I have been sick with all over body ache and headache and most days I don’t feel like doing much of anything. I know I need to get in training, but I am struggling to get in my hours. I feel horrible and I don’t know what to do. I have been taking days off but I don’t feel better. I have pushed through and done workouts when I feel bad, and that doesn’t help either. I’ve tried training more, training less, changing my eating, taking medicine, almost everything, but nothing is helping me. Not being able to train puts me in a bad lace mentally. I need to get in an adequate base for tri season and train for track, and being sick like this is preventing me from doing that.
Help?!
Ummmm… do you need someone to hold your hand?
If you don’t have what it takes to train then don’t put that pressure on yourself. Take a week completely off and if you don’t feel like training then maybe being competitive at triathlon is not for you or maybe you should just enjoy triathlon on a recreational level like the other 1500 people at a N.A IM race…
Have your days off been scatter around or did you take multiple days off in a row. If not, take 3 - 5 days off. Completely. If you can’t handle it, go for easy walks, 15 minutes. There is a nasty cold/flu going around and it is taking weeks to go away. I lost 2 weeks of progress on my training because of it and I didn’t try and push through it. I had to slowly rebuild back to my previous training levels. Frustrating as hell but if I hadn’t taken the time off I’d still be sick.
You won’t lose fitness despite the typical athlete’s paranoia. It is far better for your body to have 5 days rest and come back stronger than whatever small fitness gains 5 days of training would get you.
You, and everone else on here goddammit, need to listen to your body!
**Take a week completely off and if you don’t feel like training then maybe being competitive at triathlon is not for you or maybe you should just enjoy triathlon on a recreational level like the other 1500 people at a N.A IM race… **
I hope you are kidding. Everyone gets sick, everyone has a mental funk, that doesn’t mean they aren’t competative. I’m pretty sure any Pro on here would agree with me.
Our body speaks to us in sometimes cryptic ways- and wise people listen.
Outside our bodies and our spirits there are hard things- dates of events, goals, finite things. Those are the things we are trying to do, trying to acheive.
Sometimes our body is telling us- screaming at us to rest, to back off, to heal, to grow, to adapt. We have to develop the humility to listen and heed the warnings. We can be “tough” and ignore that, and sometimes that is the appropriate thing to do. But when there is no energy in your mind, in your “spirit”, to train and prepare and the work is taking energy from you and not returning it- well- it may be time to reel things in a bit.
I know that missing training can be mentally taxing- stressful. As athletes we attach a big part of self esteem to our fitness, our results, our internal status as an athlete, a goal achiever.
The balance is that we need to understand when rest is waranted, physcially and mentally. Sometimes it is as simple as a couple days off training along with a change of mental/emotional channels- read a book, listen to music… rest.
You can tell when you are renewed. You feel it. Your appetite for training returns and you *want *it again. It isn’t work, it’s privlege.
At any case, I wish you luck and rest and I’m glad you posted this.
I have been sick with all over body ache and headache and most days I don’t feel like doing much of anything. I know I need to get in training, but I am struggling to get in my hours. I feel horrible and I don’t know what to do. I have been taking days off but I don’t feel better. I have pushed through and done workouts when I feel bad, and that doesn’t help either. **I’ve tried training more, training less, changing my eating, taking medicine, almost everything, but nothing is helping me. Not being able to train puts me in a bad lace mentally. I need to get in an adequate base for tri season and train for track, and being sick like this is preventing me from doing that. **
Help?!
Do more by doing less.
You are young, do what is fun. You can’t change everything all at once (you can try, but I think you’re feeling the consequences). You have plenty of talent and seem to enjoy running - focus on that. Enjoy running.
Don’t run now so that you can run fast now. The running now will make you faster in the years to come. (I’m probably butchering Dev’s advice on this one).
If you run to relieve stress, focus (or not) on that. Get out the door and go for 10 minutes. 20 minutes. It doesn’t matter. Just focus on getting out the door. If you love to run, this alone will be a great first step. Let the rest of it fall in line after over time (probably more time than your hoping for). Be patient. Enjoy.
Now I need to take my own advice and get to the library to do some studying (first step, open the book!). I’d rather be running.
Ride / run / swim with friends! Get other people involved. Don’t necessarily “train” with them, but chances are that as a competitive triathlete, your friends share your ridiculous hobby with you. Share it with them.
So you STILL don’t have a coach huh? Come on man.
Ummmm… do you need someone to hold your hand?
If you don’t have what it takes to train then don’t put that pressure on yourself. Take a week completely off and if you don’t feel like training then maybe being competitive at triathlon is not for you or maybe you should just enjoy triathlon on a recreational level like the other 1500 people at a N.A IM race…
IIRC you’re 15 and doing school running - then tri / cyclocross outside of that?
How about talking to your coaches at school and see what they say
Ask your mom to make you a dr’s appt and figure out what your illness is
Then go take a nap.
Not wanting that to sound mean but I am quite serious… btw… I found this forum in HS too… you’re a little guppy swimming in sharks just so you know.
Sounds like you have the flu, as I did a couple of weeks ago. Go to a doc-in-the-box or your GP to get drugs that can make you better.
Listen to JenHS and not to that knucklehead other poster…
2 weeks ago I had a cough that was clearly developing into something. But being the type of person I am, I had to get my miles in. And then it went into my chest, and I lost over a week of training, and was undoubtedly worse than it might have been if I had backed off when I first felt bad. I’m on the mend, but still am coughing up green gunk every now and then, and still don’t have a lot of energy. Bottom line…listen to your body, and not to idiots who tell you to “push through.” It sounds to me like you need to just take a week completely off, and recover from whatever it is that is draining you.
Spot
People get into funks all the time. Among other things, I’d suggest taking a break from reading this forum.
Dude, do you have mono? If you have it and you’re not careful, you could really screw up and get into chronic fatigue syndrome type issues.
Or, are you in a growth spurt? When I was 15 I was growing ~4 inches a year, eating a ton, sleeping a lot, and barely playing soccer. Keep in mind you still have a developing body and that growth could be what is fatiguing you.
Also, triathlon is supposed to be fun. It sounds like it isn’t fun for you right now, and that might be telling you something.
well spoken mr.demerly… oh yeah lovin the mini tool bag under the seat totally kicks ass…
Listen to JenHS and not to that knucklehead other poster…
New sig line!
Bah…take a week off. Go to a movie. Take two weeks off if it suits you. You dont need to live up to our expectations, nor the ones you put on yourself. Relax and enjoy.
I had the exact same symptoms and it turned out I had mono (well still do) its been killing me too man. Get tested and STOP TRAINING, I had my blood tested and mono can do a number on your liver and if you train when its in rough shape it can be bad news. I felt better after a week of rest but my liver is still recovering so I’m on doctors orders not to train for another week minimum then another blood test.
Seriously go down to the ER and get a blood test and go from there
good luck
blood test! the kid is 15!!
what does his age have to do with it? if he has mono its the only way to diagnose it