Fatigue/Overtraining

I just started a pretty active job and I think my cumulative fatigue is starting to get to me. I find myself having to eat more and more calories just to get myself through the day, which is causing me to gain weight (hopefully mostly water). 

Does this sound like overtraining? Does anyone have experience with this and how with they dealt with it? 

I've been hitting it relatively hard (roughly 2 hours of training per day during the week, full value days in the mountains on the weekends), so I'm thinking a rest week is in order. 

Thoughts?

2hrs of training EVERY day, on top of a stressful job, and full climbing days in the mountains on the weekends sounds like a recipe for fatigue.

I don’t know what you do for “training”, but rest days are absolutely a part of any sane training plan. And after several weeks of going hard, there is usually some kind of deload period. You can’t go full-on every day, day in, and day out.

The eating part is a bit weird. If you are eating More just to replace burned calories, you wouldn’t be gaining weight. But stress eating/overeating is certainly a thing, so maybe that’s part of what you have going on.

In any case, try chilling for a bit. 

Thanks for the reply. Training during the week typically includes a zone 1 run around 1 hour and then a 1 hour strength session with a short 10-15 minute HIIT session or on other days a 1 hour zone 1 run then climbing outside for a few hours.

Again thanks for the reply. Next week will be a rest week

Chase M wrote:

I just started a pretty active job and I think my cumulative fatigue is starting to get to me. I find myself having to eat more and more calories just to get myself through the day, which is causing me to gain weight (hopefully mostly water). 

Does this sound like overtraining? Does anyone have experience with this and how with they dealt with it? 

I've been hitting it relatively hard (roughly 2 hours of training per day during the week, full value days in the mountains on the weekends), so I'm thinking a rest week is in order. 

Thoughts?

There is no such thing as "overtraining". There is only weakness.

Learned that in the IRONMAN World Championships.

Push on through brother, your body will adapt.

Chase M wrote:

Thanks for the reply. Training during the week typically includes a zone 1 run around 1 hour and then a 1 hour strength session with a short 10-15 minute HIIT session or on other days a 1 hour zone 1 run then climbing outside for a few hours.

Again thanks for the reply. Next week will be a rest week

What are you training for? What is the goal?

If you are going for 1hr run every day, you are probably very much adapted to 1hr run every day, and aren’t getting anything more out of it, unless you change things up. Not every physical activity/exercise is “training”.

Nothing’s wrong with enjoying your daily run, if that’s your thing, but does it have a purpose? Because if you have a specific goal, there might be more efficient ways of reaching those goals...

Since Ironman was brought up, nobody trains for Ironman by going out and doing the same thing every day. Some day are short runs. Some days are long runs, some days are short swims, and long bike rides, and some days are long swims and short runs. 

Lena chita wrote:

What are you training for? What is the goal?

If you are going for 1hr run every day, you are probably very much adapted to 1hr run every day, and aren’t getting anything more out of it, unless you change things up. Not every physical activity/exercise is “training”.

Nothing’s wrong with enjoying your daily run, if that’s your thing, but does it have a purpose? Because if you have a specific goal, there might be more efficient ways of reaching those goals...

Since Ironman was brought up, nobody trains for Ironman by going out and doing the same thing every day. Some day are short runs. Some days are long runs, some days are short swims, and long bike rides, and some days are long swims and short runs. 

Most people "mix it up" in IM training because the training is so long their bodies can't handle it. 

There IS a science to the recovery process but our man Chase here has a two hour weekday workout plus long weekend days, most of which is very low intensity, it is by no means IM training, ie "mixing it up" is not necessary and taking a week off will completely destroy his body's adaption process. 

NOW is the time to continue to push through, up the nutrition game, and break the mental block.

Ashley Martin wrote:

I've competed in many IM events nationally and often place well. I've found that the secret to not plateauing is to confuse the body with new stretches and compound movements. I always stretch during my rest periods, and have recently added 6mm to my seated shoulder squeeze and 3mm to my lunging hip flexor! (it's very important in IM training to measure training data, calories, stretches, etc. That shit all becomes REAL on race day!)

So anyway OP, I recommend you focus on engaging in some larger stretching and reaching those compound positions to confuse the body. As we say in IM: no PAIN no GAIN!! Hell yea!!

I completely agree. This is the way to "mix it up" and take a break, don't totally stop though!

Tradiban wrote:

Most people "mix it up" in IM training because the training is so long their bodies can't handle it. 

There IS a science to the recovery process but our man Chase here has a two hour weekday workout plus long weekend days, most of which is very low intensity, it is by no means IM training, ie "mixing it up" is not necessary and taking a week off will completely destroy his body's adaption process. 

