Should I run if I have a cough?

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alimk43
alimk43 Posts: 41 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've had a cough over Christmas which has driven me mad - I don't feel poorly with it anymore but it's still there. My 16 year old says leave it until it's gone but I haven't run for 9 days now and don't want to lose the progress I'd made. Any thoughts please? Thanks

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  • JanaCanada
    JanaCanada Posts: 917 Member
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    If you still have a cough after 9 days, you may need to get on an antibiotic. Could be a lung or bronchial infection.
  • yallcallmedeb
    yallcallmedeb Posts: 294
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    I would start with a short, easy run and see how you do.
  • alimk43
    alimk43 Posts: 41 Member
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    Thanks - I think I'll do 20 mins - that shouldn't be too bad
  • brandie_lou
    brandie_lou Posts: 46
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    I wouldn't suggest it. Just because it takes oxygen to exercise and I did the same thing. I had a bad cold over Christmas but didn't track food or exercise Christmas Eve or Christmas Day so I felt like I just 'had' to go back to the gym. It felt like my elliptical training was going to KILL me. My 45 mins felt like 2 hours. It was awful.
  • TrailRunner61
    TrailRunner61 Posts: 2,505 Member
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    Speaking from a runner who now has influenza A... Listen to your body. If you can run and do it without coughing up a lung, gasping for air or getting dizzy.. go for it. If not, stop and let your body rest another day. I kind of felt like I was coming down with it yesterday but I did fine and ran over 5 miles. Today.. that's NOT going to happen. I'm def. sick now. Ugh.
    And, like someone else said, if it's ongoing, you may have a bacterial infection like bronchitis or pneumonia and need meds.
    Feel well soon!
  • dmh0204
    dmh0204 Posts: 81
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    Go for a run. Take it easy if you need to. But it's probably just post-nasal drip if you don't feel bad anymore. You could take a decongestant and/or expectorant to help break up some of the crud that's in your airways. But unless you feel like it's really down in your chest and your cough is not really productive, you are probably fine. Just be aware, you probably will cough more. For example, I run outside, and every time I stop at a cross walk to wait for cars, I have a little coughing fit. But it passes, and I finish my run, and I'm better and healthier for it.
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
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    I've had a cough over Christmas which has driven me mad - I don't feel poorly with it anymore but it's still there. My 16 year old says leave it until it's gone but I haven't run for 9 days now and don't want to lose the progress I'd made. Any thoughts please? Thanks

    I agree with the comments about seeing a doctor. Insofar as running, I've learned quite a bit about running (and running too much) since I lost my weight. I'm now using FirstBeat Athlete, software that analyses my heart rate data (it's pretty involved) and, in reading through the documentation, one of the questions is about training when you feel sick.
    Here's a quote from the training guide (Section 1.4.4, page 8):

    "Training during illness or after incomplete recovery from previous training session does not improve fitness; on the contrary it may lead to decreased fitness or even to overtraining. Daily changes in e.g. stress and recovery state can be seen in EPOC. Exercising during illness or incomplete recovery causes faster than normal EPOC accumulation but the effect of training is not comparable to well recovered state. Actually, physical exercise is not recommended in any form during illness."

    This is the advice from a company that sells software and hardware to athletes and sports teams to maximize performance so I have a pretty high comfort level with their advice.

    Insofar as losing your fitness levels, a couple of comments.

    Don't worry about losing your fitness levels. First off, it rolls off pretty slowly and, second, it's better to lose a few percentage points in VO2 max than it is to screw up your health and cause yourself to lose even more in training time.

    Another thought - who cares? Yes, who cares? I say that to shock you a little but, unless you're making a living running (in which case you'd be asking your team doctor) there's no pressure, no deadline that we have to meet so take a few more days off and enjoy the long weekend.

    A comment from a running blog (paraphrased) - "Athletes acknowledge that it's not the exercise that makes you stronger, it's the recovery that makes you stronger."

    The first race we tackle is the race to the starting line. If we're not able to get to the the starting line, we even get in the race to the finish.

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