When you are maybe feeling a little under the weather, do you.... (Page 2)

Glad to get the support of a fellow crazy. I see so many people post that they hold off on training "so they don't make things worse." I increase my training because I am absolutely convinced that it makes me get better, faster. Does anyone have real data that supports the "training while sick will make you worse" mantra?

Left Brain posted recently that an illness blazed its way through their house but the only ones not to get sick were the chlorine junkies (swimmers). I thought that was interesting. (LB you can correct me if I have misquoted you)

Edited by wannabefaster 2014-02-07 7:33 PM

Everyone's body is different but....I know from many, many years of experience that if I do a hard workout when I have a minor illness, or any kind of workout if the virus has gotten into my chest, that it's just going to lead to a long, drawn-out battle with cold/flu plus asthma complications that will cost me far more volume and quality of training than if I just took a few days easy or off. I'm sure it has something to do with having asthma in my case--it makes one more susceptible to respiratory complications. I've had to DNS or barely finished races that were really, really important (NCAA nationals, a marathon, conference championships in college) due to "training through" illnesses for an important race. I'd like it if my body behaved better, but it doesn't.

That being said, I don't tend to get sick nearly as often as most people at work (and teachers are always exposed to lots of viruses). Maybe it does have something to do with my training--elevated temperature and chlorine and all that. When I do get sick, I typically have a minor illness (unless I try to train hard through it) early when it's "going around"; others who get it later become much sicker for longer periods. It's a very consistent pattern for me--maybe I "test drive" the viruses, or have a lot of immunity from living in China where a lot of them originate?