I am the victim off yet another low level semi cold i.e. fell slightly ill, slightly blocked nose etc, but not full on symtoms of a cold.
Am starting to wonder if this is what athletes call ‘overtraining’.
It’s easy to think of unicycling as fun rather than training, but if I spent as much time running or doing weights as I do on the Muni (2/3 hrs most days) then I wouldn’t be surprised if I got ill.
Of course, a lot of that time is spent just cruising, but then again, I do tend to arrive home drenched in sweat.
I wondered if any of you who are riding a lot are getting similar niggling illnesses.
It doesn’t sound like what is traditionally called overtraining, ie. riding too much and not allowing enough recovery time.
I sometimes fall asleep randomly during the day if I ride too much and don’t eat enough. People who swim in the morning sometimes find they get a lot of colds if they don’t have big dinners the night before. This is because a lot of swimmers go out before breakfast and do lots of exercise while they’re still low on energy. This makes them get really really low on energy and screws up their immune system. Its pretty well known. If I go swimming hard with a big hangover, I’ll always sneeze a lot when I get home. The symptoms of a bad case of this are just like what you describe.
In my experience, its usually undereating, bad diet or tiredness rather than actually over training that causes things like this. Also when you do your riding might have an effect, like if you’re doing it when you’re very hungry and/or tired. When I was doing a lot of riding last year (probably 20+ hours a week including commuting) I had to drink energy drink during longer rides or else I’d get worn out and tired for a few days after a big load of training. Remember that in a 3 hour ride at high intensity*, you’re probably using almost as much energy as you do in the whole of the rest of the day and you need that much food at some point unless you’ve got lots of fat saved up. If you drink much its really important to have a big breakfast before a hungover ride.
Joe
Looking at the calculator at the bottom of http://www.bicycling.com/training/0,5094,,00.html if you weigh 10 stone and ride a bike at 16-19mph not drafting, that uses an estimated 800 calories/hr, in my opinion unicycling hard is probably a bit more than that, it certainly feels like it.
I have had what I can only describe as EBMS; excesive bunnyhopping/muniing syndrome. During the summer holidays I was doing lots of MUni, especially hopping up big hills. I found this really tiring on my back and had to rest for a week or so. It was probably a combination of lots of hopping and a bad posture when riding. I have never had any flu like symptoms from uniing though. Get well soon Dave
Are you wearing cotton t-shirts? When cotton gets wet it stays wet and can give you chills especially if it’s windy or not very warm out. Polyester cycling jerseys wick the perspiration away and stay dry even if you sweat a lot. I used to wear cotton t-shirts for hard rides but have switched over to cycling jerseys because the jerseys are more comfortable and handle the dampness from perspiration better.
In my experience, its usually undereating, bad diet or tiredness rather than actually over training that causes things like this
Good point which I hadn’t considered, i’m not eating as much healthy stuff as I used to
john_childs quote:
Originally posted by onewheeldave
Of course, a lot of that time is spent just cruising, but then again, I do tend to arrive home drenched in sweat.
Are you wearing cotton t-shirts? When cotton gets wet it stays wet and can give you chills especially if it’s windy or not very warm out. Polyester cycling jerseys wick the perspiration away and stay dry even if you sweat a lot.
Yes, I am wearing cotton teashirts, I never feel cold on the Muni but you’re spot on about cotton retaining the perspiration so I’ll try and get something made of polyester
