Wasn't sure whether to post this or not but thought might as well anyway. At the minute I am suffering from a cold, the 2nd one I've had in just over 4 weeks, the problem is it keeps happening after doing road work. If I go down the gym and do the training there its fine but lately I've been trying some interval training and find the running machines in the gym a lil bit easy compared to a good ole sprint on the road! Its irritating me as this will now effect how I train in other areas and especially since I could be fighting in a few weeks time its the last thing I need. I've been told to wear a woolly hat as this will help but the weather is getting warm and I'm running in the day when its really warm so don't feel the need for a hat. I do go out wrapped up as well, pair of pants and a t-shirt and jumper, so I'm really at a loss why I'm coughing and spluttering my guts up again! Does anyone else find they have this problem or am I just weird? Any tips or info would be great, cheers
Yatezy! Sorry you're down with the flu hun. First of all, you can't say with 100% surety that its the outdoor work that is making you sick. I find wearing those ummm, I don't know what you boys call it (underarmour or something) under your shirt keeps your temp more regulated when you run outside. Stop being such a wuss as well
You probably aren't eating enough fruit to maintain your immune system or else you have a rubbish immune system. Are you warming up before you start running? Wearing a light jumper and hat is handy to keep cold out and when you get too hot you just take them off and get on with running.
I had a similar thing when I started running outside, it just takes your body a little time to adapt to the different conditions. If it's just a cold it's viral so there's not much you can do about it, just sit it out and give your body the best chance of sorting itself out. Vitamin C and Echinacea are well known immune system boosters, make sure you're getting plenty of rest and as The Count said make sure you're getting plenty of fruit and veg.
Another thing for you to try is in the morning have a warm shower then turn it down a notch, ie. from 8 to 7. Just relax into the cold and let your body adapt. Repeat for a while then try one day/night taking it down 2 notches. As soon as your breath wheeses (you will KNOW when this is happening, believe me) and you have issues with breath and such because of the sudden cold turn the shower back up to warm again. Wait until you have warmed again and recover, then just finish your shower and go. Trying to be in too much cold too often close together puts a lot of strain on you. The people who swim in swimming pools at like 6 degrees all the time don't actually get colds.
Being cold does not give you a cold. Regardless of what people try and tell you, its an old wives tale. Colds are caused by viruses. Viruses have trouble living in cold weather, so in actual fact, being outdoors in the cold weather has a lesser chance of getting a cold. Being cold for a short time also has no appreciable effect on your immune status. Having 2 colds in 4 weeks is just plain bad luck. You happened to come into near contact with a person (or something that a person with a cold coughed on) that were different strains of virus. Once you have a cold, you are essentially immune to it, and if you get it again, you will hardly notice. Get a different strain however, and you will have cold symptoms again until you body kills it. Viruses also take time to 'incubate' in your body. Normally taking 2-3 days after contact with the virus before you see symptoms, so it really is impossible to actually know when you contracted a cold. Contrary to popular belief, Vitamin C before a cold will not prevent you from getting a cold. However, Vitamin C during a cold can help it disappear faster, as vit c is needed to create some cells of the immune systems. You will need large doses, 4000mg or more a day. Vit C is non-toxic, anything you don't use your body will excrete in urine. One thing worth thinking about, if you do get colds regularly, is the possibility that you are overtraining? There is a point where to much exercise will impair your immune system.
This may also not be a "cold" at all also. It depends on if you recently changed anything within your training regimen or not. For example if you just started your road work and you have never really done it before (or even increased it) it is possible that you are getting out old toxins in the body and muscles. Sweating is one of the best ways to do this as it brings deep toxins to the surface and expels them from the body. So if you have a past of abusing your body with improper diet, smoking, drinking etc. Then this maybe something that your body is now getting rid of, though also be aware that if you are sweating a ton and running and it get's cold or windy all of the sudden this can bring on colds. Think similar to going outside right after you've taken a shower and not dried properly into the cold or wind. Your pores are open and can be exposed to all types of bacteria, viruses where they would normally be closed. I like the suggestion of underarmor as this wicks away the sweat and keeps the body warm as well so you are not wet with sweat and not as susceptible to climate changes.
Great post. As well as this, people tend to get more colds in winter simply because they spend more time indoors where nasties are more likely to be hanging around.
olive leaf extract! seriously if i get a cold it seems to hang on forever i've been taking this for quite a bit and not one cold this winter!!!! i work in a large office building so lots of sick people around and i didn't get anything.!
Cheers guys some great posts. My diet is useless so ill try eating more fruit, as ive said it just seems to be when ive tried the HIIT sessions. Even once ive finished the run as im breathing in im coughing and this continues throughout the day and evntually after a few days of chesty coughs i start getting a runny nose then its game over for a few days while i try and get rid of it. So as stated it could be my body is not used to this sort of punishment, looks like im gonna have to build into it rather than hammer it out. Ill see how it goes Cheers anyway, ASDA here we come
I'm experiencing something very similar. We've been having terrible windstorms for the last few weeks. Seems like everyone has some kind of cold or something going on. For my wife, daughter and one of her friends it actually became severe enough to make them vomit up the phlegm that had been draining into the back of their throats. (Ugh, TMI huh?) I was laid up with it last week for a few days but thought I was better. After taking a week off to get over this "sinus infection" it seems I'm not over it. I barely was able to complete 1.5 miles. I normally run 5 miles. You don't drop that much performance from taking a week off. I'm going to give it a try tomorrow and if I don't see better results I'm going to see a physician to figure out what's going on.
It could also be a case of seasonal allergies, which is often mistaken for a cold, especially at this time of the year. Consider getting that checked out.
Cold air can irritate the airways and sinuses, hence why many people have a runny nose when they come in from a nice cold run. It shouldn't last all that long though.
Yatezy, this probably won't be your problem, but I thought I'd throw it into the conversation too, just in case. Down here in London there has been a fair amount of tree pollen floating about. I don't normally get hayfever, but it's been making even me sniffly for the past few weeks. I suspect the pollen situation is much the same up there in Wirral, so there's a chance it might be making you more sniffly than usual.
Sometimes allergies get masked as a cold. If you have felt the same for a long period of time, it could very well be allergies. One thing you might try is nasal lavage.
Vit D is the big immune system vit not C -Aldi do good cheap vit D supplements ( and cheap fruit -get some down your neck). And even though being cold does not give you a cold, sudden changes in body temperature do make you succeptable to infection. Pasteur wrote papers on this -it is not new! (he gave a Chicken Anthrax - fowl are not usually succeptable to it).
Vitamin D's involvement in the immune system is more regulatory, controlling some lymphocytes and macrophages and how quickly they proliferate. Vitamin C's role on the other hand, is in the actual creation of immune cells, most importantly in the creation of anti-bodies. Both are important, but Vitamin C is the one that has actually has clinical trials showing its effectiveness. I'm unaware of any for Vit D, but that doesnt mean they don't exist and i'd be appreciative if you could point me to some. You can't compare Pasteurs work to what is going on here. He dropped the chickens core body temperature by about 8 degrees celcius. Your core body temperature will not drop significantly if you spend small amounts of time outside in the cold. If you are exercising, core temp is likely to increase anyway. So Pasteurs experiment is not relevant in this situation.
Stay away from too much Vitamin D. It is fat soluble (which means you cannot urinate it away) and it's quite possible to overdose yourself and make yourself quite sick.
I read an article about this the other day, but I can't remember where the hell it was. Basically, it said that just after a run (and presumably other equally strenuous activity too) your immune system is far less effective because your body is working hard to recover physically. And that makes you particularly susceptible to colds and flu.
