Avoiding sickness and what am I doing wrong

neuk01642

Hey all
Just looking for some advice and probably going to be what I'm expecting but wanted to ask.
I'm a 42 year old cyclist, about 6' tall and around 175lbs. Been riding for around 6 years with a couple of breaks due to injuries and kids but all told probably riding 5 years.
I seem to be getting sick a lot over the last few months. Never anything serious just heavy colds, sinus infections and chest infections and its beginning to become a bind as I'm missing out on key base miles.

In terms of weekly effort, I'm doing around 100 miles commuting a week (probably averaging 17mph and about 1000ft of climbing a day) and idealy around 50-70 miles on the weekend (18-19mph 2000-4000ft). There's also about 1 sportive a month during the season. This doesn't sound like an excessive work load to me and last year I wasn't commuting but I was up at 4am doing interval sessions 5 days a week instead which for my money were much more intense.

Diet wise I eat reasonably well. Good balance of fruit veg carbs and proteins. Could I eat better, of course I could eat more fruit and veg and I have a dreadfully sweet tooth and I'm from the north east of England so I like a pie.

My recovery routine isn't great. Never have time for stretching or warm downs but do try to keep on top of rehydration.
My question is has anyone else experienced a pretty dramatic dip in Health and form? I can't believe its due to going from 41 to 42 but could be wrong and I don't feel like I'm pushing myself harder that a year ago. Just want to be able to sustain a consistent level of health so I can keep riding through the winter and hit spring in form rather than fat.
Any clues secrets hints and tips appreciated
Ta
Matt
Ps sorry for the ramble!

themogulman

Think you answered the question yourself when you say you could eat better.

Ride, recover and repeat. You don't mention any recovery.

To me sounds like you are pushing too hard for what your body can cope with. Highly recommend some yoga.

neuk01642

thanks for the response. I'd tend to agree but for the fact I was doing as much if not more last year and don't remember feeling this beat up all the time.
I conceded recovery time is a premium. I give myself two days off a week.
Was thinking diet might be the key so will think about that.
Anything key I need to look at in terms of diet? What to go for what to avoid?
Any specific type of yoga? Seen online exercises I could do at home after the kids are in bed but doing a class is out. No time no money.

cyco2

You are doing all the right things, I think, so I would suggest you limit human contact. The likely hood of your infections. It may be that your immune system is struggling like mine was last winter when I caught 3 colds.

maryka

Go to your GP and get bloodwork done. Don't take advice from a internet forum on stuff that's been going on for several months and/or is a major change from what's happened in the past (all else being equal). Get some tests and rule out anything wrong first, then look to your diet, routine, etc. to see if anything can be changed or improved.

themogulman

There is a series of road.cc yoga stuff on youtube. worth a look.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ34AyBvRMU

Thats part 1. lots of parts and its a bit long but once you know what your doing its quick and simple.

Diet. Just lots of good stuff. Fruit veg etc. I use a juicer as i dont like much veg. Beetroot,Celery, cucumber, ginger and carrot with a bit of pinapple juice.

Also 2 days off a week is fine but maybe try a 3 weeks train 1 week easy. even 2/1 if you are pushing hard.

I would say however if you start to feel ill stop the training and dont start until you feel good again.

Take care.

neuk01642

Thanks all. Great advice.
Diet will be the first thing and if things don't improve then trip to the docs.
Will try a 4 week cycle as well and see how that works out
Thanks again

Matt

frisbee

Doctor's waiting rooms are great places to catch new colds and an "expert" telling you that you have a slightly elevated white blood cell count that indicates you are recovering from a cold is always useful to know when you are recovering from a cold.

meanredspider

I'm in the camp that thinks maybe you aren't giving yourself enough rest. Commuting reasonable distances is hard work - not because of the riding but because of the pesky work day between rides. I remember doing my first multi-day ride (Ireland E2E). When I spoke to ride organiser, I told him what riding I'd been doing (30-mile RT 2000ft commute) and he said I'd breeze it because there was no work day too. He was right.

Improving your diet will help but I wonder if you've got yourself into a loop of riding a lot, getting run down, getting a cold, riding a lot less (and losing what you've built up), and then pushing too hard again...

Better to build up gradually, pacing yourself a bit more and resting a bit more and staying healthy. I could tell I was pushing too hard because my HR would drift downwards over the working week as I fatigued - Fridays were a grind - and Monday mornings were too (quite common amongst longer-distance commuters I've understood).

peddlingmadness

cyco2 wrote:

You are doing all the right things, I think, so I would suggest you limit human contact. The likely hood of your infections. It may be that your immune system is struggling like mine was last winter when I caught 3 colds.

