My Body is a Temple

...and I shall treat it like one! How? Clearly I'm not so sure as I have not done a very good job of it in the past.

I have read more about overtraining than I thought humanly possible over the last week or so, yet have come up with no real conclusion on what to do from here. Most research has at least identified the symptoms, but nothing really exists (other than a few personal stories) about what to do going forward to ensure I fully recover and to ensure it does not happen again.

I'm struggling though with all the feedback I get when I say "I'm overtrained." It is hard enough for me to admit there is a problem, a BIG problem, but then people respond with "oh, what is wrong with you?" Or "what does that mean?" Or just give you a look of "whatever, you just want an excuse to sit out of PE class for a while" or "you just have your nose out of joint because you aren't running as fast as you were in the Spring."

From everything I have read, overtraining is very similar to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but hopefully as it only relates to athletic performance, there will be nothing chronic about it. I also know that many people don't give any sort of real attention to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, as there is no blood test or anything like that which can definitely diagnose it. If you say you have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I think most people would just think that you are lazy or a hypochondriac. I fear people will think both of these things about me, and I hate that. One decent article I read is here. It is short and to the point, but says about the same thing as every other article does.

Hopefully, through a lot of trial and error, I can figure out how to fix myself and overcome the overtrained state I have put myself in. I have already done a 5 week trial which ended in error. Hopefully the next 5 weeks end in a little more success.

I have a tentative plan for the next few weeks, but it really is like shooting in the dark. Here it is:

Week 1 (Nov 10-16): 7 days of total rest, only stretching at home is allowed

Week 2 (Nov 17-23): light weight routine at home, closely monitoring heart rate, and a few 3 mile walks, keeping heart rate in check (under 130)

Week 3 (Nov 24-30): Thanksgiving Week. I have a VO2 max test on the 24th, so I will have to raise my HR for that, but it will definitely be a baseline test as I may be completely out of shape by then. Hopefully continue walking and light weights, and possibly add more, depending on how week 2 goes.

Week 4 (Dec 1-7): No idea, will depend on how Weeks 1-3 go.

I walked 2.4 miles in the neighborhood yesterday to get a baseline of my walking heart rate to compare to in a few weeks when I start walking. My avg. HR for that walk was 129, and I walked around 17 minute miles.

More pieces of the plan:

- No caffeine after lunch

- Try to have lights out at 10pm. Sleep is the most critical thing for me at this point, and it has been pretty crappy lately

- Sleep in HR monitor for at least the next 2-3 weeks to monitor HR while sleeping, as well as resting HR upon waking

- Be diligent about tracking everything I do (food, weight, water, sleep time/quality, medicine, etc)

- Eat as well-balanced as possible, including making sure I eat tons of fruit (veggies don't do it for me), protein, and carbs

- Don't run San Antonio half marathon or Sunmart 50k, as previously planned. This is the hard part. It sucks, plain and simple. I am still going to watch San Antonio, and probably Sunmart as well. I even bought a "spectator outfit" yesterday as a treat to get me through this fun stuff.

- Keep a positive attitude throughout all of this, and having some faith that I will come out of this stronger and faster, as long as I stay patient and diligent.