Bronchitis

trigirl1203

Anyone have experience with bronchitis during training?  Just went to the doc today after having a cold for the past week with a nasty cough, he tells me I have bronchitis and no working out for a week.  So, how long (for real) is a week (in Type A triathlete terms)? I know I don't want to risk anything with the lungs...but IMLP is in 16 weeks...any advice?  I don't like the doctor's advice. Thanks-

Bruce Thompson

Lauren - I had the same thing in March.  From my last workout, I took a total of 12 days off to get thru it.  Even then, the first wo was an EZ Z1 30' ride on the trainer. It took about another week to get back up to pre-illness strength, but my fitness was still all there once I stopped coughing up green stuff..  While the type A part of me hated to take that much time off, the rest of me knew it was the right thing to do.  While I rested, all my other little aches and pains cleared up, and my sore achilles really needed the break too.  So there was a silver lining to getting sick.  You still have plenty of time before IMLP, so rest up.  Get well and then come back to training with renewed passion. 

trigirl1203

Bruce-I appreciate your response. I've never had bronchitis and it scares me how my lungs/chest actually hurts after walking up a flight of stairs...that being said, forced rest is next to impossible. Did you do anything at all (lift weights, abs, etc) or just totally chill?

rtagher

I'm a pediatrician, not an adult physician, but certainly see plenty of bronchitis. I don't think you need to rest completely. I would increase your sleep and cut back the duration of workouts to what feels right for you. I think getting some air in and out of those lungs and staying somewhat active helps bring mucous up and prevent pneumonia. I wouldn't push it or do anything that hurts. Usually when I have an illness like that I do some easy spinning, or easy short runs and I also like to spend time in a sauna if I have one available.

kimmydct

Must be the season for bronchitis! I just went to doc today and have a mild case. He put me on Prednisone for 1 week and said no training for 3-4 days, then exercise whatever I can tolerate. I started with the cold/allergy type symptoms on Sun, then the cough joined in yesterday. I stayed home from work yesterday and today, so I'm counting those as my 2 days of rest so I may attempt something on Fri. I have exercise induced asthma (ironic, ain't it?) that started with asthmatic bronchitis about 20 years ago so I try to be extra-careful with lung things, although its hard, like you said for us Type A Triathletes. My first race (Oly) is in less than 7 weeks but I'm trying not to sweat it.

@Lauren- I might play it safe on this one. I searched the forums earlier today and bronchitis can turn to other nasty things and end of putting you back further. But I'm no doc.... Enjoy the rest and come back strong!