Should you train when you are sick

It won't rain until later, I thought as I looked down on the iPhone weather app. Twice I have been stung by that in the last week. I first made this mistake last Saturday before going for a long run through the Park. It only took 5 minutes into the long run before the iPhone was definitely proven wrong. Since then, the sniffles arrived. So much so that I had to redo my entire podcast on Tuesday night. The sniffingly on the second go-round was unbearable to listen to. 

And again, on Thursday, I cycled home through the lashing rain despite the iPhone telling me I had a clear night ahead. My fault for believing it twice. Fool me once...

With the changing of the weather, it's probably commonplace to hear more people come down with a cold. So if this happens to you, should you stop training? 

Getting a cold is NOT an excuse to just lay on the couch and do nothing. If you did that every time you didn't feel 100%, you would never develop the consistency in your training to get the results you want. However, that doesn't mean you need to go all out in your session, either. Doing a training session with moderate intensity, like cycling or walking, can help boost your immune system. It can also help with recovery and help us feel better. So if you are feeling a bit sick, do some light cardio.

However, training too hard could make you feel worse. We put our body under stress when we train. The harder we train, the more stress we put on the body. When we are healthy, we adapt to this stress. This helps increase our fitness and strength. However, when we feel sick, we can't cope with the added stress that an intense, long session will put on us. For example, if you know people doing the Dublin City Marathon in a few weeks, there will be a higher chance of them being sick a few days after the race due to the stress put on their body over the 42.2km.

If you have a fever or can't lift your head off the pillow, definitely do not train. You can afford to miss a few sessions. In most cases, if you have symptoms above the neck, like runny nose, sore throat, sneezing, then you should be able to do some form of training. If symptoms are below the neck, like coughing, body aches and a fever, then sit out and rest. 

So slow down when you feel sick but do not stop training.