"Too fit" despite fatigue

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cfdr
cfdr Member Posts: 549
edited June 2014 in Working on Your Fitness

I was so excited about joining a clinical trial studying exercise for breast cancer survivors. I've been waiting to pass my one year post-treatment mark so I could join. I've suffered from fatigue the entire year, which has just started to get better. It's been very frustrating because everyone says that exercise helps fatigue, but I often found it made it worse. I tried a couch-to-5K running program a couple of times, but it just exhausted me. So I kept trudging along, literally, hiking at a slow to moderate pace almost every day, and looked forward to working with the exercise physiologists and personal trainers to see if I could progress more.

Step one was a battery of tests, ending in a cardiac fitness (stress) test. Boy, was I surprised when they told me I was too fit for the study! They said my VO2 max measurement put me in the "athlete" range, almost up to "endurance athlete"...they need subjects who are not already in such good shape. You could have knocked me over with a feather! Despite the fact that I still tire easily, that I haven't lost a pound or an inch, apparently all that trudging has paid off in invisible ways.

I had been feeling very discouraged lately that my progress has been so slow on so many fronts. This was just the boost I needed to show me that I am not only healing, but getting stronger...even if I don't always feel it or see it.

I wanted to share what happened to me today, in case anyone else sometimes feels that exercise is not paying off the way you want it to. Keep trudging along!

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  • coraleliz
    coraleliz Member Posts: 1,523
    edited January 2013

    I'll keep trudging along with you. Interesting how "fit" is defined. Sounds like I would be considered ultra fit by their definiton, certainly not mineUndecided 

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  • Claire_in_Seattle
    Claire_in_Seattle Member Posts: 4,570
    edited January 2013

    CFDR....this is because there is a long "tail" to the curve back to optimal health.  Hang in there.  You are absolutely doing the right things.  At least, you don't have a sports injury like the trashed ankle I had 18 months ago!

    Make sure too that you are eating all the protein and nutrients you need.  I also found that energy gels helped when the body was dragging.  So GU gel and I are very tight.

    I NEVER would have made these trials, even in chemo.  Consider this a sign of where you are physically.  Even at dose 5 of 6 AC, I realized that 90% of adults my age couldn't do a 20 mile cycle.  And things just got better from there.

    This says something, doesn't it!

    Off in 10 days for three days of skiing.  Need to dust off my downhill skis, plus 2 days of x-country.  Life doesn't get better than this.

    Feel better, and keep moving.  It's end of winter so get in some sun.  Forget about the rest.  It will all be there for you....SOON.  I promise. - Claire

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  • Momine
    Momine Member Posts: 7,859
    edited January 2013

    CFDR, that is actually quite hilarious. Glad to hear that you are super-jock :D

    I have seen recommendations that to ward of recurrence, you should try to walk for half an hour a day. This is pretty useless to me, since I walked way more than that even prior to DX (so obviously it didn't save me, but that is another story). The docs also seem to think that I do a lot of exercise, but I feel like I am a slacker basically.

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  • Heidihill
    Heidihill Member Posts: 5,476
    edited January 2013

    Congrats on being "too fit!" I could never have done C25K a year after treatment. I did keep trudging along like you. Eventually you get stronger and actually start feeling it. 

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