 20+ mph rides (even break 21 mph on a good day after taking a day off). It certainly opened my eyes to the concepts of fueling and energy deficits. It seems like my body is at equilibrium at that weight, so I am not killing myself to lose the extra 10-15 pounds. I ride hard just so I can get a good workout and not worry too much about HOW MUCH I eat - still have to worry about WHAT I eat though and try to be healthy in that regard. I do notice that extra weight on climbs though. :( The stress part takes care of itself. Usually getting on the bike is stress relief for me - physically tired but mentally energized.
What a super helpful and well researched video Si (&gcn)! Thanks for outlining the pitfalls of the over training trap! This is emphasised in the book I have been reading "The Midlife Cyclist" by Phil Cavell. He points out that weekend warriors or amateurs wind up doing more "Training " than the pros! To their very dangerous detriment, just as Si has outlined with REDS. I am 64 and have to take days off or very slow commutes/shopping by bike in between my HIIT sessions. Can echo Si about stress. I was running compulsively for stress relief and selfmedicating with alcohol to cope with a super high stress job. Wrecked my sleep patterns and just dug my hole deeper. Glad I now ride bike moderately for stress relief and get good long sleep and don't miss alcohol. Spacing out intense sessions is essential. Time for RECOVERY is the corner stone! Absolutely spot on content! So relevant! (Zone 2 isn ot a waste of time, as the other videos have illustrated)
Regularity in my sleep cycle + quit eating processed, ready-made foods and sauces has helped me immense in getting rid of this general fatigue feeling.
I’m about day eight after first lot of Covid, it seems to suck every bit of energy from your body. It seems like gradually getting back life and not overdoing it is the best way forward.
Superbly insightful Si, it’s one of those things that we don’t want to acknowledge but we know all too well it’s happening. I’ve just started doing regular low intensity zone 2 heart rate training and I’m not only improving but I’m not killing myself riding for and hour at threshold and then feeling like shit!
Thanks Si. From personal experience I definitely felt the difference from being a slave to your Strava badges to shifting more time to recovery (longer stretches, massages) better food and quality family time. Now sleep is better and the overall energy level is higher. Although we are love cycling, taking a step back is sometimes really helpful.
At almost 42, with a day job that involves bit of travel, kids, wife, friends, I can say that what puts more fatigue on me is that constant fight for my time to be on the bike. I don't want to miss anything, job, family, social life and cycling therefore stress sometimes is at its finest in me. Some days I can manage everything very well, but I wish I could do more. Oh, life!
I used to say there were two parts to health and fitness: exercise and nutrition. This is true to a point. Rest, or good sleep, is equally important. So now, as I learn more on the subject, is more like a trifecta in equal parts: exercise, nutrition, and rest. If anyone of those are out of balance, take some time to think about why and seek help if you need to.
One thing I've always found helps me with mental tiredness is making sure I have some time between finishing a ride (including all things you have to do after a ride), and moving on to the next thing I need to do, 15 mins is enough, half an hour is better, just doing nothing or even something you just don't HAVE to do if you don't want to (I usually throw the ball for my dog on the backyard).
I was always tired and unproductive, including on a bike. Took the test and was after years and years diagnosed with sleep apnea and recieved my air box. Words cannot describe how it feels to finally be without a permanent veil in your head and body and to be actually tired because of effort. I can now reliably do 1 or 2 (chill 20a-kph) 70km rides on the week end, with 2x25min commute every work day (that I also do rather chill with a few short duration exercices sprinkled in)
Excellent vid! Si nailed it perfectly: you need enough recovery to progress and as you age sleep becomes more and more sparse and of lesser quality, hence more good recovery time needed…
During really hard training blocks, I was finding myself exhausted. Come to find out, I had a long lasting sinus infection that was sapping my energy. Got that squared away, and the watts increased. I also used to be scared of taking rest days, now I am okay with taking the occasional week off to recover after a particularly hard training block.
When I was 18yrs old, I had just got to a University in the USA on a running scholarship. I was dealing with SOOO much all at once that I developed a serious thyroid disorder that still, to this day, I have to deal with; and still to this day, massively impacts my everyday life. Overtraining was just one part of how my thyroid 'disregulated' but everything from new environment, leaving home and being away from parents, wanting to enjoy university life but also train at a very high standard (leading to very little sleep as late nights were common but early morning training was everyday... I was training 20+h per week and sleeping about 5-6h per night in a freshman college dorm). I learned too late that being tired can lead to SERIOUS problems
Thats a real pity. Just wanting to enjoy everything life has to offer. I think maybe life has to offer to much these days. We can't take it all in. In reality we should be out hunting for a few hours then rest rest rest. That would also take care of our adrenaline kicks and so. But today is to much.
A superb informative video. Arguably one of the best of 2022. Athletes should take the time to watch and heed this sensible, pragmatic advice. My guiding principle after 30 years of amateur sport, training & competition is rest & recovery is as important as training. Proper rest, will yield long term improvement. It really is a marathon, never a sprint. Thanks GCN for highlighting 👏
This is exactly what i needed, after long inactivity days and I decided to ride more, I force myself the same intensity as I was in good shape and I thought I was getting stronger, ..then all kind of sickness hold me back after. 3months of series of sick days wasn't fun, I'm not young anymore I guess.
Recovering from serious covid pneumonia, that had me on bedrest for 3 months, I can tell you it can take a long time to get exercise on track. Even 13 months on from illness, Exercising 2-3 times a week can leave me tired for a few days after. This week, i've cycled just 12 miles, over 2 days, and this tired me out for the following 2 days. However I am finally getting fitter. 3 months of cycling, then a month of walking finally has me climbing stairs without getting out of breath. However I can still get tired easily, even a 30 minute shopping trip is exercise for me!
Driving daily 150km for last two years.and training with the bike or do running 12to 15kms for 2hours(always hilly) after driving near to zone 3 to zone 5 with poor nutrition and repeat this almost everyday add to this poor sleep. Performance levels got ruined to unimaginable levels. Thank you for an eye opener GCN dear 🤝🙏
You know, I expected this to be a bit of a throwaway video, with just basic things. But I learned a lot more, and it was way better explained than I thought. Bravo. I'll be sharing this one to my mates. I will say that having a decent Garmin has helped sooo much. Even if it means I have to cut out the beer and crisps right before bed after work--switched to gong fu tea, and resting HR dropped by almost 10bpm within a few days.
