I was supposed to race this morning (Lake Murray sprint TRI, South Carolina), but woke up yesterday with a sore throat and not feeling very well. I had been a bit sick a few weeks ago, and found that my heart rate at that time was extremely high and I had very little energy and endurance while training. I checked my resting HR last night, and it was about 12-15 bpm above normal, which concerned me. Although I am very disappointed, I decided not to race for fear I would either blow up or do myself more harm than good by racing when sick. I feel that I probably made the right decision.
Can anybody else tell me their experience with this type situation?
Generally racing while sick means your perfromance might be OK but you could be in for big trouble the following week.
The old axiom that, if you have symptoms below your neck (chest, etc.) you should not race, but if you have a runny nose or sinus congestion you might be OK is a decent one- but I would go one step further and this early in the season just say forget it and race again when you are recovered.
Isn’t there some heart virus you can get from racing while you’re? I seem to remember a poster on here got it and it took a year to recover from.
Probably best not to mess with serious things like that- the season is still young.
When your HR is high and you’re sick, usually that means you have a fever. You should NOT race with a fever. You really can get into some situations that can attack and/or damage your heart muscle/structures, among other organs.
I did this very race today…worst performance for me in a LONG, LONG time. I’m recovering from bronchitis/pneumonia, and haven’t had a fever for about a week. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have raced. I really had to fight the urge to drop out during the run…and it was only a SPRINT! Not being in the pool for a few weeks isn’t good for a non-fish, and with about 80 people in my swim wave, I got beat-up too boot. Aspirating a little water into already irritated airways isn’t a good thing. The bike went fine, as long as I didn’t push it too hard…which would cause me to cough. But, the bike felt OK…it fooled me into thinking maybe I could actually do OK on the run and make up for my abyssmal swim. Nope. Struggled the whole way. Over a minute per mile slow, dry heaving at the finish five/six times…never done that before.
If I ever have to make the choice of racing after/during an illness again, I’ll go volunteer if in recovery mode, and just stay at home if ill at all. It’s not worth it. You did the right thing.
I raced Wildflower while sick. Huge mistake. 2 weeks of sinus and congestion before. Coughed at the campsite every night for three nights straight. Raced on a Decongestant. DNF’d at mile 46 on bike 84/60 BP. After two more weeks, sinus infection and lung inflammation I am only 85%. And IMCDA is only 5 weeks away.
I’m pretty glad I didn’t race now. I went to the doctor and I have a sinus infection which has turned into bronchitis. YUK. The good thing is the nurse gave me a shot in the ass, so I’m feeling better and will live to race another day.
