Training when on antibiotics
 

Race season started last week. :) I have been off the bike for 2 weeks now with a horible cold. That has now developed into a nasil infection. The doc gave me some antibiotics. My spring racing season is ****t before it even began.:mad: Any way, can I salvage the remaining racing series which ends next month?

No.

I've been on horrid antibiotics (Clindamycin) for 5 days, and I'm just training through it. For an hour after I take one, I feel like someone kicked me in the stomach with a Time road cleat. I haven't seen it affect my performance at all, other than the fact I'm not blowing green and orange snakes out my nose after an intervals any more. Thankfully I only have one more pill to take...

Just go race and don't worry about it. Your legs and lungs will do what they can, but you've got to keep your head in the game. Think about the tactics and strategy, not the pedaling.

+1

You're a cat 5, not a pro about to start a Grand Tour.

Ahh... primary care docs and their antibiotics... but that's a different debate entirely.

If you're feeling up to it, and it's just a matter of nasal congestion, go for an easy spin and see how you feel. If you feel like hell, turn around and rest.

There's no specific reason to not ride just because you're on antibiotics. If you're still feeling crappy, though, that's another story entirely. Just accept it for what it is, though, and build back up slowly.

hiromian I feel your pain. I had the exact same thing happen to me. I had 4 great weeks of base in than a couple a snow storms ( had to shovel insted of ride) than the kids had school vacation, than head cold/ nasil infection :(

Heh....getting them from my primary care Doc (who also came from a background in sports medicine :D) is about as difficult as winning the lottery.

As long as the cold is restricted to above the throat/chest, ride if you feel good. I tend to always feel like **** when I'm sick, so I usually don't ride too much then.

Yeah, I avoid antibiotics when I can (I don't even have a primary care doc). I've got a baby tooth that has started rotting, and the ensuing infection is actually pretty nasty. I'm feeling a lot better since the clindamycin. Oral implant coming later this month (there goes my chance to pitch a PowerTap purchase to SWMBO :rolleyes:).

just change that M from "must" to "may" :D

Thanks for the input. This is day 15 off the bike and I am dizzy with the infection. It sucks to be me right now. The dock gave me a head x-ray and is suggesting I may need a cat scan and SURGERY! Yikes.

How long before I loose my fitness?

nice :beer:

Lemond claimed it takes 4 weeks to recover each week lost. Dunno if there is a more current estimate out there.

At this point, I'd shift my concern to overall health. You'll get back on the bike when this is behind you, and all will be fine. Don't let it get you down -- there's a real risk of depression which won't help your health either.

I had to take 12 weeks off due to a busted kneecap one time. I bounced back in 8-12 weeks and was flying. I was so pissed from being off the bike that I had incredible motivation.

I'm on em right now for some crazy ass mouth infection after a half assed root canal. No problems riding though.

What the hell do you have?

It takes longer than you'd think to lose fitness significantly. The good news for any fitness lost is that it will take you much less time to get it back than it took to build it up in the first place.

waterrockets, I hope you're eating a mess of yogurt with your clindamycin. Yuck.

If training while taking antibiotics, remember that hydration is very important.

Reoccurring sineionitis. Everytime I get a cold they get infected and its back to the antibiotics. That's crazy the doc says. Must be somthing elce wrong.

I'm just bummed because I am missing the spring season road races around here and my fitness was huge in anticipation.

I got a really bad stomach virus sunday night thru tuesday night...I lost about 9-10 lbs in about 24 hours and about 6lbs have stayed off. I rode yesterday for the first time in 4 days and I was FLYING. I could really feel the weightloss on the hills(might have just been mental).

I have the same exact problem havn't gottne to the surgery because they don't like doing that on people too young. it really really sucks

I have looked into it a bit now and I am pro surgery for this. I want to know what its like to breath normaly. Like the blind seeing for the first time. Well sourt of. If I get it I will post here to let you all know how it goes.

Gee doc, these antibiotics work like a charm,, Why debate such an outstanding cure? For one, if I did not take them, I could loose my hearing, and die a painfull death. Thanks to the primary doc, I live to post, I mean ride another day.:)

You can race and not worry about it, the documented detrimental (to athletic performance) effects of antibiotics notwithstanding. Just do your best. I'd look at it this way: if you get shelled, you really have the PERFECT excuse. It doesn't get better than that.

Of course if you were in the UCI and tested positive for that substance, they would ban you for life, even though it was a performance-DEGRADING drug. And Dick Pound would trash you in the media the next day.

Of course, the problem keeps coming back, and continues to get treated with antibiotics so you can be sick again later. That's because sinusitis is essentially an abscess, and all the antibiotics in the world (with VERY few exceptions) won't get rid of an abscess. In fact, I see at least a couple patients with abscesses in various places who "just couldn't get rid of it" after a month of antibiotics. In a way, they're my favorite patients, because I can eliminate their month-old problem with a 10-minute office procedure. That makes them happy.

There's a reason drug reps don't court surgeons all that often... ;)

Too bad. Nice scenery.

Don't worry, we have equipment reps to keep us from feeling left out. :D