This sucks.
I was actually feeling pretty good this week. My fevers had been down (although I’m still running below-normal temps quite a bit) and I was getting a little more energy; I’d actually noticed that I was able to go up and down the stairs three times in a row yesterday; admittedly I was breathing hard at the end of it, but I wasn’t feeling too bad all things considered, and I didn’t have to drag myself up.
That was then. This afternoon, for some reason, I’ve become a lot weaker, and I’ve been feeling woozy and … what’s the word … disoriented. Things like thinking of a word, or not finding a pen where I expect it, start my heart pounding. In fact, I took someone’s advice and strapped on my trusty 305 HRM today.
My resting heart rate is generally pretty low. Most of the time. Now, things are a little different. Note that this was measured this afternoon, when I’m feeling crappy. When seated doing nothing, my HR fluctuates between 65-70. Walking around slowly jumps it up to 80-85. Minor annoyance (like looking for a pen and not finding one)? 95. Climbing up a flight of stairs took me to 110, dropping to 95 after a minute and 75 after another minute of standing still. Finally, sometimes when I stand up, I’ve been feeling light-headed. In those cases, my HR jumps to 95 almost immediately.
What does this mean? Your guess is as good as mine. I’m hoping that my doctor has a better idea tomorrow. Until then, feel free to continue to email me weird guesses (or leave them as comments). The first person to guess correctly, assuming I ever figure out WTF is going on, will get instant fame and some sort of small prize. Prize is non-returnable, non-negotiable, and may even be embarrassing to receive. Or not. It may even be a taco, who knows. That would suck if you’re an international reader. The patient’s decision is final. Do not taunt happy fun prize.
Oh - for the record, sitting and typing? 80-85 bpm. Sheesh.
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Oct 6th 2006
1:50 AM
Not that I am any expert on training, all 210 pounds of my fat self, but I was doing a bit of googling and ran across a Web page regarding some general symptoms of over-training.
http://www.mtbdirt.com.au/trainingnutrition/training_fatigue.html
My query was on accelerated heart rate, fatigue, fever.
Is it possible that you’re in the early stages of chronic fatigue and really just need to rest or refrain from training for an extended period of time? Note the part of this site that reads: “On the other hand, some people can develop chronic fatigue, which once you get it, is very hard to shake. With chronic fatigue, you can just about write off any physical activities for months even years.”
Given that you seemingly have had blood tests, C-T scans, a heart examination and the like, might this be a possibility? Of course, I just hope whatever it is that it goes away … :-)
Oct 6th 2006
8:43 AM
Hey, Richard, I agree with Ryan that this might be chronic fatigue syndrome, which is usually another way of saying that your body is out of whack from training hard, which is another way of saying that you might have some thyroid/pituitary/adrenal gland issues going on. (I hope I’m right and thay prize is some of the berry flavored barium! Yum-mee!)
That said, your HR numbers are right around what mine are, and I’m doing okay. Just sitting around, esp later in the day, I would be at about 65. Going up stairs would quite likely get me to 110. This morning on the way to the trail sitting in my car at a traffic light, I had a really nice early-morning-wake up stretch and got my HR to 84. So your numbers looked reasonable to me.
I want you to get well, too! Missed you at the 10K this year but fully expect you to pace me next year.
Oct 6th 2006
9:44 AM
That’s interesting, Muna. I’m not used to mine being this high - I did some HR checking a while back, but I didn’t bother to keep any of the numbers (or possibly to even write them down) unfortunately. What bothered me more was things like my HR not returning to normal for 2-3 minutes after going up a flight of stairs (slowly). But that’s certainly food for thought.
Ryan, thanks for your thoughts as well. I’ve had CF before, after a nasty bout of measles/mono when I was younger, and it sucked.
One problem with the overtraining theory is that I really wasn’t training that hard. I mean, I was probably only averaging 35 miles per week when this hit, which was lower than I really wanted to be at this stage of the game anyway and what I’ve previously used as a sort of stable-state baseline. I’d planned to be more like 45-55 mpw at this point. So its a possibility, but I’m not sure that I’m buying it.
Oct 6th 2006
7:19 PM
Interesting update - this evening I was feeling crappy but nothing like yesterday. Resting heart rate has dropped from the mid 60s to the low 50s. And typing this (one minute after climbing the stairs) I’m only at 62. Hmm…