Burn out: Who's experienced it?

Triathlon Forum
1

So, who has experienced burn out? What does it feel like? Physically? Emotionally? How long did it last for you?

How can you distinguish a bad race from the beginning of burn out?

I had my first cycling race with pro women yesterday and my first abandonment/DNF. I stuck in the peloton for a long time but when we hit a steep hill section at the middle of the race I psychologically gave up. Physically I didn’t give it 100%. The women around me were all going max. effort but I didn’t take it to that level. I didn’t feel like it. Part of me was scared of the exertion and part of me could have cared less about the race and mentally I felt like I wanted to be doing anything but riding my bike. I fell back and never got in the groove with the other stragglers who went to catch back up to the peloton. I just gave up.

It’s a rare occasion when I haven’t given a race 100%. It makes me feel like maybe I’m losing my passion for it. I’m coming off 5 huge exhausting weeks, although I “tapered” for this race and was physically prepared. But mentally I was defeated before I started.

Anyone had an experience like this?

For me it was really scary, I can’t imagine feeling that way again, the “I just don’t care” feeling. I have two tri’s coming up in the next three weeks (an Oly and Timberman), and I’m terrified this feeling will come back in either of those races.

Help please?

2

Yep, sounds like you are burned out or overtrained. I’ll let your coach decide what is best for you with your training program. However, my coach always recommends that I take 3-7 days completely off and enjoy the lazy life again. It has worked for me in the past many times. A few days off here and there really aren’t going to hurt you and they may help you out more. And since you said that you are coming off of 5 exhausting weeks, overtraining is more likely. One thing that I like about my coachs’ program is that I have at least 1 day off a week completely so I don’t have to worry about getting up early or taking a gym bag to work and getting in a workout at some point. I can be a normal person again and get some laundry done. Also, he tends to do a 2 weeks hard, 1 week recovery regiment which I think really, really works. Well, it works for me.

3

i’ve never had this problem in tris (knock on wood, only been at this for about two years), but in rowing i did a few times. i took that very seriously and was training a lot, and every now and then a race would go like that.

for me the best bet was to take a day or two off, and then just take the next 1-4 days and just workout as much or little as i felt like, with no structure at all. maybe give some other form of exercise a shot if there is something else you are into. go do someting fun you’ve been missing.

4

I am living this right now, it started last October, and I am still kind of dealing with it.

5

Elaborate please? How’ve you dealt with it?

I figure I will do the two races I have planned for August and see how they go. If I have the same feeling in either race I’ll bag training for a while. I have a bunch of races planned for the fall but what’s the point of going through the motions if my heart’s not in it? The only problem with taking a break is that (it feels like anyway) my whole life is centered around training, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I wasn’t.

6

I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I wasn’t.

maybe this is a good time to figure that out. take some days off and read a good book, or hike, or just sit on your ass. my guess is you’ll be fine for your races–but you need a change of scenery and focus for a little bit.

the passion does come back; just like “boom” it will reappear.

live today–don’t obsess about the future or worry about the past. what matters right now, this minute, is this very minute. challenge yourself by focusing on that; as by “focusing on the now” it will give you peace of mind.

7

erik is dealing with it by sitting on the couch and eating poptarts and hotdogs.

8

I lost interest in racing for several years. Wasn’t getting results I thought I was capable of, but also wasn’t training the way I needed to get those results. Last year I tried mountain biking, and fell in love with it. Doing something completely new and exciting was what I needed to get fired up about training and racing again. Its been one year, and I still feel incredibly positive and enjoy training and racing again. I hope it lasts a few years. When it stops being fun again, then I’ll stop racing. Hopefully I can get in a few good races before that comes. I don’t really expect to race my whole life. I can be happy with just being able to ride bikes, and swim, (and maybe run) as the years go by. I won’t have to race forever.

