Training while sick.

[sprocket]

My girlfriend is training for a marathon and has picked up one of the myriad of colds going around. Nothing terrible but just enough to make training uncomfortable. The question is do you think it is better to rest completely until fully recovered or do some easy cardio to keep from losing too much fitness. The issue is the marathon is 6 weeks away and she is worried she may not be able to recover if she loses a week of training.

 

I know a lot of this has been covered before but just curious what your experience/thoughts are.

 

Thanks

[DPS]

If the symptoms are from the neck up (stuffy, dripping nose, head cold, etc) then it is ok to train. If the symptoms are from the neck down (lung congestion, body aches, fever, etc) then it is best to lay off.

 

Once I did not follow this adage and ran when I had chest congestion and ended up giving myself pneumonia which put me down for a much longer time than if I had just laid off for a couple of days.

[sprocket]

Was a head cold then she ran on Tuesday and Wednesday and now it has migrated to a chest cold. Pneumonia would suck.

 

She ran eight miles Wednesday and felt ok for the first half but suffered for the second.

 

I guess I was wondering if just 20-30 minutes of light running/cardio indoors for a few days would preserve more of her fitness than resting a few days and starting up again.

 

Sounds like rest with a chest cold is the way to go, pretty big gamble if pneumonia is possible.

 

Thanks DPS.

[pink_chalk]

Good sound advice from DPS.

 

My running partner and I both came down with a head cold during the last weeks of training for an upcoming marathon, ~16-20 miles. I remember our pace time being a lot slower but we continued to push thru and kicked the cold in a few days. Stay tuned in with your body. Leave your ego at the door and remember slow and steady wins the race. Best of luck to your girlfriend! Is this her first marathon?

[marcus]

Actually PC, fast and steady wins the race! Slow and steady just finishes the race and gets the t-shirt...

 

Medical studies I dredged up last year around this question indicated that moderate exercise of one hour or less did not significantly impair recovery times from rhinovirus infections. So if your lungs are clear and you can take it back a notch, one should still be able to train moderately.

[sprocket]

This would be her second marathon. She suffered through the Seattle Marathon a couple of years ago when the weather was terrible. I guess things went well until the last few miles when the legs just stopped working. this time is hoping for better weather over on the peninsula in June.

 

Her cold has moved to the lungs and she's developed a nice cough the last couple of days.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

[pink_chalk]

Actually PC, fast and steady wins the race! Slow and steady just finishes the race and gets the t-shirt...

 

Green must match better with your eye color... big timer.

[lizard_brain]

If the symptoms are from the neck up (stuffy, dripping nose, head cold, etc) then it is ok to train. If the symptoms are from the neck down (lung congestion, body aches, fever, etc) then it is best to lay off.

 

Once I did not follow this adage and ran when I had chest congestion and ended up giving myself pneumonia which put me down for a much longer time than if I had just laid off for a couple of days.

 

I am a marathoner, and I pretty much do the same thing, but I give it a couple of days to clear a bit first. Three or four days off training will not do too much damage to a marathon schedule. Getting pneumonia will.

[catbirdseat]

When I was in High School, I asked my cross country coach this very same question. The answer I got was that if you rest and drink plenty of fluids, a cold will last about two weeks. But if you train hard through it, it will last about 14 days.

[i_like_sun]

Yep.

[selkirk]

Besides, she likes to suffer. Why else would she have run the Seattle in the snow?

 

Pneumonia sucks big time though, definitely don't want to go there. The one time I had it, one hard weekend migrated me from ambulatory but feeling OK except for a bad persistant cough to bed ridden.