I just completed 10 weeks of intense training, finished with a fitness test and then a couple of days later caught a cold which I’ve had for a couple of weeks now…

I’m on a reduced training, with commuting 18 miles a day and the a race every 72 hours (real or Zwift).

But my cold is getting worse!

Is there a balance between training, keeping my fitness and recovering from a cold, or is it literally feet up?

I think it’s pretty simple really. You’re not letting you body recover.

If you want to get better, miss a couple of races….

Take a week off. It’ll be good for your health and won’t do any harm to your fitness.

Stop racing, that’s just daft. Stop training too, maybe just spin the pedals a bit. Eat well, sleep well.

Reduced?! 18miles commute plus races every three days? If you are racing then cut out the commutes. You have to give your body time to recover otherwise you are just on a downward slope.

No riding until you’ve got rid of the cold, especially if the cold is on your chest. When you start again don’t go mad, ease in to things.

Airway infection lower than the throat, don’t train or race, commute very gently if you must.

Cold above the throat – think about carrying on, but then think better of it
Cold below the throat – don’t think about carrying on

Sounds like you need a rest

But my cold is getting worse!

Course it is!

Find other ways of getting to work and don’t bloody race! If you’re serious about racing then colds aren’t something you can train through. I learnt the hard way and you can give yourself long term illness.

Take a week off at least.

Is there a balance between training, keeping my fitness and recovering from a cold, or is it literally feet up?

You’re not going to lose fitness by having a week off. It may even improve things, regardless of whether you’ve got a cold or not.

Thanks for the advice.

I’m coughing up stuff so guess it’s below the throat.

I’ll just commute gently this week, the alternative is the tube so likely to get even worse with all the germs!! I’ve just fitted a power meter to the commuter so my computer can nag me if I go over Z1 power, assess Saturday’s race closer to the time.

So gutted!!

Keep off the bike until the cold/infection has gone. Your body needs to rest and recover, doing the very thing that led to you getting ill isn’t going to help.

I’m coughing up stuff so guess it’s below the throat.

Two years ago I was in your shoes and lost 3 months of winter training. It does feel hard to neglect races, but do it. Dont risk chest issues or pneumonia for the sake of a couple if races.

I think I can safely pootle into work – just need to ignore other cyclists…

Re racing; They’re my last 2 of the season & possibly my final Hillingdon ones due to moving 🙁

Honestly am so gutted….

Diet wise I’ve reduced carb intake and upped fat, protein and as many vitamins as I can squeeze in. Determined to at least make the final one!!

I raced when I felt a cold coming on early in June…had been racing three times a week and was just coming up to a couple of weeks off so decided to push through.

Few days later I’m off work (and I don’t take time off easily), then developed a chest infection which triggered off my asthma. 2 months later and I’m still struggling, wish I’d have just sacked the race off and stayed home for a week.

I assume it was a self prescribed training plan as no self respecting coach would let this situation continue…..

This is when the real value of a coach is realised over just loading in milage and intensity

Despite being a fan of self-coaching and especially the Bible, that is a really good point Trail_rat.
You definitely need to heed Friels advice about objectivity and have a coaching hat and a riders one.

I guess it’s easy to think of a coach as being stood there with a stopwatch and a big stick, shouting at you to finish your intervals but for anyone remotely self-driven, I suppose their most important job is to nick your pedals and force you to lie on the sofa when you shouldn’t be riding 😉

And to tell you off for doing traffic light sprints on the way to and from work every day 😆

I think I can safely pootle into work – just need to ignore other cyclists…

There’s your problem (or one of them) – you are treating every ride as a race.

The cold/infection is your body’s way of telling you to stop until things get better, there’s no-one here saying anything different but you aren’t listening because it isn’t what you want to hear. The very title of your post indicates that you don’t want to listen.

Stay off the bike until you have fully recovered from the infection.

If you have long-term, deep seated fitness from years of riding then you won’t lose as much fitness as you might fear by taking a proper rest for a week or so. I had almost 3 weeks off the bike thanks to a sinus infection back in March but I didn’t lose a lot of fitness.

No no I’m listening – just about to cancel Saturday’s race with the organiser. CH is providing me the email address 😆

But as for commuting I don’t race other cyclists, I did however treat traffic lights as a opportunity to power away.

I commuted this morning and didn’t go above Z1 heart rate ignoring all other road traffic. I’ve got a 25 min walk & 20 min tube journey as an alternative so it’s probably the same effort. Will assess on Friday.

My guess would be that your 10 weeks of intense training was a big leap from anything you were doing before, as such you’re now properly knackered.

Chill out and eat properly, make sure you get adequate carbs to give your body the ready energy to run itself whilst the micro-nutrients fix you.