I love you GCN! I am during the recovery of the mental aspects of RED-S. This video is actually helping a lot! Thanks! :) All your videos are amazing! 🚴🏼
Kicking the alcohol 7 months ago and also getting off the carb rollercoaster has left me far more energised than ever in my life aged 54. I sleep no problem, good 8 hrs a night, eat a nearly zero carb diet and no food cravings whatsoever. I doubt my average speed is as good as it would be if I was stuffing my face with carbs but I'd rather have the stable blood sugar thanks.... and no fear of bonking on 4hr rides (...with gels and bars hanging out of every pocket and a timer telling me when to eat to prevent it.....). Biggest obstacle to training this time of year is the usual lack of light, sh*te weather, cold (I'm in the Cairngorms, winter started a month ago lol) and the danger for most is stopping altogether or not doing enough, rather than overtraining.
Lately, I've been adopting a more polarized training approach. I'm currently rebuilding my base fitness, so that means pretty much exclusively zone 2, and at this point I'll do one interval session a week. For years I've generally done a 3 week cycle, then a 5 day rest block (1 day off, 3 easy/recovery rides, 1 day off), which seems to work for me. But I've been finding with the polarized approach and sticking to zone 2 (going more off my heart rate while monitoring my power, whereas with the intervals I go off of power and monitor my heart rate), my fitness is improving and not accumulating a ton of fatigue at this point.
Lockdown during 2020 gave me so much spare time to ride and run aswell as I felt on top form too just encouraged me to keep at it. Higher AVG speeds, taking KOM's, running further and faster every month, it was all going so well until in OCT 2020 my body could no longer cope with the demand I was putting it through and ended quickly with months of Exercise enduced Fatigue where I felt exhausted after just 10 min into a ride or run.
Thanks for the insightful video. This was pretty much me for most of the last 11 years of my road riding until backed off the miles. I was under performing on the TTs and hill climbs competitions (even though there's nothing of me) and I was struggling to sleep and was exhausted at work. After some forced time off the bike, I asked myself "Am I building fitness or fatigue?" and the answer was most certainly fatigue. To build my fitness back up I switched to the slower (12 to 15 mph avg) club rides and only rode hard when I was on my travelling to and from the club ride meeting points (mostly when I was late) and I saw an improvement in my fitness and overall wellbeing. I was also able to do faster and longer rides now and then, which surprised those I knew who were doing the big miles all the time, as they didn't think I'd trained enough to do them.
Very informative video. I fall into category when you go hard or it doesn’t count. Only recently I realized that easy rides are as important as hard ones. I think the most important point is to listen to your body and be honest to yourself.
It’s funny how this episode came up today. I commute to work daily averaging 200km/week plus weekend rides on top. I normally handle this easily but today I literally took the bike to the bus station and took the bike into work and planned on riding home, we’ll at the end of the day that changed to I took the bike on another bus ride now to home. I was wondering why I was so tired and I believe now after watching this episode that it’s my added stress of my landlord selling my home out from under me and forcing me to locate my life. Thanks guys this really helped to put some perspective into why I felt like crap.
Thanks for this Si, all really great advice. I've been looking into this a lot since being diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, fatigue is a big part of the condition for me so have been doing a lot of what Si talks about to help manage it. I mix in plenty of easy rides/runs into my training and take 2 proper rest days each week now. Plus keeping an eye on my stress levels and taking time out of my day to do some quick mindfulness exercises to help keep it in check. It all helps.
Thank you gcn for discussing this! I do notice that when I’m exhausted, it usually means i need sleep and rest. Cycling has truly been a game changer for me as well as trying to eat healthier, thank you for all your advice! I appreciate it!
All the stress from obsessing over food can be a big source of all sorts of issues, including tiredness. Just eat enough but not too much, make sure you get a wide variety of nutrients... that's all.
One thing you didn't touch is age. Not physical age, but the age of your body. As you age, you need more recovery time. In your 20s you can ride/train for five or six days in a row. 50s and older, you may only do two or three days and then you need a serious break. And to emphasize, your riding age may be decades less than your physical age as well and is not linear.
I used to work nightshift all the time, then I retired so I switched to dayshift mode, now I go to bed @2200 wake @0600 just like basic training. I use my resting heart rate to monitor my tiredness during the summer, but now that's its' to cold to ride(nose runs I hate it, I'm not biking) I still use it to see if I wanna practice yoga and then a spin class or take a rest day and only practice once, Namaste.
I find Strava with the fatigue and fitness graph overlays good feedback depending on how you are subjectively feeling. Additional days off and cat naps also help when warranted. Much better to find balance than go down the overtrain/sickness route which could take months to recover.
I work two fourteen hour night shifts in a row, with a ten hour gap between them, three days off, and I'm on the morning shift to repeat it all again (effectively an eight day week). I'm a big believer in sleep debt, and I don't train before or between my nights, maybe some yoga or stretching, but it's just so much more important to get as much rest and recovery as possible when you're a shift worker, and your circadian rhythm is out of whack. As fun as the big, hard workouts are in a training program, I find the endurance/Z2 training more beneficial!
With you on that one Jake, I do two 12hr days followed by two 12hr nights, I tend to do just one hour before my first nightshift as anything else is too much on top of those working hours.
This was a great, informative video! I just finished riding my bike earlier, and was exhausted almost the entire time, and now I know that it could have (potentially) been from constantly cycling every day (which, at first, I thought was better than on-and-off cycling), using screens late at night (especially right before sleeping), and not going on many leisure rides (so every ride was super fast, and this super intense). I’m definitely going to take notes on this!
Thanks for the recommendations. I started cycling 3 weeks ago after a few years of pause and I can tell you I'm improving. Training is important, but good sleep, hydration and good nutrition is essential.
A great video! I'm tired most of the time due to having a young family and working full time. I find it hard to fit any cycling in at all when the kids are around so train late at night on Zwift a couple of times a week. By the time the bike is set up (I don't have a permanent spot to train indoors) and I'm ready to go, it's usually 10:30pm (or later). I'll do an hour or so, usually in zone 4 then call it a night. I've been getting by on 5 hours sleep a night for quite a few years.
Had a 90 minute turbo scheduled today. Absolutely dog tired. Gonna sack it off and just go for an easy 30 minute run with my son, cook Sunday lunch and spend the rest of the time on the sofa. Thanks for the video.
Been there. Done that. Cortisol was really high due to high stress and I added training on top. Now I listen to my body a lot more. When I'm stressed I don't train or just go for a walk instead.
Excellent video. Thanks. I discovered that I feel tired when dehydrated so now have a habit of a large glass of water after work every day and it just boosts me for a couple of hours. Simple and no downside.
