Race with a cold?
 

I have my first race of the season this Sunday, it's a 30 min crit, and I feel a cold coming on. Should take some medicine and suck it up? Or should I just rest? I really don't want to miss this race.

Go for it.

Cough syrup and congestion medicine?

crank up the vitamin C now and medicate if needed race day

It's only 30 min long and you said you really want to do it. So, go for it.

Not saying you should do this to get better but this race formula worked for my kid.

Avoid most cold stuff even if it is OTC. For example Sudafed. This will clear your head and elevate your HR and your max HR and is a banded PED in qty (***** Pseudoephedrine: Prohibited when its concentration in urine is greater than 150 micrograms per milliliter.). Other stuff will put you to sleep-antihistamines like Benadryl.

Best
Caffeine ~200mg 30 min before (30 min race - right?). Stay off it until then.
Beta-Alanine - wait till race day
Creatine - start now
Lots of water - start now.

sickness shoulders up, ride and race if u want, but u will still feel like crap
sickness shoulders down, stay in bed.

I know everyone here is an amateur and this is all for fun and you have a cold. It think this is a ridiculous list but it is what all USAC racers agree to.

Here is a partial list of the things you cannot take. Many of these ingredients are found in OTC supplements and cold remedies.

All stimulants, including all optical isomers, e.g. d- and l- where relevant, are prohibited.

Stimulants include:

NON-SPECIFIED STIMULANTS:

Adrafinil
Amfepramone
Amfetamine
Amfetaminil
Amiphenazole
Benfluorex
Benzylpiperazine
Bromantan
Clobenzorex
Cocaine
Cropropamide
Crotetamide
Fencamine
Fenetylline
Fenfluramine
Fenproporex
Fonturacetam , [4-phenylpiracetam (carphedon)];
Furfenorex
Lisdexamfetamine
Mefenorex
Mephentermine
Mesocarb
Metamfetamine(d-)
P-methylamphetamine
Modafinil
Norfenfluramine
Phendimetrazine
Phentermine
Prenylamine
Prolintane

A stimulant not expressly listed in this section is a Specified Substance.

SPECIFIED STIMULANTS.

Including, but not limited to:

4-methylhexan-2-amine (methylhexaneamine)
Benzfetamine
Cathine**
Cathinone , and its analogues, e.g. mephedrone, methedrone, and α-pyrrolidinovalerophenone;
Dimethylamphetamine
Ephedrine***
Epinephrine**** (adrenaline)
Etamivan
Etilamfetamine
Etilefrine
Famprofazone
Fenbutrazate
Fencamfamin
Heptaminol
Hydroxyamfetamine (parahydroxyamphetamine)
Isometheptene
Levmetamfetamine
Meclofenoxate
Methylenedioxymethamphetamine
Methylephedrine***
Methylphenidate
Nikethamide
Norfenefrine
Octopamine
Oxilofrine (methylsynephrine)
Pemoline
Pentetrazol
Phenethylamine , and its derivatives;
Phenmetrazine
Phenpromethamine
Propylhexedrine
Pseudoephedrine*****
Selegiline
Sibutramine
Strychnine
Tenamfetamine (methylenedioxyamphetamine)
Tuaminoheptane

and other substances with a similar chemical structure or similar biological effect(s).

Except:

Clonidine
Imidazole derivatives for topical/ophthalmic use and those stimulants included in the 2017 Monitoring Program*.
* Bupropion, caffeine, nicotine, phenylephrine, phenylpropanolamine, pipradrol, and synephrine: These substances are included in the 2017 Monitoring Program, and are not considered Prohibited Substances.

** Cathine: Prohibited when its concentration in urine is greater than 5 micrograms per milliliter.

*** Ephedrine and methylephedrine: Prohibited when the concentration of either in urine is greater than 10 micrograms per milliliter.

**** Epinephrine (adrenaline): Not prohibited in local administration, e.g. nasal, ophthalmologic, or co-administration with local anaesthetic agents.

