Wednesday, April 3, 2013

March 18-31: Breaking Down


As much as I’d like to forget the last few weeks of training, there’s something to be said for learning from past mistakes, and the first step in that is data collection. In the nuclear industry, we call this “analyzing operating experience,” but luckily, in this case, it seems that I’ve only managed to trash my own body, not a major piece of plant equipment that will cost a utility millions of dollars to fix.

Look, I’m trying to be positive here for a change. Work with me, please.


The two weeks of training documented here don’t tell the entire story of this breakdown. It’s just NOT possible, outside of a traumatic injury or accident, to break your body down in two weeks. So where does the story start?


Truthfully, I don’t know where it starts.


Maybe when I took my temperature in mid-March, in the middle of a minor bout with a respiratory ailment, and found that it was 95 F. And found that it's pretty much stayed there since.


 Maybe it starts with the overbooked work/travel/training/coaching schedule I plowed through with multiple 4 am treadmill and trainer workouts earlier this winter.


Maybe it starts with the medically ordered diet of 800-1000 calories/day (total, not net, regardless of training load) that got handed to me in the fall, despite the fact that I wasn’t even technically overweight to start with. Or, perhaps the real problem is that I lacked the willpower and discipline to follow it, therefore ensuring that I didn't clear up the problems I'd sought treatment for in the first place.


Maybe it started when I couldn’t stop gaining weight while training for Ironman Louisville last summer, even though I cut my calorie intake by skipping nutrition for the last 90-120 minutes of all long brick workouts (yes, I know, no lecture necessary) and watched my daily intake like a hawk, to the point that I went to bed hungry most nights.


Maybe this whole thing begins in the summer of 2011, when I gained 11 pounds in 3 weeks for no identifiable reason and demonstrated obvious hormonal balance problems (which I will not detail here because many of my professional colleagues, almost all of whom are male, read this blog), yet no doctor would give this a second thought because I wasn’t medically overweight.


Maybe it starts in the fall of 2009, the last time I took two days in a row off – and only did so because I had to while recovering from kidney surgery.


Regardless of when it starts, the last two weeks slowly unfolded to reveal a clear accumulation of fatigue and breakdown that I couldn’t push through. I understand that training overload is necessary to make improvements, but once you are almost passing out during workouts, once you are contemplating sitting down for a nap on a cold sidewalk during a run because getting home seems too difficult, you’ve  crossed into bad territory.


Last week, I took two full days in a row off and had a halfway decent long brick workout on Saturday. I thought that perhaps just a little rest had fixed me. But this week has brought more exhaustion and an inability to sit upright for long periods of time, and it’s obvious that this isn’t going to get fixed anytime quickly.


Monday, 3/18: Rest day, with lots of napping and catching up on work that I was too slow to accomplish during the day. 


Tuesday, 3/19: A 5.72 mile run at 9:01 pace, just barely escaping the rain in the morning. 4100 yards of swimming with DCRP masters in the evening, back in the lane with the fast people who haul along at faster than 1:15/100 yards. 

Wednesday, 3/20: A 5 mile “track” workout on the treadmill, covering 6x800 (2 at half marathon pace – 3:46-3:43, 4 at 10k pace – 3:34-3:36-3:35-3:36). This was done in the morning so that I could coach in the evening, but I could tell by midday that I wouldn’t be able to make it through the evening without multiple naps, so I pushed that off on an assistant coach and was useless for the evening. 

Thursday, 3/21: An hour of Z3 intervals on the trainer, averaging 169 W, in the morning, then semi-floated through 4400 yards of swimming with DCRP, including a bunch of 1:16-1:17/100y  pace work.

Friday, 3/22: 25 minutes of team strength training work, then tons of teleconferences for work followed by 45 minutes of laying on my living room floor procrastinating a 3 hour brick workout. I wound up procrastinating it to the next day, and instead did Saturday’s swim once I managed to get upright again. 4x1000m at a pace too pathetic to put into writing. 

Saturday, 3/23: 35 miles of biking with Rachel and Karen, averaging 151 W/17.0 mph, followed immediately by 5 miles of running at an 8:56/mile pace. CLEARLY the half ironman on 4/20 will be CRUSHED. 

Sunday, 3/24: Ran SIX WHOLE MILES (average pace 8:57) building to the uber-speedy half marathon goal pace of 7:52, only accomplished because the last mile is downhill. Stopped for a traffic light at mile 2, contemplated taking a nap on Mass Ave. Barely stayed upright to coach in the afternoon, napped, and then finally finished out a 25 minute home strength training session at 8 pm because I felt lame not doing it when I had all the equipment RIGHT THERE in my living room. 

Monday, 3/25: Rest day. Spent most of the workday trying to focus, went home and laid down. 

