Training after illness?

[AllieP]

My usual Christmas feast was replaced with a bowl of tomato soup and a sandwich because I was home sick with 100 fever, coughing, congestion, headache, sore throat...yuck yuck yuck. So that was a few days ago. The fever is gone, the coughing is slowly getting better and I'm going NUTS. I'm still real tired but it's mentally killing me because I haven't been able to ride in over a week. Is it ok to do anything yet? I don't want to prolong the sick part by being so impatient. Should I give it a few more days before I go back to treadmill and weights? Or is it ok to start with 10 minutes, 20 minutes??? I'd like to hear from others who've trained anyway while sick or how long they waited after no more fever. I just don't want to lose any of my hard earned fitness and muscle tone. If it's been a little over a week since a good workout am I losing it already? What do you think? Happy New Year to everyone.

[late]

Make haste slowly...
Old advice, still wise. Start with a short and EASY workout.
If all is well, then do a little more manana. It's depressingly easy to
overcook yourself...

[Guest]

Agreed. Start slowly and do only as much as you can handle. As you become fitter from recovering from your illness, you'll find you're able to do more over time, and you'll be back to normal before you know it.

Koffee

[cyclochica]

I am just getting over something similar, please don't make the mistake I did and push too fast. I ended up getting sick again and now I am taking it slow. I know how you feel, but please remember to take good care of yourself now so you won't have the yuckies linger like I did.

[nbf]

Hard training degrades your immune system, soft training boosts it - put simply.

[richmyer]

I would start out with a little walking the first day, then back to the bike. (If you pass out while walking, you don't have quite as far to fall.)

[AllieP]

Thanks for the suggestions! Update: yesterday back on treadmill for 20 minutes at lower intensity. I did ok! Now we're having 60s where I live and I'm itching to get back on bike tomorrow. I might try 10-15 miles and see how it goes. Otherwise it's starting to feel like it might be April before I get back on it with all the weather delays. If it's not cold it's raining or too windy. Thanks again for the good advice about continuing training while sick. Allie