This past year, I was hit by a trifecta of severe energy sapping incidents. Over the Christmas holiday, 2021, I contracted Covid with all of its fatigue inducing symptoms and a persistent cough that took nearly three months to be rid of. Then, in September, I contracted Lyme's disease from a tick bite that left me even worse off than the Covid infection and which I am still feeling the effects of. In between times, my partner and I moved from where we had lived for 25 years, a stressful decision that led to many sleepless nights. I was able to fight back from the Covid infection to the point where I was an age category winner in a gravel race in mid-August. However, this latest round of illness is proving more difficult to overcome and at age 65, I don't know how many more rounds I can go against all of the varieties of viruses and diseases that seem to be proliferating so rapidly. But I will keep up the fight. It's reasonable to assume that keeping fit through cycling is what allowed me to recover from Covid and it will continue to enhance my recovery from my present situation. One day at a time.
Tanks for the info, nice to hear a bit about food and that it’s way more important to eat it than to count the calories. I hear it so often and my way has always been to eat what I want and when I want and of course if I’m on a bike ride a fuel up with cake or banana and if I’m lucky even a proper lunch. The most common reason why I sometimes feel tired is lack of sleep and I try to listen to my body and take an extra rest day if needed. It’s no shame in that to know your own body and the limits of it so you don’t get hurt. Love the show keep it up ❤ Tanks Nicklas
Si! Awesome job writing backwards and great video. Having kids definitely doesn’t help with sleep but really makes you appreciate the nights you get get a good nights rest.
Some really good advice here. I once tried to run a 5km PB by training hard with a Polar fitness tracker. 'Just follow the training plan'. I ran 3 minutes worse than the PB I'd been trying to beat. The people who programmed the watch assumed that I knew not to train on an empty stomach every time for two months.
Try being peri / menopausal- energy levels vary enormously from day to day. Sleep all over the place too. Much improved by some HRT which evens out the bumps and seems to stop the extreme slumps.
Very useful video. It's kind of amazing how many of us are able to take what should be a therapeutic activity like cycling and turn it into yet another cause of fatigue, stress, inflammation, and illness. Not me, of course; I used to do that with running, and I'm careful not to repeat the mistake with cycling. Now I wear myself down in the normal way: by working 70 hours a week and eating poorly.
I was born too early... at 75 years of age, I am still mad crazy about being fit and the bike is my main way of being so. I WISH I had been able to have the kit (bikes, power meters, HRMs, etc.), the knowledge (still learning tho!) and patience 55-60 years ago that I have now. I ride 200-300km a month indoor (Zwift and Rouvy) and outdoor (I was born in the UK but live in coastal California, so lots of good weather) and am only just now beginning to understand when to ride to just relax and when to ride hard. Sleep I have no problem with, diet too I think (I am vegetarian tho), but STRESS... oh my gosh... I work full time in high-tech but have a great job. However, as I have pushed myself athletically all my life, I do the same at work and life even though no one is standing over me with a whip. Self-pressure at work, self-pressure with family (7 grandkids) and worrying about our planet, all contribute. The more I understand about my "training" (yeah, I still race on Zwift and have had podiums even in the last year!), the more it helps with managing my stress and my life in general. Thanks (again!) for a great video. I think all cyclist by nature stress themselves worrying about performance, so we are our own worst enemies in some ways!
I ride my bike because it makes me happy. It reduces stress, helps me sleep, takes me new places in nature, and puts a grin on my face. Life gets in the way of training and the real limiting factor is time.
Had an easy week after doing the Dartmoor Devil Audax last Sunday. Getting Strava PR's and Zwift races is addictive, but lots of riding should be zone 2 or active recovery. Some give up outdoor cycling in Winter and lose all their gains, balance is key. A good mattress and air purifier in bedroom helps with recovery.
Informative video. Good to keep an eye on the resting heart rate & heart rate response during training. By the way, Si repeats the same/similar script at 6:16 and then 6:27. First attempt is more convincing :) Second attempt is too relaxed.
Lmao Si, “if you’re into aero you’re probably not getting any” what a shot across the bow! 😂 Ollie will bring some burns in another video. My man cannot be disrespected like that lol
Up to 12% of the population have sleep apnea, up to 85% of those are undiagnosed. Most health care providers still don’t ask about sleep quality during a visit for fatigue (takes awhile for them to add “new” things to their differential). In some countries home sleep studies are easy to obtain (they ship you the monitor, it automatically transmits results).
Energy and vitality are like gold in our veins, definitely the mother lode of daily life. And my few centavos on the subject would be, as a 63-year-old all of a sudden, that cycling is an incredible energy source and force for me because my riding is pretty much weekly 150-mile sport commuting and my eating is aimed at supporting a sport lifestyle. And it is not about perfection or over-exertion, just being grateful to still be active and stay within reasonable bounds--and those bounds mean participation in events and big rides for recreation and maybe even an also-ran ribbon in the over-60 class, but the pursuit of racing is borderline insanity for the young and I was happily there once and I contentedly walked away after a bad crit crash in '84 within reach of the points to get to USCF Cat. 2 and I was okay with that because, yikes, here I was risking my real life in a bullring with competitors of various commitments. And it was cool for me that two years later, as I was pursuing work in my field, that I got to use my fitness as a bike messenger in downtown DC for a few months with Central Delivery and a bunch of all-season tough guys and gals, plus I got to experience a pro-like lifestyle of 12 hours a day on the bike with the dispatcher on the two-way radio asking, "Where you at, Two-Five?" And this was in the summer of '86 when Greg won the Tour and he made the front page of the Washington Post and I sure enjoyed just making the cycling scene as a full-time messenger. As I do now with fellow GCN fans here and it is all best when it is a pursuit of health and fitness and fun and, sure, a few participation medallions and maybe some stories of when I was fast a long time ago.
As a new rider and Strava user I am finding the fitness and fatigue feature useful to help plan my rides. Personally I try to line up a longer ride when the two scores are about the same. I notice improvement in the fitness score afterwards, and of course fatigue goes up. Usually I try to take a day or two off in order to recover. If I do go out, usually it’s a quick pedal with the kids or just 20 minutes to get a few miles in to help maintain my fitness.
Excellent video, all of the above especially work/family/training being a single thing. Hydration when not training I would also so is a big one and not drinking enough water with meals.
A fantastic and very honest video. Approaching a subject like this head on is important and greatly appreciated. For me it’s balancing two kids, family life and time on the bike, in addition to nutrition and trying to pay attention to my body signals. Not an easy balance! I generally feel good but there have been times when it feels like I have jet lag, and that’s recently as much as when the kids were new born.
I'm more of a recreational cyclist where I'm not looking for Zone 4 or 5, hitting certain power thresholds, etc; that's what Zwift is for over the cold Canadian winters. With Summer here, I just want to be out on the bike for longer periods of time. So for me it's hitting a certain distance and/or time while exploring places I've never been. Everyone cycles for different reasons, so some people might feel effects of fatigue more than others.
