The short fuse / irritability are definitely signs of overtraining. Not specially what this post was about - general signs of overtraining have been talked about on previous podcasts (pretty sure there’s a recent one with overtraining in the title) i’d suggest having a listen to that and seeing if you’re suffering any other signs.
Fainting in itself can just happen if you have low blood pressure (which seems to go hand in hand with being fit)
There definitely seems to be an art in reading the signs and knowing when to push through and when to have a rest!
Downward Spiral
27Jan - Struggled to get out of bed, totally wrecked - I don’t remember ever feeling as fatigued in my life.
28Jan-3Feb - Recovered okay, got through 2 sessions (ended 1 early) and a light-ish MTB ride Sunday taking extra days off.
4Feb (Monday) - Totally wrecked again, took it extra easy for a few more days.
7Feb (Thursday) - Did a 45min light session - felt fine afterwards & not too fatigued the next day.
8Feb - Out for the evening, fainted & ended up in hospital for a few hours BP was 74/36 apparently (which sounds bad?).
9th → 14th Feb
Totally off the bike, feeling pretty crappy since, testing hasn’t shown anything wrong to this point - waiting on result of heart check tomorrow.
Just saw this and had to double check it wasn’t my post from Feb, dates and most of it almost matches up to my Feb / Mar. I was diagnosed with Anemia and a few other related things. I was wiped out for nearly all of Feb and March eventually managed to start training properly April. Apparently Anemia is semi common in endurance athletes.