Extremely fatigued today. Normal? Next steps?

[kklabunde]

I'm a new rower and have started ramping things up since joining the forum and a team two weeks ago. Did 35,000m the first week, mostly steady state UT2, and put up my best 5000m for the cross team challenge. This week (2nd week) volume was about double the daily amount.

Yesterday I tried the 5000m again and knocked quite bit off my time -- all TR zone with a finish at max heart rate. Did another 10k late in the day to accumulate more meters for the fall team challenge.

So then we come to today. Slept over 9 hours (nice), rowed 3800m when I woke up and it was hard to do. And the rest of today I am EXHAUSTED. Even fell asleep at my laptop. Was really hoping to do meters for the FTC, but that's not happening.

Is this type of fatigue normal? Should I row through it with very easy long rows, fully rest for one day (or more?)? Thanks!

[iangallagher]

I'm a new rower and have started ramping things up since joining the forum and a team two weeks ago. Did 35,000m the first week, mostly steady state UT2, and put up my best 5000m for the cross team challenge. This week (2nd week) volume was about double the daily amount.

Yesterday I tried the 5000m again and knocked quite bit off my time -- all TR zone with a finish at max heart rate. Did another 10k late in the day to accumulate more meters for the fall team challenge.

So then we come to today. Slept over 9 hours (nice), rowed 3800m when I woke up and it was hard to do. And the rest of today I am EXHAUSTED. Even fell asleep at my laptop. Was really hoping to do meters for the FTC, but that's not happening.

Is this type of fatigue normal? Should I row through it with very easy long rows, fully rest for one day (or more?)? Thanks!

Im no expert here, just my opinion. If i hit max HR then it tends to wipe me out for quite a few hours. The difference in recovery between 100% HR and even 90% HR efforts seems night and day.

So that may be the cause here - not the volume. Others with me knowledge and experience may have another view

[mict450]

I think your body's trying to tell you something. Too much, too fast, too soon, too intense. You have the rest of your life to enjoy your Concept 2. Would hate to see you get injured & sidelined for an extended period.

[Dangerscouse]

Imo, you need at least one day rest, if not more. As Ian says reaching max HR is significantly draining and the amount of time required to recover is too subjective to say what you specifically need.

Your body will always tell you when you're pushing it too hard, and there aren't many bigger warning signs than this.

[hjs]

I'm a new rower and have started ramping things up since joining the forum and a team two weeks ago. Did 35,000m the first week, mostly steady state UT2, and put up my best 5000m for the cross team challenge. This week (2nd week) volume was about double the daily amount.

Yesterday I tried the 5000m again and knocked quite bit off my time -- all TR zone with a finish at max heart rate. Did another 10k late in the day to accumulate more meters for the fall team challenge.

So then we come to today. Slept over 9 hours (nice), rowed 3800m when I woke up and it was hard to do. And the rest of today I am EXHAUSTED. Even fell asleep at my laptop. Was really hoping to do meters for the FTC, but that's not happening.

Is this type of fatigue normal? Should I row through it with very easy long rows, fully rest for one day (or more?)? Thanks!

Rowing can be very demanding, if you do hard sessions, you really hammer your body. Being a newby does not make difference. Very fit people, simply go faster and also need rest.
Its normal to feel tired sometimes, if you train seriously, but recovery is important. Without, you will not improve. So manage it, and listen to your body.

[kklabunde]

Thank you! This really helps my attention to the body signals. Blessing and curse of a great community — awesome help and community, but I’ll tend to push too hard to match others numbers. Oops.

Woke up today and did a VERY light 5k. Will see what I feel like later and continue on.

[lindsayh]

sounds like overtraining which is easy to do at the start when fitness is still building and you push too hard too often
First - is your MHR based on a formula or a trial to maximum - if it is based on 220-age or the like then it doesn't really mean anything
You need to do a proper 100% trial to work out your max - lots of talk on the forum and then find your a resting HR by counting at rest
Once you know the MHR then do your caps on % of heart rate reserve - HRR = MHR-RHR then take % of HRR and add RHR back in
Take at least one day a week off
Spend about 70-80% off your training with a HR cap of 80% HRR so go slow - racing your training is the biggest mistake you can make if your technique is OK
Limit going above 90% of HRR to <15% of training

lots of help here - viewtopic.php?f=3&t=185257

[kklabunde]

is your MHR based on a formula or a trial to maximum
Spend about 70-80% off your training with a HR cap of 80% HRR so go slow - racing your training is the biggest mistake you can make if your technique is OK
Limit going above 90% of HRR to <15% of training

MHR is trial max. The HRR (reserve) concept is new to me and very helpful (thanks!). It puts me in a similar range I was using from the Free Spirits calculator.

Sounds like my training mix is good, I was just caught by surprise at how much a >90% HRR session kicked the crap out of me. Wow! And now I clearly see why rest days are so important.

[jamesg]

caught by surprise at how much a >90% HRR session kicked the crap out of me.

In the real world, the day after a regatta or a similar event finishes, one takes the day (or the next month) off. Coach and the rest of the crew won't show up, so why bother?

[gisborne]

You should take at least one day off per week to recover. The majority of your volume should be UT2. Are you sure you're rowing UT2 and not higher? It should feel very easy. Also, you jumped from 35k meters/week (that already seems like a fair amount for a novice) to 70k/week. That's a huge bump and a LOT of volume for a novice especially since a significant portion of that volume is coming from higher intensity work.

There's no rush. It's better to row "too easy" than make a plan that burns you out or causes you to skip workouts.

[kklabunde]

Are you sure you're rowing UT2 and not higher? It should feel very easy.

Pretty sure. I just finished 1 hour, 10,200m, with average HR of 120. My UT2 band average is theoretically 136 (using Free Spirits calc).

[Citroen]

Pretty sure. I just finished 1 hour, 10,200m, with average HR of 120. My UT2 band average is theoretically 136 (using Free Spirits calc).

You're not using your legs. You should be doing 10K in close to 40 minutes and 15K in an hour.

[kklabunde]

Pretty sure. I just finished 1 hour, 10,200m, with average HR of 120. My UT2 band average is theoretically 136 (using Free Spirits calc).

You're not using your legs. You should be doing 10K in close to 40 minutes and 15K in an hour.

(My legs disagree re my form.) I agree as a goal. But I shouldn’t expect to be there already on my first month as a newby, right? Getting in shape must have some time element?

[hjs]

Pretty sure. I just finished 1 hour, 10,200m, with average HR of 120. My UT2 band average is theoretically 136 (using Free Spirits calc).

You're not using your legs. You should be doing 10K in close to 40 minutes and 15K in an hour.

(My legs disagree re my form.) I agree as a goal. But I shouldn’t expect to be there already on my first month as a newby, right? Getting in shape must have some time element?

Ofcourse, but still, have a look at the watts you pulled.