The scene. Monday evening, snuggling on the chair with my daughter while watching Discovery Channel’s new series Life. 10 minutes into the show, my head begins to nod. 20 minutes in, I’m concentrating more on staying awake than what’s on the show. The show is AMAZING by the way. It’s not boring but beautiful. The amazing adaptations exhibited by the animals are right up my biologist alley, whatever that means. But I’m struggling to stay awake…
The Signs
…Flash forward sixty minutes. I’m eating dinner at the table with the family and totally staring out into the stratosphere. Pam asks what’s going on and I reply, “I’m exhausted. I can’t stay awake!” Her response, “Yep, you look like pooh!”
Flash forward ninety minutes. The kids are in bed. Pam’s heading there herself so she can get up and run with the girls early in the morning. Pam asks me if I’m coming and I reply, “No, I have to go blog for tomorrow.”
Flash forward 20 minutes. I know what I want to write about, but the words just aren’t coming. I wasn’t planning on writing about being tired. I ended up throwing in the towel and hitting the sack about 9:20.
Megan woke me up at 7:00. Pam was long gone–I didn’t notice her normal bull in the china closet routine. 7:00 felt like 4:30 to me. I slept hard. Really hard. But I’m still tired.
After dropping the kids off at school, I had 30 minutes to kill before heading back to volunteer in Megan’s classroom. I picked up my latest issue of Runners World and opened up directly to the article entitled, “Energy Crisis.” The article wasn’t that good, but I added it to my list of signs that I’d been receiving. Yeah, I’m starting to feel a little bit tired and run down. Let’s evaluate, shall we?
The Symptoms
Not only am I having problems staying awake. But I can’t concentrate on much, my muscles are sore, and I’m having a difficult time staying on track with meal plan. I just can’t be bothered entering my food into my log (check it for yourself if you don’t believe me). And my weight is creeping up a bit–just a bit. Plus, I’ve been totally wanting to eat those pesky processed carbs that I’ve been doing such a great job at avoiding.
The Solutions
The solutions to this problem are simple when stated. But for me, they’re very difficult to act on. Making them public will help, so here it goes.
- SLEEP MORE–Since my morning wake up times are pretty much set, I’ve got to be more productive during the day so that I can get to bed 30-45 minutes earlier each night.
- WORK MORE EFFICIENTLY–The laundry machine should always be running. The dishes should always be put in the dishwasher as the day progresses. The messes should be cleaned up as they’re made, not at the end of the day. And blogging needs to be performed more efficiently while the kids are at school, or the schedule needs to be reduced. If these things are accomplished, I can get to bed earlier and be a happier dude!
- LISTEN TO MY BODY–My body is telling me it’s tired and needs a break. I’m going to listen to it. This week is a “step back” week for our marathon training. The plan calls for 4 “easy” runs totaling 30 miles. I cut out Tuesday’s run and just went for a walk. That way, I will be able to give my body a three day running break but still get a bit of exercise on Tuesday.
Hopefully, by sleeping a little bit more, and running a little bit less this week, I’ll be fully recovered and ready to go next week which is our hardest marathon training week. Then it’s time to taper a bit each week and get my head in the game for the big race.
What do you guys think? Is this enough of a change to let my body feel rested? Should I rest more? What do you do when you feel run down?
I know today’s entry was supposed to be about my second weight loss principle, Exercise. But this is what was on my mind for today, sorry. Friday’s post WILL BE entitled, “Weightloss Details: Exercise.” Tomorrow, you can look forward to a guest post from an old friend of GFS.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Overtraining is usually just undersleeping and/or undereating. Considering that you are trying to lose weight on top of all of this, I’m not surprised that you’re exhausted. Definitely try to get more sleep, but also make sure you are taking a GOOD multivitamin/multimineral supplement, and getting enough protein every day.
It seems that it should be enough to jump-start your energy. What does Brody say about it?
