Cardio / Excessive Fatigue

[fozzie]

Howdy, ya'll. Longtime reader, first time poster.

I have a question about recent trouble I've been having with Cardio training. A little background first:

5'9"
175lb
18% Body Fat

In December I had a physical and my doc recommended that I lose substantial weight. I was at 198 at that point and had done very little physical activity in years. I have always struggled with weight. I started with moderate cardio work on the elliptical and built my way up to running on the treadmill. I made progress and lost 22lbs and 4% Body Fat over 4 months.

As of 4 weeks ago I was running 5-6 x / week, 4 miles @ 1-2% incline - 6.0mph for the first 2 and then at intervals of 7.5 or 8.0mph for 4-5minutes followed by 1-2 minutes @ 4.0mph for the next 2. I was usually tired, but recently my stamina seems to have decreased dramatically.

Now, after 2 miles @ 6.0 I am extremely fatigued. No dizzyness / lightheadedness, but extreme exhaustion which forces me to either walk on treadmill or do moderate elliptical for the remainder of gym-time and which continues for 45min-1hr after workout.

I also battle with GERD and, regardless of diet have moderate heartburn during my runs. I have a naturally high resting heartrate (around 90bpm throughout the day, 70-75 @ night and on waking) and my heartrate gets to between 160-170 during my runs. I have become concerned about heart problems, but 2 ECGs (@ rest) have revealed no abnormalities -- have requested a stress ECG but DR thinks it is in my head and does not want to refer me. My heartrate has not spiked since recent fatigue, but is no longer lowering either.

Daily I generally eat:

1 Banana / 1 English Muffin / Low Cal Yogurt 2 hours prior to workout
1 Low Cal Frozen Meal or Roast Chicken / Apple Sauce immediately after exercise
1 Apple / Low Cal Yogurt mid-afternoon snack
Grilled Chicken or Fish / Vegetables / Low Cal Yogurt or Pudding for dinner

Roughly between 1800 - 2000 calories / day
+ multivitamin supplements, chromium, L-carnitine

I also smoke ~3 cigarettes per day, in the evening. This has decreased from ~10 / day when I began the cardio(trying to quit but I live with 2 pack+/day smokers which makes it hard).

Should I be concerned by my recent fatigue? Is it possibly a problem of improper nutrition or overwork? Are the cigarettes to blame? Is it simply a case of mind over matter? Do I need to push my DR for further testing? Any advice would be appreciated.

[fozzie]

Oh, right, and I'm 25.

Based on my supposed MHR of 195 my HR or 160-170 (rarely topping out @ 175 - past which point I don't want to push myself) on the treadmill is between 82-87% MHR. Is this a healthy range?

[A1food4U]

Definitely drop the smokes. nicotene is an oxygen stealer. You may find that this alone makes you feel better.

That said, has your MD done any blood work to identify Blood sugar levels ?

[fozzie]

I actually just got the results of recent blood work back today. Everything checks out normally. Blood sugar within healthy levels, no thyroid issues, and great cholesterol.

[Steel_UK]

You don't suppose that you might be overtraining by chance? Why not try dropping the regime to three days a week and see what happens? Or better yet, take a week off before doing three days a week instead?

Just so you know the calculations for maximum heart rate are basically a guess. Some people can exceed what is supposed to be their maximum while other people cannot get near it. In my case I was able to hit between 220 and 240 bpm under a maximum effort run uphill and sustained it for several minutes. But the calculations say I should not be able to go any higher than 200 bpm or so.

[lizzyb]

Hi.....I don't wanna scare the crap out of you or anything.....but keep persisting with your doc for cardio testing. I'll tell you why. At age 32, my best friend developed sudden symptoms as you described above.....first she thought it may due to allergies, she and her hubs had bought a brand new house and thoughtmaybe it was all the crap in the vents...had them cleaned and still, fatigue, GERD, chest pain, shortness of breath.....she went to doc, she told her it was anxiety attacks....my g.f was not convinced at all.....she waited a week or so and returned to the doc's office. Doc said it was GERD, gave her meds for that condition and still there were symptoms to the point that she could no longer walk from thehouse to her car without getting short of breath.......FINALLY after 6mos of persisting with her doctor, the doc sends her for a cardio stress test......the result? she couldn't finish 30 secs, they had to give her nitro!!! She was rushed to our heart institute for an emergency angiogram, turned out she had major blockage in @ arteries, one owas completely blocked!! She was on the brink of devastating disaster....they did angioplasty and inserted shunts to keep the arteries open.....luckily for her, she avoided a major coronary infarc., that ultimately would have lead to her death, she was told. She was only 32 at the time. docs tend to overlook things because of age, and for her being a woman as well and no history of heart disease in her family.....her doc had no reason to suspect heart disease. Had my friend have not persisted she would be dead today.

[fozzie]

Thanks for the further input. I actually managed to get my doc on the phone personally today (a minor miracle) and finally convinced him to refer me for a cardio stress test. I'll be calling to schedule it on Monday, and he said I should be able to go in for it within 1.5 weeks.

I certainly hope it's nothing serious, but hopefully this test will be a major step closer to diagnosing whatever the problem is. From the sounds of things my symptoms are nothing nearly as major as your friend's, Lizzy, but I don't want to mess around with the health of my heart. I sure hope that, whatever the issue is, it doesn't prevent me from continuing to exercise -- for the first time in my life I've found the drive and motivation to make positive life changes for the sake of my long-term health.

[Sione1]

props on getting the 20+ pounds off; and for at least cutting back on the smoking!

It sounds like you haven't been running for very long, so 6 times per week could quite possibly just be overtraining. Have you tried, simply, extra rest? Also, could it be the timing of your meals and workout? Do you plan them to work togeather?