Used to be very tired and fatigued all the time. I checked and I had iron deficiancy so I started with iron supplements and are now eating food that are rich in iron and that helps me.
Great video. Important to be mindful about what viruses etc your body might be fighting off this time of year too (northern hemisphere at least). Listen to the body. Felt a bit flat a couple of weeks ago but went for a ride anyway - it was far too much like hard work and heart was going like the clappers. Wasn't right so took it really easy back, and came down with a bad flu the next day. Can be really dangerous to push through that stuff hard.
What have been your experiences with chronic fatigue and over-training? Let us know in the comments below👇
I have been diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. When it first started kicking in I didn’t know what it was. As it affected my mood at first I thought it was a mental health issue. That’s ok, I thought, exercise is good for mental health so I started smashing it on the bike. Then instead of just being mentally exhausted I was also physically exhausted- getting dropped on Club rides etc. I also lost a stack of weight rapidly (from 71kg to 55kg) That was a big wake up call for me. I started tracking my HRV and periodised training plans. This bought some balance back to my training and enables me to carry on riding even though I don’t have the energy for general life. This confused my but the specialist wasn’t surprised. Managing my cycling energy is relatively easy with things like power meters and HRMs. ‘All’ I have to do now is bring that discipline to pacing other activities. The good news is that my general fitness should see a quicker recovery that the general population. But my specialist estimates 2-3 years rather than 2. Too long to save my job.
Good point on sleep. I was ensuring that I averaged over 8 hours a night but my rehab team identified that my Garmin was recoding very low amounts of deep sleep - when the body repairs itself.
The rehab is focused on the activation of the Autonomic Nervous System’s para-sympathetic response (the rest and digest response) through the use of breathing exercises, meditation, and relaxing yoga. It’s still early days but there are promising signs of recovery - that was until I finally succumbed to Covid this week 🤦🏻♂️
Too much nookie has effected my training in the past but thankfully after being married 9 years, it is no longer an issue.
@@mikeainsworth4504 your symptoms sound exactly like mine were a few months ago with the addition of peeing a lot, turns out I had type 1 diabetes.
'Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker' is a phenomenal book with lots of detailed research and experiments on sleep.
If you lose two hours of sleep, you have the same inflammation and probability of Cancer as a Chain Smoker.
During the winter, I have mild inflammation in my lungs due to Asthma. This makes my FTP 30% less in winter, and I feel tired more often because the immune system is fighting the perpetual asthma inflammation.
GCN has done special vids on the heart (Cardio) and muscles (Power). Perhaps they could do a special vid on the lungs (Oxygen Intake), and include asthma.
@@mikeainsworth4504 Excellent result in weight loss! Have you been drinking a lot of water and taking extra herbal vitamins for slimming?
The most common cause is kids... I haven't been rested in 5 years. You just learn to ride tired because you just learn to do everything tired.
Hahaha very true Brian 😴 Do you still find tome for the bike?
Lol, I'm in the same boat.
When my daughter was younger, I had an adrenal tumor (Pheochromocytoma) that raised my adrenaline, I basically never got tired. Not a solution for everyone but it worked for me!
Exactly 5y in this too
I don't have any children but my neighbours' children ruin my sleep anyway so I can confirm kids are always the cause
Feeling tired may be far more commonly a mental challenge than a physical one. When I finish a ride and review Garmin Connect, and it tells me the ride was "Unproductive," I can be tempted to feel discouraged and "tired," but I know that ride was in fact productive in the sense that it burned fat, got my heart rate into Zone 2 for more than 30 minutes, etc. Bottom line: Over-focus on fitness/training data can make us feel discouraged, which we misinterpret as feeling tired.
Great point! Lots of Cycling is about the mental barriers 👀
In case it might help you, you can turn the Training Status feature off.
I just ignore Garmin analysis
100% mind is key, I’ve done extreme mental challenges, many of those hills where filmed I’ve ran, done the fan dance many times on no sleep/ incapacitated. Ran marathons on a whim, funny ending. Story for another day
I HATE that message! Unproductive indeed… 😂
I really like the „serious topics“ videos with Si. What really helps me to recover is a „wind down hour“ before going to bed. I don‘t look into a screen any more and I do stuff like tidying up, washing my water bottles or so. Getting the head clear and a little sense of accomplishment really increases my sleep quality.
My cause of fatigue is staying up late watching addictive GCN videos on You Tube. Seriously this is an excellent video, Simon talks a lot sense. This video has given a bit of wake up call. All that he has said I know, but it has needed for someone to tell me remind me what I am doing wrong.
Honestly recommend this video to you friends.
I was one of those "go hard or it doesn't count" guys for a loooong time. Hit a plateau, bought a training plan from a real coach and now I have more energy that I can remember! Hard sessions are now much harder and the easy zone 2 sessions are longer and more often. Weird, but ride slow to go faster is a real thing. Who wudda thunk it. LOL!!! Love the videos and the real advice!!
Thanks for the comment! Glad you've found your rhythm, keep it up 🙌
If you don’t mind me asking. What was the training plan you bought? I’ve been cycling for a couple of years, only doing around 100k per week at the moment and could do with a structured training plan. Many thanks.
A guy in our club rides 7 days a week big mileage. He rides fast but seldom above zone 2.
The thing that really gets me is seasonal change. During the spring and summer I'm unstoppable but as soon as the fall starts it seems like I'm running on a lower gear.
Same
That is really S.A.D.
i'm the exact opposite. I absolutely hate the heat and sun. People who like sunny days make no sense to me.
Start taking vitamin D when the temps drop. Seriously. Makes a huge difference in energy levels and health through fall and winter.
This one hit close to home. I ride to deal with anxiety and depression and it’s got to the point if I’m not riding I fall into depressive episodes but now I’m starting to feel tired and hungry all the time because I can’t rest. I typically ride 350-400km a week but recently struggle to get the power out.
yeah I feel that - almost becomes a tool and crutch, removes from everything else, but I can see why you're struggling to put power down at 400km a week!
Now I am gonna say that you already know. To be able to continue you really need some kind of rest. Can you ride slower? Or another easier route? And eat something with more energy?
Keep fighting :-) .
That's incredible, I don't know how you do it. When I'm going through anxiety episodes I feel completely and utterly exhausted. So tired I'm barely able to concentrate enough to cycle so I just go for walks instead 😭
That’s a lot of k’s… maybe you should try a different style of riding. I love mtb and road riding, I find mixing them up a bit helps.
As someone else said, You need to make some of your rides ridiculously slow. You are then, Riding, Enjoying the scenery, out in fresh air, slowing your mental head down, recovering, fat adapting etc. Now, this is hard to do. I sometimes go out for a slow ride and end up pushing without even realising. Avoid the trap of thinking that riding really slowly is not doing you any good. It is.
