Are you an adult? If so I think you can figure out if you should be training or not based on the above.

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http://www.jt10000.com/

hmm... sometimes the presentation of symptoms might suggest something else.

Full disclosure, I am not a medical professorial. However I have a lot of family members who are and I've picked up a few things. Your symptoms sound more like a flu than a cold, especially your body's reaction to working out. I'd definitely say it's a no go.

I usually find that nothing clears my sinuses and such better than swimming though, so if you recover enough that you feel you can swim, I'd say do that

Rules of thumb are only gross approximations...assuming that they aren't just "old wives' tales".

Training when you are sick is ALWAYS questionable---many times we get away with it, though. But, sometimes we don't. If I decide to train through something, I will typically kill any intensity plans, and just go do some zone2 stuff. In most cases, after about 5 minutes I forget that I've got a cold or whatever and feel better afterwards.

On the other hand, if you feel like shit....then stop, go home, make some chicken soup, and go to bed. Stay away from the rest of us and don't spread whatever the hell you got. You may not have a fever, yet...but, you are probably about too.

I will typically train through a head cold. I did that last spring for several days. As noted above, I killed off the threshold work...and I stayed out of the pool. I just did easy runs and Z2 bikes to just stay active. Felt fine, even felt better after. Then Saturday, I got up to go for a ride. I felt a bit worse, but ignored it figuring I'd feel better once I got out there (like I had all week). Well, I started my ride...and just felt horrible...a lot like you described above. I bagged it after about 30 minutes (15 out and back), rode home, and went to the clinic. I tested positive for the Flu and Strep. Yippee. I didn't have a fever until Sunday.

I used to try to train through a cold.

However, past couple of years I've just rested for 2-3 days with no exercise. I've found it seems the cold is gone faster and I feel back to normal quicker than when I would train through it.

Maybe placebo, definitely a N=1 anecdote, but if I was you, I'd just focus on getting healthy. For IM training, at 4 weeks out you should have plenty of fitness to go a few days without anything and not lose a single thing.