Resuming training after a bad cold
Posted April 09, 2018 11:33AM by
Skye in the
Cycling Forum
5880115
Got a nasty cold last week, did some searching to try and find out when it was a good idea to start easing back into training. Found this:
Are you well enough to work out?
"We differentiate between 'above the neck' symptoms such as a runny or stuffy nose, watery eyes or a mild sore throat," says Wotherspoon, "and 'below the neck' ones, such as a cough, a congested or tight chest, an upset stomach, muscle aches or fever." If your symptoms are above the neck and you feel OK, it is fine to do a light work-out.
"Hard exercise compromises the immune system, allowing a virus to strengthen its hold," says Nieper. "The body is already under stress in fighting the infection, so piling on additional stress through vigorous exercise is counterproductive." Studies have found that a long, hard work-out can lower immunity for up to nine hours.
And if your symptoms are below the neck, give your work-out a miss regardless of how you feel, or how much you think you need to do it. Exercising with major cold symptoms, particularly a fever, will prolong your illness and can be dangerous.
"From a sports medicine point of view, there are no specific signals that you're ready to return," he says. "Once your symptoms have gone, try a gentle 10-minute work-out and see how it feels. If that's OK, gradually increase the challenge the next day, and again the day after. If you're still feeling fine, you can gradually work your way back to where you were." But, he warns, "don't try to make up for lost time. Push too hard, too soon, and you might end up back where you started."
My symptoms were definitely below the neck (hacking cough, aching/soreness) so I've been doing nothing for the past week. Just some lingering congestion now, going to try a very light 15 minute spin today on the trainer and see what happens.
Are you well enough to work out?
"We differentiate between 'above the neck' symptoms such as a runny or stuffy nose, watery eyes or a mild sore throat," says Wotherspoon, "and 'below the neck' ones, such as a cough, a congested or tight chest, an upset stomach, muscle aches or fever." If your symptoms are above the neck and you feel OK, it is fine to do a light work-out.
"Hard exercise compromises the immune system, allowing a virus to strengthen its hold," says Nieper. "The body is already under stress in fighting the infection, so piling on additional stress through vigorous exercise is counterproductive." Studies have found that a long, hard work-out can lower immunity for up to nine hours.
And if your symptoms are below the neck, give your work-out a miss regardless of how you feel, or how much you think you need to do it. Exercising with major cold symptoms, particularly a fever, will prolong your illness and can be dangerous.
"From a sports medicine point of view, there are no specific signals that you're ready to return," he says. "Once your symptoms have gone, try a gentle 10-minute work-out and see how it feels. If that's OK, gradually increase the challenge the next day, and again the day after. If you're still feeling fine, you can gradually work your way back to where you were." But, he warns, "don't try to make up for lost time. Push too hard, too soon, and you might end up back where you started."
My symptoms were definitely below the neck (hacking cough, aching/soreness) so I've been doing nothing for the past week. Just some lingering congestion now, going to try a very light 15 minute spin today on the trainer and see what happens.
Webmaster - Staminist.com
Almost two weeks now and training load is still nowhere near normal. I've been doing some short zone 1-2 spinning every few days, still feel light headed and hacking cough afterwards. I tried an 85 TSS workout yesterday with a few sweet spot intervals, my power was OK but today I definitely feel like I overdid it. Probably going to take another rest day and then go back to 50-60 TSS workouts for a while. Frustrating!
Webmaster - Staminist.com