Training & Nutrition - Riding when sick?

Ok,

How many of you train/ride when you're sick?
(and I mean cold/flu etc. and not anything SERIOUS)

If I'm running a fever I just can't get going,
but if its a cold, etc. I usually feel better
after a ride, even tho I usually start out
whinging about it......:(

Marty

The general rule (which I usually follow, too) is:

cold = ride
fever = don't ride

Originally posted by velo
The general rule (which I usually follow, too) is:

cold = ride
fever = don't ride

I agree. Been there, done that. You can ride through the sniffles and mild cold, but why wipe yourself out if you don't have to. Take a break and get better. Fevers are a time for your body to fight back and not be worn out.

The general advice seems to be never train with a fever.
If you have a mild cold with above the neck symptoms, then gentle low intensity excercise is OK, but no hard workouts.
If the cold is in your lungs, then dont train.

Give yourself time to recover, and don't go right back to the pre-illness excercise regime. You have to ease yourself back into training gently, with lower intensity and rest days

I'm going against the grain here. I ride irrespective of illness. If I'd allowed illness to stop me on my last tour I would have missed out on a ride I had waited three years for. There was no chance of that.

Several months earlier I was putting in 15 hour days to get things done for university during my worst illness in 10 years. Again, these things wouldn't have done themselves. I am 100% convinced that riding was all that got me through on that occasion. Incidentally, I killed off that particular illness with a 150km ride as soon as I got some free time.

When I start to feel sick and I load up with vitamin C and Grapefruits, and keep on riding, I usually get through without getting very sick. Whereas when I start feeling bad and I stop riding and sit around I get the whole shishgabang. Vomiting, dehydration,fever...everything.

It all depends on the individual.

Riding can make you feel better, or worse. If you have been overdoing it for your fitness level, you might weaken your immune response. If you are not overtrained, you might give your immune system the boost it's looking for.

Get in touch with your own body.

I got sick on a bike tour, and sweated out a fever in a damp, cold tent. I felt OK the next day, and we had the biggest climb of the tour. I really wanted to do the climb, it was my first big mountain, and I made it without any real problem.
At the lodge on the summit, my lungs suddenly seized up, and i just coughed my guts out. I took the sag wagon down to the camp, and for the next week could hardly walk. I remember at the camp, trying to knock the tent pegs in, and I couldnt even lift the rock.

For me, cycling and fevers just dont mix, and I need a week to recover any fitness.

I confess, Micheal W. makes a lot of sense.

Don't know how I would feel being ill and out in a tent? However, as long as fever is not intense, I have gone out with colds and even felt on a warm day, the experience helped me to recover.

I agree with Bikeman don't do it! Especially with a fever. A mild, real mild cold you might be able to get away with but more serious symptoms absolutely not. While awaiting the arrival of my child (C'dale R2000) in December I decided to prep my skills by draging out my MTB in spite of the cold I had. Guess what? Not only did I get worse but I came down with the flu and walking pneumonia! Needless to say getting back on my feet is a welcomed feeling.Also some years back while I trained in the Correction Academy I came down with EIA --- Exercise Induced Asthme --- not asthma as normal known. This condition is especially rampant during the cold weather season but can occur during the warmer months as well.This too started with a mild cold.After I finished running I couldn't stop wheezing. I was sent to the hospital where I was enlightened about this condition. So be very careful. Ease up when you don't feel well. Don't try to be hero with a fever --- because it can get worse. Good Health--Haapy Trails Safe Riding, Jeannie

I DO NOT ride when I'm sick, it just makes me sicker.

Ride Healthy
Pat

All this talk about sickness has rung a bell with me. Lately I've been feeling just horrible, and it turns out I may have a thyroid condition- an underactive thyroid. It runs in the family. For the past little while I've had these vague symptoms, but they've gotten worse recently, and so I've gone for tests to see how my thyroid is functioning. I generally feel like crap- I get pooped after doing practically nothing, I have crampy aches and pains, I'm so dizzy that I feel like I'm on the deck of a ship, and I've gained almost 20 pounds for no reason that I can't get rid of. The symptoms are actually pretty vague, and it's very easy to attribute them to all kinds of other things. Fortunately, if it's diagnosed it can be treated pretty easily. But I wouldn't be able to get on a bike in this state- I get dizzy and it could be dangerous!

But I've been wondering lately. I hear about how often people have conditions like thyroid disease or diabbetes or whatever and don't notice or don't think anything's amiss or don't even go to the doctor or don't know anything is wrong until they're practically in the hospital. How is that possible? I feel like hell! How can anyone walk around and not notice that they get pooped after going up the stairs, that they are exhausted, dizzy and weak, or that they are losing/gaining weight for no reason?