Agree with this. Also not sure how old your kids are but, on the grand scheme of things young children are bug carrying little monsters who need to be run through a sheep dip each day they return from school, :shock: Try washing your hands more and don't not rub your eyes or nose and get a yearly flu jab from boots for £12.99

jgsi

Root of your problem, ruling out any medical reasons for which everything else is superceded... is the fact that you were up at 4am doing intervals 5 days a week.strewth .. recipe for total downfall as time wears on.. as it has... that and lifestyle choices.
I dont suggest commuting is bad for you (pennies in the pocket)... but in the cause of a structured training regime, they can too easily become rides of 'poor quality'.... just my opinion. There is many a coach who would ban a client from commuting full stop.

meanredspider

peddlingmadness wrote:

cyco2 wrote:

You are doing all the right things, I think, so I would suggest you limit human contact. The likely hood of your infections. It may be that your immune system is struggling like mine was last winter when I caught 3 colds.

Agree with this. Also not sure how old your kids are but, on the grand scheme of things young children are bug carrying little monsters who need to be run through a sheep dip each day they return from school, :shock: Try washing your hands more and don't not rub your eyes or nose and get a yearly flu jab from boots for £12.99

If this were true, primary school teachers would off sick the whole time... It's the job of little kids to get sick so they build immunity for when they grow up and cycle a lot.

LegendLust

Don't think of your food in terms of 'diet' rather think in terms of nutrition.

Are you eating enough protein? Are you eating enough good fats and oily fish? These really do help with the immune system. Always think of eating foods with the most nutrition packed into them. No 'empty' foods.
Also look at nutrition timing. Eating the right sort of foods straight AFTER your training.

Also, are you under more stress? And are you sleeping enough? Again, these are detrimental to the immune system.

LegendLust

JGSI wrote:

Root of your problem, ruling out any medical reasons for which everything else is superceded... is the fact that you were up at 4am doing intervals 5 days a week.strewth .. recipe for total downfall as time wears on.. as it has... that and lifestyle choices.
I dont suggest commuting is bad for you (pennies in the pocket)... but in the cause of a structured training regime, they can too easily become rides of 'poor quality'.... just my opinion. There is many a coach who would ban a client from commuting full stop.

Not neccessarily. My training is done riding to work. Although I'm lucky in that I live on the outskirts of a city and can get into the country before work. The ride from work is then via the shortest way and is always at recovery ride pace.

cyco2

meanredspider wrote:

peddlingmadness wrote:

cyco2 wrote:

You are doing all the right things, I think, so I would suggest you limit human contact. The likely hood of your infections. It may be that your immune system is struggling like mine was last winter when I caught 3 colds.

Agree with this. Also not sure how old your kids are but, on the grand scheme of things young children are bug carrying little monsters who need to be run through a sheep dip each day they return from school, :shock: Try washing your hands more and don't not rub your eyes or nose and get a yearly flu jab from boots for £12.99

If this were true, primary school teachers would off sick the whole time... It's the job of little kids to get sick so they build immunity for when they grow up and cycle a lot.

Teachers system would have already hardened and would only suffer when a new strain of virus is introduced.

meanredspider

cyco2 wrote:

Teachers system would have already hardened and would only suffer when a new strain of virus is introduced.

I had 3 kids under the age of 4 that went through school together - I didn't experience any noticeable difference to my sickness rates. I think it's more to do with your immunity strength (as generally hinted above: properly rested, fed, relaxed etc) rather than what you're exposed to from your kids.

Zingzang

neuk01642 wrote:

Hey all
Just want to be able to sustain a consistent level of health so I can keep riding through the winter and hit spring in form rather than fat.

You'd be well advised to swap that desire for a less ambitious but more important one: getting well again.
Take my word for it; you don't know how wretched you'll get if your present condition takes a bigger nose dive. Read some of my earlier posts if you want to get a picture of what a really screwed up immune system can do to your cycling, your health, in fact your whole life. See a doctor, and take no chances.

themogulman

Seeing a doctor surely must be a last resort if you are really sick. Not just a bit run down from lots of cycling. I would expect them to tell you to stop wasting their time and look after yourself better.

The NHS has got better things to do than do blood tests for slightly run down cyclists.

neuk01642

Thanks all.
Opinion confirms what I thought.
I'm sticking with commuting for the time being. Not necessarily seeing it as part of a structured training regime beyond keeping the legs moving and, as I'm riding a 42/18 single speed, working on power up hills as an inevitable consequence.

I get that most coaches would cut the commuting out as bad miles but I'm not really in that league. just looking to hit the spring in reasonable shape to take on a few stiff sportive (including Tour of the Peaks).

I think it's a case of stepping off the gas for a week and getting back on a level and then easing back in.

Also when I said 'diet' I wasn't thinking 'diet' as in Atkins, I know it's about nutrition and fueling exertions and fueling recovery I've just not been very conscientious about it. I think it's time to start taking that seriously.

