Riding whilst sick....

[cleeshoy]

What are people opinions on this?
By sick I mean flu, cold, etc.
Feeling rather sniffly and fatigued over the past week. Not sick enough to stay at home from work, but body just feels tired to the point I just want to crash out on the couch or bed when I get home.

Wifey is also feeling congested with head cold, etc. Racing the 6 hour at the Surf Coast so tossing up if its worth the effort....

 

[Trickymac]

rest and you will get better
ride and you will get sicker
listen to your body
chill, recover, get better

 

[cleeshoy]

I do a feel alot better today compared to earlier in the week where I was just a physical wreck/sleeping machine.

Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be back to 100% - might be just in the nick of time
If not, it might just be a pleasent weekend down the Surf Coast.....

2nd year in a row we've been sick before this race - talk about el-crappo timing :S

 

[shakes]

Small head cold a short easy ride might help clear it out, as long as you rest well afterwards.

Anything more, especially if it's starting to head down to your chest is asking for trouble.

 

[harmonix1234]

Not good if proper sick. Ok if just a bit snotty.

I was all flued out once and thought a big ride would burn off the sickness. I ended up doing about a 140km ride and felt great at the end of it.
The next day I was ratshit. It totally depleted my immune system, dehydrated me and made the healing process a lot slower.

However, I did catch a cold this winter and commuted 30kms a day in rain and 2 degree mornings and it didn't seem to make the cold any worse.
It was only a sniffly cold though.
Had I been any sicker I would have rested up.

 

[Norco Maniac]

2nd year in a row we've been sick before this race - talk about el-crappo timing :S

do you think you might be over-training? it's easy to deplete the immune system when you push too hard. listen to your body and sleep if you need to. get stuck into some garlic and vitamin c, maybe some green smoothies?

get well soon mate

 

[cleeshoy]

do you think you might be over-training? it's easy to deplete the immune system when you push too hard. listen to your body and sleep if you need to. get stuck into some garlic and vitamin c, maybe some green smoothies?

get well soon mate

The vitamin C and ginger have been getting a workout for sure.
Don't think its over-training - I dont ride my bike enough to overtrain

 

[Damienp]

Have you got a temperature? If so, rest. If not, ride.

 

[Ridenparadise]

Fever and exertion are a bad combination. There are too many sad reports of people getting viral myocarditis (heart muscle infection causing heart failure) or abnormal rhythm (eg Lisa Curry-Kenny) from straining when ill. You should never try to sweat the fever out.

However in mild illnesses, limiting your exertion to 50% or less than normal is usually fine and it is all relative. An Olympic XC racer is going to use very little energy riding 10km on the flat at a lazy pace, whereas Norm the fat blob may over-exert just getting to the fridge for another snack.

If you ride, do it to smell the roses and don't even think about racing any 6 hour events.

 

[evObda2]

The above post is very right. Being sick and doing physical excursion isn't good.
There can be many problems with this, in particular in colder environments where if do have a cold/flu etc you can further develop into lung/flu problems.

Best thing is to rest up and eat right with plenty of the appropriate vitamins/flu aids etc.

If its just a smile sniffle thats fine.. but if your "proper" sick like flu, chest colds etc. Its not going to help.

 

[Jeffgre_6163]

I can totally relate to this thread.
Back in early August I started to feel a bit crook, coughing etc [Turned out to be whooping cough] but not really too bad.
I had done 2 of 4 club XC races and I wanted to complete the series so against the advice of my nurse wife I raced the 3rd race of the series, feeling like shit, coughing my way round the course [still finished 8th in my class ].
3 days later I was in the docs pretty crook - wound up on AB's and steroids my throat was so inflamed.
2 weeks later I raced in a 4 hr day/night pony express, thinking I was on the mend - err no I wasn't - again 3 days later I was back at the doc worse than before.
In total I have been to see the doc 4 times in 6 weeks and at times I was so sick that I was scaring the wife [and myself!] with my coughing fits in the middle of the night
I completed the series last Saturday well down on my best.
Its been over 2 months since I got crook - I'm feeling better every day but still not 100%
MAJOR pain in the arse

Did riding and racing extend the illness? probably, almost definately I guess, I think what should have stayed as whooping cough,very unpleasant though it is, wound up turning in to a nasty chest infection.
In retrospect I should have rested and just accepted I was out of the series for this year but 20/20 hindsight is a great thing.

Personally I think that unless you are racing for a cattle station then the consequences of riding while sick are not worth the week or two of riding that you will miss

 

[wicksey]

above the neck - ok to ride
below the neck - rest up

 

[jjperko]

Depends how hard you're going and how sick you are.

http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/A...t_of_exercise_training_on_the_severity.4.aspx

This article indicates that moderate exercise doesn't really affect you, but thats for infection with a cold causing rhinovirus. If you've lost lung capacity or something bigger like that then maybe not. Otherwise go for it if you're up to it.

 

[cleeshoy]

Raced the dirt crits last night and whilst it hurts normally, it REALLY hurts when one is a bit sick! I reckon I am at the tail end of my cold but it still sapped all my energy - no endurance whstsoever. Ended up just spinning the last 2 laps - felt like I was being passed by stationary objects

Wifey woke up this morning with a rather stuffy head - she's still umming and ahhing about doing the 6 hour tomorrow, but I reckon we'll just put our feet up and support the other riders if it gets worse.....

 

[Anarchist]

After a few years of the kids bringing home every virus known to humanity from child care, kinder and school - I can safely say that I have lived through it. I have tried riding through it, not and many points in between that continuum. My experience has been that when the immunity is challenged by a virus, etc the body has to divert a fair bit of energy to fight it off. Now, for all of you with young kids (<2 y.o) the sleep deprivation and constant challenge to your immunity will be far greater (which means it will take longer). It does get better! I saw our GP, and various other health practitioners a number of times over the years because I was concerned with how long it took to get over the colds and viruses (I also whinged a lot about it!). The various blood tests showed my white cell count was up, as expected, but everything else was normal. The fact is that by the time you are getting over one virus, you could be infected with another and the period of symptoms just run into one another. Prevention is better than the suffering. I agree with the other posts about vitamins and garlic/ginger/echinacea - but also water. Drink!

The trouble is that unless you are very well qualified, you probably won't be able to tell if its "just" a cold or something more serious - riding often makes little niggles get worse. Is it worth getting sicker and being out of action for longer? It has been rare when riding whilst sick has made me get better or shown any tangible benefit. Training and most riding in the hills etc, depletes the immunity and then it bounces back. My experience: If you choose to ride hard (ie: train or 50+%) when sick, expect to get more sick or, at the very least, expect the symptoms to hang around for longer. Short term gain (maybe) for a long term loss (almost certainly) .

 

[cleeshoy]

Decided not to race, still not quite right - bummed but it seems to be the right decision!!