Actually this is not bad timing.
I raced my first IM and a few other bigger more important races in my life, with not bad results off off the Head-Cold Taper.
The first thing to understand is that there really is no "cure" for the common cold. It's a viral infection that needs to run it's course in your body. Best thing to do is shut down all training, rest as much as you can, and try and get full and good nights sleep.
If you do this, the garden variety Head Cold infection tends to run it's course in 5 - 10 days*.
Over the course of time I have noticed a pattern with these. Mine start with a touch of a sore throat and full on body fatigue for 1 - 2 days. This is actually the critical time, because it's when your body is REALLY battling with the infection full-on. But it's where most people just plunder and push on and really run themselves down. So what I do now is a complete and total shut down, even with these minor symptoms, and see what happens.
From here it either goes two ways - goes into full blown head-cold or fades away to nothing, and I know I have dodged a bullet. But the trick is that full-on shut down, of EVERYTHING, and literally spending a full day in bed, with only the minor symptoms of a touch of a sore throat and a feeling of weakness!
* So rest up. Do nothing until you feel better. If you have trained well and properly, there is really no training you need to do in the last 10-days to 2-weeks anyway!
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog