Snot Rockets, Hacking Coughs & Sinus Pressure, Oh My!
During the past 2 weeks, it feels like the universe has been working against me when it comes to running and training. I have somehow contracted the never-ending virus that has been plaguing me for days. You know, the kind of illness that causes people to want to be at least 25 feet away from you because you’re hacking up a lung, talking like you have a close pin plugging your nose and have a glazed look in your eyes because your head may explode at any given moment. That virus. The one that makes swimming, biking and running, well, not fun.
When I think about most of my workouts during the past 8 days, the things that come to mind are not pace or distance or speed. This week, my workouts have been about survival and can only be described as having the following characteristics:
- Coughing profusely so that the people around me questioned if I was in good enough shape to be running
- Blowing my nose on my hands and into my shirt at least once per mile
- Shooting snot rockets (here’s a fun video on how to perfect yours)
- Spitting phlegm like a sprinkler
- Shuffling through runs because I lost my appetite and was constantly out of gas
Although I took a day or 2 off here and there, I probably should have read this good article from Runner’s World on if you should run when you’re sick. It’s a great read that essentially recommends that if you have any symptoms below the neck (which I have) you should take 72 hours off (oops) and if you have symptoms above the neck, you can probably tough it out but use caution.
Below is what last week and the past few days have looked like. For many months, I was feeling on top of the world with my running. Most of my runs felt strong and faster paces felt easy. These days, even before I got sick, my runs feel sluggish and hard, with more bad days than good ones. It certainly shakes your confidence and doesn’t help my mental strength. But tomorrow is a new day. A day to get well and eventually back on track.
- Monday: REST
- Tuesday: Ran 7 miles
- Wednesday: Biked 70 minutes on the trainer with 6 x 20-second sprints with 2 minutes of active recovery
- Thursday: REST (too sick to workout)
- Friday: Ran 7 miles
- Saturday: Biked one hour on the trainer
- Sunday: Ran 8.1 miles
- Monday: REST
- Tuesday: Ran/walked 4 miles + 30 minutes on the stationary bike
- Wednesday: Ran 4 miles of speed work with 6 x 400-meters at 6:35 pace with a 300-400-meter recovery jog between each
- Thursday (today): Rode 40 minutes on the stationary bike
Do you workout when you’re sick? How much time do you typically take off when you’re not feeling well?
Comments
I have the SAME virus right now!!! I tried a light run a couple days ago which was sluggish but helped clear all the passages a bit. My goal this week is just sleep, spoonfuls of raw honey, netti potting, and trying not to cough/sneeze on any patients at work. Hope you feel better soon!!
Yikes, hope you get better soon! You still got a lot of training in despite being sick.
If I have a cough I take off from running until it’s gone. I learned the hard way when I tried to push through and got bronchitis. If it’s just a head cold then working out usually makes me feel better. I hope you start feeling back to normal soon!
Not fun couple of weeks Jesica, sorry to hear. 🙁 Being sick really just bites. I hope you get back to feeling well soon. Weird sometimes cause you just don’t know why it happens…
I usually just take a couple of three days off until I get to feeling better and then start out slow getting back on track. A couple of times trying to keep training and it just seems to take that much longer. I have really been lucky the past six months not having a cold or any real health issues. cross fingers / knock wood and all that !!!
My training has been going well. Coach Sandy has the rest of the year planned out for me. I gave her all my races and she had me list them as which ones were A races and the she has built the plan around those key dates.
One thing that has been really working is my speed work and the yoga every week. For the 5k last weekend at 26:18 (chip time) I had not run that speed since May of 2010. And the other day I ran 8 x 100 yards on the football field and the last two were :20 and :19. The last time I did a baseline was in 2008 and that was :17. The other thing that has worked is the racing weight nutrition plan. So I am just really staying focused and not upset the apple cart so to speak.
Do you have a Triathlon you already have lined up? Wishing you a great weekend.
Oh by the way I will be doing an easy 6 mile run/walk on the Laurel Oak trail at Lake Lanier Sunday morning. Let me know if you are interested in joining me. It’s my favorite early morning place to go along the river.
Thanks for the kind words Victor. Today I am feeling human again, which is good 🙂 Congrats on an excellent few weeks of training for you too and a great 5K! I’m glad everything is working for you. It is so great when you find a training regimen that really works. Speed work is key too to results. I have three tris lined up for the summer. Check out my “races and paces” tab and you can see when and where they are but they are local and shorter distances. The first one is in August 🙂 Keep up the great work!
on day seven, sinus infection combined with horrific pollen count, awful alergies as well as chest congestion (hacking cough & wheezing) ergo, not very good. I ran once, 3 miles, miserable, my milage on the bike was kicking up another 20% this week not gonna make it. While stinky, it happens, the kids have pass along their germs & just bad timing with the pollen thing. As much as i hate to down shift & i am about to go bonkers, in the big picture I will just adjust finishing times for my upcoming events, not the end of the world, especially if I can compete. Since entering the “masters” division, more interested in being out and having fun, if i can hit some of my performance goals along the way awesome, if not, i will roll them into next season or into the longer five year, ten year plan. Having, hiccups in training & not being able to grind it out just reminds me that i want to be competing when i am 50 & 60 & 70 and to get to those points I have to juggle, be it work, the kids, being sick; as long as i am enjoying being out and feel like i am giving it my best, everything else is gravey. Hope you are feeling better soon & have a great weekend!
I’m sorry to hear you have been under the weather too, Bill! Get yourself better! You have a great mindset about your training! Hang in there 🙂
Jesica,
I hope you are feeling a little better. Being sick really puts a damper on training and working out in general. It doesn’t take much for me to take a Rest day so if I am sick I definitely take advantage of it and depending on the severity take at least a day. Recently we have battled stomach bugs and allergies here and when one gets it, it is only a matter of time before it travels the house. Above the neck cold and allergies I usually keep up running unless I just feel wiped out. Anything more than that, stomach bug, flu, body aches I always take at least 2 days. If I have a migraine which I am prone to I take that day off because unlike a headache which a run tends to help, migraines are another beast and they don’t go quietly! I hope you get better soon and you’ll get back on track in no time.
I hope you are feeling better! When I am sick, I follow the Runner’s World advice..if it is a bad hacking cough, though, I find that it lasts longer the more I try to tough it out. If it is anything related to a stomach virus, I definitely take a day or two off. You also have to ask yourself if you are getting anything beneficial out of a workout when you are slugging through a run or bike ride sick. If you can’t push the intensity, the workout is totally useless, in my opinion. Get well soon!
Oh man!!! Feel better soon!!! You still had some great work outs!!
I am rarely sick(knock on wood). But if I get a cold or am run down a bit I usually keep working out. Not with a lot of intensity but I always feel better after I have done some sweating. I try and sleep more as well. That seems to help!! 🙂