Effects of illness

cougie

Have you checked your RHR ?

I always err on the side of caution - its better to rest up more than try and push on.

borisface

You need to look at yourself and think about making connections between what you are doing and the results of what you have been doing

Fasted rides

Cold showers

Now you're ill.

Erm?

ric/rstsport

i thought you had a coach? can't s/he advise?

there's a potential for fasted rides to make you ill. a lack of dietary carbohydrates (usually post exercise) has been shown to be associated with a higher incidence of upper respiratory tract infections. It could be that if you're starting fasted you may already be partially depleted and the ride is depleting you further, thus allowing infections to take hold?

i'm not saying don't do it, just saying it's a possibility

ric

Herbsman

madasahattersley wrote:

borisface wrote:

You need to look at yourself and think about making connections between what you are doing and the results of what you have been doing

Fasted rides

Cold showers

Now you're ill.

Erm?

Cold showers only started 5 days ago, been ill for the last 10 days. Also can't see how fasted rides (of which I rarely do more than 2 per week) can make you ill :?:

From what I've read, immune system function is linked to carbohydrate intake.... training is linked to reduced immune system function.... put 2 and 2 together....

oldhairylegs

Listen to what your body is telling you Luke.

When it was ready to give up after 2 hours riding, that's what you should have done - especially after being ill.

Back off the intensity for a few days or maybe a week. Measure your resting HR and wait until it's back to normal for a few consecutive days before ramping things up again.

dw300

If you're not running a fever to try and fight off a virus, or fighting an infection then you should be good to train, albeit at a lower level than usual. If you have low energy it should be something to do with nutrition.

You might have a very low level chest infection. Are you coughing up whatever is in your chest> Is is somewhat green, or very green/yellow?

kajjal

Just be careful, overtraining when ill can lead to some nasty infections which take weeks to shift and will keep you off the bike. Better to have a few days complete rest and build it back up carefully. As above listen to your body and only push it when you are fully recovered. Fasting is not a good idea until then.

mamba80

i ve found that very often unexplained increases in performance are followed by illness, something to do with blood thinning - as your body fights the initial infection - the quality ride that follows lowers immunity still further and boom!
i dont know if there is any research to back this up but its happened to me and one or 2 other riders, so an anecdote
If your chest is giving you jip then you should stay of the bike or do some indoor low level stuff.

Fasting and then long hard training? are you a porker?

cyco2

Funny that because I am just about recovered from a cough virus. It was dry and very irritating at night. Took some linctus to relieve it. But I did carry on riding because it didn't feel like it was death threatening. I felt the heavy breathing would help to clear it. It has taken about a month to see the end of it.

I would have though that dieting to lose weight and the type of riding you do are completely incompatable. By all means stick to your diet but take the necessary carbs to get a quality ride. Depending on the type of ride say 11/2hrs hard then I eat nothing but over that I either have a bite of flapjack or 1/2 a mars bar. If the rides was hard around 2 hrs then I have the other half of mars. I drink glucose as well.

I am surprised you're having this problem with your experience and assistance because I find it quite logical.

bernithebiker

Use the force, Luke.

Max Bridges

madasahattersley wrote:

Only 12 days ago I had one of the best rides I've had this winter:

http://www.strava.com/activities/95627450

Then got ill. Didn't realise at first, was just producing hopeless numbers in training for about 3 days, then woke up with a bad cough, rattling chest, sore throat etc, about a week ago.

Now I thought I'd pretty much shaken it off (voice has returned to usual pitch, coughing much less but chest still a bit rattly) so went out training today. First hour fine, pretty much ready to go home after 2 and just exhausted after 3hrs30mins.

I'd thought I'd be fine to go for hours. It was a very easy pace (200 watts at the end) but just left me absolutely knackered.

Question is;
- is this just down to the residual illness and I need to rest up a couple more days?
- is it because I'm currently losing some weight so have less energy on board than I might otherwise have?

Any thoughts/anecdotes appreciated!

