Took a week planned rest folllowing a recent race. Been easing back into trainging over the past couple of weeks. Motivation is high and Im eager to get going. Been sticking to mostly Zone 2 work but everything feels harder than only a month ago and heart rate confirms this I am in fact working harder at any given intensitys.
I know that fitness declines relitivly slowly and since I havent had that much down time I wouldnt expect fitness to drop what feels like quite significantly. Is there any sciance to this? Is it just residual fatigue that will balance back out with more rest and good nutrition?
Im cocerned that this could be a sign of over training…
I had the same issue last year. My fitness dropped off significantly in a few weeks. I took 3 weeks off, 2 were planned and a sprained ankle added an additional week. When I got back to it, I was as fit, or slightly more fit, than before the break. I chalked it up to too much fatigue.
Could it be because SS fitness doesn’t last as long as z2 fitness? Build that base 
So you took one week off and then have been “easing” back into training for a number of weeks. For easy math, let’s call it a month, all combined.
You have been de-training for a month, so I am not surprised you are working harder. That is a lot of down time. The good news is that it bounces back relatively quickly once you start training consistently again ( this is especially true for Z2 work).
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I just took two weeks off (planned) which was immediately preceded by a taper for my “A” race - so I’ve had almost a month of “recovery” if you gauge it by TSS. I got back on the trainer this week and my HR is about 10BPM higher in Z2 than it was a month ago. I was stunned at how fast that fitness leaves you.
Mind you, my RPE at Z2 wattage wasn’t much higher, but my HR was. Just keep at it and you’ll snap back. Don’t overthink it.
Without the big picture you are forcing folks to take assumptions in order to comment. We don’t know how long you’ve been training, how much intensity you’ve been doing, etc., etc.
TR has a good blog post with some rough estimates and references
Listen to your body.
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