'training' when ill

[Chris71]

Ok, that's a rather grand term for me wheezing round the woods, but.....

If you have a cold or a touch of man flu, but are physically able to ride, will it do any harm?

I'd always been told doing excercise will push the virus around your body or something, making it worse, but on reflection that doesn't sound very scientific! Assuming you take on additional fluids, will cycling when your ill make you worse and increase your recovery time? Or should I stop being such a wimp and go out and ride?

[ewenm]

If it's just a cold you should be fine - I train through those often. If it's more fluey (achey joints, temperature, headaches) I'd avoid doing strenuous exercise as I've always found I feel worse afterwards and I do think it takes me longer to recover. Also the "training" is usually rubbish anyway.

[Nick_F]

I always back right off or stop altogether, even for colds. Having had glandular fever I have a sense of how long you can knock yourself out for by stressing your body when it's tackling a virus, and ever since I've opted to take it easy rather than risk it.

The rule of necks is a good one, though - if it's just a head cold then carry on, but if it's in your throat and/or chest then wait it out.

[gbbird]

I had a nasty three day cold bug last weekend. Forced myself out on my bike, and for the first half an hour it felt quite rough, but after that it was fine. Plus after i had got home, had a bath and a drink, the cold had almost shifted completely. Fresh air is clearly a good cure

g

[WildCards]

gbbird said:

I had a nasty three day cold bug last weekend. Forced myself out on my bike, and for the first half an hour it felt quite rough, but after that it was fine. Plus after i had got home, had a bath and a drink, the cold had almost shifted completely. Fresh air is clearly a good cure

g

I always find raising my body temperature through excersize during the early stages of a cold can really help stop it in it's tracks. Wth regular excersize you really should'nt suffer too many colds.

[Chris71]

I must admit, I'm at the tail end of a cold now and when I get colds they're usually pretty bad, but I was very busy last weekend when it first came on and just worked through it and although it's still lingering it's been very mild. I wondered if it had actually helped....

Sure I saw coverage of some XC racing last year where they said one of the racers actually had flu and had come out to race! The only time in my life I've had real flu I could barely stand up, the idea of riding a bike seemed ridiculous.

Anyway, it seems to be going away now, so I think I'll take my bike out for atleast one decent ride over the weekend. In a few weeks time I'm going to have to look into purchasing some lights, I reckon night riding after work could be quite cool (not something I've ever tried before though!)