Who out there have competed while being physically ill? I’m talking fevers, flu etc?
The reason that I ask is that I came down with something like the flu yesterday and I have the 1/2 vineman on Sunday. As you all know between the event and hotel were usually into these things for a small chunk of change.
So I’m hoping that I can pull it around in time.
I did the chesapeakeman iron distance last year with nasty cold. Felt like crap the day before.
Toko some dayquil roudabout mile 70 of the bike and it helped. But it made everything seem rather stupid, I was in an Ironman and needing to take dayquil.
I came in DFL, most painful thing I have done in my life.
I once did a 1/2 Ironman with a 101 fever. Add to that it was cold and rainy. After the swim, I was going to pack it in, then I got on the bike and rode about 15 miles to a point in the race where the next 40 miles were out and back. It was raining but I decided to continue. Actually had a good bike time and it might of been because I went relatively slow the first 15 miles. However, the run was a major struggle to keep moving. Finished with a reasonably good time. The next week I was still sick. I think the stress of the race kept me from a normal recover. I would go. Its only Thursday, drink lots, rest and give it a try. If you have more than a low grade fever, I wouldn’t recommend it.
I did it last week at Xterra Milwaukee. That and the heat made my race miserable. Im still paying for it. I wouldnt recommend it.
Here’s my ignorant ass story.
October '04. Do my biggest run before IMFL. I felt so good I almost went ahead and ran 26.2 since it would have been a marathon PR by about a half hour but instead cut it off at 21. Riding further and faster than ever.
2nd week of October I got a horrible stabbing pain low on my right side/back. Right about where you’d think kidney stones. Go to the doc, x-rays, CT scan, etc. show I’ve got pneumonia. Go on the drugs, feel pretty good after a week and a half.
Wednesday before the race I start swimming in the pool behind the Summit when we get into town and when I breathe deep the pain is back. But hell, I paid my money, drove to Florida from Ohio, no way I’m not doing the race.
Race day. Swim sucked since I couldn’t breathe deep without pain. Get on the bike and I feel very good. For about 103 miles. After I cross the bridge coming back in my body just starts shutting down. I had figured a 5:20 - 5:25 split at about the 75 mile mark. I end up with 5:40+. Light-headed, coughing, feeling a little feverish.
But this is an Ironman and ther eis a marathon to do. So I start running. I get to mile 6.5 and I hear Scotty call up from engineering that he can’t hold it together much longer. So I walk for a bit. Scotty says we lost warp speed but we still have impulse so I jog for a while. At the turnaround we’ve lost main power and all we have is life support. The bad news is I haven’t seen a couple of the people I came down with and am afraid that everyone has dnf’d. So since I figured someone had to finish I decide to take one for the team.
I get my space blanket and set off on a 13.1 mile walk. As the sun goes down the chills set in. By the time I hit the last turn around I am thinking about how I’m getting back. Somehow I finish and only then find out that in my pneumonia induced fog I had missed the people I was looking for.
Next week I am in bad shape, go back to the doc who tells me how fucking stupid I am for doing an IM with drug resistant pneumonia. I agree and ask her to kindly keep me out of the hospital and to not let me die.
I had a horrible race, my time was 2.5 hours behind my goal, and all I proved was that even someone who isn’t retarded can be amazingly dumb. If you’re really sick think hard before doing the race.
I did a 1/2 IM last year with a head and chest cold and started feeling awful after all of 15 miles on the bike. I couldn’t hold down solid food for two days afterwords. Put me in the “don’t race” camp.
Don’t do it.
There will always be another race.
Back in HS I did an hourlong indoor tri with a bad cold.
Got home and could barely breathe. When I wasn’t wheezing for O2 I was hacking up a lung and draining a constant flow of thick greenish-yellow snot from my nose.
Spent the next week sick as a dog. Probably developed into pneumonia. It took me WEEKS before I could run hard for more than a minute without hacking up a lung.
Don’t sacrifice your health and future races.
I had the flu for Escape from Alcatraz last year. Woke up with a cough and a fever and couldn’t keep food down. WTF … I flew out here, etc. Damned if I’m going to lie in bed all day. Had a great swim and bike, then wanted to take a nap in T2. Probably my suckiest run split ever. Still one of the coolest races I’ve ever done, though, even if I’m not at all proud of my time. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get a chance to do this one again.
Everyone else is totally right about recovery, though. I lay in the sun and slept through the awards ceremony, somehow my buddy helped get me on my flight home and then it took me about three weeks to get better.
Good luck!
Miranda
no, and it is not smart.
forget the money. you got only one body.
A virus can infect your heart muscle if you do extreme physical activity when ill. Not a good thing. I’d skip.
In college I ran an indoor track race (mile or 1000, I think) with the beginnings of a cold/flu. I had a sore throat and felt weak and crappy. Afterwards I was really sick. I had a high fever that night. I have read about people hallucinating from fever but sort of doubted it, until then. My race was only a few minutes in an indoor facility. I have to think that being out in the heat and exerting yourself for hours would be much more devastating.
