We are smack in the middle of cold and flu season and whether you’ve had your flu shot or not, the chances are you will get sick at some point this winter. Of course, there are lots of things you can do to minimize those chances including getting enough sleep, washing your hands, staying hydrated, and fuelling well. But, should you pick up whatever is going around (and you are not absolutely knocked out by it), you then have to answer the big question: to train or not to train? In a sport that’s all about pushing past discomfort, it can be hard to know what the right thing is to do. The answer is: it depends.
We asked long-time Team Atomica athlete and physician Dr. Nick Pimlott, what the guidelines are for training while sick. As someone who loves to keep moving, Dr. Pimlott certainly understands the impulse to push through illness, but he also knows the implications of doing so when we shouldn’t. “If you have symptoms above the neck (sore throat, runny nose, congestion) it is okay to train lightly (a recovery type or zone 1 session),” says Dr. Pimlott.
He explains, “If you have symptoms below the neck (cough, wheezing, muscle aches and pains) don’t train. The rationale is to prevent uncommon, but serious, complications from virus infections such as myocarditis (a dangerous inflammation of the heart muscle).”
And this doesn’t mean trying to cram everything you missed into the first day your symptoms resolve. Your system is still weakened. Dr. Pimlott suggests easing back into things: “Once those symptoms have resolved the first couple of training sessions should be recovery or zone 1 sessions.”
Coach Ayesha agrees: “One of my favourite coaches, David Tilsbury Davis, always advised me to wait 24 hours after I felt 100% to restart exercise seriously. Anytime I did not adhere to ‘David’s Law,’ my illness relapsed.” She suggests instead (if symptoms are above the head), doing some easy and short training (this can be easier to achieve while riding the trainer) to induce sweat and get your endorphins pumping which can help you feel better physically and mentally.
The measured approach that Dr. Pimlott and Coach Ayesha advise is also crucial from a training perspective. I often have athletes want to pile back missed sessions from the previous week, but doing so is often very problematic as it can derail the forward momentum, not to mention the workouts on tap for the new week. While the work ethic behind this desire is commendable, adding extra load to an already compromised system is not a good idea. If you’ve missed a key workout, talk to your coach about adjusting the plan for the upcoming week. In fact, practicing the flexibility necessary to do so is itself a great exercise in training the equanimity required to compete at your best!