***** Pseudoephedrine: Prohibited when its concentration in urine is greater than 150 micrograms per milliliter.


Buprenorphine
Dextromoramide
Diamorphine (heroin)
Fentanyl , and its derivatives;
Hydromorphone
Methadone
Morphine
Nicomorphine
Oxycodone
Oxymorphone
Pentazocine
Pethidine

I don't think it's a great idea, but you can't do yourself too much harm in 30 minutes. If you're really too sick you'll just get dropped anyway.

You have 4 nights to get 12 hours of sleep. If you're like me that should have you feeling almost like new except for maybe a runny nose.

You can even ride a bit, just don't do any intensity. 30' crit will have some intensity but if you get proper rest and recovery it shouldn't be enough to f*** you up.

I'd recommend looking at this long term. There is a chance of making yourself more sick and messing up training for the next couple weeks when it may only be a few days of rest. Generally speaking, I've always been taught rest before race, you'll be better off long term. If you don't care about potentially making yourself more sick, do it. If you have a big training block coming up next week that is important, I'd rest.

Any BS medications you take are short term fixes and isn't going to 'help' you get better.

With that said, I do have a riding buddy who is A+ fast, he rides through colds and rests with flu....while I disagree as I think it does more harm then good, YMMV

REST... You don't want pneumonia.

Colds mostly gone, I've decided I am going to race.

I agree with the 'shoulders up/down' protocol -

head cold - go for it
chest cold - time to take this seriously.

Now I have just a little chest congestion, if it doesn't get any worse I will still go

Coming from someone who just lost 10 days of training from a stupid cold going down into my chest / lungs i would look long and hard before pushing it with a cold. I usually follow the "neck check" rule but even then if the symptoms are above the shoulders i would be careful with intensity.

PSA...
A sick rider does endanger others especially when they are in the "spray"/spit/expelling things other riders behind them might pick up. Of course riders are not contagious the whole time they are sick but just a thought.
As one who has a kid that tended to being too lean and too susceptible to getting sick this time of year he was encouraged to avoid any "spray" that might come from sick riders in front of him.

I lost a whole 'cross season one year to bronchitis. If it's in the chest, don't play around and risk screwing up the first part of the season.

Head cold? Neti pots are beautiful things.

FWIW, re: Sudafed, if you stay within the dosage recommended on the box, you'll be within permitted limits. I don't have the link handy, but I did look it up on WADA's website because I use it occasionally. This holds for both the four-hour and twelve-hour versions.

I had an boys 19 soccer game (lots of running) I had to referee despite having a cold. I took the stuff. It worked and got my HR quite a few beats higher than I had ever seen. That scared me a bit. I'd still take it if just sitting around, but it seems it removes the rev limiter a bit and I'm not convinced it is tested enough near max heart rate.

I'm fairly sure it wasn't tested on athletically active people since we're such a small part of the population. I've taken it and ridden at Z2-3 intensity and noticed an increase in heart rate, but apparently not to the degree you saw. I have no idea whether that's due to individual differences in reaction to the drug or to the fact that I'm older (65) than you are or a combination of those factors or something entirely different. I also don't know what the effect would be if I were to do a set of threshold or above intervals after having taken it. Would I race on it? Oh, hell yeah. If things got weird, I'd just pull out.

There are numerous papers where Pseudoephedrine was given to athletes in an attempt to measure its ergogenic effects - often in high dosages and with very high exercise intensities.

Like most OTC drugs it's pretty safe when used as directed. The biggest risk with athletes appears to be a slightly increased risk of heat stroke.

I've taken a small amount before a bunch of races and workouts.

Well I did it and placed second in my age group, only missed first by a hair. I feel great right now!

Well, in that case, I stand corrected. :)
Congrats! :beer:

You said you noticed a higher HR, I had one. At the time I was about 45. That may be safe, but just like tuning your car and removing the rev limiter (something I do on all my cars) it comes with risk.

It was tubes of amphetamines that those TdF riders that dropped dead mid tour were using. That was a long time ago and a higher dose on not OTC stuff, but so far I believe amphetamines to be the most deadly in even PED.
Tom Simpson, Knud Enemark Jensen are two that died, although many more to them without dying. I tend to believe some of these mid-20 kids that died playing soccer 2015 (there were two) may have been users.