I just couldn't do it this morning..feeling guilty

[DVC Jen]

Normally I get up at 5am and work out for an hour before I get ready for work.

The past 3 nights I have NOT gotten decent sleep. I have had a hard time getting to sleep and then staying asleep.

Well last night I finally did get a great nights sleep. I got up this morning thinking my work-out would be a breeze after such great sleep. Boy was I wrong. My muscles just wouldn't cooperate. I couldn't find the energy. I did do 30 minutes. I guess that is better than nothing, but the guilt is really setting in.

 

[MelanieC]

Hi Jennifer,

Your body is asking for rest. Trust me, I find myself getting weak and not being able to complete a workout every once in a while. I have found through trial and error that my body is asking me to slow down and rest.
By not getting enough sleep lately, your overtired and getting up early and exercising for an hour is hard work.

Do you take regular rest days through the week? If you don't you should at least take one day a week and REST! Sometimes two days a week is even better and it varies by person.

I say you take tomorrow off, sleep in and don't do any exercise. I bet you feel like a new woman by Saturday!!

Sometimes even sleeplessness is a sign of overtraining.

The typical signs of overtraining include:

Insomnia
Achiness or pain in the muscles and/or joints
Fatigue
Headaches
Elevated morning pulse
Sudden inability to complete workouts
Feeling unmotivated and lacking energy
Increased susceptibility to colds, sore throats and other illnesses
Loss in appetite
Decrease in performance

I just did a search - try reading this:
http://exercise.about.com/cs/exercisehealth/a/toomuchexercise.htm

I hope this helps some. Rest is really important. Last month I overtrained one week and by Friday I couldn't finish my workout, felt I was getting a cold. I took Saturday off (my normal running day-training for a half marathon) and by Sunday I was 100% better and able to run my 7 miles for that week without difficulty.

 

[MelanieC]

I'm going to post the 2nd page from the link above. This is actually a pretty good read:

Are You Exercising Too Much?


The Cure for Overtraining
Rest! Your body needs rest after lifting weights to allow your muscles to recover and grow. When strength training, don't work the same muscle group two days in a row. Allow at least one day of rest before working the same muscle group again. For cardio, you may be wondering if it's okay to do it every day. That will depend on your intensity and the activity you're doing. It's not a great idea to do the same workout everyday as that can lead to both overtraining and repetitive stress injuries. You also shouldn't do intense and difficult workouts every day of the week, since that will also eventually cause problems. If you want to exercise every day, go for it. Just make sure you schedule low-intensity workouts as well. For example, if you usually run and bike every day, try to take a couple of days to go for a walk or do a light swim.

These 'recovery' workouts will help you stay fresh and the cross-training will help you avoid injuries.
Doing too much too soon can also lead to overtraining and injuries. If you're a beginning runner, don't attempt to run too much your first time out. Start with a walking/running program and slowly build up your running time each week. For lifting weights, you want to progress each week, but you don't want to add so much weight that your body can't handle it. There are a few other things you can do to avoid overtraining:

Warm up before your workout. Proper warm-up can help prevent injuries.
Fuel up after exercise. Your body needs energy to recover and that comes from food. A combination of carbs, protein and fat will give your body the energy it needs. Check out About's Nutrition site for more info.
Stretch. Tight muscles can often cause other muscles of your body to overcompensate, which can cause injury over time.
Schedule recovery days into your weekly routine. Listen to your body. If you're 10 minutes into your workout and you're feeling tired and unmotivated, go back home and rest or do a light yoga workout.
Get adequate sleep. Need I say more?
The most important thing you can do for yourself when you experience overtraining symptoms is to rest. It's better to take a week or so off from exercise and come back fresh than to permanently injure yourself!

 

[DVC Jen]

Melanie thanks.

That is exactly what I was doing. I was doing intense cardio for an hour every day. I did change what I was doing..alternating between an hour on the treadmill and an hour long cardio tape.. but they are both pretty intense.

I do normally take Sundays off.. but I guess I am going to have to start tossing in a less intense workout in there every few days.

I just have my mind set on reaching or coming as close as possible to my 20 pound goal before we go to WDW. I also hit a horrible platuea just 2 weeks after I started and it took me 3 weeks to drop another pound. Now that I did drop 2 more pounds I am really motivated to continue. I started the ball rolling again by increasing my work outs.

Can win it seems. Kinda frustrating. I will take your advice and slow it down a few times a week and see if that helps.

 

[Zoesmama03]

I have that waking up problem. I don't get to bed until 1am most nights and it is really something I have to work on so I can get up and workout.

Tonight I'm bringing the stroller up out of the car so that I can take my dd for walk with me in morning. See if I don't get up before she does then its hard to do my workout because she will hang on my leg. So those morning she is up before me and coming to wake me I will just go for a walk outside. So I'll be mixing up walking outside, WATP and Tae Bo and when it gets warm again and the pool is fixed(they are working on it) I'll be swimming some days too. We swam once already last week it was fun and I'd like to get dd learning to swim.