running through a cold

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running through a cold

Rickshaw
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
San Francisco, CA
Joined: 26 Nov 2004
Posts: 1157

running through a cold Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:49 am

When you've got a cold, do you usually "run through it", or take some time off until you feel better? I've had a stubborn chest cold for the past 5 days, and while I don't feel terrible, I'm definitely not 100%. I've been continuing my training as normal, under the assumption that I'd rather prolong the cold a few extra days than not train at all, and lose a lot of fitness. What do other people do in these circumstances? How sick is too sick to run?

Rustyboy

LA, CA
Joined: 14 Dec 2004
Posts: 225

Re: running through a cold Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 10:17 am

I tend to lean toward the heal-quicker-by-not-running school of thought, but it depends on the severity of what's ailing me. I took off two days in the middle of last week because of a minor sinus problem and recuperated much faster and made up the miles on my long weekend runs. I once ran through the beginning of a fever and actually broke it and felt 100 times better, so who knows?

mfox

South Orange, New Jersey
Joined: 19 Dec 2004
Posts: 367

Re: running through a cold Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 11:00 am

I don't think you'll lose much fitness if you take a couple days off. In fact the rest may provide a recovery boost to allow you to put more into your next workout. I once read somewhere that if your cold is above the shoulders it's okay to run, but if it's below the shoulders (chest) you should be careful. My experience has found this to be true. I often feel better after a run when I have a head cold; it helps clear my sinuses and seems to speed the recover from the cold. But the few times I've run with a chest cold had me coughing and my chest aching more than before my run. I think the heavy breathing tends to irritate a congested chest (lungs).

Rickshaw
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
San Francisco, CA
Joined: 26 Nov 2004
Posts: 1157

Re: running through a cold Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 2:55 pm

I guess I'm too obsessive, always worrying about the fitness I'll lose if I miss a workout. And since I'm ramping up my mileage now, any workout I miss has a snowball effect into the following weeks. If I want to stick with the same percentage weekly mileage increase, then if I skip a planned 8 mile run this week, I also have to reduce next week's mileage by 8 miles, and the week after, etc. That makes me pretty reluctant to skip anything.

run4life

Indiana
Joined: 09 Jan 2005
Posts: 9

Re: running through a cold Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 11:25 am

I think it is better to take a couple days off, because I recently ran the JO meet, and then a day later went out and ran a hard 8 mile all with strep throat. That really hurt me the rest of the week.

Rickshaw
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
San Francisco, CA
Joined: 26 Nov 2004
Posts: 1157

Re: running through a cold Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 2:05 pm

run4life wrote:
I think it is better to take a couple days off, because I recently ran the JO meet, and then a day later went out and ran a hard 8 mile all with strep throat. That really hurt me the rest of the week.

In general, I would agree it's best to take a couple of days off when you're sick. If you're keeping a pretty constant mileage level week to week, then a few missed runs won't matter much. The only reason I've been so reluctant to miss any is that I'm building up my mileage right now in preparation for a marathon, and limiting myself to a mileage increase of 10% per week. So any miles I miss this week mean fewer miles I can run next week, and the week after, which means my peak pre-marathon mileage will be lower. Of course, this probably just means I shouldn't try to cram my marathon training into such a short period of time!

allen

Utah
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 27

Re: running through a cold Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2005 9:56 pm

>>>How sick is too sick to run? If your resting heart rate goes up more than about 10% then I would suggest that you either run reduced distance and pace or take the day off. Your body is sending you a signal that it can't handle the stress.

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