I’m 5 weeks out from a marathon that I’ve been training for and started not feeling great yesterday while at work. Today I have that burning in the back of my throat and overall don’t feel great. Counting today I only have 3 long runs left then two weeks of taper. Would you go ahead and go run today or take the day off and get to feeling better? I don’t know if it would be more counter productive to run in the wind with all the junk in the air or not.
If you are familiar with your body and you know how it feels at the start of a garden-variety cold, then I would take a day-to-day approach. Sometimes bodies defenses, can fight these off. Other times, no. The trick is listening carefully to your body. If it’s heading towards a full-blown cold and you keep pushing, you often worsen substantially the severity of the cold itself, or lengthen the duration.
I wrote in more detail about this in a recent blog - http://stevefleck.blogspot.ca/2014/02/sick.html
In short - take a few days off and see how you feel. If you really get sick, also take the down time you need. Everyone is paranoid that a few days off will kill their fitness . . you lose nothing!
Dealing with the same thing, head cold 3 weeks out from an half marathon. I ended up taking one day totally off, and then got back to running two days later. I wasn’t able to complete my hard runs, so I just ran easyish instead. My long run that weekend did not go well and I ended up shortening it by 30min. I just felt really tired and the run felt really hard. Now I am 10 days out from getting sick and this morning I had a good run, albeit about 30min shorter than planned. I would just agree that that you should be careful not to dig yourself into a hole. Get lots of rest and easy back into it, in about a week to 10 days it will be a blip on the radar. Who knows, a day or two off and/or a few light days 5 weeks out from a marathon might end up being good for you.
One of my best friends is nurse specialising in EM Cardiac care.
I have a chest cold and rang him asking him if I should train.
He said that this week he has seen two people in the unit with severe pericarditis.
A 19 year old female cross country skier who did one day training with a cold.
A 24 year old male who kept doing his indoor trainer sets with a cold.
The girls case was so serious that she may never be able to train again.
I’m 5 weeks out from a marathon that I’ve been training for and started not feeling great yesterday while at work. Today I have that burning in the back of my throat and overall don’t feel great. Counting today I only have 3 long runs left then two weeks of taper. Would you go ahead and go run today or take the day off and get to feeling better? I don’t know if it would be more counter productive to run in the wind with all the junk in the air or not.
Only a spastic brained moron would go for a long run when they have a cold starting. Even if it is only a cold and not something more serious, a long run or hard training when you are obviously suffering from some sort of virus is plain daft. Just because some twat told you to follow some stupid training plan does not mean you should ignore your own body. No doubt some twat sports scientist will disagree.
Nope. Two or three days will do nothing to your fitness except maybe help it.
Battle the OCD.
Sometimes, when the nose is runny and I’m feeling miserable, a good run is just what I need to help feel better. However, once a cold makes it’s way out of your nose and into your throat/ lungs, it’s best to take time off and let it heal. Thereafter, running will only be a detriment to your overall health. The best thing to do for your training is to heal up quickly and then get back at it slowly. Rushing a respiratory issue only slows it down.