Great to hear about the difference between multi day rides v's commuting. That's hopefully going to be something I've looking at next year.

And I'll definitely look at Yoga.

Avoiding human contact isn't going to be easy. Got a 3 and a 6 year old and they're pretty huggy and I don't think 'don't touch daddy as he doesn't want to get ill and miss his cycling' would go down well with them or my wife.

Zingzang - Sound like you've had a bit of a mare of it! I'm just getting back to it after snapping my scapula in half in May. 3 months off the road (1.5 of which with no riding at all), and it's only been in the last month I've been pain free but it still feels hideously grindy when I rotate my shoulder.

Thanks again for all the advice.

tangled_metal

maryka wrote:

Go to your GP and get bloodwork done. Don't take advice from a internet forum on stuff that's been going on for several months and/or is a major change from what's happened in the past (all else being equal). Get some tests and rule out anything wrong first, then look to your diet, routine, etc. to see if anything can be changed or improved.

Seriously worth taking this advice, it might not come to much but worth making sure. I only say this because it was in the news recently about how GPs had been given updated advice on symptoms and one of them was long term tiredness. IF, and it is a big IF here, you have a level of tiredness that is not usual there could be some medical explanation. A GP / specialist who sorts this out for you is better than a thousand internet experts (espcially if one of them is me!!!).

BTW fatigue is now considered one of the very early signs of potential cancer that most of the time gets written off by patients or GPs hence the nedw advice in an easily accessible and relatively simple table of symptoms to look out for with the relevent actions. Not saying anything about what is your cause for tiredness and other things relating to your cycling but a simple appointment for an annual check up is not going to harm you and could help you. BTW i had a mate with one of those indeterminate conditions that doctors accept is there but can not work out, yet, what is the cause. It is one of those that leaves you weaker than usual and feeling rotten. For him it comes and goes then returns many years later. Another friend had complete tiredness and eventually got diagnosed as a coeliac and after cutting out gluten and other stuff made a 100% recovery very quickly. She was amazed at how simple a diagnosis completely changed her life. She now has loads of kids, new job and is living the life she dreampt of. Before the doctor's visit she felt she had no future since she just could not do much. In both those cases their condition just came on suddenly and unexpectedly. A quick change from their life before.

LegendLust

neuk01642 wrote:

Thanks all.
Opinion confirms what I thought.
I'm sticking with commuting for the time being. Not necessarily seeing it as part of a structured training regime beyond keeping the legs moving and, as I'm riding a 42/18 single speed, working on power up hills as an inevitable consequence.

I get that most coaches would cut the commuting out as bad miles but I'm not really in that league. just looking to hit the spring in reasonable shape to take on a few stiff sportive (including Tour of the Peaks).

I think it's a case of stepping off the gas for a week and getting back on a level and then easing back in.

Also when I said 'diet' I wasn't thinking 'diet' as in Atkins, I know it's about nutrition and fueling exertions and fueling recovery I've just not been very conscientious about it. I think it's time to start taking that seriously.

Great to hear about the difference between multi day rides v's commuting. That's hopefully going to be something I've looking at next year.

And I'll definitely look at Yoga.

Avoiding human contact isn't going to be easy. Got a 3 and a 6 year old and they're pretty huggy and I don't think 'don't touch daddy as he doesn't want to get ill and miss his cycling' would go down well with them or my wife.

Zingzang - Sound like you've had a bit of a mare of it! I'm just getting back to it after snapping my scapula in half in May. 3 months off the road (1.5 of which with no riding at all), and it's only been in the last month I've been pain free but it still feels hideously grindy when I rotate my shoulder.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Unless your ride to work is stop start with loads of traffic lights - then I would relook at your approach to 'communting'.

I ride to work. I don't commute. That's because I realised that if I got up earlier, and devised a few routes, that I could go training for an hour and a half whilst 'getting' to where I work. All my coach needs to do is devise various sessions within this time frame to meet my goals. Then I ride home in the evening the most direct way which is about 8 miles, and this is always done at a recovery ride level.

meanredspider

It's a pet hate of mine that so many people assume commuting (home to work and back) is somehow "lesser" cycling. Often I read statements like "It's good enough for commuting". Just because of where a ride starts and finishes doesn't really mean anything. As it was I was lucky enough to have a commute that was prettier, quieter and probably hillier than most people's weekend rides (how many of you see deer and dolphins in the same ride let alone "commute"?). And I'd never do the ride on a "commuting" bike - it was either the Volagi or the Cube MTB shod with Ice Spiker Pros. And, yes, I'd often treat it as a training ride - either on the way in or a 50-mile detour heading home - with views like this

neuk01642

'Unless your ride to work is stop start with loads of traffic lights - then I would relook at your approach to 'communting'.

