Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy

I'm very familiar with riding in heat. We have two states here, eastern and western. While I live in the western part, I frequently ride in the eastern part. Last week I rode 115 miles, 7000', over 2 mountain passes in temps up to 106°. I've climbed several mountain passes in 105° heat. The simple fact is that it's very difficult, even with training, to pass more than 1 liter an hour across the stomach lining. Which is a good thing: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318619.php
This fact is pretty well-known by those who've ridden long distances in the heat. So what to do? If you get too dehydrated, you have to stop and rest in the shade while hydrating. Done it many times. That said, a little dehydration is not a bad thing. Performance actually increases up to about 1.5% dehydration.

As far as drinking plain water goes, of course as I've said above and many other times. I take Hammer Endurolytes as necessary. The important thing is neither to drink too much water (hyponatremia) or too much electrolyte (hypernatremia). Your body has very simple clues which tell you exactly how to respond.

Training in the heat is the best way to become heat tolerant. I make it a point to ride in the heat when I can.

Originally Posted by Machka

Well, then you might get checked for mono ... and sleep apnea.


https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/311932.php

Originally Posted by rubiksoval

I was averaging about 24-25 hours a week for 4 months when I overtrained.

8 lb weight gain, neverending fatigue, tough to fall asleep, a hr that was 20 bpm below normal all the time while riding, and I started getting dropped on every little roller around. Went from a winning cat 1 to getting dropped by cat 4s.

Took about 5-6 months to initially recover from, and about a year to fully recover.

Permanent issues: my heart rate dropped 10 bpm lower across the board and never recovered. Max hr of 210 dropped to 200, LTHR of 193 dropped to about 183, etc.,etc. Also never really lost the weight again.

Are there any diet issues that need addressing? I don't get sore very often, so when I do I up the protein (and have an extra scoop of whey before bed) for a few days and it seems to help a lot.

Originally Posted by DrIsotope

Good god, I could have written this. The differences in my situation were minor at most-- my LTHR dropped from 172 to 166, I gained 12lbs instead of 8lbs, etc. It was three months of barely managing to turn pedals, and a good year before I was back to "normal."

That's why the OP's elevated HR leads me to think it's something else-- I still get the depressed heart rate for the ride or two after big efforts, as in an inability to get out of Z1. Go as hard as I can up a hill, HR goes to 133 or 134 and just sits there. Blood not moving enough to clear the legs, so they just turn into sand. Overreached, I call it. Micro-overtraining.

Originally Posted by OBoile

I'm not sure the linked article really backs up your position here.
First, hyponatremia results in sodium levels that are too low. This would indicate the need to take electrolytes, particularly sodium, and that increased fluid consumption should be balanced with increased electrolyte consumption.
Second, the level your kidneys can excrete isn't all that relevant if your sweating out a bunch of fluid as well. The 1 liter per hour level doesn't include how much you sweat.
Finally, the examples given are all people that consumed far more than 1 liter of water per hour, which seems to indicate the stomach/intestines can absorb more than that amount... otherwise they wouldn't have had any issues.

Originally Posted by canklecat

Meh, with my health issues and age I'll never compete, not even in my own age group of fellow gimps. DHEA *might* help me a little if I'm actually deficient. Most research indicates it offers little benefit even in larger doses and there probably isn't much reason for it to be banned in competitive sports. But the bans don't concern me one way or another. I'm only interested in doing whatever I can to improve my own health.

Subject to change at whim if I notice any sudden improvement in my times on familiar routes.

Originally Posted by Dreww10

Been a little over a week since my OP and still no sign of improvement. I've deliberately slowed down and ridden only on flats to keep my intensity in-check. My HR for a given pace (about 16 mph) is elevated around 10-12 bpm, and seems to experience a greater increase over normal as I up the effort (ie holding 20 mph might be more along the lines of 20 bpm high). I've ridden at this pace for two hours this week without any fatigue, but there's no sense of being able to go harder or go uphill without running into fatigue and bonking.

Looking back, I can certainly recall ignoring some fatigue I had on the bike in the weeks leading into this episode that perhaps I shouldn't have. And beyond the elevated, rather than suppressed HR, the symptoms do adhere to adrenal fatigue to some degree: tiredness despite good sleep, restless sleep at times, more awake and alert at night, perhaps tinge of lower back discomfort around the adrenals, albeit far less than I've experienced in the past when under stress.

