The mental side can correct if you get the physical side in order. No rest weeks and poor nutrition is burning the candle at both ends. Light it on fire in the middle with a lot of life/job stress and you’ll implode eventually.
On rest weeks, go walk for an hour a day. Don’t run. Do some yoga classes that week. Do some pushups. Not too much. Give the legs a rest. Get your diet and nutrition in order and you’ll be way better off.
Good luck LPlante!
Not unusual for athletes to catch a bug after completing a big event! Who among us has not experienced that? ;-D
HR at a given workrate can increase with detraining because your blood volume will also decrease. So that could be the cause of your observed change in heart rate. HOWEVER, it is also true that in a state of overreach or overtraining HR for a given workrate will be lower…so could be you overcooked yourself before your event and now that you’ve recovered your heart rate response is a little higher.
However a lot of what you are describing about your affect sound like symptoms of somebody who might need to dial it back a little.
First thing I like to do when that situation comes up in training is really take a hard look at my last month’s training. By the numbers, not by how I felt about it. How many minutes did I do at 90%+ intensity? Is that trending up, flat or down? How many minutes did I do at Z2? Is that trending up or down? Of the workouts I had scheduled, what % did I complete? How many minutes of work did I do that WERE NOT scheduled? I say ‘by the numbers’ because…moment of truth time here…if I don’t do that with rigor I’ll tell myself little lies about how I’m performing.
Second thing I’ll do is come up with a plan. I can’t swim backward in the River of Time to correct my course…I can only go forward. Form a goal. Based on my review of my past month’s training…develop a ‘gap analysis’ of why that training wasn’t advancing me toward my goal…implement those changes into my training plan. IMMEDIATELY SET UP A MEDIUM TERM TEST POINT. You know, ‘In two weeks I’m going to check blah and blah.’ Plan to re-adjust at that test point with the attitude that you will be irrepressible in your pursuit of your goal.
Now, we can’t see your training so there is no way to know for sure, but the first thing I would suggest is to ride at less than 70% of FTP for the next week of your training. Ride no more than 7 hours. At the end of the week, re-assess. Do you feel better? Do you feel worse? If you feel better, well, then, ok, maybe your training was a bit too much. Lets do another week at 70% but add one day of intensity…try approaching your fatigue limit from the bottom up instead of the top down this time.
In terms of your medication & mental health care, consider talking to your doctor. Look, I don’t think you are satisfied with your affect. Go to your doctor and tell the doc what you’re telling us. Is there a different medication? Is there a lower dose? Is there a higher dose? Keep looking for answers.
Good luck. I will be thinking positive thoughts for you, @LPlante !