I ride to work. I don't commute. That's because I realised that if I got up earlier, and devised a few routes, that I could go training for an hour and a half whilst 'getting' to where I work. All my coach needs to do is devise various sessions within this time frame to meet my goals. Then I ride home in the evening the most direct way which is about 8 miles, and this is always done at a recovery ride level.'

LegendLust - you said the above. How do you mean reload at my approach? I'm not in a position to really invest any more time at the moment and given the fact that more sleep seams to be a consistent theme of responses here it seems a little counter intuitive. Also as much as I'd like to get out and do a couple of hours before work it would pretty much ruin me for actually doing my job.

I can see this becoming more feasible in the summer when there is more light but at the moment my routine of 4-5 days of commuting (occasionally broken up with interval sessions) and the a longer 'training ride' at the weekend is kind of what I can manage around a full time job and two young kids.

Like I said, if you've got some insight to share as to how I can alter my routine within the very strict parameters I'm working in then I'm all ears and eager to learn, grow and change

bobmcstuff

You've not been doing this have you? http://www.theonion.com/video/centers-f ... -to,34423/

ai_1

neuk01642 wrote:

Thanks all.
Opinion confirms what I thought....

I beg to differ!
Everyone else's opinions are just more relatively uninformed opinions. Yours is probably still the most relevant. You have no confirmation of anything IMO. If I was you and I felt that I was suffering a long running series of minor illnesses without any obvious explanation I'd see a doctor about it. Maybe you're overdoing things. Maybe your diet, stress and/or sleep habits are to blame. Maybe there's some underlying medical cause. Maybe you've just been unlucky. I have no idea and neither does anyone else on this thread. So don't rely on us for help. Unfortunately we can't give you much.

I mean seriously, there are people here saying you should limit human contact! I for one would want a damn good reason before taking that advice! Am I the only one who thinks that's ludicrous?

manxshred

I went through a period of always being ill. A cold that should clear up in a few days would always take about 2 weeks to clear up with sinusitis and feeling crap. I'd normally feel better for about 2 weeks, then it would start again.

I paid for a full medical check at a doctor that specializes in these. The result was that I have allergies. Not bad enough to sneeze and have a runny nose all the time, but bad enough that my sinuses were always inflamed. I would get the slightest cold, and I would be out for 2 weeks.

But, I have no idea if that is what is your issue. Get it checked out properly, and not just a visit to a GP, but a full medical checkup.

themogulman

This is whats wrong the the world today.

Its gone from "i feel a bit tired and getting more colds than normal, but I get up at 5 am and do training" to "you may have cancer""you need a full medical check up""Avoid contact with people"

Have a look at how you are living your life.Diet, sleep, stress and exercise and adjust them so you will improve them all. If after doing this for a number of weeks you still feel crap maybe go and see a GP. Why do we feel the need seek medical help as soon as we dont feel 100%. A bit of common sense surely. When you are training you are unlikely to feel full of energy most of the time.

Rant over back to work.

maryka

themogulman wrote:

This is whats wrong the the world today.

...

Rant over back to work.

Yep definitely something wrong with the world today. After all, why cost the NHS a £100 visit to the GP to rule out anything seriously wrong when you can wait and hope and think all is fine and possibly cost them £1000s later on cancer treatment or who knows what?

themogulman

Why cost the NHS £100 before you have a look at the issue yourself.

People seem to be wanting a diagnosis/treatment of every little thing.

I work within the NHS and the amount of appointments wasted by malingering is astounding never mind the failed appointments.

As I said if after a number of weeks see a GP, but take some responsibility for your own health.

graeme_s-2

I used to end up with a cold in the run up to every event I did, so I'd always be racing (triathlons) while under the weather. I happened to end up riding with a sports nutritionist/physiologist during a sportive (he worked with Tom Daley among other Olympians) and I asked him about it. He recommended looking at how much sleep I was getting and focussing on hand washing.

I would have said I was fairly hygienic before, but I'm really fastidious about washing my hands properly and regularly now and have had far fewer colds and illnesses since. I work at a University, and even managed to get through freshers week without picking anything up this year, which is probably the first time in over a decade!

jimwalsh

get more sleep.

really that is the key. getting up at 5 am everyday to train will smash you eventually when combined with a full days work and the demands of young children.

Its fine for pro athletes to get up early to train at they will train twice a day but have a big feed and a sleep in the middle of the day.

cut back the miles. make sure you are eating well and sleeping well. a month or two of reduced load and increased rest will pay dividends in the long term.

look at periodising your training so you build peak rest in cycles. recovery days should be built in to your week. Overtraining can happen to non elites as well. I have worked with many amateur triathletes who have ended up with serious overtraining syndrome