BP and training load

[benb]

Has anyone had any experience with their Blood Pressure being affected by training load/fatigue/overtraining?

I'm going to talk to my doctor, but I have to wait forever to get in unfortunately.

I just finished a huge ramp up to ride B2VT (It was 149 miles/9000ft+ this year) last weekend. It took me 8:46, good ride but really tough, I had some sleep issue the night before and hydration/nutrition issues on the ride. (My stomach started shutting down making it hard to eat.). I was seriously messed up after the ride despite kind of recovering from the food/water issues by the end and riding really strong the last 1.5 hours.

My training overall went really well, nice and smooth. I could tell I was getting really ready for a break the last 3-4 weeks before it though. I did a lot of hard intervals this spring.

Anyway 2 weeks before the ride I had checked my BP and it was high for me It was like 130/85 or something.

Yesterday we had a wellness screening thing at work and I pulled a 130/90 and my pulse was 80 which was super high. I've been resting this week but if I looked at Training Peaks I'm still negative even today. I've had a ton of stress lately too, both training for that ride + family/work stuff.

I've had some "white coat" stuff in the past and whenever I was monitoring my BP at home it was fine. I took it this morning twice, once before eating and once after having breakfast + coffee. It was 116/63 pulse 56 the first time and the second time it was 123/78 pulse 68. (I hadn't sat still or anything the second time.). So yesterday could have been some white coat stuff but I am wondering about the training too. I actually feel better today than yesterday too FWIW, each day of rest I've been sleeping better and better.

I've always been aware that your resting pulse goes up as you build fatigue but when I looked yesterday it sounds like your resting BP also goes up as you approach/hit overtraining? Almost every article/medical paper I found linked them.

I'm going to start logging my BP in training peaks each morning. I'm not going to get to see the doctor for a month so I'll have a lot of #s. It is doubtful I will be training as hard at all the rest of the year though. I'm most likely genetically inclined to high BP so I do worry about this stuff. My guess is without cycling & healthy lifestyle I would have been on BP meds for a long time now. (My dad was on them in his mid 20s IIRC)

[unterhausen]

I think that's pretty normal variation in BP. Do whatever you have to do to feel comfortable about it though. Resting heart rate is the traditional sign of overtraining. One high reading wouldn't be enough to tell though.

Other signs of overtraining are cramps and FTP decreases. All of these things require careful record keeping, although there are blood tests for the effects of overtraining on muscles. I doubt your doctor would order that for you.

I finally realized that my problem with hydration/nutrition when the weather first gets hot was probably hyponatremia. Too much water/not enough sodium. Something to consider.

[shoota]

Has anyone had any experience with their Blood Pressure being affected by training load/fatigue/overtraining?

I'm going to talk to my doctor, but I have to wait forever to get in unfortunately.

I just finished a huge ramp up to ride B2VT (It was 149 miles/9000ft+ this year) last weekend. It took me 8:46, good ride but really tough, I had some sleep issue the night before and hydration/nutrition issues on the ride. (My stomach started shutting down making it hard to eat.). I was seriously messed up after the ride despite kind of recovering from the food/water issues by the end and riding really strong the last 1.5 hours.

My training overall went really well, nice and smooth. I could tell I was getting really ready for a break the last 3-4 weeks before it though. I did a lot of hard intervals this spring.

Anyway 2 weeks before the ride I had checked my BP and it was high for me It was like 130/85 or something.

Yesterday we had a wellness screening thing at work and I pulled a 130/90 and my pulse was 80 which was super high. I've been resting this week but if I looked at Training Peaks I'm still negative even today. I've had a ton of stress lately too, both training for that ride + family/work stuff.

I've had some "white coat" stuff in the past and whenever I was monitoring my BP at home it was fine. I took it this morning twice, once before eating and once after having breakfast + coffee. It was 116/63 pulse 56 the first time and the second time it was 123/78 pulse 68. (I hadn't sat still or anything the second time.). So yesterday could have been some white coat stuff but I am wondering about the training too. I actually feel better today than yesterday too FWIW, each day of rest I've been sleeping better and better.

I've always been aware that your resting pulse goes up as you build fatigue but when I looked yesterday it sounds like your resting BP also goes up as you approach/hit overtraining? Almost every article/medical paper I found linked them.

I'm going to start logging my BP in training peaks each morning. I'm not going to get to see the doctor for a month so I'll have a lot of #s. It is doubtful I will be training as hard at all the rest of the year though. I'm most likely genetically inclined to high BP so I do worry about this stuff. My guess is without cycling & healthy lifestyle I would have been on BP meds for a long time now. (My dad was on them in his mid 20s IIRC)

I can't speak to much of any of this but I can say for sure that stress can really affect a person. When I recently moved and started a new job my riding was cut in half but the stress of the new job and other responsibilities made me feel 10X worse than any of the hardest training I'd ever done before.

[benb]

Yep.. easy to feel the stress.

Having a lot of issues with my kid and school stuff, we got an IEP for him a week or two ago. (He's going into kindergarten this fall.) Tons and tons of meetings and such. Really frustrating stuff cause overall he's super smart for his age, just has issues in a few areas.

And lots of "fire drills" at work the past month, including some weekend work.

[biker72]

My BP takes a nosedive when I exercise. I take medication for my BP because on the no-exercise days it can be a little high. I have quite a range.

I just completed a 50 miler this morning before it got too hot. My BP is 86/52. I keep asking my Internist how low is too low? He said as long as I'm not dizzy I'm OK. Well I'm not dizzy but that's awfully low BP.

[benb]

Actually the ride caused a lot of stress too as the training meant I was out riding on weekends and stuff.

And then they lengthened it from 133 -> 149 miles with 10 days to go as a surprise, so I was super nervous about that.

I did fine, but it was really noticeably hard with all the climbing.

I have had this ridiculous issue where my PCP keeps quitting the practice, so I've had 4 PCPs in the last 4 years. I have no idea if the new doctor is going to be at all interested/clued in about sports.

Just kind of frustrating as I went to that wellness thing yesterday and everything else I was like A+ on. (BMI, height/waist, blood sugar, cholesterol, etc..)

[ptourkin]

I went through that issue last year after training for ultras for many years in a row.
My BP was running higher than normal and after my season ended (due to a dnf that was probably related) I finally saw my cardiologist. He didn't find anything we didn't already know about and in the end, I mostly chalked it up to a few years of overtraining.

In my experience, stress and lack of sleep can be an even greater contributor to these issues than training, though. I've been charting HRV for a while and find more attribution to those factors when I have a bad reading, especially sleep.

There is also a syndrome called "exercise induced high blood pressure." I know a lifelong athlete who had to stop racing because of this. I believe it is rare, though.