Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Suggestions for Running With A COLD?

My first marathon is next Saturday, the 15th. I have been so excited for it and so ready, and then OUCH. I have gotten sick- I have the worst cold ever. Congestion, cough, sore throat. Yuck. I am so worried that I won't be better by next Saturday! Has this happened to any of you? Any suggestions? I feel like even if I am miraculously feeling better, my body is still exhausted and I'm worried about being able to do it! (Just my luck.)

5 comments:

Janice {Run Far} said...

oh man.. this has not happened to me, but I would think you need all the rest you can get. With one week to go, I would say to rest rest rest and then the day before try running 3-4 and see how you feel. Then again, I have not run a marathon with a cold.... Good luck. I hope you start feeling better.
HAve you ever tried those Zicam swabs? They go up the nose and you swab the inside... I swear it cuts the time of a cold in half.... Try it.

gba_gf said...

First off, I love your blog. I have not run a marathon at all, only Half's, and never with a cold. So, why, you ask, am I commenting on your blog? Well, I caught a cold right before I gave birth to my 3rd child.

No no, It's not the same, I know. But is it? Since conventional decongestant cold medicine will dehydrate you, my suggestion is to treat yourself the way you would treat a child who's too young for medication. Clear fluids (maybe even add salt to your soup?), humidify your room, use saline spray for your nose, and sleep/rest whenever you can. The danger with the cold I would think would be the cough, so the clear fluids are to deal with that.

The most interesting thing for me though, is that my body "paused" my cold for labor and delivery. My Dr suggested that it was the stress of labor that saved me from my symptoms. So I guess what I'm saying is: Hopefully a marathon is as stressful as labor..

Good luck!

Keekee said...

You sound just like me the week before my last marathon in Sept. I had a nasty cough, head cold, etc. I tried Zicam and I think that it might have helped a little. THe morning of the race I took some advil but stayed away from other meds. THe morning of the race I just stuck kleenex in my short pockets, drank a lot of water and sucked it up. I figured I had trained for months and was not going to let me cold stop me. In the end, I felt pretty good, I could tell my energy stores were not as I would have liked but I lived and qualified for Boston too! So- mind over matter, you can do it. Just make sure to get lots of rest and fluids before and after. Best of luck and healthy wishes

Lisa said...

I'm sorry you're not feeling well. Most colds play themselves out in 7 to 10 days, so you should be fine by then. Make sure you get plenty of rest.

Four days before my marathon, I got a cold. I took every herbal supplement out there to try to heal myself. On the morning of the marathon, I woke up with no congestion and felt fine. I think like the pp said, it has to do with the body's reaction to stress. I felt fine starting the race, but dealt with terrible "runner's trots" (sorry if TMI) during the race. I found out later that large doses of vitamin c can cause that. Lesson learned. My advice-- stop loading yourself with vitamin c several days before the race.

I am sure you'll be fine. Hey... you are not missing any key runs and resting during your taper. It's a good thing.

Good Luck!!!!

Robyn said...

Yes, it did happen to me. I was so sick with a sinus infection so I got as much sleep as I could. I did as little running as I could. You should be tapering now anyway, so that's probably not a problem. I tried to eat really well, not too much sugar, lots of whole foods to heal the body. Good luck!! I was much better by race day, I am sure you will be too!