Regarding too much caloric restriction: if you're female and you're training/calorie restricting so hard that your menstrual cycle changes - *especially* stops - you're in the danger zone. It used to be thought that being so lean you don't get a period was a sign of peak condition but we know now that it's just setting you up for trouble.
As someone has gone out smashing it all the time, over the past 10 months i`ve seen the benefits of a structured training plan and getting quality sleep.
Back in January i got a structured training plan to get myself ready for the Fred Whitton Challenge in May with most of my training been in zone. After 2 month of training i was feeling like i was going hard enough but i was told to bear with it as it was building a good foundation. I also tried to make sure that i got 7.5-8hrs sleep every night.
Come May, i completed the Fred Whitton Challenge in 8hrs 34mins and i have just returned from Majorca after smashing shed loads of PB`s...took 1min 15sec of my previous best on Sa Calobra. (Bumped into Hank, Manon and the rest of the GCN presenter in Port da Pollenca) All this after returning from a brain operation to remove tumour two year`s ago.
Great video Si.
I think we can feel it in the body when to train hard and when not to. When feeling strong and going harder is not bothering me, I know I'm good to go. When feeling weaker I should probably just take it easier and recover more.
Recovery is the key! 🗝
Finally another quality Si video and his favorite sweater...
This video really checked off everything on my list of reasons for when I should cycle and for when I shouldn't.
This will go on my play list inorder to listen to it regularly.
All hail 🤴 Si.
One of the better episodes GCN has done! You dove right in to a lot of deep and possibly unpleasant subjects and were brutally honest about what's going on. For valid support of your bike riding audience, this is a blessing. The outline and description was very concise and to the point. And what can be done to face these items and address them was wonderful. Congrats to you Si- great presentation. Wonderfully done. And a big ack to the producers for putting this together. This sort of production is what creates a depth of coverage of bicycling that not many, if any, other YTU channels will ever cover (and why I am here).
Thanks
DenCoDave
Thanks Si. I have previously experienced LEA previously and it was torrid. Thankfully all behind me now and for me good sleep and nutrition helps. I get 8-9 hour of sleep per night and I now fuel my training sufficiently.
Glad you're recovered 🙌 Keep up the good work!
I was a active cyclist for 8 years until I got my Corona vaccination.... Since then, things haven't been going so well for me. I took a complete break for 9 months (thanks to the driving license I finally got, to stop commuting by bike) and now it takes me a week to recover from 2 hours of normal zone 2 cycling.
So I can still cycle and I also have power (not so much endurance), but after that I'm done for days. For me 40 km is as exhausting now as 70 km was back then.
Do your research about the vaccines, a lot a people end up with side effects after the jab,the plandemid,excuse me the pandemic was a....u get the ideea.
Great segment Si! Very informative and enjoyable.
As an avid recreational cyclist who usually tries to ride 2+ hours a day 7 days a week (not training for any races or anything specific) I have noticed a few of the things you touched on.
I find that I have a higher average speed after a night of carbo loading (usually pizza and "mineral water") than if I am trying to be careful and not eat as much.
My legs usually tell me very quickly on the first climb whether I can go hard that day or not.
I also found that "weight loss legs" are real - I'm 5'10" and when I was losing weight intentionally and down around 147 lbs at my lowest, I was struggling to keep at 17-18 mph for my usual rides, but now that I've eaten myself back up to around 170 lbs I can routinely knock out 20+ mph rides (even break 21 mph on a good day after taking a day off). It certainly opened my eyes to the concepts of fueling and energy deficits.
It seems like my body is at equilibrium at that weight, so I am not killing myself to lose the extra 10-15 pounds. I ride hard just so I can get a good workout and not worry too much about HOW MUCH I eat - still have to worry about WHAT I eat though and try to be healthy in that regard.
I do notice that extra weight on climbs though. :(
The stress part takes care of itself. Usually getting on the bike is stress relief for me - physically tired but mentally energized.
What a super helpful and well researched video Si (&gcn)! Thanks for outlining the pitfalls of the over training trap! This is emphasised in the book I have been reading "The Midlife Cyclist" by Phil Cavell. He points out that weekend warriors or amateurs wind up doing more "Training " than the pros! To their very dangerous detriment, just as Si has outlined with REDS. I am 64 and have to take days off or very slow commutes/shopping by bike in between my HIIT sessions. Can echo Si about stress. I was running compulsively for stress relief and selfmedicating with alcohol to cope with a super high stress job. Wrecked my sleep patterns and just dug my hole deeper. Glad I now ride bike moderately for stress relief and get good long sleep and don't miss alcohol. Spacing out intense sessions is essential. Time for RECOVERY is the corner stone! Absolutely spot on content! So relevant! (Zone 2 isn ot a waste of time, as the other videos have illustrated)
Regularity in my sleep cycle + quit eating processed, ready-made foods and sauces has helped me immense in getting rid of this general fatigue feeling.
I’m about day eight after first lot of Covid, it seems to suck every bit of energy from your body. It seems like gradually getting back life and not overdoing it is the best way forward.
I was having problems with my studies due to this tiredness , thanks gcn for this !!
No worries! Hope we could help 🙌
Superbly insightful Si, it’s one of those things that we don’t want to acknowledge but we know all too well it’s happening. I’ve just started doing regular low intensity zone 2 heart rate training and I’m not only improving but I’m not killing myself riding for and hour at threshold and then feeling like shit!
Thanks Si. From personal experience I definitely felt the difference from being a slave to your Strava badges to shifting more time to recovery (longer stretches, massages) better food and quality family time. Now sleep is better and the overall energy level is higher. Although we are love cycling, taking a step back is sometimes really helpful.
We've often found a little step back will also get you excited to ride... you can have too much of a good thing 👀
At almost 42, with a day job that involves bit of travel, kids, wife, friends, I can say that what puts more fatigue on me is that constant fight for my time to be on the bike. I don't want to miss anything, job, family, social life and cycling therefore stress sometimes is at its finest in me. Some days I can manage everything very well, but I wish I could do more. Oh, life!
Video quality in terms of crispness and grading is on a whole new level - looking so nice! Probs to whoever does the camera and editing work :)
Declaring war on STRESS! Thanks for this informative and useful to me right now video
I used to say there were two parts to health and fitness: exercise and nutrition. This is true to a point. Rest, or good sleep, is equally important. So now, as I learn more on the subject, is more like a trifecta in equal parts: exercise, nutrition, and rest. If anyone of those are out of balance, take some time to think about why and seek help if you need to.
