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Running With a Cold
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So I wake up this past Friday morning feeling that I absolutely have a cold coming on. Unfortunately I have the Portland, OR Marathon on Sunday. Most long runs I do of around 20 miles I can keep my heart rate at about 145-155 and still run 8:30 miles (i'm not that fast but working on it). I wake up Sunday and feel like hell, get to the race late, and actually end up starting after the marathon walkers because I was still checking in clothes and the stuff you check in at the honey bucket.

The first steps of the race I am between 170-175, and it's not adrenaline. I absolutely feel like crap but the tough guy in me keeps going knowing full well I am going to explode at any minute. Sure enough, I ended up walking a good bit of the last 8 miles and finish in 4:01 (after a 1:50 half). After the race I almost passed out and couldn't stand up for about an hour because of nausea. My average heart rate for 4:01 was 169. Is this unhealthy? Was I about to drop dead at the age of 30 without even knowing it?
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Re: Running With a Cold [joelface] [ In reply to ]
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Assuming that your 145-155 BPM heart rate is 80% of MHR and your max HR is 186 (based on 155BPM@80%), 169 is less than a 10% increase or about 90% MHR, so I don't think that you were on your death bed per se. Your training has increased your fitness level to accomodate for such a situation, but still not a good idea.

As you might have already figured out, the increased HR probably contributed to your weak second half as well as your body's immune system screaming because it can't believe you didn't listen to it when it was talking to you.

For future reference, I had a similar situation happen to me last year the Wednesday before the California International Marathon. I made a bee line to the local health food store and asked for an herbal tincture for a phlem-producing cold. the helpful person recommended a tincture of echinacea and goldenseal. This liquid, mixed in a shot glass of water and taken 3-4 times a day until race day. It's nasty tasting stuff, but I followed it up with another shot of cranberry juice. It did the trick and I had a PR of 3:53.


Sean
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