Post exercise crash/malaise 4 hours after

floppybackend
floppybackend Posts: 52 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
It about 3-4hrs after finishing (run/parkrun/routine) I completely crash I cannot cope. Im tired and unable to do anything by lie down and nap. Im confused when people say do an early morning routine youll feel great all day - not me! Im great for the first 3hrs then I have to lie down (not safe to drive) which means it would be impossible to do this in the week. Evenings are a struggle with family/food and general chores plus I find Im not driven then.

How do you overcome this?

Replies

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    Make an appointment with your doctor. That does not sound normal.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    floppybackend wrote: »
    It about 3-4hrs after finishing (run/parkrun/routine) I completely crash I cannot cope. Im tired and unable to do anything by lie down and nap. Im confused when people say do an early morning routine youll feel great all day - not me! Im great for the first 3hrs then I have to lie down (not safe to drive) which means it would be impossible to do this in the week. Evenings are a struggle with family/food and general chores plus I find Im not driven then.

    How do you overcome this?

    I agree with the poster above: check with your doctor.

    Do you eat after exercising or a couple of hours later? Your symptoms sound like what happens when your blood glucose crashes. Exercising causes the muscles to release glucose into the bloodstream for energy, then your insulin takes over and stores the glucose back in the muscles. This is good and how the body is supposed to work. If you don't eat, too much glucose can be removed from the bloodstream and cause a crash.

    Make an appointment with the doctor but you can experiment a bit with eating in the meantime. The more information you give your doctor (including things that you tried) the quicker a solution can be found.
  • icemom011
    icemom011 Posts: 999 Member
    Checking with your doctor is a good idea to eliminate health problems that can cause it. From my own experience though, i had similar crashes with hard, long bike rides that weren't properly"fed". If i didn't eat enough before or during particularly long ride i would come home and would feel cold, shaking even sometimes, and if i still didn't eat, i would get really sleepy, unable to do anything, not willing to get up and out of the bed and still very cold. If you're not supplying your body with enough fuel it can act this way. I learned really quickly to listen to those signals. Easily avoidable with a proper meal, or even a snack before or after workout of protein/ carb combo ( works best for me). I don't have diabetes or anything else that can cause it, as far as I know. My blood work is good. So just properly fueling my workouts keeping me out of trouble. So maybe try a small snack after your run and see how you feel. You're saying that your crash happens 3-4 hours later. How long and how much do you run? How's your fitness level? Do you usually have a meal after at some point, 3-4 hours is a long window, so you might want to eat within that time period. When was your last blood work done, talk to your doctor about it. Are you hydrated enough, what about the electrolytes?
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    I noticed that you're not logging your food so it's hard to see if it's an obvious diet related issue.

    How far are you running? (IIRC park runs are typically 5km) Are you eating anything before or shortly after running?
    How long have you been running (when I first started running I would feel fatigued but noting compared to what you've described) and now a 10km mid week run is just a great way to start the day.

    I'm with the others in that a visit to your doctor may be the best first step. Unless you're eating very low calories / low carb a 5 or 10km run shouldn't come close to depleting your glycogen stores. Better to rule out any other causes.....

  • slbbw
    slbbw Posts: 329 Member
    I get like that on really hard runs or exercise days. It is possible your intensity is too much right now. How long does it take you to accomplish these? I can do about an hour of moderate to high intensity workout every day no issue, but if I go beyond that I get quite fatigued right around that 3-4 hour mark you mention. Rarely would it be on the not safe to drive level though.

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