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I agree with the above, Mac. Your body is trying to tell you something. I think what makes it worse (and this is definitely true with me) is that your mind is trying to ignore what your body is telling you. When I’m run down and unmotivated (like right now), the first thought I have – the very first – is that I’m lazy and can’t do anything right, like follow through on a simple plan. And it’s just not true. What’s true is that I’m tired and need to rest. Or eat, ideally something that is not only pretty good for me, but tastes good too. Or just do something simple like take a walk in the woods. The fear, of course, is that if I get “off track” for even ONE day, then my plan/goal will go all to hell. One day will turn into two, two into a week, a week into a month, etc. What I find is that after a day or so of rest, I’m ready to get back at it.
I agree with Anne. Your marathon goals might be in conflict with your weight loss goals right now. The marathon training (and the weight training) is eating up massive calories, which I don’t think you’re replenishing (and might be why you’re getting cravings for high-carb foods), and might also account for some of the exhaustion.
Which goal is more important right now?
Anne–I’m not actually trying to lose weight at this point. My goal weight of 170 has been met. I’m just trying to balance good calories in with calories out. I’d like to trade fat for muscle of course, but ideally I want my weight to stay the same. Thanks for the advice on the multivitamin and protein (of which I get plenty).
Seth–I slept 10 hours last night and feel great today.
John–Thanks for the comment. I’m listening to my body and only went for a walk last night instead of for a run. Plus, I got lots of sleep and have been eating very well for the last few days. And remember, I’m not trying to lose weight right now.
It sounds like your body just needs a good, long rest. Take a few days where you just focus on getting back to your best and you will feel so empowered and energized. I’m sure you’ll be back to your best in no time!
Hey mac! Really just reading your blog for the first time. Trying to take advantage of paternity leave and work on getting fit myself. You’ve done great things!
In this post I think you are missing one important thing–water. I almost always find that when I am run down I have not hydrated enough. There may also be other reasons but lack of water is almost always involved. When I am at my best, I chug 16oz of water first thing in the morning, at breakfast, mid morning, lunch, midafternoon, after exercising, at dinner, and sometime after dinner. Got the idea from Eating for Life because sipping water all day doesn’t work for me. Anyway, try more H2O when you’re run down.
Good luck!
-D
Doug–Thanks for the input! I do believe that you’re my first Oxy comment BTW! Congrats on new papahood as well–such an exciting time. I may have overlooked the hydration aspect in the post, but I rarely forget to drink enough water these days. I’m a very well hydrated individual. But still, others who read the post may not be. So thanks for bringing it up; It’s a great tip.
I find sometimes when I am feeling like that (if I’m getting enough sleep and eating well) it’s because I am fighting off a cold or other bug. So I just take it easy for a few days and I’m usually back to normal.
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I’d like to recommend a book for you to read which is somewhat on the subject of exhaustion. It is called the Break-Out Principle. It is a book on how to activate the natural trigger that maximizes creativity, athletic performance, productivity and personal well being. I wouldn’t say it is a good book but it highlights one idea to help you body produce that NO (nitric oxide) that helps with your performance.
As a swimmer in college I was worked to exhaustion so many times and this was seen in my poor performances in swim meets during the season. Then after all those wrenching hours of working my muscles to fatigue the season is almost over and the taper begins. A taper is a basically a sudden drop in yardage only replaced by short anaerobic stuff. My body becomes confused and I want to sleep more eventhough I am basically rested. And finally when the big meet comes I am suddenly ready to perform beyond what I thought I could do. The swimming season is usually 4-5 months long with the last two weeks of taper. I suggest doing a taper for a week or two give up the long distance running and focus on short sprints. Confuse your body by doing more anaerobic stuff. Then after a week or two pick up your milage and see how it feels. just a suggestion from a jaded swimmer
When I’m feeling like you do, I make sure to get more sleep. I feel ridiculous going to sleep at 9pm. After 2 (or even 3) early evenings, I usually feel loads better.
Sleep is definitely my biggest problem with exhaustion. With 2 young kids, and everything else that needs to happen around the house, I’m lucky to be in bed by 10:30 most nights. I usually do a bit of reading to wind down before actually going to sleep, and then I’m up at 5:30 to get to work by 6. So that’s about 6 1/2 hours of sleep if I’m lucky. And the weekends aren’t much better.
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