Tuesday, 3/26: 5.84 mile fartlek run with hills in the morning, that felt far, far too difficult for the 9:07 average I held. In the evening, an ill-fated 3800 yard swim practice with DCRP Masters, which included several sets of 4x25 that required us to get out and do push ups at the end of each length. This is ONLY an appropriate set for a bunch of upperclassmen who got caught giving freshmen beer; to make things even more fun, my blood pressure kept plummeting and I spent most of the end of practice dizzy. Finally, I jumped back in after one set of pushups and thought I wasn’t going to make it back to the surface. Luckily, it turns out my lungs had enough air in them that I sort of floated back up and grabbed onto the wall in time. 

Wednesday, 3/27: 40 minutes of strength training in the morning, followed by an epic failure of a track workout: 3.43 miles including 3x1000 (should have been 4) in 5:00-5:03-5:13  before our coach sent me home with Rachel, who thought I was going to die.
 

Thursday, 3/28: Work meetings, then hours in bed contemplating trashing my entire race season. 

Friday, 3/29: 9-some miles of walking aimlessly around the city, capped off by purchase of Easter candy, which was then consumed for dinner. 

Saturday, 3/30: 50 miles of biking at a 160 W average, including a 40 minute race pace section at 174W, which left me feeling much better about being able to pull off some good power in Charleston at the end of the month. Followed immediately by 4.5 miles of running, building to half ironman goal pace (8:42…har, most of the last mile was downhill, suckers). More Easter candy consumption and aimless wandering of the city. 

Sunday, 3/31: 10 miles of aimlessly wandering the city on foot. 3000 meters of straight swimming, split as 1:36/100m for the first half and 1:34/100m for the second half. Solid, and solidly fueled by M&Ms.   

25 comments:

  1. I'm no scientist but has it occurred to you that your marathon performance was far more draining than you realize? I mean, Johan Santana is a professional athlete who hasn't been the same since pitching a no-hitter last summer...now injured and out for the season. I am not trying to be negative, but maybe a non-brick day here and there and a measly 2 days off in a row since 2009 wasn't/isn't enough, particularly with the other physical issues confronting you. You may not have answers but you have indicators - are you willing to change anything?

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    1. It's possible that the marathon finally just caught up with me now. I followed the plan for coming back slowly after the race, but I might have pushed too hard too early. As far as being willing to change anything - I need to know what to change first, and it's hard to manage against multiple health issues simultaneously.

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    2. Absolutely -- that's part of my thought...you are not dealing with JUST a high-performance race recovery or a heavy training cycle or work challenges or elusive health issues, you're dealing with all of it. And the other part of the challenge is a super-motivated person who doesn't want to back off. I get that!

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  2. Oooooof. First of all, it SUCKS that you're dealing with a bunch of physical, medical issues that you can't control, and it SUCKS that you're already operating under medical advice that is possibly not making things better (if not also making things worse). It also sucks -- if I assume correctly that you don't like doctors -- that the thing I'm going to say here is, "Maybe find another doctor." Because man, I have done the thing of going from doctor to doctor looking for someone who will listen to me and see the big picture, and it TOTALLY SUCKS, and I was doing it for something altogether less systemic than what you're dealing with. But if you're not sure you can fix this on your own, you might need the right doctor to help. Or maybe it's not a doctor -- maybe it's just someone who knows medical science via some other field. In any case, it needs to be someone who can look at all the data you've provided here and do something with it besides say "oh my god, that sounds awful."

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  3. I think I've given you enough of my advice offline so I'll just say this sucks and we all want you to get better and FEEL better.

    Team #rage never leaves a man behind.

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  4. First, this sounds horrible and I hope you can find a doctor that can help with your symptoms without blowing you off at all. But as someone just reading that as an outside party.... all the training with no rest while you're having other medical problems sounds completely self destructive. I know you hate taking time off and it sounds like you're wary of doctors but you could be damaging your body to a point where you're no longer going to be able to do the things you love. I couldn't fathom a doctor telling me to eat a total of 800-1000 calories a day (not net) without asking for a second (or third or fourth) opinion. And I can't imagine sustaining the volume of training you're pulling off on it. I mean, honestly, I read this and thought I can't believe you haven't felt this bad for longer! And I'm not saying this to judge, I'm saying it from a place of genuine concern. You're obviously much tougher than I am but don't force yourself to be the world's toughest person at the expense of taking care of yourself. You have a lot more to offer the world than a fast Iron Man!

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    1. I have to second Carly's comment...I can't give such great advice, because I *feel* the same way that you do, and it would be very appealing to me to think that perfectly controlled eating of 800 odd calories would fix everything. It's a very seductive concept, but I still think that doctor is insane (and forgive me if you've had a second opinion already on this). The one tiny piece of logic in my brain agrees with Carly, but my intuition (haha, I do intuitively do some things...that should earn me a freaking Nobel Prize in blogland) would have me acting the same way as you, so I do empathise a lot.

      xxx

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    2. The doctor I saw in the fall claimed that exercise was good and my training would be fine...and it was, for a long time. I'm not sure what caused the sudden change, for all I know, I have mono or something. Or, maybe I'm just being lazy.

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    3. Haha, Jess, we should start a school that offers "intuitive medicine" degrees.

