About me: 28 year old male, have been racing for about 6 years, vegan for around the same time.
My GP and I have been monitoring my testosterone, vit d, b12, cortisol, erythropoietin, along with hematocrit and other blood indicators every month for the past few months. As my training volume has increased we’ve noticed a steady decline in testosterone and an increase in cortisol. Just recently my T slipped just below the healthy range for men my age (110 ng/DL). Iron, hemoglobin, hematocrit, RBC, and all other tested indicators have all stayed relatively constant.
I’ve read a lot of literature on decreased testosterone in an endurance athletes, usually as a function of elevated cortisol from the stress of training. My peak race is 3 weeks away (Ironman Santa Rosa). I’m hoping the taper and extra rest will help normalize my levels. I’ve also introduced some herbal supplements mainly turmeric, trans-resveratrol, and fenugreek to help restore the levels.
Any other athletes experience this? Beyond extra rest what worked well for you? This is my third Ironman, though this season I’ve increased my volume and intensity substantially. Fortunately, I don’t seem to have any other symptoms of chronic overtraining. My motivation and energy levels feel stable and I’m still able to put out relatively high wattage. I would say however that my sex-drive has definitely declined
Wanted to share my experience and see if anyone out there has had a similar experience, and see what worked for them to restore normal endocrine function
I’m 29, been racing for 9 years and am also doing IM Santa Rosa as my third Ironman. I trained quite a bit more volume in my mid 20s, basically wrecking myself as much as I could and other than the occasional mental burnout or bout of bronchitis never had any of the testosterone issues. I did my last IM in 2015, and then took a year off from structured training and I’ve noticed this time around a lot more of the classic low T symptoms. I’ve adjusted my training quite a bit, a lot more intervals, a lot less hours and a lot fewer filler workouts like easy swims and easy bike rides. It’s working out, I think I might actually be faster now off of 60% of the hours I used to do. At the very least I’m back where I was fitness wise and am much more aware of when I’m probably doing too much (which has been hard to avoid the last 3 weeks).
I also have had to make sure I sleep more. There’s no way I can do what I used to off of 6-7 hours of sleep, I now get 8 on average. I’m more proactive about nutrition. I eat more during workouts, and eat more protein and good fats outside of training than I used too. I don’t take any supplements other than a generic multi vitamin w/ iron. It all seems to be helping a lot, but I guess I’ll really find out in 3 weeks.
I have friends who take synthetic testosterone so they can train 20 hours a week, and they’ve all got excuses why training smarter won’t work for them. Don’t be them, it’s not about training the most, it’s about training the best.
Thank you for the insight - I didn’t consider that sleep could be impacting my levels. I average about 6-7 a night. I guess that’s something I can definitely improve.
I went 9:20 on the old course, I think this one is quite a bit faster, so maybe around 9. Although I saw it was over 100 this past weekend there, and if that’s the case it will be a different story haha.
I have friends who take synthetic testosterone so they can train 20 hours a week, and they’ve all got excuses why training smarter won’t work for them.
You came to the wrong place for help as no one here thinks low testosterone is actually a thing. All you will get are a bunch of responses about telling you how they have done such and such and never had a problem or you should be “training smarter”.
If I could offer one piece of advice…also look into thyroid levels. Best of luck on a speedy recovery.
I have friends who take synthetic testosterone so they can train 20 hours a week, and they’ve all got excuses why training smarter won’t work for them. Don’t be them, it’s not about training the most, it’s about training the best.
And are they just training, or do they race doped? Are you a triathlon coach?
About me: 28 year old male, have been racing for about 6 years, vegan for around the same time.
My GP and I have been monitoring my testosterone, vit d, b12, cortisol, erythropoietin, along with hematocrit and other blood indicators every month for the past few months. As my training volume has increased we’ve noticed a steady decline in testosterone and an increase in cortisol. Just recently my T slipped just below the healthy range for men my age (110 ng/DL). Iron, hemoglobin, hematocrit, RBC, and all other tested indicators have all stayed relatively constant.
I’ve read a lot of literature on decreased testosterone in an endurance athletes, usually as a function of elevated cortisol from the stress of training. My peak race is 3 weeks away (Ironman Santa Rosa). I’m hoping the taper and extra rest will help normalize my levels. I’ve also introduced some herbal supplements mainly turmeric, trans-resveratrol, and fenugreek to help restore the levels.
Any other athletes experience this? Beyond extra rest what worked well for you? This is my third Ironman, though this season I’ve increased my volume and intensity substantially. Fortunately, I don’t seem to have any other symptoms of chronic overtraining. My motivation and energy levels feel stable and I’m still able to put out relatively high wattage. I would say however that my sex-drive has definitely declined
Wanted to share my experience and see if anyone out there has had a similar experience, and see what worked for them to restore normal endocrine function
Do a search for Cody Beals and Matt Bach. Both are high-level athletes that have documented their experience. I know one thing Matt Bach talks about is HPA Axis and is another herbal thing if you believe in the power of herbs. Lowest number I have personally had so far is lower 400s but that blood test might as well have been taken at noon. I think my latest one it is 470 or so. I would have to go back and check.
Dude, you’re going to have to trust me on this one, I’m not into naming names and getting sued and I’m never going into details. The guys who race(d) on it were mostly caught and are serving bans.