Might it be in my interest to dry adding a little sodium to my diet, or consuming electrolytes (Gatorade) even in the absence of exercise to see if there's any effect? I'd seen it mentioned that sugary sports drinks are no-no with adrenal fatigue, thus the inquiry.

Originally Posted by SimonRider

Only 24 hour week I have ever done was Rock Island Line Trail / Katy Trail. But at touring speeds and I recovered ok. I couldn’t imagine doing that 5 months straight. If I over do it I lose appetite, my heart rate is higher and I can’t sleep.

Originally Posted by Dreww10

So I've noticed some definitive improvement in the last few days, but certainly have a long way to go. What struck me as particularly odd, and I understand this wasn't the best of ideas, but I did a brief uphill sprint yesterday, sat down, and saw my heart rate was 205bpm. The highest I've ever seen mine in all my years of riding, even at the pass-out threshold, has been 195. Fairly confident my HRM is accurate, so is that even possible? My blood pressure is in the normal range, albeit on the high end of normal, but otherwise have seen no signs of heart-related issues.

Originally Posted by TimothyH

...but want to say that these are two super interesting posts.

Originally Posted by chelvel

Yep. So overtraining is: gaining weight, depressed heart rate, neverending fatigue? Or this symptoms can be of something different?

Originally Posted by Dreww10

Having a full battery of tests run over the next few days, including testosterone, cortisol, Vit D, and others. Should help get to the bottom of it.

I feel as though I've read before of cases where people overtrained, their max HR went up or down and never returned back to normal. Is that really true/possible?

Originally Posted by Dreww10

Discovered one alarming issue: my testosterone level is 308, nearly 400 points below average for a 35-year old and below the average of that for a 100-year old. But, it's still considered inside normal range of >300 (which is probably normal if you're around 105-110 years old)....

Originally Posted by Dreww10

So eight weeks ago I headed out for a training ride to do some sweet spot work. Ten miles in, my body bonks in a way I've never experienced before. It legitimately felt like I had skipped eating for a month and went for a bike ride...just felt like death. I slow down and head home but struggle just to turn the pedals. I immediately take a rest week, cutting volume by 50% and keeping the effort no higher than recovery pace. Following that week off, I attempt two more rides (not anything high-intensity) and again my body crashes hard around 10 miles in. I continued to try riding every two or three days in the weeks following, and my legs and body would feel recovered with the rest between each attempt, but would crash out shortly after starting time and again.

My power was completely sapped, and I've had no endurance beyond about 20 miles. Usually a 20+ mph rider, it's been everything I want to average 17-flat, and the smallest of hills I Iack the power to pedal up. Even at a slow pace, there was a burning sensation in the legs like that of lactic acid build-up when you're really riding hard. Muscle soreness post-ride has been fairly high. My resting heart was and still is completely normal during this whole period, but my heart rate while riding has been highly elevated (around 15-20 bpm high for a given output, and reaching near my max heart rate is easily attainable). Tuesday will mark eight weeks since this began - I've logged no more than four hours of riding in any week since, and most weeks are about 2.5 hours (two rides at 20 miles each, 15-16 mph). For the most part I've kept the output low, with some moderate effort to gauge where I'm at, and I've noticed a slight improvement the last couple of weeks, but I'm a long, long way from normal.

My mileage and intensity early in the year wasn't out of my conditioned norm by any means, and I generally was taking three completely off-the-bike rest days a week up until this occurred, with on average about 8.5 hours a week of training. That said, I was encountering some consistent fatigue/power loss during the spring that I hadn't in years past and would brush off and just rest for a day or two. At the time of the initial bonk that set this off, I had rested up, felt and rode great in the days leading up to it, and was mentally motivated.

I saw a general practitioner a couple of weeks back whose initial suspicion is adrenal fatigue and referred me to a specialist, who I won't see for another month. In the meantime, I've been working to perhaps self-diagnose and treat, if indeed adrenal fatigue. It's my understanding that adrenal fatigue and overtraining are closely correlated, however, other than the complete and sudden inability to ride a bike, I've had no illness, elevated resting heart rate, sleep loss, or anything else generally associated with overtraining. Thoughts, similar experiences?

Originally Posted by BadGrandma

My husband has every one of your symptoms. They showed up after touring in the steep mountains of VA while he was ill. IMO this helped start his polyneuralgia. Better than the polymiolitis that I thought he had. He's being treated with Prednisone, a strong drug which has to be monitored carefully so it doesn't "shock" the adrenal gland. He's back on the bike now after about 2 months off. Ask your doctor what he thinks about it.