NOW is the time to continue to push through, up the nutrition game, and break the mental block.

Fair enough. My experience of IM training only comes from living with someone who was doing Ironmans.

But this is a climbing website, and the OP is spending couple hours a day running himself rugged training for... what? I don’t think it’s Ironman. Which is why I asked what he was training for, and what he was doing as part of his training.

If I were to make a guess from his profile, he enjoys multipitch alpine climbing. His response was: 1hr run every day, HIIT and weights every other day, and climbing in the gym on the alternate days.

It also sounded like this exercise regimen has been followed for a long time, without a change. The new development was the physically-demanding job, and he is feeling fatigued after adding a demanding job on top of already-physically-demanding lifestyle. Your suggestion is push through anyway. Push through to what? Push through until when?

I never suggested that he should take a week off and do nothing. I said that all training plans have “deload weeks”, which isn’t a do-nothing week, it’s reduced intensity. And A rest day added in the training schedule allows for higher intensity training/performance the following day. It would make sense to have a light day on Friday, for example, if OP is going to be going a long approach, and all day climbing on Saturday and Sunday. 

Lena chita wrote:

Fair enough. My experience of IM training only comes from living with someone who was doing Ironmans.

But this is a climbing website, and the OP is spending couple hours a day running himself rugged training for... what? I don’t think it’s Ironman. Which is why I asked what he was training for, and what he was doing as part of his training.

If I were to make a guess from his profile, he enjoys multipitch alpine climbing. His response was: 1hr run every day, HIIT and weights every other day, and climbing in the gym on the alternate days.

It also sounded like this exercise regimen has been followed for a long time, without a change. The new development was the physically-demanding job, and he is feeling fatigued after adding a demanding job on top of already-physically-demanding lifestyle. Your suggestion is push through anyway. Push through to what? Push through until when?

I never suggested that he should take a week off and do nothing. I said that all training plans have “deload weeks”, which isn’t a do-nothing week, it’s reduced intensity. And A rest day added in the training schedule allows for higher intensity training/performance the following day. It would make sense to have a light day on Friday, for example, if OP is going to be going a long approach, and all day climbing on Saturday and Sunday. 

He needs to push through the fatigue, the body will adapt to his new lifestyle. He also may have to tweak nutrition and injury prevention protocol during that process.

After he pushes through he needs to up the duration and intensity of his workouts to get stronger and faster.

Amateurs often make the mistake of trying to train like a pro. You have to earn "deload weeks" and our man Chase isn't there yet.

Tradiban wrote:

He needs to push through the fatigue, the body will adapt to his new lifestyle. He also may have to tweak nutrition and injury prevention protocol during that process.

After he pushes through he needs to up the duration and intensity of his workouts to get stronger and faster.

Amateurs often make the mistake of trying to train like a pro. You have to earn "deload weeks" and our man Chase isn't there yet.

So, you are saying that 5 hrs of running and 3 sessions of weights/HIIT per week are necessary to maintain his baseline fitness, for his climbing objectives (defined based on the profile ticks as 6-8 pitch of 5.7-5.9)? And he wouldn’t be able to sustain his base level of fitness necessary to climb at his current level, let alone improve, unless he is able to get over the current fatigue, and adapt to doing these exercises in the current amount and quantity, on top of whatever he does for his physically-demanding job? 

And then he would need to further increase the duration/intensity of those same exercises to start improving?

Your body gets stronger when you rest, not when you work it. Start taking a rest day every few days.

Lena chita wrote:

So, you are saying that 5 hrs of running and 3 sessions of weights/HIIT per week are necessary to maintain his baseline fitness, for his climbing objectives (defined based on the profile ticks as 6-8 pitch of 5.7-5.9)? And he wouldn’t be able to sustain his base level of fitness necessary to climb at his current level, let alone improve, unless he is able to get over the current fatigue, and adapt to doing these exercises in the current amount and quantity, on top of whatever he does for his physically-demanding job? 

And then he would need to further increase the duration/intensity of those same exercises to start improving?

Yes.

I work as a chef, so totally get this. Adequate rest and superb nutrition are extremely important. Consider doing mobility work on rest days.

I’ve “pushed through fatigue” a couple times, most recently following injury, and it’s a recipe for disaster. And I know recipes. 

Tradiban wrote:

He needs to push through the fatigue, the body will adapt to his new lifestyle. He also may have to tweak nutrition and injury prevention protocol during that process.

After he pushes through he needs to up the duration and intensity of his workouts to get stronger and faster.

Amateurs often make the mistake of trying to train like a pro. You have to earn "deload weeks" and our man Chase isn't there yet.