running with a cold

[Concordia]

Hi, i know this seems a weird question, but i happily started running in march and have been doing well (for me, i'm not fit but have lost nearly 3 stone by changing my diet as well and gone from running for 1 min before having to walk to about an hour some days).

However, in the winter i get loads of colds off the DC. i know they say not to run with a cold, but in reality this means that i would not have run at all since the second week of term - over 6 weeks now, as throughout that time i've had a runny nose, cough or whatever. if i hadn't run for 6 weeks i'd have totally lost my fitness, i've had whole weeks off at times, but what do other people do? should i give up till spring? (i've also had this problem when joining gyms etc, constant colds and hackikng coughs for large parts of winter months).

Running with a head cold is actually fine and will probably make you feel better, clearing you out a bit, providing you listen to your body and take the effort level down a notch or two compared to usual you will be fine.

However if you have a chest infection of any kind, even just chesty cough, you should rest. I am not entirely clear on reasons why, but I guess enough demands are being put on your respiratory system with a chesty cough, without adding to the load with exercise.

I tend to avoid the gym when I have a cold because of the risk of reinfection, gyms are swarming with germs [yuk emoticon] and with your immunity lowered you are likely to get something else. I also always wear gloves (weight training, not woolly ) in the gym for the same reason.

thanks, sleep, i suppose i have been kind of working on that principle - yes if runny nose but no if cough. i have asthma too (although it hasn't been too bad lately despite all the colds) so i didn't want to risk making myself really poorly.
interesting comment about gyms. have been running outside but thinking of joining the gym over winter so perhaps it isn't the place for me if my immune system is a bit iffy at the mo.

Depends if it is gym or nothing Concordia - exercise itself benefits your immune system, lots of studies showing people who do it get less illnesses....and it takes a certain amount of obsession willpower to go for a run in a howling gale or sheeting rain! Get some gym gloves and wash your hands at the end of your session, all should be fine and you won't have those horrible weeks of rebuilding your fitness again in the spring