Hi everyone, I came down with a bad case of influenza, fever, ect., nine days ago. I am still experiencing some symptoms, namely fatigue. It feels like I lost all my conditioning (know that isn't true), how long will it take to regain my lost fitness? Before this bout of flu, I rode consistently four days per week doing various type workouts, hill intervals, lsd, ect., and raced cyclo-cross.

When is it safe to ride? Should I wait until I no longer feel so weak? Any suppliments help?

Malaise and fatigue can linger on for several weeks after the apparent end of a viral syndrome. Most notorious of these is mono which can take 6-8 weeks to get over and occasionally longer though after a while it gets hard to distinguish the viral effects from somatization disorders. If you are breathing ok, eating ok then there is no reason not to get out and ride, with the proviso that you will have to re-earn your fitness, ie it will probably take you 2-4 weeks to get back to where you were before and any aspirations for a highly competitive cross season are likely up in smoke.
Steve

2 things to help get your immune system back on track would be:

Colostrum
Pro Biotic PB8

Both of these can be found at, Vitamin shoppe or Vitamin world or online here are the links:

https://www.evitamins.com/product.asp?pid=3041

https://www.evitamins.com/product.asp...rand=TriMedica

I can't cite the reference but I heard more than once about a military based study where folks going through basic training were given either bed rest or still required to do their physical training while sick (common cold). The results were that performance was reduced while sick but that bed rest did not shorten recovery (and that exercise did not extend illness). The main finding was that the recruits who got bed rest were subjectively happier than those who were required to exercise...

How long to get back to pre-illness form - don't know but you should be able to train through your illness.