Quote Originally Posted by limewave View Post
Me!

After I had my first child, my thyroid started to puke-out on me. I didn't know what was going on for a long time. But my energy levels were so low that I literally sat on a couch or laid down all day. I couldn't take care of DD, do household chores, nothin--for months and months.

Anyways, after a proper diagnosis, I now manage the hypothyroidism with diet and a thyroid and iodine supplement. I also have to take supplements to support my adrenal glad. If I don't, I suffer from anxiety attacks. All the supplements I'm on are prescribed by my doctor.

All that said, I do race mountain bikes and ride hard on the road. I'm currently training for a 25k AND a mountain bike race simultaneously. However, I have noticed that following a traditional periodization schedule of a 3 week build and 1 week rest is a bit much for me. I'm now experimenting with a 2 week build with a 1 week rest.

When I think about my state 4 years ago, my lethargy and how much I slept . . . to what I do now everyday--it's a miracle.

Good luck! Our bodies can be a real challenge sometimes.
Yay! That's exactly what I wanted to hear. I've been talking to a lady who runs a yahoo group, who has studied natural healing and adrenal fatigue for like 40 years. She is very knowledgeable on the subject. I asked her what she thought about me riding competitively again. Her answer, which I'm pasting below, made me literally cry.

I don't know about competitively, may be too early to
tell.

But there's still riding for fun and therapy.

Unfortunately you're in a social circle where it seems
everyone rides competitively and that's the basis of the
social relationships.

But I'm sure you'll be able to branch out to new interests
and new moderation with cycling, and adding some more
emphasis on machine strength training, yoga, chi gong, tennis,
etc.

A lot of it is your own "head" or mindset in the way
of your short- and long-term wellness,
your worldly identity as a competitive road cyclist,
your social circle of road cyclists. Little room for
contingencies in that narrow definition.

A lot of aerobic endurance athletes just get older and
find other things to do, epxand their interests, dare to
be different, add new friends, learn to think of
themselves in new ways.


She comes across as kind of condescending to me. This silly little thing called cycling. It's like she gets all psychological and like she's trying to convince me it's not as big of a deal as I may think it is. Cycling is the first form of exercise I've ever done that I love and stick with consistently. Riding "just for fun" isn't really that fun for me, on a regular basis. It's setting goals and trying to get better and stronger and faster that drives me and keeps me riding. The thrill of riding with a fast group and hanging on. Doing an event faster than I did it before. I was just getting into training for time trials when all this happened. Cycling is not my identity, it's something I love to do. And there are plenty of people in my "social club" of cyclists who don't ride as fast. There are all levels of riders in my club and I could ride with any of the slower riders any time I want, but that's not what makes me excited about riding.

So thanks for your story and encouragement. I know everyone's body is different and what is true for one person with these issues may not be true for someone else. Luckily my hypothyroidism is mild and my adrenal fatigue is basically moderate, not severe. It makes sense to me that I can ride strong again if I take care of myself and pay attention to my body. Can you tell me what you do to monitor yourself? Is it just a matter of listening to your body? You mentioned changing your build up time and rest time, etc. Do you do anything else, like check cortisol levels?