Forums >General Running>Just tired
Looking for others who maybe have had these same symptoms and figured it out. Male 39 years old 5'7'' 140lbs
Seems like the last few winters I get tired. 3-6 years ago I was running 50-70 mpw and even ran a few sub 3 marathons. These last few years, I've cut back on running a bit, but I still try to run nearly every day at least 3-5 miles daily and then a 10-13 mile run on the weekend. But I noticed this seems to be my limit, _especially_ in the winter. Just this small amount of running seems to tire me out - to the core. I generally sleep 8 hours during the week and 9-10 hours on the weekend. I've tried slowly building up mileage, but I just hit a wall.
This morning I planned on getting up early and running and I just couldn't do it. I instead slept nearly 12 hours. Woke up and I feel tired - legs are just heavy and tired. I ran 3 miles yesterday at 12:00 pace - that kind of tired me out too. No hard workouts during the week to speak of.
2 years ago it seemed to be really bad and so I went to the doctor; I mentioned I thought I might be anemic. Doctor told me generally only females get anemia but he gave me a blood test anyways and it came back normal. Understandably the Doctor has more important patients to concentrate on than a hobby runner who is in good shape and no ailments but can't quite run 10 miles a day. Felt dopey for wasting his time. Physically I seem to be in the same shape as I have in years past, there just seems to be something wrong with the engine.
Anyone else deal with fatigue like this and overcome it?
Edit: Oops, probably should have put this in 'Health and Fitness' ..sorry
runktrun
I hear ya, it's frustrating when you feel "off" but not so bad that you're certain something is wrong...
With your continued mileage, change in seasons, and age, there are a lot of variables at play and you'll need to closely analyze one thing at a time to try to figure this out. I've battled cycles of soul crushing fatigue for over a decade, probably related to hashimoto's (hypothyroid), but I've convinced something else is at play. A few things come to mind:
Over trained - perhaps by the time you hit winter, your body is screaming for more rest. Your current mileage may not seem too high, but after a summer and fall of solid running, you may need some serious downtime. Have you tried taking 2 weeks off at the beginning of the winter? Off as in serious cut in mileage and no workouts. I'd suggest significantly cutting back on training for a few weeks without changing anything else in your routine and see how you feel.
Low ferritin - dig into your blood test results. Testing plain ol' iron won't tell you much. You want to test ferritin. Try to get a hold of the actual results from your doc, don't just take their word that you're "fine." Ferritin under 50 COULD result in fatigue in athletes, though non-athletes may be fine with levels much lower. I think the low end for anemia is 10 or 12, so if you tested 20, your doc may tell you you're fine. Also get a Complete Blood Count (CBC) and see if anything is off there. Along with ferritin, Vit D and Vit B12 can impact energy levels, but are usually part of a bigger puzzle and not solely the culprit, so don't go supplementing like crazy without understanding the big picture.
Thyroid - uncommon in men, but a possibility. Do you have any additional symptoms like brain fog or weight gain? I doubt this is your problem because you would feel increasingly worse year round without treatment, but might be worthwhile to ask your doc about testing TSH. Hard training can also suppress endocrine function, creating secondary hypothyroidism.
Stress/SAD - anything going on during the winter that is adding other mental of physical stress to the stress of training? It all adds up. Or maybe you suffer from SAD during the dark months.
Or maybe nothing is really wrong and your body just wants to hibernate. For me, winter is plumping season. I get soft regardless of my training. Can't fight nature.
Not running for my health, but in spite of it.
Chief Unicorn Officer
Do you take weeks off at all? I’ve always taken a full week off in the summer, and one in december, marking the end of racing season! That’s always helped me.
I fell into the trap of more, more, more miles. Everyone is always preaching miles, miles, miles. At one point I was up over 55 miles per week as a 33 year old female, with a full time job and a life. One day I just had it. Not to mention a string of frustrating injuries. I had a foot surgery and ended up taking almost two YEARS off, lol. I ran here and there and did a few races but not much competitively. I’m finally back into it and what do you know, my times are only slightly slower and I’m only doing about 32-36 miles per week. I haven’t even introduced any speedwork yet. My point is that you need to make sure you’re listening to yourself and not what everyone else is telling you. Maybe you will run faster and more efficiently off less miles because you won’t be so tired all the time. But first it seems like you need a little break. Don’t be afraid to take it (maybe don’t let it turn into 2 years though).
Mile 5:49 - 5K 19:58 - 10K 43:06 - HM 1:36:54
Ahh yeah.. thanks to you both. I may just need some extra time off and let myself reboot. Now that I think about it I can’t recall the last time I’ve taken a full week or two off. Probably goes back years when I was having some knee trouble. I think that was 2012. I guess I’ve always just considered a day or two off as a good enough rest. Thank again. I can be dumb - I’ll just try resting and go from there
Might consider looking at your diet as well. Maybe you have been getting less protein, fewer carbs or something like that without really noticing the change. Might try to be more mindful of eating complex carbs before you run, getting some protein after you are done...
not bad for mile 25
Back to what kilkee was saying, how frequently are you getting blood tests? You sounded a bit embarrassed to have "troubled" your doc, yet you have a legitimate medical issue that should be addressed.
