Managing Fatigue: Balancing Intensity with Recovery

by | Feb 5, 2025 | Fatigue Management | 0 comments

Tired cyclist

Welcome to the third edition of Ride, Tri, and Thrive! One key ingredient to making consistent progress is managing fatigue. Training hard is great, but if you’re constantly feeling tired, you might not be improving and, therefore, not recovering effectively.

Balancing intensity and recovery determines whether you get stronger or burn out.

Have you ever felt constantly tired, frustrated with slow progress, or struggling to find motivation? You might be dealing with training fatigue, mental fatigue, or both.

In this edition of Ride, Tri, and Thrive, we’ll cover

  • The different types of fatigue and how to recognise them
  • How to balance intensity with recovery for sustainable progress
  • Active recovery vs. complete rest and what do you choose

Let’s make sure your training moves you forward, not backward.

What is Fatigue?

Fatigue isn’t just about sore muscles—it affects your body and mind in different ways:

Training Fatigue

  • Neuromuscular Fatigue – Your legs feel heavy after hard intervals, hill repeats, or strength work (Girard, Mendez-Villanueva, & Bishop, 2011).
  • Metabolic Fatigue – You’re low on energy, struggling to sustain effort, and possibly under-fueled (Fitts, 1994).
  • Central Nervous System (CNS) Fatigue – Your brain and body feel disconnected—you want to push, but you can’t Davis & Bailey, 1997).
  • Mental Fatigue – Chronic stress, emotional strain, and lack of sleep can leave you feeling mentally drained, struggling with motivation, and making poor training decisions.

Ignoring these signs can lead to overtraining, burnout, or illness (Meeusen et al., 2013).

Balancing Intensity and Recovery

1. Plan Recovery as Rigorously as Training

Your best performance comes from balancing hard efforts with proper recovery (Bompa & Buzzichelli, 2019).

  • High-intensity sessions should be followed by low-intensity recovery days.
  • Schedule a recovery week every 3-4 weeks—a planned reduction in training volume and intensity to allow adaptation.

2. Monitor Training Load and Stress

  • If your heart rate variability (HRV) is low, your mood is off, or your sleep is poor, you might need extra recovery (Plews et al., 2013).
  • Listen to your body—if you’re constantly tired, more training isn’t the answer.

3. Prioritise Sleep

  • 7-9 hours of quality sleep helps the body recover, adapt, and reset (Watson, 2017)
  • Short naps (~20 minutes) can boost recovery if sleep is lacking (Samuels, 2008).

4. Fuel Your Recovery

  • Carbohydrates help replenish energy stores after hard training.
  • Protein (20-40g post-training) is essential for muscle repair.
  • Hydration matters! Even 2% dehydration can impact performance. (Kerksick et al., 2017)
    👉 Check out the last newsletter for a deeper dive into hydration.

5. Active Recovery vs. Complete Rest: Which One Do You Need?

Recovery isn’t one-size-fits-all. Depending on your fatigue, active recovery and complete rest both have their place.

  • Active Recovery: Light cycling, swimming, walking, or yoga.
    • If you’re slightly fatigued but still have energy, gentle movement improves circulation, reduces muscle soreness, and aids recovery without adding stress.
  • Complete Rest: Taking a full day off, prioritising sleep, and allowing full recovery.
    • When you’re mentally or physically drained, stepping away from training prevents burnout and overtraining and allows your body to reset.

Listen to Your Body (and Mind)

If fatigue feels excessive, back off—incorporating a balance of high and low-intensity sessions can lead to better long-term progress than constantly pushing at maximum effort (Stöggl & Sperlich, 2014).

Overtraining isn’t just about doing too much—ignoring mental fatigue can be just as damaging. When life is demanding, adjusting your training to include more recovery is a sign of strength, not weakness.

Let’s Ride, Tri, and Thrive Together!

Fatigue is a normal part of training, but how you manage it makes all the difference. The right mix of effort and recovery ensures you keep progressing without burning out.

  • Listen to your body—fatigue isn’t just physical; mental fatigue plays a role too.
  • Plan for recovery—a well-timed Recovery Week can be the key to long-term success.
  • Choose the right type of recovery—active recovery when you need movement, complete rest when exhaustion sets in.
  • Train smarter, not harder—consistency and sustainability lead to better performance.

If you’re unsure how to balance intensity and recovery in your training, personalised coaching can help you train more effectively while avoiding burnout.

📩 Need guidance? Let’s create a plan that keeps you performing at your best. coachhulskamp.com.au

References

  1. Girard, O., Mendez-Villanueva, A., & Bishop, D. (2011). Repeated-sprint ability – Part I: Factors contributing to fatigue. Sports Medicine, 41(8), 673-694. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30067591/
  2. Fitts, R. H. (1994). Muscle fatigue: the cellular aspects. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 24(6 Suppl), S9-S13. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2268224/
  3. Davis, J. M., & Bailey, S. P. (1997). Possible mechanisms of central nervous system fatigue during exercise. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 29(1), 45-57. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27653703/
  4. Kivimäki, M., et al. (2018). Work stress and risk of death in men and women with cardiometabolic disease: A multicohort study. JAMA Network Open, 1(6), e183365. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29884468/
  5. Meeusen, R., et al. (2013). Prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the overtraining syndrome: Joint consensus statement of the European College of Sport Science and the American College of Sports Medicine. European Journal of Sport Science, 13(1), 1-24. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23247672/
  6. Bompa, T. O., & Buzzichelli, C. A. (2019). Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training (6th ed.). Human Kinetics.
  7. Seiler, S. (2010). What is best practice for training intensity and duration distribution in endurance athletes?International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 5(3), 276-291. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20861519/
  8. Plews, D. J., et al. (2013). Training adaptation and heart rate variability in elite endurance athletes: Opening the door to effective monitoring.Sports Medicine, 43(9), 773-781. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23852425/
  9. Watson, A. M. (2017). Sleep and athletic performance. Current Sports Medicine Reports, 16(6), 413-418. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29049583/
  10. Samuels, C. H. (2008). Sleep, recovery, and performance: The new frontier in high-performance athletics.Neurologic Clinics, 26(1), 169-180. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18295072/
  11. Kerksick, C. M., et al. (2017). International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Nutrient Timing. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 14(1), 33. https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-017-0189-4
  12. Burke, L. M., et al. (2011). Postexercise muscle glycogen resynthesis in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology, 122(5), 1055-1067. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21270316/
  13. Phillips, S. M. (2016). The role of protein in maintaining muscle mass and function. Advances in Nutrition, 7(1), 57-69. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26960445/
  14. Cheuvront, S. N., & Kenefick, R. W. (2014). Dehydration: Physiology, assessment, and performance effects.Comprehensive Physiology, 4(1), 257-285. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24692140/
  15. Stöggl, T., & Sperlich, B. (2014). Polarized training has greater impact on key endurance variables than threshold, high intensity, or high volume training. Frontiers in Physiology, 5, 33. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24550842/

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