Get Well Soon

Running Through—or After—Illness

In terms of steady, unwanted down time, trade-specific injuries are a runner's chief bane, but the same ailments that wreak havoc with non-runners' systems can also have a major impact on training and racing. So, too, can the pharmaceuticals used to treat every condition under the sun in our increasingly pill-happy society.

With injuries incurred by the act of running itself, the duration of the ensuing lay-off (if any) and the mode of treatment are often well established, minimizing the uncertainty, if not the frustration, of such a setback. With illnesses, however, things are often "touch and go"—a runner needs to rely on subtler cues in order to determine training and racing readiness, and must be aware of a variety of factors.

That a runner won’t be at his best while sick may be self-evident, but just how do some of the more commonly encountered sicknesses—in particular, infectious ones—impact training and racing patterns? What about common medications such as antibiotics, antidepressants and birth-control pills?

Illness

In terms of physiology, it is clear that many of the factors that weigh heavily on exercise performance—particularly hydration levels, blood-sugar levels, and cardiopulmonary status—are the same ones chiefly affected by certain disease states. With that in mind, Dr. William Santoro, a physician and avid runner, offers his thoughts on a number of everyday illnesses.

The Common Cold and The Flu. "These go together, with the second being, by definition, more serious," says Dr. Santoro. He generally advises that runners can train and race through symptoms "from the head up" (runny nose, stuffiness, etc.) but when the lungs are involved, advises resting until they have felt well for at least 24 hours.

With gastrointestinal flu symptoms, runners need to be careful about dehydration, a particular danger when vomiting and diarrhea are involved. "I don’t like anyone running with a fever of any kind," adds Dr. Santoro, "and my 24 hours of feeling well still holds."

Some runners have noted that it takes them up to several weeks to regain their full strength after a bad bout of the flu, so if you’ve been hit, it makes sense to adjust your training and racing plans accordingly. Runners, not immune to the bugs of everyday society, might consider getting a flu shot at the onset of each winter (especially older runners).

Urinary Tract Infections (UTI’s). Of particular concern to women runners, UTI’s can involve the lower urinary tract or, in more severe cases, the kidneys. Antibiotics generally resolve the problem in short order, but the after-effects may persist for a week or two beyond the resolution of symptoms. Keeping these at bay can be summed up in a word: hydrate.

"Premature return to the roads for hard workouts could lead to relapse because of the stress of dehydration on the kidneys," says Dr. Santoro. He suggests starting back to running with only easy workouts for the first week or so, paying strict attention to fluid intake, and perhaps adding cranberry juice—shown in some studies to reduce recurrence of UTI’s— to the diet.