Those of you who have been training through the winter have undoubtedly caught a head cold by now, if not a bug that lasted for a few days.  You were sidelined for a few days, got some rest and eased your way back into your routine. Just a blip in the overall training plan, right? Well maybe not. What you experienced might be a trend in your health line: Does Cyclical Recovery Time Increase Incidence of Illness?

The idea for this piece came about after analyzing the exercise and wellness patterns of a handful of multisport athletes who I coach.  I was looking for a common factor. While almost all of them had been sick (head cold, some with an upper respiratory tract infection, etc), there were little other commonalities: some were on a daily multivitamin, some weren’t; some were eating very well, others weren’t, some were training mostly indoors, others out in the winter weather. After a couple of weeks of looking at their plans, I arrived at one common instance that mapped to 80% of the cases (8 out of 10) – all became sick during their recovery week.

Now, I am not suggesting that you never take a day off. If that’s what you think this piece is about, stop reading now. There is room for rest and recovery in every athlete’s training plan; this article simply explores the concept how this cycle of rest – or downtime – impacts an endurance athlete’s immune system.  PLEASE NOTE: I am not a doctor and this is not a part of any study. This is the result of informal analysis of various endurance athletes whom I coach; all information here was gathered anecdotally unless otherwise specified.

All of the athletes I reviewed were on a three-week build of endurance training (Friel Base Period One) with one week of rest. 80% of the time, athletes began experiencing symptoms of illness in the middle of their recovery week; by the time they were scheduled to return to training the next Monday (Friel Base Period Two), their training was sidetracked. Following several days’ rest, athletes were able to resume their normal training.

In other words, 80% of the athletes I reviewed in this timeframe were fine during the regular training build (adding more time and distance to their schedule). When it came time to cut back, however, their immune systems went on “holiday”. During the regular exercise phase, endurance athletes’ bodies are revved high with the continuous (but not intense) exercise of the Base Period – all systems GO. But when these athletes enter the recovery phase (50-65% less exercise), and their body recovers and adapts to the particular stresses of the Base Period, my observations lead me to believe there is a window where athletes are more likely to get sick.

What Can You Do?

• Keep your multivitamins up: Consider Vitamin-C powder – one teaspoon per day in a drink (I prefer Gatorade). This should be for the entire winter, but especially leading up to – and during – a recovery week.

• Get Good Rest: If you are going 10 hours or less right now, then 7 hours is a good minimum amount of sleep per night. 11-20 hours per weeks requires a minimum of 8 hours of sleep a night and 21+ needs 8 hours a night and a nap during the day as well.  Even if you are in the midst of a long training block, you need to find the time to take a break.

• Eat a Balanced Diet:  Be sure to have a serving of fruit and/or vegetables at every meal. Even though it’s winter and veggies and fruit are out of season, we have no excuses with today’s variety of supermarkets.

• Come Down Slowly:  If you are entering a rest week, be sure to make the transition a smooth one. Instead of pounding yourself on the last weekend of your third straight week and then taking Monday off, ease up on the last weekend’s work (just a bit) and then make Wed/Thurs of your recovery week your time “off”. Still get in some consistent aerobic work on Monday and Tuesday, even though it should be light in intensity.

As you continue through your Base Period training, continue to take care of yourself especially when you are “recovering.” The most important element of our training is consistency; losing several days (or even a week or two) can put a serious hitch in our plans! Train well, train smart and stay healthy!

Coach Patrick

Patrick is a USA Triathlon Level 1 Coach. He has written for Inside Triathlon and Active.com. Patrick is currently trainnig for IM Arizona and IM USA. He writes weekly in his blog and coaches multisport athletes of all ability levels. Learn more about Patrick on his webpage or email him directly.