Training while sick, good idea or bad?
209
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2322 days
Joe_H posted 8 weeks ago.
my .02 it may have been too early to come back especially with an infection. the general rule is if it's above the neck you can still workout but my lowly non-doctor opinion is to get thru your meds then get back to the hard workouts.
not sure if the lightheadness is from the illness or you bonking -low blood sugar due to hard workouts and not enough fuel. trial and error is one way to figure it out but if you know you got a big workout coming then you have to fuel up for it.
good luck and hope u feel better soon.
385
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109 days
jtrimom posted 8 weeks ago.
I have 4 kids too, and I usually do 2 workouts (45 min to an hour each) back to back (just b/c I can't have both am and pm time slots- my husband likes to run too) I find that if I take a gel or something in b/t workouts, I am fine, but if we are talking about a long bike or long run, I just take in a lot during the workout. Of course I am what feels like constantly eating throughout the day- fruits, nuts, I have all sorts of "healthy" snacks in my purse, in the car. I have 3 regular meals (regular, haha, usually enormous) but I graze throughout the day.
As far as your feeling weak- it's probably mostly that you pushed your "sick" workouts too hard. Did you have fever at all with your strep? I am useless if I have a fever, but I usually just step it down a notch if I am feeling under the weather, to sort of "sweat it out" but not get overly exhausted.
15
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61 days
sheracr posted 8 weeks ago.
Experience with very similar situations leads me to suggest that you should allow about three days off; it is just when you start to feel better that you go out and train and your body gets 'distracted' from fighting your condition and you end up right back in bed where you started. Better to take 2 or 3 straight recovery days than 10 days worth of poor workouts. Hopefully you are at a point in your training cycle that you will not miss or can reschedule critical workouts.
As for calories, try Ensure, it is easy to drink and a good source of calories, slam one right when you get in from the workouts.
758
Member
1082 days
dr_rios_ec posted 8 weeks ago.
Hi there dear fellow athlete:
You seem to suffer from the very same problem that most of us suffer....not giving enough time to our bodies to recover or heal when we are sick(trust me I just came back from a bad case).
You seem to have a full schedule being a triathlete and a mom, so you better start getting some adjustments in order to avoid more serious illneses or injuries or both.
Take in mind that the body when is fighting an infection is going already in overdrive( did you noticed a higher HR in your monitor??). All our defences are trying to destroy and get rid of wich ever bug (virus and/or bacteria) that is infecting the body. If you put that plus a couple of sessions of training, you are putting your body under a big stress that can even worsen your condition. Also take into the equation that when we are sick, and under medication, we tend to sweat more and loose more electrolytes. Better take it easier next time.
On the other hand recent data, still under investigation, tend to point that a light or moderate session of aerobic training might actually help to shorten the life spam of the infection, this particulary when you suffer a viral infection, but seems to help also in a bacterial one, but I stress the point that the session should be light or moderate, not a regular one. If you miss one or two days of trainning is not going to hurt your overall schedule and conditioning in comparison of having to be out of comission in bed with heavy artillery of medications because o a case of strep infection that went bad. "Listen to your body...."
Take plenty, plenty of liquids, to flush, irrigate, hydrate and revitalize your body.
Now as a doctor I really worry about you ending up with a low preassure after your training, that should really hit the alert switch! That is not good...lightheadness, dizzines, nausea/vomiting, not good if they happen on a pretty regular basis. Might be a reason you are running with a low tank or even empty tank. That of course might make you leaner, lighter, thinner, but, also you body is going to start consuming itself, loosing mass, weakening your inmune system and actually causing all harm more than any good.
Might be a good time to run some blood work and basic blood chemistry just to check how is your hemoglobin and glucose. But for sure you need to increase your caloric intake to at least boost your system to sustain activity without getting all descompesated. Getting sick everytime we train does not equal a great workout.
I wish you a speedy recovery, and best of luck in your next event!
Keep us updated how that strep infection is going alright?
Hasta la vista
-Santiago
"Man!! Defeat is worse than dying, cause´you have to live with it" -My Dad
"It ain´t about how hard you can hit...it is how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward"-Rocky Balboa
758
Member
1082 days
dr_rios_ec posted 8 weeks ago.
tri-ac wrote:
dr rios, welcome back!
Thanks Tri-ac...I am so glad to be back after a long period of crazy work and an injury....
So glad to be back!
-Santiago
"Man!! Defeat is worse than dying, cause´you have to live with it" -My Dad
"It ain´t about how hard you can hit...it is how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward"-Rocky Balboa
217
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145 days
iamtb13 posted 8 weeks ago.
So glad to have a real Doctor back in the house! The rest of us just play one on TV. Welcome back!
26
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237 days
TonisFirstTri posted 8 weeks ago.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. Esp. Dr. Rios. Despite posting my concerns, I kept right on training anyway. I don't feel terrible, but I don't feel great either.
I think the Strep is under control, but everything in your post sounded familiar to me. I have not been listening to my body at all, but rather focusing on the training schedule. It is SO HARD to stop training when you feel like you are in a groove. I am going to take tomorrow and possibly the next day off. Drink fluids. Eat. If I don't feel back to normal on Monday, I will get some bloodwork and hope I didn't make everything worse by sticking to the schedule despite how bad I felt. I am so glad I posted this and got your feedback. Otherwise I may have been to stubborn to take a rest. Good advice. Thank you!
And jtrimom, based on your description, I am definitely not eating enough. Thanks for that feedback. I will work on adding at least a shake and a snack to my current diet.
Don't know what I would do with out this forum! Thanks!
I feel like crap right now and I am not sure why. I was diagnosed with Strep on Monday but I caught it early and started meds right away. Tuesday I felt fine so I trained both am and pm. Wednesday felt horrible and had to skip my work out.
But I made another mistake. When I train both am and pm, which is not often, I rarely consume enough calories to make up for the extra burn, and end up feeling light headed with very low blood pressure. I am not avoiding the calories at all, I just can't seem to get enough unless that becomes my main focus for the day and with four kids, well...you know the story.
So what's the diagnosis. Did I make a huge mistake training with an infection going on? Or is my problem more likely calorie related? When you train am/pm or do a brick, how do you know how to adjust your calorie intake?
I'd especially love to hear from the ladies on this, and even more so if you are a busy mom. Thanks!