Illness and training

I'm just starting a cold which is annoying but I'm always a bit uncertain as to how much to train when feeling under the weather.

My normal approach is 'above the neck' symptoms = fine for some light training (spinning etc); 'below the neck' symptoms, ie chest stuff = not good for training.

Does anyone have any more informed views?

If I dont feel woozy and belly sick, or too chesty, I usually carry on with light training. In fact when Im ill I usually feel fine while on the bike.

Ive just got bloody shingles, which is crap. I cycled in to work today and didnt feel too bad, but will have to give it a bit of a rest for a couple of weeks :-(

@dulwichrider - neckline rhetoric is a sensible yardstick. You can use your overall tiredness to gauge things too. If I'm generally feeling sleepier, and crave earlier nights than usual, I take it as a sign that I need all energy diverted to overcoming the illness. Otherwise things can just drag on and on and on and on...

@TT Tom - gutted :(

shingles are no fun

i even managed to get them despite having had chicken pox as a kid

apparently, after you have had chicken pox the virus stays in your system. Then, just for a laugh, it leaks out of your spine years later and gives you another dose, called shingles. Even worse, its not contagious, unless you havent had chicken pox and lick my rash, meaning I cant really take time off work!!!!!!

I think it depends on the illness, then on the individual, their training schedule and history and type of event.
Basically you will do better to rest and get better so you can train to your fullest, some colds are mild enough to let you do an hour on the road at a steady pace, fine if this is part of your training, some people even race with colds but it will affect either you performance or likely your recovery.

Personally, I tend to advise riders to rest when ill, simple as that.

I'll pass up the opportunity to lick your rash tom. but shingles doesn't sound like fun. meanwhile, dulwich club mate is recovering from an spider bite in australia - was in hospital for days. eeek.

If you keep a training diary and log your sleep and waking pulse you will soon see a patten forming that will give you all the clues of a cold/illness approaching long before you get show any symptoms.

If you back off your training then and get some good rest you often find the illness passed really quick and you can get back to training.

Training while your body is fighting an illness is only gonna make the body tired and so it will take longer to fight off the illness.

eg: If your waking pulse is between 44 and 46bpm and you wake to find you have a pulse of 51bpm yet you have had the normal amount of sleep and you training the day before was not intense you need to keep an eye on your rest. Take it easy that day any get an early night. If it's still high the next day you probably have an illness in the wings... back off the training let the body do it's work.

If you keep a training diary and log your sleep and waking pulse you will soon see a patten forming that will give you all the clues of a cold/illness approaching long before you get show any symptoms.

If you back off your training then and get some good rest you often find the illness passed really quick and you can get back to training.

Training while your body is fighting an illness is only gonna make the body tired and so it will take longer to fight off the illness.

eg: If your waking pulse is between 44 and 46bpm and you wake to find you have a pulse of 51bpm yet you have had the normal amount of sleep and you training the day before was not intense you need to keep an eye on your rest. Take it easy that day any get an early night. If it's still high the next day you probably have an illness in the wings... back off the training let the body do it's work.

What he said, over resting is always better than over training

cheers guys, looks like a weekend off for me.

I'm always resting... seems to work for me.

:-)

massive dredge but does anyone have any experience of coming back to cycling from long-term illness? if anyone knows of good training plans etc that would be appropriate would be grateful to know.

I think my system is finally getting resilient enough to start doing longer rides again, as much as I am slightly dreading being a slow, red faced slug for the first few months I'm keen to get back to being able to doing long distance rides and touring for the summer.

the most I've done in the last few years are flat sub 50k rides that even then saw me set back, so outside that I've just commuted or pootled when I felt able to, but really not much. Though I suppose a good thing is that the medication i've been taking has made eating really difficult so I'm not a feeling flabby.

So, I'll really be starting from the lowest level of fitness I've ever had and building up very conservatively with a view to just being healthy rather than trying to be a mountain goat.

Never forget its meant to be enjoyable would be my advise . Good luck and good health.

Although pricy I’ve found my whoop band amazing this year.

I travel a lot, work stupid hours and got into the habit of not training* as near as I should.

The whoop has made it enjoyable again as I don’t train when I shouldn’t as I can see when my body is run down. I now have a thing telling me to sort my sleep out so I can’t lie to myself I’m fine.

Overall though noticing the trends when I’m run down and need rest has been huge. Like I am right now, deaths door with man flu but I knew this two days before it arrived.