At the risk of sounding like a politican, it depends. For myself, my general rule is if the illness if from the neck up, then I bundle up and run. If it is in the chest, I stay indoors. The key is not to take so much time off that you lose fitness while resting enough to recover. Colds are often a sign of overtraining. In my recent case, it was the result of flying cross country in a crowded airplane. So, I did the workouts I could, not expecting great times, something to consider of you are sick and do run, I suggest thinking of it as just getting in the miles and not care about the time. If the cold is likely to be caused by overtraining (and how do I know that?-see below) than back off the training, do some cross training and take some naps. No kidding. Naps are, next to ice, a runners best friend. Remember, your body gets stronger when it is resting. So, when you are sick, take the Nyquil, watch network television, read Scientific American, whatever it takes to get you to sleep and think long term. Get over the cold, watch out for the over training and get back to your running!
Signs you are overtraining
If there is one subject that Runner's World beats to death, it is this one. Signs of overtraining include the following:
Lack of motivation-oh jeez, not another 10 miler! Didn't I do that last week?
Feeling tired all the time, right Honey, I'll take out the trash, in a minute...............................
Being short tempered when you are normally easy going
Not recovering from the previous day's run, even when it was a "recovery" run
Your effort remains high, but your times plateau or worse, you get slower
Notice any of these symptoms before you caught your cold? Now, you can see the use of a training diary in noting trends. Something to think about! Stay warm!
No comments:
Post a Comment