9

yes, and you’re going to HI! :):slight_smile:

10

Lisa,

Do something different. This spring I had almost 0 interest in racing/triathlon. But just for a lark, I decided to sign up for some Duathlons. I love them. They are a completely different challenge than the tris and it has really energized me to train again. So maybe you just need to do something different within the sport itself.
Mark

11

I did the Duke Blue Devil iron-distance in Ocober 2005, and I haven’t the fire to train like I once did. I’ve continued swimming, riding and running, but not nearly at the same level. Once I finished that race — my first 140.6 distance race — I just didn’t want to train. I train enough to cruise through a sprint race, and I try to do a couple of tris a year to stay in shape, but I don’t pour everything into it like I used to. I’ve shifted my focus to other interests. I went back to the gym, started playing some softball again. I’m 34, and I even go to the local skate park and skate the half-pipe with my 11-year-old sister-in-law. Keeps me busy and moving.

12

It’s me right now. I started training for this race since November and everything was going well until a week before the race I realized I couldnt go there. My frustration with that resulted in overtraining and for example in a group ride this saturday I mentally gave up on a hill although I wasn’t giving it a decent effort, as you said I just didn’t feel like it. Being frustrated again with being dropped from that bunch, I tried to get into a nice groove in my long run yesterday which became a disaster after 12Km, this convinced me that I need to back off. One thing I blame is the track workouts and hard swims, I wasn’t really having fun running around circles and I think they mentally cracked me.

13

This is really common. For someone as dedicated (typically) as you, it may be too drastic to stop training all at once. I recommend this; do 1/2 of what you had planned on each training day, go completely by feel. If you are feeling really fatigued or uninspired, turn around and go home. Do this until, you are excited about hammering with your long ride buddies. This might take afew weeks. Also, and this is the most important thing, while you are in this “restitution phase”, do every workout on a COMPLETELY new route. In other words, the rule is, your runs and rides have to be on totally new terrain. And, the pool or open water workouts have to be in a new place. This may be slightly inconveniencing, but it can be all it takes to revitalize you. Get more sleep and eat right. Baby yourself; get a massage, a facial, a pedicure, an expensive bottle of wine, whatever. But really pamper for a few days/weeks.

14

It sounds as if you might have psychological. Back off for a few days, take a day or two off, naps are nice. Of course, it oculd be you just had a bad race day etc.
Th main things is not to become a dweller on what happened. Analyze the race what you need to do etc, then do it. If you need rest great take it, most people don’t rest enough. If you think you need 6x800m at balls to the wall speed talk with you coach as this is rarely the solution.
Bottom line don’t dwell on what may happen or what did happen. Plan your race, get to the race flip the switch to on, race your race, thn flip it off.
Also less negative self talk more positive self talk.

15

Burnout, or overtraining, or it’s kinder gentler younger sister “overreaching” needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Or you will spend a year trying to figure out why you just can’t race well “anymore”. It’s very humbling and it happens to almost everyone.

There is a great article on overtraining and over-reaching, done on elite athletes in austrailia, this being where Emma Snowsill, Annabel Luxford and the likes have been trained. Read the whole thing and determine for yourself how serious you need to heed the advice! Here are 2 other supporting articles as well.

http://www.usoc.org/education/coach_summer2003.pdf

http://www.af-d.com/articles/overtrainingprevention_en.pdf

the bigger, longer article which really details the feelings and recovery necessary to “snap out of it” but I can’t find it, however it’s from Austrialian Institute of Sport and focused on swimmers, triathletes, runners, rugby, etc. If you find it, it really details recovery time and why. The answer isn’t pretty, it basically states the body needs a week to months to re-establish all of it’s systems and refresh itself.

I was personally over-reaching (I think) in late May after 3 months of training that felt so good I never took an easy/recover week. Boom. You head out for a 5 mile run, get through the warmup, and feel destroyed. You know the feeling. It requires much much less, not more more more. It was so impossibly frustrating but worth the rest.