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    4. You are the least lazy person ever! Maybe it wasn't "fine" for a long time. Maybe, being the tough and strong person you are, you were able to push through on something that wasn't fine for a very long time and it finally caught up to you. I can't wait to hear what other doctors think and really hope you're back to feeling well again soon!

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  5. Oh man. That sucks! I hope you feel better and maybe figure out the cause of the fatigue :(

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  6. this would have me #raging too. i wish nothing more than for you to feel yourself again! you've tried multiple doc's and had hormone levels checked??? be persistent about finding the right doctor... no need to pass out during a workout or ironman! (ps. i am not that kind of doctor, so i have no idea #wtf is going on. wish i did!)

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    1. Yeah, they checked my hormones, I have too much testosterone, and the doctor I saw in the fall claims that it's because I'm too fat, hence the diet that was supposed to help me lose weight.

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  7. I can't imagine it hasn't already crossed your (or your doctor's) mind, but only because I don't see mention of it, could it be that your thyroid gland is out of whack and a case of hypothyroidism in combination with your training regimen is making you gain weight and simultaneously break down? If I'm the one millionth person to suggest this, I apologize.

    Regardless, that suuuuucks! I'll just keep hoping something turns your progress around. I'm sorry.

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    1. Yeah, they checked my thyroid in the fall and claim it's fine. I'm probably getting it checked again.

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    2. My husband had a thyroid test as part of a comprehensive physical and it showed some indicators of hypothyroidism but they said "never believe the first test, do it again" since he didn't really have symptoms of what the test said. Perhaps the opposite could happen as well?

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    3. It's possible. I'm supposed to go to a new doctor, we'll see what they find.

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  8. Wow. Just wow. Clearly you've given this a lot of thought to try to figure out where it started. (I would totally do the same thing.) It's definitely unsettling knowing that any one (or more than one) of those situations could've been "it." Sending positive thoughts your wage--and not-so-positive ones directed at the root of the situation in the form of #rage.

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  9. I definitely can't add much more that others haven't said, but I hope that you can take care of yourself and that you (and a doc) can figure out what's going on so that you can really get back to full strength.

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  10. I don't think my comments have been going through because when I comment, it says error. I thought maybe it was moderation...so if that is the key then you can delete this comment and probably the 10 more I sent.

    Anyways-I can't even begin to know what to say. I have absolutely no experience and although I'd love to give you answers or advice, I know that isn't what you are looking for. It pains me to see such a strong person and athlete going through this and I can only hope you find the answers you need soon.

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    1. Oh lookie, it's here! I don't moderate comments (thus, some posts with viagra ad comments, yay), so it must be blogger sucking.

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  11. Ugh. This is awful. I am so sorry this is happening to you. I really have no suggestions because I no nothing about medicine, but I agree with the commenter who said maybe find another doctor for a second opinion. I wish you could come here because I know a really good one!

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  12. This is sounding REALLY bad! First words of advice for what they are worth: you need to find what makes you happy and pursue that as the first priority. Whether that's swimming, running, working, chocolate, or whatever - FIND IT. Once that is sestablished as a first priority, other things will begin to fall into place. You simply can't do it all and fight multiple medical issues as well. While your first priority may shorten your life by 5 or even 10 years, far better to live fewer years doing what you want to do than more years doing what you have to do. Once, you've negotiated with yourself to get to where YOU want to be, you can then negotiate with others to bring remaining parts of your life into line with that. Let your mother and me know of anything we can do to help - we love you and your happinees is one of our own first priorities.

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  13. Wow, it's been almost 4 years since you took 2 days off? I'm sure you've read all about chronic overtraining, but the cure is almost always taking a good long time off, like two months. You may be at that point, because you seem like you have thoroughly examined almost every other possibility.

    Here's an excerpt from http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/overtraining.html:

    ' ...It appears that there are two forms of the syndrome. The sympathetic form is more common in sprint type sports and the parasympathetic form is more common in endurance sports...

    ... one example is resting heart rate. In the sympathetic form, the resting heart rate is elevated. In the parasympathetic form, however, the resting heart rate is decreased. If this sounds confusing, then you are not alone. There is very little agreement in the literature about abnormal laboratory findings. Additionally, it is possible to have the overtraining syndrome, but have completely normal physical findings and biochemical tests. At this point, there is no single test that will confirm the presence of overtraining. The overtraining syndrome should be considered in any athlete who manifests symptoms of prolonged fatigue and performance that has leveled off or decreased. It is important to exclude any underlying illness that may be responsible for the fatigue.

    The treatment for the overtraining syndrome is rest. The longer the overtraining has occurred, the more rest required. Therefore, early detection is very important. If the overtraining has only occurred for a short period of time (e.g., 3 - 4 weeks) then interrupting training for 3 - 5 days is usually sufficient rest... In more severe cases, the training program may have to be interrupted for weeks, and it may take months to recover. '

    Hope you find the solution, because I really don't see how it's possible for you to live and train on the calories you are currently allotted.

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  14. The book "50 Marathons 50 Days" by Dean Karnazes has a fantastic run training program that I would highly recommend looking at. I have (am still am) using this training program as a guide for my own running.

    triathlon training for beginners

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