Feeling exhausted after workouts?

You might have some other sleep disorder that you don't know about. Then again, if the problem is truly only post-sprints, it's probably normal and should get better with time. It really is just a post-sprint problem (or, nights when I don't get enough sleep). I've swam on and off for years (swim for a few years, off for a year or two), but it's been over two years since I had any significant break in my training. Sorry, I don't mean to be a nay-sayer, I'm just trying to track this thing down.

Philoswimmer, do you have any tendency towards anemia? Hmm!! Yes, at times I have... interesting. You think that could be a factor?

Define exhausted. 1. Are you primarily sleepy, like you feel this overwhelming need to go back to sleep after a sprint practice? Very often. That's the one I can't pinpoint why it's happening. I get plenty of sleep, by many people's standards too much. 2. Are you primarily shakey, trembly, feeling almost faint, all of the above topped off with hunger pangs and fantasies of Snickers bars? Then you might well have hypoglycemia of exercise. My recommendation: a packet of Gu Chomps before practice, and a glass of chocolate milk afterwards. Almost never, only on occasion during a long swim meet day, if I forget to eat. In general, I am hypoglycemic. 3. Are you just physically worn out, almost like you have been weight lifting to the point of failure, your muscles just can't function anymore? I tend to call that muscle fatigue, it tends to happen when it's supposed to, when I work certain muscles a lot. My epworth score is 0 on all counts, once I'm awake, I'm AWAKE, till I fall asleep for the night. have a really hard time with dozing and naps. I have to be really sick and super worn out to doze off or nap.

Connie, I'm confused... are you saying you are very sleepy after a hard workout, but that you can't nap? I am very sleepy after a hard workout, and I have to fight not to nap. (A fight I often lose). After a hard workout is the only time I *can* nap. As in, I'm not normally sleep deprived, or an easy napper. That's why it's even more puzzling what it is that cuses such a need to nap after a swim workout. I thought the epworth test was for the normal state, not how we feel after the workout. After the workout, if I need to sleep, I need to get to a nap ASAP, there's very little chance of fighting it. Feels like a stronger urge to sleep then if I was up for 24 hours straight.

Then again, if the problem is truly only post-sprints, it's probably normal and should get better with time. In my case, it's not just after the sprint workouts. However, I can feel it coming, even during the workout, and a few sprints or harder exertions can push it over the top. I usually know by the end of the workout if I'll need a nap or not. It never happened during swim meets, regardless of whether I swam a 1500, or a bunch-a-50's Also, it doesn't happen only when out of shape, or getting back into things. It can happen just about any time.

Philoswimmer, do you have any tendency towards anemia?

I'm also thinking that spending time in a lower temperature *contact* environment, that lowers your body temperature a bit can have some effect too. I think increase in hunger and sleepiness are perhaps connected. I read a milion times that increase in hunger has to do with exerting yourself in lower temperature. I know from other sports, I can exert myself a lot more on dryland, and not feel *that* sleepy and hungry. Also, whenever I need that nap, it's not just sleep, I'm usually cold too, and need to be very bundled up. Almost like a very very mild hypothermia. I remember when I was working out a lot, year round in an outdoor pool, we always used to run to the divers jacuzzi after the workout. I don't remember if I was feeling sleepy on the days when I didn't go in the jacuzzi. Hmmmmmm! *head scratching* For me -- yes, probably exacerbated by hunger and lack of sleep, but I am better off in a colder pool than in a warmer.

Philo - how're the sprints starting to workout? or have you done one yet? I'm curious to see if just the core workout (to help your stomach so you can eat closer to practice) and the eating closer to practice is working out. I always follow the "keep it simple and stupid" philosophy until that fails to pan out. Then I would start worrying about the more complicated stuff. Today we did a bit more sprinting, but it wasn't a full-on sprint workout. I was definitely feeling that banana in my stomach, and not in a good way. But it's only been a short time, so I'll keep at it and see if things improve. It's not like eating bananas and doing sit-ups are bad for me. :-) I agree that it's best to pick the low-hanging fruit first. (Sorry for the pun. Or maybe not).

So, yes, many of the same issues as you. I'm interested in your prolonged under-oxygenation hypothesis -- it seems plausible to me. Maybe it's that, specifically under situations of heavy exertion when the muscles are demanding a lot of oxygen. Yea... except, if thats' all there was to it, then it would happen more consistently. The fact that it doesn't makes me think there are several things in play, and when they overlap...I need a serious nap. I started reading this, to see if anything interesting turns up: en.wikipedia.org/.../Hypothermia Which lead me to: en.wikipedia.org/.../Sympathetic_nervous_system and en.wikipedia.org/.../Parasympathetic_nervous_system lot of stuff there to digest... I don't know if I'll find any "AHA! I can relate to that" We'll see. I think I need to see more patterns on how I'm feeling....

Not to overly gum up the analysis here, but I would be careful with the diagnosis of anemia, particularly if you are aerobically fit. There is a phenomenon called sports anemia that results from increased blood plasma volume, making it look like your hemoglobin, red blood cell count, etc. is low when, in point of fact, it's really not--these are just being diluted by a beneficial increase in blood plasma. (Average person has something like 4 liters of blood; Lance Armstrong has 8.) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.../1521949 As far as low oxygen during sprints, they don't call this anaerobic for nothing: you don't really burn much oxygen during all out, short sprints since your muscles are being fueled by anaerobic respiration. (That's why coaches tend to recommend taking few, if any, breaths on a 50--by the time the air gets to your muscles, you're pretty much finished with the race.) Having gone through no shortage of quasi-hypochondriacal amateur self-diagnosis over the years, for everything to somnolence (tsetse flies nesting in my pillow?) to groin lesion analysis (sexual leprosy?), I have come to believe in the old chestnut about horses and zebras. To wit, if you hear hoof beats, think the former, not the latter. You guys are occasionally plagued by an overwhelming desire to take a nap. This tends to happen more frequently after a sprint practice. The precipitating factor (sprint practice) may be important, or it may be a red herring, but the bottom line is that you are sleepy. Which, hoof beats suggest, means you probably did not get adequate sleep. What caused this inadequacy remains to be seen--voluntary restriction of sleep hours (stayed up late watching The Colbert Report before getting up for a 5 a.m. practice?), restless legs, sleep apnea, medication side effect, snoring husband, something! I would start with the most obvious cause for sleepiness--not enough quality sleep--and only after you've ruled this out, move on to esoteric explanations like Kreb's Cycle anomalies on circadian rhythms in the presence of albuterol and Synthroid! Or whatever else my fellow travelers in the land of real illness hyped up by hypochondriacal overtones of excessive auto-analysis and symptom amplification of the sort we hypos know so intimately!