Recovering from a cold.

gethmetal

My children have gifted me a particularly nasty strain of Man-Flu.
Any recommendations for getting back into my 'training regime'?
Thanks in advance for any wisdom.

danowat

Depends on the symptoms, and their severity

ozzzyosborn206

i also have man flu, i thought it had gone on friday, went to work then spent most of yesterday in bed, i think the rule of thumb is wait for it to go then wait twice aslong as you think you should before training again

Pokerface

I thought man flu was when you had a simple cold but turn it into the plague for the sake of getting sympathy from the missus?

gethmetal

My missus has little sympathy for anything that happens to me :?

It's a nasty cold, I'm not usually one to complain, despite being Welsh.
Symptoms are coughing, sneezing, poor breathing, constant sniffles, raging tinnitus and all-over aches.

My 'regime' prior to this affliction was 12 miles of fairly hilly stuff every day, with every third day off. I'm just getting back into things after best part of a year without any proper riding.
Thanks folks.

danowat

gethmetal wrote:

Symptoms are coughing, sneezing, poor breathing

Do nothing till these symptoms subside.

General rule is, above the neck, fine, infact it will help get rid of the cold, but below the neck, then no, not only will it pro-long the illness, you can also make it much worse.

gethmetal

Thanks Dan, makes sense to me.

Big Geordie

Agree that you need to take it easy if it is below the neck, you will only make it worse.

I find taking lots of vitamin C (1g every 4 hours) for a couple of days helps. Don't do it for much more than 48 hours though- it is a very big dose.

danowat

I'd be carefull about taking too much Vit C, upper tolerable limit is about 2000mg (RDA is a lowly 60-90mg), and overdosing can cause strange affects.

Personally, I think that a daily zinc supplement helps keep the immune system up, but for colds, you can't beat plenty of fluids and rest.

gethmetal

Thanks for your advice folks.
It's an annoying setback. I've stuck to my plan for 4 weeks and seen some definite improvement in my strength and breathing, as well as dropping about half a stone with no dietary restrictions.
I've had a few colds this year, after around 6 years without getting one.
Meh.

ut_och_cykla

gethmetal wrote:

Thanks for your advice folks.
It's an annoying setback. I've stuck to my plan for 4 weeks and seen some definite improvement in my strength and breathing, as well as dropping about half a stone with no dietary restrictions.
I've had a few colds this year, after around 6 years without getting one.
Meh.

I think you have your answer as to why you got a cold - training a bit too hard with insufficient good nutrition. The Zinc tip is a good one - but the food/exercise/rest mix is important to get right - for you as an individual - to avoid colds & injury. What works for some is too much /too little for others.
Wait till the achey body & poor breathing symptoms have gone and then make a gentle start time and effort wise. Be prepared to back off or give yourself more time if it doesn't feel good. Don't take hard exercise if you suspect you are not well - it could all end in tears - or a heart sac inflammation (what I did - never again!) Someone else on this forum wrote that they walked a lot to still the exercise desire - adn I would recommend that if you fell ok otherwise.

gethmetal

ut_och_cykla wrote:

gethmetal wrote:

Thanks for your advice folks.
It's an annoying setback. I've stuck to my plan for 4 weeks and seen some definite improvement in my strength and breathing, as well as dropping about half a stone with no dietary restrictions.
I've had a few colds this year, after around 6 years without getting one.
Meh.

I think you have your answer as to why you got a cold - training a bit too hard with insufficient good nutrition. The Zinc tip is a good one - but the food/exercise/rest mix is important to get right - for you as an individual - to avoid colds & injury. What works for some is too much /too little for others.
Wait till the achey body & poor breathing symptoms have gone and then make a gentle start time and effort wise. Be prepared to back off or give yourself more time if it doesn't feel good. Don't take hard exercise if you suspect you are not well - it could all end in tears - or a heart sac inflammation (what I did - never again!) Someone else on this forum wrote that they walked a lot to still the exercise desire - adn I would recommend that if you fell ok otherwise.

I think you misunderstand me when I say 'no dietary restrictions'. I'm eating plenty of good quality food, I'm just not restricting my calories much.
I have a feeling my increased susceptibility to colds has more to do with the drop-off in the quantity of my riding over the last year and it's impact on my fitness, than it has to do with my recent return to the bike. In terms of volume and intensity, the rides I have been doing recently are nowhere near the level I was doing last year.
Indeed, I considered my plan to very modest and conservative in comparison to previous years riding. Perhaps age is catching up with me... :shock:

Thanks for the tip on the heart sac inflammation, I was sure I'd heard there was a good reason not to over-exert while suffering from a cold type virus.

andyrr

Problem, for me anyway, is that a cold where the symptoms are above neck initially, ie sneezing, blocked sinuses, often seems to mutate or progress (? which one - does it change when it is in your system ?) downwards so I then get a sore throat and then start coughing up 'orrible phlegm. I tend to try to at least ease back whatever the symptoms are and may continue riding but don't treat it is as training so go easier on hills etc. Wrap up and keep neck warm with a buff and high collar, trying to avoid deep breathing of really cold air.
My attitude is that as long as I am not stressing my body too much then it's ok and as I get more sensible (ie older) I am slightly better at reigning myself back so a steady ride can be just that.

neeb

There's a real trick to knowing when it's a good idea to start training again after a cold. I've just recovered from a nasty double cold, and I think I actually left it too long. Although most of the symptoms had gone I still had a niggling sore throat and nasal drip at night that just wouldn't go away. I finally had a serious blast on the turbo a few days ago and that seemed to get rid of the last symptoms. It's almost as if my metabolism / immune system was working on half power because of the lack of exercise for a couple of weeks, and it just needed kicked into gear again.

That said, starting again too soon can be really dodgy.

See what you feel like when you are warming up - if you feel weak and the HR is really high, you need more rest.