Cycling with a cold or mild flu?

spoke2cun

Have any of you trained with either of the above or is it best to avoid it? Have a dose Now for two weeks and getting fed up at not getting out on the bike especially as the weather is not too bad here at the minute.

rollingscone

It can be done, but tread carefully, I ended up with Pneumonia a year ago and while it was a viral case, my wife tried her best to blame cycling.

The main thing is to avoid letting cold damp air into your lungs, the Graeme Obree technique seems to work fairly well.

krissovo

I was the same, after 10 days of no cycle I went out last Thursday for 30km despite not being 100%. Nearly collapsed when I got home, heart rate was up at its peaks on my usual 30k from 170 on average to 185. Was really light headed for rest of the day and then took another week off as a cough developed.

i will not do that again!

beauf

My rule is, neck up yes, neck down no. Ignored this once when I had it in my chest (cycled in a winter fog - cold damp air) and was wiped out for months.

Micilin Muc

If it has travelled below your throat, don't cycle. Otherwise you should be grand.

Dotsie~tmp

Tried it once in late winter. Turned out to be a bad idea.

BadCharlie

If it's at all in your chest don't do it.

thekooman

i had a bad chest infection at the beginning of January (brought on by returning from holidays and do 70k in cold 4deg with rain weather!). after 4 days of antibiotics the cough subsided and i did some very light work on the turbo working in z1 or z2 only. my doc said it would be no hassle since i am fairly fit. but the main thing was to keep out of the weather as its the cold and wet which would hamper your recovery.

spoke2cun

Thanks everyone. It's a no then. Better leave it incase I make it worse. Could end up losing months rather than weeks.

dastardly00

if you had the flu then the last thing on your mind would be deciding to go for a spin or not! You'd be welded to the bed and barely able to move!

Pablo Rubio

Rest. I ignored my own advice and raced/trained with a mild flu last year (never again)and took ages to get over. Especially with the dose thats going round at the moment , it seems to be lingering with everyone.

seamus

Even if it's not in your chest, chances are you will feel achy and lethargic anyway, and about 5 minutes into the first hill you'll know it was a mistake. I've had days with a bad cold where just cycling home from work felt like death. You can do it, as others say if it's not in your chest, but you'll need to take it so easy you'll wonder why you're bothering at all.

For me anyway, it's very rare to get a mild cold that's just a bit of a sniffle. It's usually a proper cold or nothing at all.

'flu is something else altogether. There's no such thing as a mild 'flu. If you have the 'flu you will be wondering whether you'll ever get out of bed again, never mind go cycling.

zindicato

did one last week never again! Had flu symptoms for days and 38.2 temp the night before the cycle next day temp was down( missus is a nurse and she was at work her last words to me were not to go out) but determined to meet up with friends as they were only going to greystones and back going there was manageable but going back was just a big struggle all the way back and when ive arrived home chills and my temperature was back missus was right my temp was down that time cos the paracetamol was masking it and coming back from the cycle missed my time to take my paracetamol so when i arrived home im spiking again.... should have listened really ... now im paying for it still sick:-(

Mechanic365

spoke2cun wrote: »

Have any of you trained with either of the above or is it best to avoid it? Have a dose Now for two weeks and getting fed up at not getting out on the bike especially as the weather is not too bad here at the minute.

The only way to cure this is warmth and sweat, if you have a turbo or rollers get on them and youll be good in no time. riding outside will kill you like it did to alot of people i know

DKO

Yes, careful with the dose of flu on the go now. Really crappy. I got it and got 'welded to the bed' as someone put it, never had proper flu before.