How do you define fatigue?

[jellywerker]

Originally Posted by beasty

No no no. You push yourself to your limit so you can get better.
If not, all football players would quit when they get winded and not gulp down tanks of O2 at the sideline. You think Phelps wasn't tired after getting his 4th gold medal? You think Lance didn't think of stopping when he is cycling through the high altitude French alps.

Limits and fatigue are excuses for losers. Push yourself and create new or no limits for yourself. I train till I am on the verge of retching. I don't because I don't eat nothing before my workout.

This man understands and it's a rarer thing than you'd think, despite the Nike and Gatorade ads. Fatigue is when you can't see anything in the last 100 meters of a race, you've stopped breathing, and yet you still pull harder because you aren't over the line yet. It sounds poetic, but I've seen it and felt it and every good athlete you talk to will have some analogue for it.

 

[why]

Originally Posted by jellywerker

This man understands and it's a rarer thing than you'd think, despite the Nike and Gatorade ads. Fatigue is when you can't see anything in the last 100 meters of a race, you've stopped breathing, and yet you still pull harder because you aren't over the line yet. It sounds poetic, but I've seen it and felt it and every good athlete you talk to will have some analogue for it.
...And you still finished in last place because everyone else managed their fatigue better.

 

[Eason]

It's just a word, it can either mean overtraining fatigue, or just exertion exaustion, and will mean different things to everyone. To me it's just varying degrees of not feeling my best.

 

[jellywerker]

Way to be a dick and have to put me on the defensive

I'll admit it, I lost once in the past two seasons. It's when you have a team of guys that can't push themselves that hard that you don't win, at least in rowing.

But anyways, that's neither here nor there.

 

[kwilkinson]

^I am alpha male, hear me roar.

 

[rjmaiorano]

Originally Posted by jellywerker

This man understands and it's a rarer thing than you'd think, despite the Nike and Gatorade ads. Fatigue is when you can't see anything in the last 100 meters of a race, you've stopped breathing, and yet you still pull harder because you aren't over the line yet. It sounds poetic, but I've seen it and felt it and every good athlete you talk to will have some analogue for it.

I've experienced that too. Personally I don't consider that fatigue. If you stop pushing yourself at that point you aren't mentally prepared. That is a pain threshold that training and will take over. That is why a 2k erg test is harder than a 2k on the water... I've done a lot of sports but I have found rowing and rowers in general are more prepared and mentally strong than any group of athletes I have ever been around, don't get me wrong. I've been there too and the feeling is great.

I feel fatigue as being more related to overworking over longer amounts of time. If I run a half marathon, when I am done I am not fatigued, I'm tired as ****, but if I tapered accordingly and followed a solid routine and ate properly then by no means should I be fatigued. If I decided to go out and do another half marathon the next day at the same intensity, something I am not prepared for, then I can develop fatigue. It varies I suppose for different people, but there is a difference from being tired, even vomiting after a race, and being fatigued. I am speaking only to physical though, not mental.

 

[rjmaiorano]

Originally Posted by jellywerker

I'll admit it, I lost once in the past two seasons. It's when you have a team of guys that can't push themselves that hard that you don't win, at least in rowing.

Right, but thats not a factor of fatigue, at least not on race day.

 

[rjmaiorano]

Originally Posted by beasty

No no no. You push yourself to your limit so you can get better.
If not, all football players would quit when they get winded and not gulp down tanks of O2 at the sideline. You think Phelps wasn't tired after getting his 4th gold medal? You think Lance didn't think of stopping when he is cycling through the high altitude French alps.

Limits and fatigue are excuses for losers. Push yourself and create new or no limits for yourself. I train till I am on the verge of retching. I don't because I don't eat nothing before my workout.

I am curious what you train? Football players train to peak every 7th day, they have a massive off-season to recover and rebuild, they go all out on the 7th day because it is their job. Do you think they go all out the 6 days in between? ... Comparing world-class athletes who dedicate their lives to the moments you describe to issues of fatigue doesn't equate IMO.

And no, Lance did not think about stopping.

 

[Eason]

Olympic lifters, MMA fighters, top athletes of all kinds use periodization so they can peak for competition.

 

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by rjmaiorano

I am curious what you train? Football players train to peak every 7th day, they have a massive off-season to recover and rebuild, they go all out on the 7th day because it is their job. Do you think they go all out the 6 days in between? ... Comparing world-class athletes who dedicate their lives to the moments you describe to issues of fatigue doesn't equate IMO.

And no, Lance did not think about stopping.

Originally Posted by Eason

Olympic lifters, MMA fighters, top athletes of all kinds use periodization so they can peak for competition.

Plenty of runners, cyclists, etc. train well below their capacity day in and day out in order to put it all on the line on race day. There's a major difference between daily training and race day effort. If you train like every day is a race day, you'll burn out or get injured in no time.

 

[why]

Originally Posted by Thomas

Plenty of runners, cyclists, etc. train well below their capacity day in and day out in order to put it all on the line on race day. There's a major difference between daily training and race day effort. If you train like every day is a race day, you'll burn out or get injured in no time.
Yep. One of the best things an amateur runner/cyclist can do is to keep the easy days easy.

 

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by why

Yep. One of the best things an amateur runner/cyclist can do is to keep the easy days easy.

Frank Shorter ('72 Olympic marathon gold medalist) made it a point to keep his easy days EASY. One account has Shorter on an easy run being passed by girls wearing sorority sweatshirts.

But when he got to the track for a hard day, look out!

 

[rjmaiorano]

Originally Posted by Thomas

Frank Shorter ('72 Olympic marathon gold medalist) made it a point to keep his easy days EASY. One account has Shorter on an easy run being passed by girls wearing sorority sweatshirts.

But when he got to the track for a hard day, look out!

Yea, it is kinda comical to do see some XC runners on easy days doing walk looks like a run/walk.

 

[jellywerker]

Originally Posted by rjmaiorano

And no, Lance did not think about stopping.

He probably did, but he had the ball to keep going.

 

[rjmaiorano]

^^hahah, you remembered to say 'ball'