Fatiguing early on most rides

shmo

Had a great winter of training. Weekly 100km rides at 250 watt average, odd few races and shorter rides here and there, breaking PBs and doing about 250km/week total. Then spring came and I've gone massively downhill since around April. Seem to get hit by a massive wall of fatigue early on in most rides, usually around 30-40min in, or just after doing a hard effort. I've managed to ride through the fatigue a couple of times at 100-150 watts for about 30 min before starting to feel good again, but usually it's just a downward spiral until I'm struggling to just turn the peddles over. Barely managing 150km/week since April. Don't think it's a fueling issue, at least I'm not doing anything different in that respect in the 15 years or so I've been riding.

I guess I should probably visit my GP to see if anything is up, but thought I'd ask to see if anyone has encountered anything similar. Cheers.

webboo

Over training? However I agree a trip to gp would be a good starting point if it isn’t over training.

brandy234

Have you taken any time off the bike after that big training block?

If not, then it's possibly fatigue. Would recommend taking a week off if you can. The body needs time to recover and build.

If you were riding 100km at 250W average it sounds like you were probably doing a lot of work at or above your threshold. It's recommended to do long/endurance rides at a low effort to build aerobic fitness and allow your body to back up and require minimal recovery, with a few interval/high intensity rides in the mix.

That kind of extended threshold work will need some recovery eventually.

photonic69

If you have noticed a sudden drop of performance or any unusual change then I'd go to the GP and get a full medical with blood tests done ASAP. I've had similar and been diagnosed with all sorts of really unexpected ailments. Fortunately the initial cancer diagnosis has been downgraded to something far less terminal!!! It has been a real shock and a wakeup call.

Go to GP NOW!! Is the best advice I can offer.

shmo

Cheers for the replies from before. Thought I'd give a quick update.

Like a responsible person I put off going to the GP until I had another bad cold and week off work before finally making an appointment. Just had a blood test done that was all normal apart from slightly high bilirubin level. GP suggested Gilbert's syndrome (not the cyclist unfortunately) which is sometimes linked to tiredness but is otherwise benign with no treatment/cure.

Can't say I'm entirely convinced, still struggling to do one-third of what I was doing 6-7 months ago and generally feel like a zombie most days but not sure there's anything else to be done.

cougie

Have you had any weeks off training ?

shmo

Only been off the bike completely when properly sick, but I've been skipping a lot of sessions and terminating early when feeling rough so I've only been doing 3-5 hrs/week on the bike for the last 6 months or so.

fenix

I think you need to take a complete rest off the bike for a week or two. Rest and recharge the batteries rather than keep flogging a sick horse.

3 to 5 hours a week might not seem a lot compared to what you used to do - but some people would have that as a hard weeks training.

keef66

Did they specifically look for glandular fever? Our eldest son has been feeling rubbish for months and at the last GP visit they decided to see if he'd had it and yes he had. No way of telling when / how long ago. He's a teacher and seems to catch things with depressing regularity. Advice is just eat well and get plenty of rest

photonic69

If your Bilirubin level is high then that could be blocked bile ducts. This can be caused by any number of things such as Gall Stones or inflammation. Basically your Bilirubin is not getting into your digestive tract and out of your body.

Are you Jaundiced at all? Is your skin itchy? Is your urine darker than usual? Is your poo a lighter colour and smells like baby poo?

Could be so many things. You should seriously consider getting a second opinion from another GP and pressure them to get you a CT scan at hospital to see if there is anything sinister going on. An enlarged Pancreas can cause the same issues as I know. See post above.

Good luck

shmo

Cheers guys many thanks for the replies.

In reply to PhotoNic69; I haven't noticed yellowing of the skin at all. My face got itchy and red recently but I think that's something unrelated (got diagnosed for sebhorreic dermatitis many years ago and have some shampoo to treat that). Poo however (apologies to anyone reading this) has had this weird sweet smell quite often for a while now. I put it down to too many G&Ts but I've noticed it even when I haven't been drinking. Don't think they are any lighter than usual however.

Will take the suggestions for a complete break from the bike and second GP opinion on board. Cheers all!