I have my own story about that, but don't want to color your thinking. Lab tests can do a lot more for you than speculation.
This motivated me to dig up my old blood test and do some reading.
ANd I think I may have found something. My MCHC was 32.0 - which is as low as it could be and still be in the normal range. (32-36 was the range given on the test).
And then to find this on webmd———*****There are a number of symptoms that people with low MCHC levels often have. These symptoms are generally tied to anemia.*****———-
I’m going to be a little upset if this turns out to be something. I may need to change doctors.
This motivated me to dig up my old blood test and do some reading. ANd I think I may have found something. My MCHC was 32.0 - which is as low as it could be and still be in the normal range. (32-36 was the range given on the test). And then to find this on webmd———*****There are a number of symptoms that people with low MCHC levels often have. These symptoms are generally tied to anemia.*****———- I’m going to be a little upset if this turns out to be something. I may need to change doctors.
MCHC is pretty useless as indicator of anything and is mostly used to determine if the machine analyzed your CBC correctly (say for example if its >37 then something is screwing up the test such as extremely high lipids or a cold antibody). Hemoglobin and Hematocrit are all you have to worry about. And if you have an anemia sometimes the MCV could give a clue to what the anemia is.
It's Tuesday every day
FWIW, nowadays you can obtain many blood/lab tests on your own without going through your doctor. I do this sometimes to check up on my own serum ferritin. I use this: http://www.healthcheckusa.com/. You do have to pay out of pocket, I believe. --Christine
Does it seem to happen only in the winter? I find it rough sometimes to find the motivation at those times where it's dark when you leave for work in the morning and dark when you get home. More mental than anything else.
Looking for others who maybe have had these same symptoms and figured it out. Male 39 years old 5'7'' 140lbs Seems like the last few winters I get tired. 3-6 years ago I was running 50-70 mpw and even ran a few sub 3 marathons. These last few years, I've cut back on running a bit, but I still try to run nearly every day at least 3-5 miles daily and then a 10-13 mile run on the weekend. But I noticed this seems to be my limit, _especially_ in the winter. Just this small amount of running seems to tire me out - to the core. I generally sleep 8 hours during the week and 9-10 hours on the weekend. I've tried slowly building up mileage, but I just hit a wall.
Some good stuff here. The one controllable issue that I suffer from is dehydration ... or another way to put it a love for beer & coffee and not drinking enough h20. It results in poor workouts and not being able to go very far.
Hopefull the original poster is much smarter than me and the issues are not self induced ... although it would be easier to correct.
I hear ya, it's frustrating when you feel "off" but not so bad that you're certain something is wrong... With your continued mileage, change in seasons, and age, there are a lot of variables at play and you'll need to closely analyze one thing at a time to try to figure this out. I've battled cycles of soul crushing fatigue for over a decade, probably related to hashimoto's (hypothyroid), but I've convinced something else is at play. A few things come to mind: Over trained - perhaps by the time you hit winter, your body is screaming for more rest. Your current mileage may not seem too high, but after a summer and fall of solid running, you may need some serious downtime. Have you tried taking 2 weeks off at the beginning of the winter? Off as in serious cut in mileage and no workouts. I'd suggest significantly cutting back on training for a few weeks without changing anything else in your routine and see how you feel. Low ferritin - dig into your blood test results. Testing plain ol' iron won't tell you much. You want to test ferritin. Try to get a hold of the actual results from your doc, don't just take their word that you're "fine." Ferritin under 50 COULD result in fatigue in athletes, though non-athletes may be fine with levels much lower. I think the low end for anemia is 10 or 12, so if you tested 20, your doc may tell you you're fine. Also get a Complete Blood Count (CBC) and see if anything is off there. Along with ferritin, Vit D and Vit B12 can impact energy levels, but are usually part of a bigger puzzle and not solely the culprit, so don't go supplementing like crazy without understanding the big picture. Thyroid - uncommon in men, but a possibility. Do you have any additional symptoms like brain fog or weight gain? I doubt this is your problem because you would feel increasingly worse year round without treatment, but might be worthwhile to ask your doc about testing TSH. Hard training can also suppress endocrine function, creating secondary hypothyroidism. Stress/SAD - anything going on during the winter that is adding other mental of physical stress to the stress of training? It all adds up. Or maybe you suffer from SAD during the dark months. Or maybe nothing is really wrong and your body just wants to hibernate. For me, winter is plumping season. I get soft regardless of my training. Can't fight nature.
Long dead ... But my stench lingers !
I have Hashimoto's. Initial testing came back with a TSH that was "normal" (3.7) but my thyroid was quite enlarged and the tests for antibodies (TPOab and TGab) were 10X the high end of normal. Get the full thyroid panel with antibodies so that you can rule it out.
Thanks for this info, Christine. Came at just the right time!
Don't make excuses for why you can't get it done.
Focus on all the reasons why you must make it happen.
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