Running when (mildly) injured or ill

[praisedbebitch]

I’m training for a long distance running event next month and due to run marathon distance tomorrow as part of the recommended training plan.

Managed to strain a muscle in my thigh a couple of days ago (an abductor I think?) which is improving but still painful when stretched. Also feeling a bit poorly with a cold and stomach bug so all in all not feeling great.

Is it best to do the training run as planned so not to lose traction? Do a shorter distance? Split the full distance across two days instead?

I don’t want to injure myself further or prolong the cold/bug, but I’m really worried about losing progress/momentum, especially as last week was a rest week so it’s been two weeks since my last long run.

What do you think? Any advice is very welcome even if it’s just to pull myself together!

It sounds like you definitely shouldn't do the planned run. To be honest, with a combination of bugs and injury I would not run at all. If you feel you must then do a shorter distance, but there is a risk that you could make everything worse and miss more time. Could you do this week's run next weekend? And rest this weekend, maybe a shorter run tomorrow if you feel up to it? In the meantime drinking plenty to keep hydrated will help you feel better. Good luck!

I have a mild cold & went for an easy short run today. Generally I find that type of thing makes me feel fine, no worse, sometimes better.

Injury is much harder, need to understand what aggravates it & what to do to make it better.

Contageous type stomach bug or just general malaise off your food bug?

Re: the cold NHS guidance is anything above the neck (head cold) fine to exercise but anything below the neck (chesty cold) no exercise.

Re: injury, I wouldn't run. I injured my foot 8 weeks before doing a marathon (it was an overuse/stress type injury) so I just rested for a week then I was fine.

How does one define chesty cold vs only head cold? Genuine question. I have a feeling the dstinction is very fuzzy at best.

A chesty cold would be anything like bronchitis, a fever from infection, body aches. A head cold would be a stuffy nose, headache, sore throat and nothing more.

I’m not a runner, but a cyclist. I keep off the bike and rest if I have a chest cold, i don’t touch my bike again until I’ve been clear two days. If it’s a head cold I’ll scale back training and just do easy paced and no more than half an hour.

I guess if I was a runner I’d go for a walk in the sunshine or a gentle swim.

A few more days rest or an extra week off isn’t going to cause you to lose much fitness. Whereas turning your chesty cold into Pneumonia or risking a more serious/ severe injury will really set you back. I know how flipping frustrating it is, but I always think of the bigger picture - so all the years of fairly consistent training and then my longer term goals. I find it really helps to focus on getting better - so putting my efforts into maintaining a healthy diet, lots of sleep, keeping well hydrated. I also use some of the time I would have been training to focus on stretching and core work.

Get well and heal soon... you’ll probably find the rest (albeit unscheduled) does you the world of good anyway. I find the mental break from a training leaves me refreshed and improves motivation.

There’s a really good blog which I think you’ll find useful here: www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/the-athlete-s-survival-guide-to-the-cold-and-flu-season/

I forgot to mention - I’m always careful how I return to training. I have in the past gone back doing too much too soon and ended up sick again. Therefore I usually have a week of endurance pace/ fairly low volume first and then gradually add intensity/ duration back in so I don’t relapse. It depends where I’m at in the season though. A lot of it has been trial and error though and what works for me, which would be very different to you. I presume you have similar intensity levels with running/ points in a training cycle.

I also found it helpful to work out why I’d got ill and what I could do to avoid it in the future. Obviously that’s tricky if your child or partner is sick as it’s impossible to avoid.

Thanks for the replies, I was expecting to be told to stop making excuses and crack on!

I haven’t seen advice re: above vs below neck symptoms before so will keep it in mind.

Definitely just a head cold as only have a mild cough ‘below neck’ and if it were this alone I’d plan to run and stop early if necessary. But the stomach bug on top has made me feel weak and generally ‘ill’ so gave me pause.

Obviously my leg has made me paranoid as I’m so worried about injury that could hinder my running long term.

Think I will see how I feel in the morning and walk a shorter route if I’m up to it.

Thanks so much for being kind and helpful, I feel a bit silly putting too much thought into this but I’m working so hard towards this event I’m a bit over invested!

Gosh that link to blog is hillarious.
Ask people who are coughing & sneezing to wear a mask... WTF!?

RCT found no benefit from 12 weeks of Quercetin supplements to prevent URTI, but maybe was small reduction in length of URTI.