It occurs to me that most of these people might not be in great shape to begin with.

But I've been wondering lately. I hear about how often people have conditions like thyroid disease or diabbetes or whatever and don't notice or don't think anything's amiss or don't even go to the doctor or don't know anything is wrong until they're practically in the hospital. How is that possible? I feel like hell! How can anyone walk around and not notice that they get pooped after going up the stairs, that they are exhausted, dizzy and weak, or that they are losing/gaining weight for no reason?

It occurs to me that most of these people might not be in great shape to begin with.
While I was still commuting I began to feel kind of run down,
tired, etc. Thought nothing of it, turned out I had Mono and was
working on hepatitis (result of the mono).
Read the first chapter of "Its not about the Bike" lance talks about athletes and denial
and "It can't happen to me".
I think if you're out of shape you don't notice it cause you feel
crappy all the time.

Marty

I think you've got a point there- I know people who live really unhealthy lifestyles. No exercise, no sun, eat lousy food, no vegetables- god knows what they'll be like in their 50s. Dead probably. How would any of them notice symptoms of, say, thyroid disease, diabetes or testicular cancer? They get winded if they walk a block and their hair is thin and stringy and they probably have constant back pain. I think athletes, like Armstrong, probably notice if they aren't feeling well, aside from the normal athletic aches and pains you get- sore knee, etc. It's understandable he thought it was bronchitis, since that's pretty common when you're in the alps. Everyone seems to get bronchitis or asthma attacks. But while you may know you aren't feeling well it probably never occurs to an athlete in their 20s that they have a horrible disease. In my case, the symptoms are so vague that I realize it's probably been going on for about a year and I didn't think of it because I kept attributing it to other things. NO doubt that someone who never gets any exercise and is in rotten shape wouldn't even notice. Fortunately in my case it's treatable with medication and only serious if you leave it untreated.

One of my diving buddies in South Africa called
2 weeks ago to tell me he had Bladder Cancer.
(I'm doing the Ride 4 The Roses in his honour)
Now, he's not in "great shape" but he does moderate
excersize, and takes care of himself.
It was quite advanced and precipitated his having
his bladder removed. He never felt pain, had no symptoms
until one day noted blood in his urine.
I don't think that you can really tell whats up with
alot of this stuff until its way too late.
I presume you've seen doctor? Hypothyroid is way
underdiagnosed, and even then alot of Doctors
are reluctant to prescribe meds.
I too have noticed a weight change but I think
mine is more related to junk food and lack of excersize
over the winter.... :D
Hope yours is nothing serious.

Marty

Well, thanks, I'm just awaiting some test results, but In the meantime I feel very fatigued and dizzy. It's like having the flu without fever. Hopefully i will get some treatment since I just cant walk around like this! However, I feel like a weenie complaining when your friend is sick- he must be a young guy! How awful to be so sick. Bladder cancer can be hard to detect, I understand, and although it's unfortunate he had such major surgery, at least he's all right. I have to admit I've worried about ever getting back to cycling since I feel so crappy, but then I think of all the people who've come back from horrible accidents, diseases, etc, and I think I shouldn't worry so darn much. On "Cycling news" there was a whole topic in the letters column about getting back to cycling after having a vasectomy. I mean, big deal! I felt like saying, geez, guys, if Lance Armstrong can get back on a bike, then so can you! I should probably count my blessings- what I have is pretty routine and can be treated. Maybe I'll find out if there's a "Ride for the Thyroid" or "The Iodine Duathlon" or something.

"Wabbit:" ( :) )

My wife has an underactive thyroid. Treated with "synthroid," also called generically, "levothyroid," it's perfectly under control.

Just some little tiny pills, very cheap if you have insurance.

:)

Yes, synthroid, those are the ones my mother takes. They are actually quite cheap- my mother says about 3 bucks for 30 pills. Prescription drugs are generally much cheaper here in canada. Actually, yesterday I saw a news story about how senior citizens in the US are ordering prescription drugs online from canada because they are so expensive. I can't believe how expensive. However, some drugs are more expensive here. I was on some anti inflammatories once; one of them was like 5 bucks; another was 30 bucks! The newer drugs are more expensive. Antibiotics too- some are like 8 bucks, some are 30! IT just depends.

Originally posted by wabbit
The newer drugs are more expensive. Antibiotics too- some are like 8 bucks, some are 30! IT just depends.
Seems like some of the newer ones aren't available as "generic."

I just got over the flu... no, I didn't ride at all for 4 days.
When I did ride on Saturday, I felt great... maybe I needed the rest.





Your body will tell you what it needs.;)