Prairie to Peak Running

‘Tis the season to get sick. With my son in daycare part time, our family out and about on a daily basis, and running on less sleep than ideal, I am bound to catch something! I am a ‘push through the pain’ type of athlete, as are many of us ultra runners. We pride ourselves in overcoming hurdles and boulders to fight bad weather and a million blisters to finish a run or race. We work on our mental skills to be able to be strong and resilient athletes, yet we are told to call it a day when the cold or flu hits us. In mid-October when I came down with the stomach flu and a bit of a sore throat, I knew what was best for me but still needed to hear it from an outside source. Resting was hard! It was even harder when I had things to do and people relying on me. All I wanted to do was recover and be back on my feet running, or at least playing magna-tiles with my son. 

Joe Uhan (2021) from I Run Far put it this way: running while sick takes vital energy resources necessary for recovery away from the immune system, and redirects it toward exercise, decreasing the power of your immune system. Exercising also increases core body temperature even further, which will facilitate greater viral spread. Anecdotal evidence notes that running performance can be affected even weeks after symptoms have abated. Sickness can really knock you down, don’t mess with the flu! I think many of us have to be reminded of this. 

On a more positive note, David Roche reminds us that when you take a downtime to rest and recover you don’t actually lose much fitness. In fact, your endurance performance can be maintained for 15 weeks if you are maintaining just two sessions per week (Roche & Roche, 2021 ). Further, in a study from the Journal Of Applied Physiology when athletes reduced their training from six to 10 hours per week to one 35-minute session, the athletes had no reduction in VO₂ max. And even if there is total detraining, it is easy to bounce it back up with some training (Roche & Roche, 2021). In fact, after taking a hiatus to rest and recover, oftentimes athletes come back stronger. They take the time to lower their overall stress, repair what is run down or broken, and then consciously ease back into training at a logical speed, all helping to build back up with strength and balance. 

I wasn’t sick for long and feel like I have ‘bounced back’ already. I know there will be more illnesses in the future for me, but until then, I will aim to stay healthy, hydrated, and fuelled!

References

Roche, D., & Roche, D. (2021, December 16). Why downtime may lead to breakthroughs. Trail Runner Magazine. https://www.trailrunnermag.com/training/trail-tips-training/why-downtime-may-lead-to-breakthroughs/Uhan, J. (2021, December 25). Down with the Sickness: Guidelines for running during and after the flu. iRunFar. https://www.irunfar.com/down-with-the-sickness-guidelines-for-running-during-and-after-the-flu