Let’s see: poor performance, miserable experience, longer recovery and jeopardizing your health. other than that it’s a great idea.
Until recently it seemed that the final week before my bigger races found me coming down with the head cold that had a little fever with it…nothing to knock me on my ass like “jpo” but definitely under the weather.
Finished each race and even did really well (for me) at GCT this year (no fever-just stuffed up kinda thing).
In hindsight I would say that only you can be the judge of how you really feel but my current guidelines for myself are that if I can’t make myself feel absolutely “fired up” ready while under the influence of an OTC cold formula then it’s a NO GO… OTOH, if a quick dose of OTC stuff leaves me clear, rested and such…I’m a GO!
One product I tried this year that really helped me with the creepin’ crud head cold thing is called “Airborne”… I get mine a Trader Joes but Walgreens and CVS carry it as well…It’s basically a vitamin and mineral formulation that supposedly helps boost your immune system. Plus, it is loaded up with electrolytes. It worked wonders for me this past May as I took it right on schedule all the way along my drive to PCB and the next day before GCT and by race morning I was goo to go…YMMV.
Disclaimer:
I am in no way affiliated with the above mentioned product! Just a satisfied customer…
Paul
My buddy did at IM Moo 2003. It was ugly. He was a 12:00er, but went 16:45ish. It was painful watching him, but he was determined to finish and had the biggest smile on his face. He said he used up every bit of TP on the course…
His FG said his fever was 103 race morning.
Caught some sort of bug the day we left for Kona last October…had a fever, generally-shitty-feeling all week that lasted through race day. It was Kona, I was going to do the race pretty much no matter what, etc. Got through the day but it was bufugly.
Traveling for Vineman 1/2 under the same set of circumstances…tough call. Is this your “A” race for the year? Do you stand a good chance of qualifying for IMH, presuming that is among your goals? Then I say go for it, listening very closely to your body and being mentally prepared to bag it if necessary to race another day.
If none of the above applies, travel to the race, become a volunteer and maybe the folks at Vineman will give you some cool schwag in exchange for your entry fee…just a thought!
Thanks for all the responses. Since I have until Sunday morning to make a decision I’ll put it off as late as possible. At that point if I’m not up to it I’l take Mike C’s suggestion and jump in as a last minute volunteer (at least I’ll get another t-shirt).
Mark
About 6 years ago I did a mtb race with a bad cold. Had already taken the time off work and was already on my way out of town when the cold kicked in, so I raced anyway. Was able to pull out a decent race, but paid for it big time on recovery and then got sick again. Big lesson learned and have not trained or raced sick since.
Picked up a terrible cold a couple days before IMAZ, couldn’t run across the street without feeling weak. Nose dripping like a faucet, head-ache, dizzyness, the whole works. Felt slightly better the day before, probably due to plenty of cold medicine. I live near the start, so figured I’d just show up, go easy, and hopefully collect a finish medal (had other injuries that had ruined any chance for a fast time already). Hadn’t been swimming much so half expected to swim about half a mile and give it up, definitely was planning to head home if I ever felt I was hurting. Once your there though, it’s tough to quit. Slow pace made the effort not too bad through the bike, although heartrate was much higher than normal for the wattage. Finished it off and time was actually not that bad considering. Cold got somewhat better over the following days but has been lingering now for months. I’ve been feeling tired a lot (most likely other factors but you never know) and was actually thinking about going in to see a doc (I don’t even have a doctor, never needed one). Would I do it again…probably, as long as I felt I could mentally keep it to an easy effort (I rode and ran at below training pace/HR). If I had a high temperature I would have bagged it though.
Did the National Duathlon Championships with a bad head cold and ended up running the my best run splits ever. I felt fine after the race but crashed after an hour - maybe from the adrenalin subsiding. I started to feel sick on Thursday and just tried to hold myself up from getting a full blown flu with vitamins and fruit juice.
It was a good race but it took me a full month to recover. So two lessons right there : no alcohol before a race and definitely no racing sick anymore.
Good luck with Vineman…
If you have a cold, or feel one coming on, you should take something called Zicam Oral Mist. It is available over the counter at most large pharmacies. It really works. Shortens the duration of the cold significantly and helps alleviate the symptoms. No side effects such as drowsiness.
It tastes like shit, but thats a small price to pay.
Did IMFla with a cold that came on the thursday prior. I did zicam and anything else I could think of, except bailing out of the race. I did not have a good day. I will never do that again. As for a half, I might have been okay. My troubles got out of hand about 6-7 hours in. If I went harder, it may have been sooner, don’t know. I was hurting pretty badly, and I was genuinely afraid for my health.
Good Luck, hope you feel better. Make sure you hydrate a ton, and watch for fever. Don’t race with a fever, ever.