One thing I've always found helps me with mental tiredness is making sure I have some time between finishing a ride (including all things you have to do after a ride), and moving on to the next thing I need to do, 15 mins is enough, half an hour is better, just doing nothing or even something you just don't HAVE to do if you don't want to (I usually throw the ball for my dog on the backyard).
I was always tired and unproductive, including on a bike.
Took the test and was after years and years diagnosed with sleep apnea and recieved my air box. Words cannot describe how it feels to finally be without a permanent veil in your head and body and to be actually tired because of effort.
I can now reliably do 1 or 2 (chill 20a-kph) 70km rides on the week end, with 2x25min commute every work day (that I also do rather chill with a few short duration exercices sprinkled in)
Excellent vid! Si nailed it perfectly: you need enough recovery to progress and as you age sleep becomes more and more sparse and of lesser quality, hence more good recovery time needed…
During really hard training blocks, I was finding myself exhausted. Come to find out, I had a long lasting sinus infection that was sapping my energy. Got that squared away, and the watts increased. I also used to be scared of taking rest days, now I am okay with taking the occasional week off to recover after a particularly hard training block.
Rest is best 🙌 Hope you are all recovered now.
Just finished a 30 hour/ 933km week of cycling. I’m tired but SO happy & satisfied 🤭
When I was 18yrs old, I had just got to a University in the USA on a running scholarship. I was dealing with SOOO much all at once that I developed a serious thyroid disorder that still, to this day, I have to deal with; and still to this day, massively impacts my everyday life. Overtraining was just one part of how my thyroid 'disregulated' but everything from new environment, leaving home and being away from parents, wanting to enjoy university life but also train at a very high standard (leading to very little sleep as late nights were common but early morning training was everyday... I was training 20+h per week and sleeping about 5-6h per night in a freshman college dorm). I learned too late that being tired can lead to SERIOUS problems
Thats a real pity. Just wanting to enjoy everything life has to offer. I think maybe life has to offer to much these days. We can't take it all in. In reality we should be out hunting for a few hours then rest rest rest. That would also take care of our adrenaline kicks and so. But today is to much.
Recovery is King - very True. Bit frustating though, the older you get (62 now), the longer you need to recover.
A superb informative video. Arguably one of the best of 2022. Athletes should take the time to watch and heed this sensible, pragmatic advice. My guiding principle after 30 years of amateur sport, training & competition is rest & recovery is as important as training. Proper rest, will yield long term improvement. It really is a marathon, never a sprint.
Thanks GCN for highlighting 👏
This is exactly what i needed, after long inactivity days and I decided to ride more, I force myself the same intensity as I was in good shape and I thought I was getting stronger, ..then all kind of sickness hold me back after.
3months of series of sick days wasn't fun, I'm not young anymore I guess.
Take it easy, you'll get back there 🙌
Been watching GCN since the beginning. I learned a tonne from this and appreciated the reflective, thoughtful tone. Great work - keep ‘em coming!
I think this is one of the best videos you guys have made. Chapeau!
Recovering from serious covid pneumonia, that had me on bedrest for 3 months, I can tell you it can take a long time to get exercise on track. Even 13 months on from illness, Exercising 2-3 times a week can leave me tired for a few days after. This week, i've cycled just 12 miles, over 2 days, and this tired me out for the following 2 days. However I am finally getting fitter. 3 months of cycling, then a month of walking finally has me climbing stairs without getting out of breath.
However I can still get tired easily, even a 30 minute shopping trip is exercise for me!
Driving daily 150km for last two years.and training with the bike or do running 12to 15kms for 2hours(always hilly) after driving near to zone 3 to zone 5 with poor nutrition and repeat this almost everyday add to this poor sleep. Performance levels got ruined to unimaginable levels. Thank you for an eye opener GCN dear 🤝🙏
You know, I expected this to be a bit of a throwaway video, with just basic things. But I learned a lot more, and it was way better explained than I thought. Bravo. I'll be sharing this one to my mates.
I will say that having a decent Garmin has helped sooo much. Even if it means I have to cut out the beer and crisps right before bed after work--switched to gong fu tea, and resting HR dropped by almost 10bpm within a few days.
Thanks Simon, I always appreciate and trust your thoughtful, scientific input. 👍
I love you GCN! I am during the recovery of the mental aspects of RED-S. This video is actually helping a lot! Thanks! :)
All your videos are amazing! 🚴🏼
Kicking the alcohol 7 months ago and also getting off the carb rollercoaster has left me far more energised than ever in my life aged 54. I sleep no problem, good 8 hrs a night, eat a nearly zero carb diet and no food cravings whatsoever. I doubt my average speed is as good as it would be if I was stuffing my face with carbs but I'd rather have the stable blood sugar thanks.... and no fear of bonking on 4hr rides (...with gels and bars hanging out of every pocket and a timer telling me when to eat to prevent it.....). Biggest obstacle to training this time of year is the usual lack of light, sh*te weather, cold (I'm in the Cairngorms, winter started a month ago lol) and the danger for most is stopping altogether or not doing enough, rather than overtraining.
Lately, I've been adopting a more polarized training approach. I'm currently rebuilding my base fitness, so that means pretty much exclusively zone 2, and at this point I'll do one interval session a week. For years I've generally done a 3 week cycle, then a 5 day rest block (1 day off, 3 easy/recovery rides, 1 day off), which seems to work for me. But I've been finding with the polarized approach and sticking to zone 2 (going more off my heart rate while monitoring my power, whereas with the intervals I go off of power and monitor my heart rate), my fitness is improving and not accumulating a ton of fatigue at this point.
Lockdown during 2020 gave me so much spare time to ride and run aswell as I felt on top form too just encouraged me to keep at it. Higher AVG speeds, taking KOM's, running further and faster every month, it was all going so well until in OCT 2020 my body could no longer cope with the demand I was putting it through and ended quickly with months of Exercise enduced Fatigue where I felt exhausted after just 10 min into a ride or run.
Thank you for the explanation with the graphs man, I always knew resting is important but that makes things much more clear!
No worries, Always good to visualise 🙌
Thanks for the insightful video. This was pretty much me for most of the last 11 years of my road riding until backed off the miles. I was under performing on the TTs and hill climbs competitions (even though there's nothing of me) and I was struggling to sleep and was exhausted at work.
After some forced time off the bike, I asked myself "Am I building fitness or fatigue?" and the answer was most certainly fatigue.
To build my fitness back up I switched to the slower (12 to 15 mph avg) club rides and only rode hard when I was on my travelling to and from the club ride meeting points (mostly when I was late) and I saw an improvement in my fitness and overall wellbeing. I was also able to do faster and longer rides now and then, which surprised those I knew who were doing the big miles all the time, as they didn't think I'd trained enough to do them.
