No energy

Hey all.

This is a weird one, and there's a chance its perhaps all in my head, but here it is:

Basically, I run using the Adidas Micoach programs, I love them, and I'm a bit of a techo nerd so I love the gadgetry. The plan I'm on pushes me, its not unobtainable, and I've proven that I can hack it, I'm about 5 weeks in now. The plan has me running 5 different types of run per week, and last Thursday I ran 11.74 miles in 1:30:20 (that includes 20 minutes of enforced slow running (9:00 min/mi))

Since then I ran a nice gentle run the following Sunday for 38 mins, and then two 30 minute runs, the most recent being on Tuesday, as you can see I've had an unusual amount of rest (3 1/2 days, as I swam for an hour on one), and this was intentional, as I wanted to make sure I recovered after the 1:30:20 run on Thursday as it was quite intense (about 7:30min/mi for 1:10:00).

The most recent 30 minute run I remember as being quite hard, not because my muscles ached, not because I felt ill, but I just felt... I don't know, no energy is the only way to explain it.

I managed to complete said run, but yesterday on my schedule was a 55 min fartlek run, and I just couldn't run it!

As I said, I can't really exaplin the symptoms very well - Nothing aches on my body, nothing hurts, I just don't have any energy (but I've rested LOADS!) All I wanted to do when I was running, was lie down and sleep, its such a weird sensation.

I recently cut my thumb quite badly, it bled quite a lot and I went into a little bit of 'shock'. For those who haven't experienced this, you basically feel light headed and weak, and need to sit down.

The feeling I had when I was running was very similar. I didn't feel light headed, but my whole body has the 'weak' sensation you feel when about to fait (Ofcourse, I didn't fait, the feeling just persisted).

I've been eating well, and don't feel at all fluey or ill, has anyone got any idea as to what is the problem?

Like now for example, I want to run (I'm enforcing rest today) but I just haven't got any energy, all I want to do is sleep. It feels like putting on the shoes would take too much energy. Why do I feel like this!? lol

I've never had this problem before, and I'm quite perplexed!

Is it just mental?

Am I just being whiney? lol have I lost my drive? I'd do ANYTHING to fix this, I just want to be able to run well again

Could be all manner of things, whilst you say you can hack the training it could be that you are overtraining, you're only 5 weeks in and if you were overdoing your body would tell you so now, perhaps you need to adjust the intensity.

It could be elements of your diet, you say you "eat well" but no detail, You may be lacking in certain areas, particulrly in your vitamins and minerals?

Could simply be a virus, you dont' necessarily need to feel "ill" for it to be viral, could perhaps be something like anemia? That can make you feel knackered.

Really you might want to adjust your training schedule for a couple of weeks and see if that makes a difference, you may need to look at your diet but i would suggest going to a doctor if it continues.

Your body is definately telling you its not happy but it could just be too much too soon. Was your training as intense before or did you just jump into this plan?

I had a similar feeling in the last while: no overt symptoms, but general malaise. Turned out I had a lingering infection that antibiotics sorted nicely.

So maybe visit your GP and get a few blood tests...

Cheers for the replys guys/girls!

 I'll make an appointment with my GP for tomorrow morning, good suggestion!

 The training times and frequency haven't changed for about 6 months, but this new plan sees me running faster. Before I was running at a cruising speed of about 8:30min/mi, but now I'm more in the region of 8:00 - 7:30, fully rested I can quite happily run 7:14min/mi without any real negative feedback from my body. I also swim twice a week for about an hour, and do some pressups/situps most nights, nothing major though. As I said, I was quite able to keep this going, before.

My diet typically consists of the following:

Breakfast: bowl of high fibre cereal (no milk, me hates milk) with a Banana,

Snack: Apple

Lunch: Sandwich consisting of 2 slices of lean cut ham, some lettuce and a tiny bit of half-fat cheese (No butter)

snack: apple

Supper: varies, usually something like Spag bol with steamed veg, turkey strips with tomato pasta and steamed veg, Chili con carne with rice and steamed veg etc.

 Desert: Activia yoghourt.

Though lately I've been eating more, more glucose etc. to try and get my energy levels up. Yesterday at the pool I ate a snickers about 20 mins before getting into the water and I still had no energy godamit! lol

Could just be fatigue from overtraining?  sounds like you've lost your mojo, it'll come back. To be safe better check it out with a doctor.

Hehe lost my mojo, I'll have to go back in time and stop Fat Bast*rd from stealing it

 Thanks for the help guys, I'll book and appointment for monday.

two things, your diet only adds up to around 1000 kcals which is about 30% of what is needed. And eating refined sugar items before exercise will reduce energy levels due to the effect of insulin reducing the blood sugar levels.

ooOOooo didn't think about the Insulin, good call. Whats the deal with pre-exercise sugar then? I was under the impression that it'd give you more energy but apparently not. What is the best time to eat before exercise to give you energy? Is glucose completely bad?

hhmm... yeah 1000 is not enough, I thought it'd be higher than that, my portion sizes are pretty large though, that's due mostly to my inability to measure decent portion sizes when putting food into the cooking utensils lol! Last night I cooked chili-con-carne, thought I'd cooked enoughf or one, turns out it was more than enough for two, my flatmate got a free meal!

Reading back I don't get the impression that you are over weight and need to loose any weight, also I do get the impression that you run enough without overly needing to worry about calories and what kind of foods you eat.

This therefore leads me to question why on earth do you only use "a tiny bit of half-fat cheese and no butter"?

No milk, no butter, lean ham, turkey strips, steamed veg and just a tiny bit of low fat cheese. This doesn't sound right to me, your body and brain need to eat a bit of fat everyday and the amount your train this is not going to kill you.

So up your calorie intake as I concur with others it seems way to low and add a bit of fat to your diet.

Personally I leave at least 4 hours from the last meal as long as it is something simple such as rice. 5 hours before races. But because I tend to do most of my training in the early hours of the day my last feed is the night before or 3.00am if I happen to wake up. Incidently I'm doing up to 100 miles/week on this sort of thing. Glucose isn't bad initself, just the timing of consumption. As a rule if you intend to have an energy drink/snack ie one which is to all intents and purposes a sugar solution then make sure you are exercising first. In my case about 18 miles into a marathon is the only time I go near the things. The night before a run I eat most things, just snacking will use a large loaf a day. If you run hard in training you will need 200 to 300g of carbo/day just to function; only@20g in one slice of bread. So best to go easy and burn fat. It is possible to hit a kind of wall in training. I've tried dieting and training and had your symptoms,so I've given up dieting as too risky.

All good advice as above and I would throw into the mix knowing what your resting HR is and using that as a guide as to if there is a low level bug knocking aorund ...  if its normal then you need to look at the diet/fuelling as above

Thanks for all the comments guys, not sure in the end whether it was a bug or tiredness, but I've just got back from a 50 minute run and it was fine, bit uncomfortable at the beginning but I think that's just the rust (yes... 4 days rest in my opinion is rust) falling off!

Some good advice above ^ and I learned a great deal about my diet, though I'm still kinda reluctant to eat too much more, but it will definitely increase