Luke

Luke,

Please take what I am about to say as well meaning advice and do not discard what I have to say because you think I'm just having a go at you.

I have been around doing and coaching sport for about 50 years. I have personal experience of illness and have seen many promising athletes get ill, then do all the wrong things and make themselves even more ill.

1. Training in a fasted state will almost certainly take more out of you than training when properly fuelled and any benefit gained from training fasted must be carefully weighed up against the danger of allowing yourself to become vulnerable to infection when you are riding with the stuffing knocked out of you. If you feel starving and rough your immune system will be vulnerable.

2. Re fuelling is a must. If you don't you again leave yourself open to getting ill.

3. A proper diet, not an endless supply of sports drinks gels cheap processed crap and refined carbs. You don't need to go all scientific just eat as wide and varied diet as possible.

4. Getting cold does not cause infection, but getting cold and hungry and tired does lower your immune system and leaves you vulnerable.

5. You must allow your body to recover, if you don't again you leave yourself vulnerable.

6. Sleep, you need it.

7. Feel your body, feel, feel , feel, if you feel rough or tired or run down you are. Do not wait for your power meter to tell you something is wrong, you must learn to listen to and feel your body.

8. Never train hard when you are recovering from illness. You must recover fully before you even do light training. If you don't you will only make yourself even more ill.

Your post is the sort of thing I might have written to help illustrate exactly not what to do if you want to avoid illness, I'm almost convinced you made it up to wind people up.

If not, please take some proper advice from someone like Ric, who's opinion you respect.

Ric, please tell him he must be careful, he could ruin an entire season if he does not take advice and look after himself.

What is your weight and height? Body fat? And don't rely on those stupid impedance scales, do not try to emulate Wiggins or Froome. They have an entire team behind them to ensure they do not get ill at the severe underweight they maintain. Even they do not spend all year at their race weight.

Some people can be healthy with very low body fat, others get ill all the time. Particularly if you are young, you should be very careful about trying to emulate the diabolically low weight of some pro riders. Remember, even with all the support at Wiggins' disposal he still got I'll.


Spend more time keeping healthy. Often the sportsmen who win most are not the most talented but have the strongest constitution. Or, they make sure they stay healthy enough to support the required training.

There is more to training than looking at power numbers, and following every fashion or new training method.

okgo

I imagine a lot of this might come from your efforts to get in shape as per that the conversation on social media, be careful, do it the right way, or you'll get ill time and time again!

Max Bridges

Luke,

Don't risk trying to train hard too soon. The danger is you feel ok so hit training hard, then you get ill again and repeat the cycle and stay ill for months and ruin a whole season. Take the time off now and get back gently. It ain't easy I know but it isn't worth the risk pushing hard too soon.

Re your weight 160 lbs at 6ft 2.5in is very light. I won't say too light without being able to look at you and have a bit of a pinch here and there but I will say I think you should seriously consider getting some really good advice before you try to lose any weight. I very much doubt you should get any lighter and you may already have gone too low.

How old are you? 18? If you are under 23 it is possible you are still growing, perhaps not upwards but your skeleton might not have finished growing, peak bone mass is 25 to 30, and your muscles will grow after age 18 even if you don't want them to.

You really are too young to be suppressing your natural weight.

simon_e

madasahattersley wrote:

I HATE not being able to train when everyone else is though. Hate hate hate hate hate it

Patience, Luke.

You really should not have tried to do a 3+ hour ride so soon after an infection, particularly if it had gone to your chest. I'm not trying to scare you, but straining the heart while unwell can have very serious consequences.

Full recovery will come sooner if you let your body do the work fighting the virus/infection in the first place. Rest lots, sleep plenty and consume even more unprocessed fruit and veg than normal. Your weight won't balloon on good quality real food and the odd treat.

Attempting to do training while still recovering will mean prolonged illness and the time spent on your bike is wasted. It's not good for motivation either.

Try to think about the bigger picture. A week lost now isn't a problem but it's easy to ruin a whole season in a few days.

