Posted by gmb on June 18, 2006, at 8:12:18
In reply to Re: I thought I was OK, but apparently not, posted by fca on June 17, 2006, at 18:58:43
>you know and I know that one of the first
>symptoms of overtraining is lethargy,
>depression, anxiety, difficulty sleeping etc. II certainly recognize the physical symptoms when I'm overtraining, but don't know that I'd recognize the mental side of things as well these days. When you mix in the roller coaster of the past two years, the lines aren't so clear any more. And given my family history ( my mother's story is beyond sad - untreated depression and GAD for decades - well, I could write a novel on that one ) and my own history, it might be even more difficult. Even though I finally sought some help at age 42, I can look back and see depressive issues back into my late teens, and I know that I've used alcohol and exercise and other activities over the years as treatment for the way I felt. Some of it was probably appropriate and some of it not.
>But if I was a physician and putting you on a
>medication program I would want you to reduce
>(substantially moderate) you running for at
>least 12-16 weeks. I am totally making this up
>but I would put a limit of 25-30 miles per week
>with at least two days of rest or very easy >jogging.Here's an old joke among physical therapists:
Q: How do you get rid of a patient that you don't like treating if he's a runner?
A: Tell him not to run and he'll go somewhere else.
I do tend to take two rest days per week, and at the peak of my training, I might do a really easy run on those two days, 3-5 slow miles. But, I manage to cram 60-80 miles into the other five days. If a doctor asked me to run only 25-30 miles per week in the winter, I'd say OK. At this time of the year, I'd probably look for another doc.
Although, the truth is I've got a great doc. I was very lucky to become a patient of his. He treats lots of very sick inpatients at a learning hospital, he's on faculty at the med school, he does a lot with tele-medicine, and he turned down two friends of mine because he simply couldn't take on more patients. I don't know how I managed to sneak into his practice. He is accessible by e-mail all the time and even though I've told him to bill for appointments for some of our e-mail or phone calls, he hasn't done that.
> Let's face it--traditional treatment protocols
>simple are not tested and used on persons who
>are stressing their body the way you are--IAgreed. There are about 2000 people in the US that finish a 100 mile race each year. It's such a small fringe sport that very little has been studied.
One thing that is obvious in the ultrarunning community is a history of obsessive behavior, substance abuse, failed marriages, etc. Many of us are running away from something and/or self-medicating through exercise. I think that we like to think that this is a more benign type of obsessive behavior, but it's not that way for everyone.
Speaking of which, it's time for me to go run before the heat gets any worse.
Again, thanks for your thoughts.
GMB
poster:gmb
thread:657928
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060617/msgs/658247.html