Very informative video. I fall into category when you go hard or it doesn’t count. Only recently I realized that easy rides are as important as hard ones. I think the most important point is to listen to your body and be honest to yourself.
It’s funny how this episode came up today. I commute to work daily averaging 200km/week plus weekend rides on top. I normally handle this easily but today I literally took the bike to the bus station and took the bike into work and planned on riding home, we’ll at the end of the day that changed to I took the bike on another bus ride now to home. I was wondering why I was so tired and I believe now after watching this episode that it’s my added stress of my landlord selling my home out from under me and forcing me to locate my life. Thanks guys this really helped to put some perspective into why I felt like crap.
Thanks for this Si, all really great advice. I've been looking into this a lot since being diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, fatigue is a big part of the condition for me so have been doing a lot of what Si talks about to help manage it. I mix in plenty of easy rides/runs into my training and take 2 proper rest days each week now. Plus keeping an eye on my stress levels and taking time out of my day to do some quick mindfulness exercises to help keep it in check. It all helps.
Thank you gcn for discussing this! I do notice that when I’m exhausted, it usually means i need sleep and rest. Cycling has truly been a game changer for me as well as trying to eat healthier, thank you for all your advice! I appreciate it!
No worries Claudia! Glad we could help, will you be making and life changes after this video? 👀
This is the best video I've seen this year, the stress part is so true 👍🏻 Brilliant brilliant work
Great vid Si!
Felt like you where speaking directly to me 👌
Best graph ever presented Si! Awsome work team!
All the stress from obsessing over food can be a big source of all sorts of issues, including tiredness.
Just eat enough but not too much, make sure you get a wide variety of nutrients... that's all.
One thing you didn't touch is age. Not physical age, but the age of your body. As you age, you need more recovery time. In your 20s you can ride/train for five or six days in a row. 50s and older, you may only do two or three days and then you need a serious break. And to emphasize, your riding age may be decades less than your physical age as well and is not linear.
Thanks for mentioning RED-S. I had it for years but never knew and recovery from it takes ages 😖
I used to work nightshift all the time, then I retired so I switched to dayshift mode, now I go to bed @2200 wake @0600 just like basic training. I use my resting heart rate to monitor my tiredness during the summer, but now that's its' to cold to ride(nose runs I hate it, I'm not biking) I still use it to see if I wanna practice yoga and then a spin class or take a rest day and only practice once, Namaste.
I find Strava with the fatigue and fitness graph overlays good feedback depending on how you are subjectively feeling. Additional days off and cat naps also help when warranted. Much better to find balance than go down the overtrain/sickness route which could take months to recover.
I work two fourteen hour night shifts in a row, with a ten hour gap between them, three days off, and I'm on the morning shift to repeat it all again (effectively an eight day week). I'm a big believer in sleep debt, and I don't train before or between my nights, maybe some yoga or stretching, but it's just so much more important to get as much rest and recovery as possible when you're a shift worker, and your circadian rhythm is out of whack. As fun as the big, hard workouts are in a training program, I find the endurance/Z2 training more beneficial!
With you on that one Jake, I do two 12hr days followed by two 12hr nights, I tend to do just one hour before my first nightshift as anything else is too much on top of those working hours.
This was a great, informative video! I just finished riding my bike earlier, and was exhausted almost the entire time, and now I know that it could have (potentially) been from constantly cycling every day (which, at first, I thought was better than on-and-off cycling), using screens late at night (especially right before sleeping), and not going on many leisure rides (so every ride was super fast, and this super intense). I’m definitely going to take notes on this!
Sometimes a video comes along and changes the way you think....for me, this is that video. Excellent explanation.
Glad it was helpful! Has it changed the way you approach your riding 👀
Thanks for the recommendations. I started cycling 3 weeks ago after a few years of pause and I can tell you I'm improving. Training is important, but good sleep, hydration and good nutrition is essential.
Great to hear! Learning those good habits from the get go! 🙌
These are the videos we love! Thanks GCN!
This one was really really good! More like this!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
A great video! I'm tired most of the time due to having a young family and working full time. I find it hard to fit any cycling in at all when the kids are around so train late at night on Zwift a couple of times a week. By the time the bike is set up (I don't have a permanent spot to train indoors) and I'm ready to go, it's usually 10:30pm (or later). I'll do an hour or so, usually in zone 4 then call it a night. I've been getting by on 5 hours sleep a night for quite a few years.
Had a 90 minute turbo scheduled today. Absolutely dog tired. Gonna sack it off and just go for an easy 30 minute run with my son, cook Sunday lunch and spend the rest of the time on the sofa. Thanks for the video.
Been there. Done that. Cortisol was really high due to high stress and I added training on top. Now I listen to my body a lot more. When I'm stressed I don't train or just go for a walk instead.
Excellent video. Thanks. I discovered that I feel tired when dehydrated so now have a habit of a large glass of water after work every day and it just boosts me for a couple of hours. Simple and no downside.
This past year, I was hit by a trifecta of severe energy sapping incidents. Over the Christmas holiday, 2021, I contracted Covid with all of its fatigue inducing symptoms and a persistent cough that took nearly three months to be rid of. Then, in September, I contracted Lyme's disease from a tick bite that left me even worse off than the Covid infection and which I am still feeling the effects of. In between times, my partner and I moved from where we had lived for 25 years, a stressful decision that led to many sleepless nights. I was able to fight back from the Covid infection to the point where I was an age category winner in a gravel race in mid-August. However, this latest round of illness is proving more difficult to overcome and at age 65, I don't know how many more rounds I can go against all of the varieties of viruses and diseases that seem to be proliferating so rapidly. But I will keep up the fight. It's reasonable to assume that keeping fit through cycling is what allowed me to recover from Covid and it will continue to enhance my recovery from my present situation. One day at a time.
Tanks for the info, nice to hear a bit about food and that it’s way more important to eat it than to count the calories. I hear it so often and my way has always been to eat what I want and when I want and of course if I’m on a bike ride a fuel up with cake or banana and if I’m lucky even a proper lunch.
The most common reason why I sometimes feel tired is lack of sleep and I try to listen to my body and take an extra rest day if needed. It’s no shame in that to know your own body and the limits of it so you don’t get hurt. Love the show keep it up ❤
Tanks
Nicklas
Si! Awesome job writing backwards and great video. Having kids definitely doesn’t help with sleep but really makes you appreciate the nights you get get a good nights rest.
Thank you so much for this eye-opening explanation!
Thanks, great video! Started off a bit yawny, then developed into a load of useful advice 👍
Some really good advice here. I once tried to run a 5km PB by training hard with a Polar fitness tracker. 'Just follow the training plan'. I ran 3 minutes worse than the PB I'd been trying to beat. The people who programmed the watch assumed that I knew not to train on an empty stomach every time for two months.