LegendLust

madasahattersley wrote:

Hate to drag this thread on. It's now been almost a month since the last time I felt really good on the bike. I did stay off it and now all of the cold like symptoms are gone, and my chest and breathing feels fine.

Now though I'm feeling pretty fatigued every time I go out on the bike. I can't even do the power and speed for 20 minutes that I could do for 5 hours. I can't get my HR above about 145. Just generally not feeling good physically, which is having quite the mental impact as well.

As I've never really been ill for more than 4 days before, is it normal to have some fatigue after a couple of weeks of illness? Bear in mind I haven't really seen any cold symptoms in 5 or 6 days, and I don't really feel generally fatigued, just when I'm on the bike.

Post viral fatigue?

bernithebiker

Brake pads dragging?!

Max Bridges

madasahattersley wrote:

Hate to drag this thread on. It's now been almost a month since the last time I felt really good on the bike. I did stay off it and now all of the cold like symptoms are gone, and my chest and breathing feels fine.

Now though I'm feeling pretty fatigued every time I go out on the bike. I can't even do the power and speed for 20 minutes that I could do for 5 hours. I can't get my HR above about 145. Just generally not feeling good physically, which is having quite the mental impact as well.

As I've never really been ill for more than 4 days before, is it normal to have some fatigue after a couple of weeks of illness? Bear in mind I haven't really seen any cold symptoms in 5 or 6 days, and I don't really feel generally fatigued, just when I'm on the bike.

Go to the doctor and ask for a blood test. You are displaying all the symptoms which are typical of what can happen when you start trying to train before you are fully recovered.

I take it you feel ok just walking about, but as soon as you start training you feel terrible? How do you feel after training, do you feel really rough as if all the stuffing has been knocked out of you?

Honestly, I don't mean to scare you but you must get this sorted otherwise you could spend months like this. Viruses are horrible things and they can linger and leave you weak for weeks. You must rest to get rid of a virus.

Please see a doctor. Yes it is normal for power to be well down after you have been ill, and being unable to get your heart rate up to normal levels is your body and brain deliberately putting a governor on your performance. Listen to it.

ollie51

madasahattersley wrote:

Hate to drag this thread on. It's now been almost a month since the last time I felt really good on the bike. I did stay off it and now all of the cold like symptoms are gone, and my chest and breathing feels fine.

Now though I'm feeling pretty fatigued every time I go out on the bike. I can't even do the power and speed for 20 minutes that I could do for 5 hours. I can't get my HR above about 145. Just generally not feeling good physically, which is having quite the mental impact as well.

As I've never really been ill for more than 4 days before, is it normal to have some fatigue after a couple of weeks of illness? Bear in mind I haven't really seen any cold symptoms in 5 or 6 days, and I don't really feel generally fatigued, just when I'm on the bike.

I had this after having flu from mid December-early January last year, all tangible symptoms were gone by mid January, it wasn't until March that I could produce more than 200 watts for 20 minutes (that's a horrible, horrible place to be in). Blood test revealed only a very suppressed immune system and lead to a change in asthma medication and being told I have PVF (this wasn't till around early/mid-feb). It's really, really frustrating and takes time, but I felt absolutely on top of the world from March-June, there's light at the end of the tunnel.

So yeah, go and see your doctor and be patient, that's all you can do. Don't be afraid to be pushy either, some doctors don't really understand the demands of what we do.

T.C.

Another one here, posted before, always feel not 100%, not ill go to work etc,, latest step back is great spin 2 weeks ago then stomach pains, headaches general fatigue. Every time I go to doctor bloods are ok. did a light hour last Sunday, yes stayed off bike for a week, did a light hour on the turbo Thu and a decent hour this morning, did everything I should have, cup of tea, shower, stay in house all day. Cross fingers, diet wise I eat plenty of fruit, drink plenty of water, sleep 7-8 hours, yes it's bloody frustrating....

okgo

The above sounds very unusual. Bear in mind Op is probably doing over 20 hours a week at the minute you could understand getting ill, one ride a week? That would worry me.