Medical information required...

[Kitch]

the Sports Doctor who has suggested 'unexplained underperformance syndrome'.

this mickey taking.
could it be the fact that, presumably, you paid this guy good money and he came up with "Unexplained Underperformance Syndrome" which in lay terms means - "I haven't got the faintest clue whats wrong with you, could be anything, but I still want to sound like i know what I'm talking about"
Its bollocks.
The reason there is nothing out there about how to get over it is because no one knows what causes it.
If they did know what it was it wouldn't be "Unexplained"
in effect it doesn't exist - its just a doctor's excuse.

anyway back to the mick taking...
this underperformance.
you don't say at what - running, jumping, skipping, cycling, swimming, shaggging what ?
And to what extent.
If we are to offer a dianosis we need to know the facts.

[Guest]

Does it feel like this???
-Wake up feel tired and aching (particularly in your legs)despite having done relatively little.
-Difficult to correlate how you feel with what exercise you've done.
-Sometimes feel fine and able to do loads, sometimes unable to complete runs/walk to the shops etc.

If so, sounds rather like what I've had for the last 2 years, once vaguely defined as post-viral fatigue.

I think it was brought on by the stress of working shifts and trying to train a ridiculous amount at the same time.

If it's any consolation it's nearly gone now, If it's any unconsolation, it's taken two years.

If it's any help these are the things I did, dunno if any of them have made me better or whether I've just been getting slowly better all along.

A lot of these things I did on the advice of Jenny James.

-cut out caffeine
-cut out alcohol (hard I know but I more or less managed it for 6 months and have only recently started properly drinking again)
-exercise only when you feel like you can and aim to come back feeling like you did when you started (I started with 15 min jogs)
-go organic (i think this has helped but maybe a bit dubious)
-spend more time chilling and less socialsing (boring I know)
-if you wanna do a decent training session don't do much else that day i.e walking around town etc etc

Hope this is of some help, the number of orienteers/endurance athletes developing this kinda thing is quite worrying. The Aussies seem to be very aware of it, but over here people don't seem to be aware.

Michelle Spillar WIM/SWERVE

[Lil' God'rs]

Had a chat to the GP a couple of weeks ago about Lyme's disease - who did know something about it - but didn't get any tests done at the time. Going back next week and going to get them done I think. Cheers for the rest of the advice if it is not Lyme's Disease though - think I have to realise I'm in for the long haul with no quick fixes.

Kitch - take the point but I trust the guys at FASIC.....

Wasn't looking for a diagnosis but here goes anyway:

- Leeds 1/2 marathon on 15th May - 100% well
- pretty knackered the following week which I put down to a hard race
- hard session the following weekend where I didn't feel great during it but my heart rate was normal
- stress levels rising about Scottish Relays
- week before Scottish and since then: headache at times, sore throat at times, generally pretty tired and having that feeling of about to get/getting over a bad cold, resting heart rate 10-15 beats higher than normal, (easy) running heart rate 10-15 beats higher than normal
- did the occasional bit of running/biking in June/July but only one 'hard' session (biking: Ambleside - top of Wyrnose - Ambleside - Patterdale; and 'yes' the Struggle really is struggle on a bike ) which really made things worse for a couple of days
- feeling much the same as I did 2 months although I have lost any motivation to train, the pounds are piling on, I'm getting thoroughly pissed off and getting a touch of stress involved in moving house....

Chris

[FatBoy]

Sounds like a "proper" illness to me. Again I'm no Doc but just cos it's on my desk - BCU stuff about Weil's disease:

Temperature, an influenza like illness, and joint and muscle pains (pains in the calf muscles are often particularly noticable).

It also says it's about 16-19 days incubation time from exposure.

Hope that's of help even just to rule it out.