Great informative video which should be useful to a lot of people. Nice one Si.👍
Try being peri / menopausal- energy levels vary enormously from day to day. Sleep all over the place too. Much improved by some HRT which evens out the bumps and seems to stop the extreme slumps.
Very useful video. It's kind of amazing how many of us are able to take what should be a therapeutic activity like cycling and turn it into yet another cause of fatigue, stress, inflammation, and illness. Not me, of course; I used to do that with running, and I'm careful not to repeat the mistake with cycling. Now I wear myself down in the normal way: by working 70 hours a week and eating poorly.
I was born too early... at 75 years of age, I am still mad crazy about being fit and the bike is my main way of being so. I WISH I had been able to have the kit (bikes, power meters, HRMs, etc.), the knowledge (still learning tho!) and patience 55-60 years ago that I have now. I ride 200-300km a month indoor (Zwift and Rouvy) and outdoor (I was born in the UK but live in coastal California, so lots of good weather) and am only just now beginning to understand when to ride to just relax and when to ride hard. Sleep I have no problem with, diet too I think (I am vegetarian tho), but STRESS... oh my gosh... I work full time in high-tech but have a great job. However, as I have pushed myself athletically all my life, I do the same at work and life even though no one is standing over me with a whip. Self-pressure at work, self-pressure with family (7 grandkids) and worrying about our planet, all contribute. The more I understand about my "training" (yeah, I still race on Zwift and have had podiums even in the last year!), the more it helps with managing my stress and my life in general. Thanks (again!) for a great video. I think all cyclist by nature stress themselves worrying about performance, so we are our own worst enemies in some ways!
This video is kind of a stress reliever on it's own. Thanks Si and GCN!
I ride my bike because it makes me happy. It reduces stress, helps me sleep, takes me new places in nature, and puts a grin on my face. Life gets in the way of training and the real limiting factor is time.
Great that you enjoy riding so much 🙌 Training can be really hard to fit in 😵💫
Had an easy week after doing the Dartmoor Devil Audax last Sunday. Getting Strava PR's and Zwift races is addictive, but lots of riding should be zone 2 or active recovery. Some give up outdoor cycling in Winter and lose all their gains, balance is key. A good mattress and air purifier in bedroom helps with recovery.
Informative video. Good to keep an eye on the resting heart rate & heart rate response during training.
By the way, Si repeats the same/similar script at 6:16 and then 6:27. First attempt is more convincing :) Second attempt is too relaxed.
Thank you, Si . Awesome video.
Awesome video! Some really great facts and things to keep in mind here
Lmao Si, “if you’re into aero you’re probably not getting any” what a shot across the bow! 😂 Ollie will bring some burns in another video. My man cannot be disrespected like that lol
Great video and very informative!!! Thank you for posting this!!!!!!
Great video Si. We should have access to more about this subject. Top Dog.
Up to 12% of the population have sleep apnea, up to 85% of those are undiagnosed. Most health care providers still don’t ask about sleep quality during a visit for fatigue (takes awhile for them to add “new” things to their differential). In some countries home sleep studies are easy to obtain (they ship you the monitor, it automatically transmits results).
Energy and vitality are like gold in our veins, definitely the mother lode of daily life. And my few centavos on the subject would be, as a 63-year-old all of a sudden, that cycling is an incredible energy source and force for me because my riding is pretty much weekly 150-mile sport commuting and my eating is aimed at supporting a sport lifestyle. And it is not about perfection or over-exertion, just being grateful to still be active and stay within reasonable bounds--and those bounds mean participation in events and big rides for recreation and maybe even an also-ran ribbon in the over-60 class, but the pursuit of racing is borderline insanity for the young and I was happily there once and I contentedly walked away after a bad crit crash in '84 within reach of the points to get to USCF Cat. 2 and I was okay with that because, yikes, here I was risking my real life in a bullring with competitors of various commitments. And it was cool for me that two years later, as I was pursuing work in my field, that I got to use my fitness as a bike messenger in downtown DC for a few months with Central Delivery and a bunch of all-season tough guys and gals, plus I got to experience a pro-like lifestyle of 12 hours a day on the bike with the dispatcher on the two-way radio asking, "Where you at, Two-Five?" And this was in the summer of '86 when Greg won the Tour and he made the front page of the Washington Post and I sure enjoyed just making the cycling scene as a full-time messenger. As I do now with fellow GCN fans here and it is all best when it is a pursuit of health and fitness and fun and, sure, a few participation medallions and maybe some stories of when I was fast a long time ago.
As a new rider and Strava user I am finding the fitness and fatigue feature useful to help plan my rides. Personally I try to line up a longer ride when the two scores are about the same. I notice improvement in the fitness score afterwards, and of course fatigue goes up. Usually I try to take a day or two off in order to recover. If I do go out, usually it’s a quick pedal with the kids or just 20 minutes to get a few miles in to help maintain my fitness.
Needed these reminders. Thanks team.
Excellent video, all of the above especially work/family/training being a single thing. Hydration when not training I would also so is a big one and not drinking enough water with meals.
Good shout Jason! 🙌
A fantastic and very honest video. Approaching a subject like this head on is important and greatly appreciated.
For me it’s balancing two kids, family life and time on the bike, in addition to nutrition and trying to pay attention to my body signals. Not an easy balance! I generally feel good but there have been times when it feels like I have jet lag, and that’s recently as much as when the kids were new born.
Additionally, remembering to breath when the stress gets high I find greatly helps. It’s an overlooked skill as silly as that seems to write down
Amazing workout. Thank you so much 🫠
I'm more of a recreational cyclist where I'm not looking for Zone 4 or 5, hitting certain power thresholds, etc; that's what Zwift is for over the cold Canadian winters. With Summer here, I just want to be out on the bike for longer periods of time. So for me it's hitting a certain distance and/or time while exploring places I've never been.
Everyone cycles for different reasons, so some people might feel effects of fatigue more than others.
Fantastic video Si!
Used to be very tired and fatigued all the time. I checked and I had iron deficiancy so I started with iron supplements and are now eating food that are rich in iron and that helps me.
Good video. Its a complicated subject and this is probably the best explanation ive seen
Great video.
Important to be mindful about what viruses etc your body might be fighting off this time of year too (northern hemisphere at least). Listen to the body.
Felt a bit flat a couple of weeks ago but went for a ride anyway - it was far too much like hard work and heart was going like the clappers. Wasn't right so took it really easy back, and came down with a bad flu the next day. Can be really dangerous to push through that stuff hard.
Thanks for the comment Rob! Listening to your body is a great point, take it slow and get back on the bike when you're ready 🙌