Today I ran in the USA 10 Mile Championships. Today, I bonked at mile 6 in the USA 10 Mile Championships. In the past year I’ve simply struggled. Some days I feel great and other days I’m worthless. I believe it all stems from hypothyroidism, possibly a result of over-training leading into the Olympic Trials in Jan 2012. Bonking in a 10 mile race after going out conservatively is a scary thing. The best way I can describe it is I’m aerobically fine, my legs feel good, but my power and energy is gone.
2007 Penn Relays - Exhaustion
It’s unfortunately time to take a longer break. Several weeks of no running is my plan. It’s a bummer, but it’s what I need to do. The fitness I’ve worked so hard for over the past few days, months, and years won’t be lost. I’ll regain it quickly once I’m healthy…but now it’s time to get healthy. Today was a wake up call, but first I need to sleep and recover.
Thanks to everyone at the Twin Cities in Motion/USA 10 Mile for putting on a great event with excellent hospitality. I’ll be back and competitive again in the future! Congrats to everyone that raced today all over the country.
Never settle…but time to be smart.
-Tyler
Tyler–
I don’t know you that well but I occasionally read your blog, and I commend you for your dedication and hard work. But you really need to take a step back and try to look at your situation from an unbiased perspective. Your lack of understanding of the recovery process is quite alarming considering you’ve been running for most of your life. While it’s possible that you have some underlying issues, you may just be feeling the cumulative effects of the past few years of racing. You need to stop tricking yourself into believing that your “legs feel fine good.” Think about it– do they REALLY? There’s no way…you’ve been pounding for years without adequate recovery, and I’m not just talking about recovery after a race, but also recovery throughout training. Of course you’re starting to feel like crap. If you want to make a breakthrough, you really need to sit down and come up with a very long-term plan of training and racing with a serious focus on proper recovery. I am telling you right now, it is going to take a while to get your body back to where it should be, but if you are smart and patient, you will improve drastically. If you keep going at the rate you’re going, your time of running PR’s and being competitive is going to become a thing of the past. Think about taking some time off, starting a very slow buildup, and tailoring your training to very specific, important races. And stop using low-key races as workouts/training tools. Your mind needs to be able to distinguish the difference between training and racing. Pushing yourself through a grueling workout in training is MUCH more beneficial to strengthening the mind than “tempo-ing” a race (where there are extra incentives, people cheering, etc).
Wanna Help,
Thank you for your comments. I appreciate any and all comments, even if they seem harsh. I certainly have not had the smoothest transition in post-collegiate running. I’ve also had a lot of advice over the past few years from very credible coaches and athletes. If you have any scientific materials, research papers, or examples of proper recovery I would love to hear them. You can e-mail me at tcm5026@gmail.com if there’s anything you’d like to share outside of a comment box.
Thanks again for your time and comments, I’m trying my best to learn from mistakes and move forward.
-Tyler
Tyler-
I totally get what you’re feeling! I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism several years ago and I’m a triathlete. On top of that I have asthma! I maintain a regular healthy diet and training nutrition program. There are some days when my body feels amazing, like I could swim/bike/run forever. And there are some days, even light training days or recovery days where my body feels fine but my energy is just gone. Some days I feel like I bonk at work!! I never know whether I’ve somehow screwed up my nutrition, overtrained, or am just feeling the effects of the thyroid issue. There is so little research on how hypothyroidism affects endurance athletes (believe me I’ve looked!). But I’ve read some blogs about it and athletes report exactly the kind of issues you talk about. I applaud you and thank you for mentioning this condition on your website and in other articles I’ve read about you. I always feel like I’m struggling by myself. Its great that a well known and successful athlete like you is showing what’s possible with determination, focus, drive, patience, and passion. Thank you!!!!