Train or not train: what do you do when you've got a cold?

Posted by simon on 2/7/2008 on simon's blog

I'm feeling like a real whimp. I hit a mighty 40 miles a week and then fell over with a cold.

Extenuating circumstances: Abby has been battling with this flu thing that's going round. For the last three weeks she's progressed through stuffed nose and sinuses with a sore throat, to a cough and perpetual running nose, then to being totally wiped out and then experiencing a lovely final stage of nausea and vertigo. I took all my supplements like a good boy and didn't get it... until I woke up on Monday with the beginnings of it.

It was the day after a long, cold run of 12 miles on the trails...It felt like it was a couple of miles too far on a weired day that had me alternately shivering and sweating, putting on my jacket and taking it off again. So Monday I turned up at the indoor track for 8 x 1500 metres as the meat of the workout, but just felt rougher and rougher during the warm-up, in the end abandoning and going home with a note from Matron.

The struggle, as always, is whether to train or not to train. Sometimes the decision is made for you, as it was on Monday, when I just couldn't do it. Other times, the energy seems to be there, but there's a sneaky feeling that to run would be a Bad Idea.

There seem to be two schools of though on this one. Hard-core nutters suck it up and "train through it" and "sweat it out". But I've always been told that running hard with a cold or flu can be downright dangerous as it can screw up your lungs and might even affect the heart. I haven't got a scientific version of that bit of folk wisdom that was drummed into me by many cycling soigneurs I used to know.

These days I tend towards extreme self-care, so I've not run at all, nor done any cross-training, and instead used the last few days like a taper -- only instead of focusing on a race, focused on getting better. Today, Thursday, I've woken up with a clear head and a stack of energy...I know it's tempting fate, but I think I've shrugged the thing off.

The mind has a lot to do with health and healing. I switch mine on to healing mode with the use of various anti-cold concoctions that I believe in; I wouldn't suggest anybody else tries this, but then, most people haven't got more bottles of nutritional and herbal supplements in their kitchens than food. I'll share my "magic mixture" in my next post, and maybe we can compare notes :)

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3 comments

dave albo says:

I've avoided Patty like she is some kind of dangerous being since she also came down with a cold. I think she "understands" as she is also an athlete, and I have a race this coming Sunday, plus I'm coming off of an increased running mileage week (39 miles over the last 7 days) and feel very tired. We do become more vulnerable to catching things when tired from training.

I almost can see the germs floating around me and trying to get in and bring me down! Should I place myself in solitary confinement and only come out to train and race?

That'd be "normal" and "healthy", right?

by dave albo on Fri, 2008-02-08 14:47

Jerry Nairn says:

A few years ago, while talking with a runner who had finished many more marathons much faster than me, I mentioned that because I had a marathon coming up in a few days, and my wife had a cold, I was sleeping on the couch.
She told me I was giving up too much for my running.

I think vitamin C and echinacea are both good to prevent and/or shorten colds.

I don't believe in "rest in bed" at all, but I do believe that more sleep helps. So there's no point in sitting around watching TV, but if you can doze off, it will help you recover.
To that end, if you sleep better if you run, not a long, exhausting run, but a few miles, that can be good.

My 2 cents.

by Jerry Nairn on Fri, 2008-02-08 19:34

simon says:

I like the "above the neck" rule. I stepped off the track when it felt like the thing was in my lungs.

Solitary confinement is not a bad idea if your are peaking for a world championship or crack at an Olympic title. Seriously! Guys like Lance Armstrong, whose immune systems are red-lining during the Tour de France and other long stage races are EXTREMELY careful -- they open doors with their elbows and press elevator buttons with their knuckles and so on... anything to cut down potential sources of infection. More than one soigneur has told me that some of these guys even limit the time they spend with their kids, which sounds ridiculous, but from a microbiological point of view, is very sensible.

Sleeping on the couch when your partner has a cold is common sense, in my view. I slept in the spare bedroom while Abby was coughing and spluttering; and again while I was dealing with the three-day attack. If you don't, not only are you likely to get infected, but you're going to pass the infection back and forth between yourselves.

Echinacea is good stuff and extra vitamin C is essential... they're both in my concoction, which I'm posting now.

by simon on Fri, 2008-02-08 19:59