I took 4 days completely off, then for 2 weeks I trained 1 day, rested 1 day. Then for 2 weeks 2 days on, off 1. Then 3 on, 1 off. And so on. I’ve found that I do much much better with 4-5 days and then a day off, and flexible enough to work around races, or train a little more to hit key workouts but making sure the easy days are really, ACTUALLY easy! Harder done than said!

16

I remember standing on a beach before a oly tri in 1991. It was cold and I could see my breath. I asked myself: “What the hell am I doing here?” I did the race and then quit tris, concentrating soley on running races (at which I was better).

I got tri-invigorated again in 1999 when my oldest daughter decided she wanted to do tris and I noticed that there were a lot more sprint tris being offered. I would not have come back to tris if I had to do the training it took to be competitive in my AG for Olys, but I don’t mind the training for sprint tris. I can run 20-25 miles a week, swim 2,000-2,500 yards a week and bike 40-ish miles a week and still be AG competitive in sprint tris.

So, IMO, it is easier to burn out if you have to spend too much time training.

17

Its happening to me right now. I did IMC last summer and then IM Brazil this May and have 4 weeks to go until IMC this year, so I’ve been training nearly non-stop for 18 months. In June/July I had a series of bad long training days, including heat exhaustion, dehydration, bonking, etc. I did the Triple Bypass and then quit halfway through a tough ride the following day. I had no interest in finishing and compounded it with no interest in getting in a pool. I took a week off (this is 6 weeks out from IMC) from all but running and still didn’t feel better. I took a second week off and as of this past Saturday had thrown in the towel, deciding to drop out of the race. But yesterday I had an epiphany that I need to do the race, otherwise I’d regret it. So, although I am likely burnt out, I am going to push through these next 3-4 weeks, race, then take a good 6 months off of triathlon. I believe the burn-out is 90% emotional, but its real nonetheless and I hope to enjoy spending the fall doing other things, then hopefully getting my enthusiasm back for 2008.

18

Thanks for posting those links. I seem to have most of the “symptoms”.

It’s funny because until this bad race performance I didn’t think anything was wrong, but looking back, I’ve spent so much time on the bike this summer yet I only seem to be getting slower, and keeping the same paces that seemed to come effortlessly in the past has required so much more effort.

I kind of knew I’ve been pushing myself and not recovering adequately but I thought I could “catch up” on my recovery for Timberman. Now I’m not sure I’ll be able to. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess.

19

It’s comforting to know I’m not alone in this feeling although I’m sorry anyone has to go through it.

I think I may try taking some time off. My fear is that I’ll take a few days off and never get back to it. I’m the type that I’ll push through mediocre workouts just to get the hours in for the week rather than listen to my body and take a day or two off. Then I wonder if going into a workout sore is actually beneficial as far as training goes.

20

I am in the burn out boat right now, but coming out of it.

I had been training for IMAZ and I thought I was in the best shape of my life. This was my year. My year to blow it out and go to Hawaii…or so I thought. When I lost over 30 minutes on my bike mechanical, the wind left my sails. I decided on the ride back into town that a DNF would benefit me more by allowing me to keep training to really blow it out at Buffalo Springs.
I did. I DNF’d at IMAZ, and woke up the next day and started training for Buffalo Springs. The training was great, but everything else in my life was suffering(house, girlfriend, dogs, car, family, social) and by the begining of June, I just couldn’t train anymore. The scary part was that now I was in the best shape of my life…better that at IMAZ. Every bike/run workout was better than the last, but for me to race, I had to keep training, and I didn’t have it in me. More than that, I knew I would qualify at Buffalo, and then I would be training all Summer for Hawaii, and I just didn’t want that either. So, I moved my registration to 2008, kicked my legs up and started working on other aspects of my life and just trained when I wanted to.
I actually had two days in a row where I didn’t work out at all.
For me, I needed a complete break, but that was me.