Can I train with a cold?

The neck check

Whether you can train with a cold depends on where your symptoms are. The simplest rule is the "neck check", as described by Mayo Clinic. Symptoms above the neck, like a runny nose, congestion, sneezing or a minor sore throat, usually mean easy exercise is OK. Symptoms below the neck, like chest congestion, a hacking cough or an upset stomach, mean you should not exercise. Fever, fatigue or widespread aches also mean rest. This checker is one of the free LeCoach cycling calculators.

The checker always follows the most serious symptom you tick.

What "easy" means with a cold

Easy exercise with a head cold should feel gentle all the way through.

• Keep it short. Shorter than your normal endurance ride.
• Keep it easy. Zone 1 to 2, a pace at which you can talk in full sentences. Skip intervals, sprints and hard climbs.
• Stop if you feel worse. If you feel worse once you are moving, go home.
• Ride alone or indoors. Colds spread easily in groups and cafés.
• Drink and sleep more. Your body is busy fighting the infection.

If in doubt, take the day off. A rest day costs you almost no fitness, and our guide to rest day vs recovery ride explains when each one fits.

The fever rule

Do not train with a fever. A fever means the infection is affecting your whole body, and hard exercise while you have one adds strain at the wrong time. In rare cases, exercising through a viral illness can be linked to inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis), which is one reason the rule matters.

Return once you have been free of fever for at least 24 hours and feel normal, then build back over a few days.

Returning to training

1. Wait until you feel normal and have had no fever for at least 24 hours.
2. Start with one or two short, easy rides. Check how you feel during and the morning after.
3. Build back your normal endurance rides over the next few days.
4. Add intensity last, once easy rides feel normal and your morning resting heart rate is back to your usual level. The resting heart rate by age checker compares today's reading with your last 7 mornings.
5. Do not make up missed sessions. Pick up your plan where it is, not where it was.

After longer illnesses, read training after illness or time off. The detraining calculator shows how little fitness a week or two off really costs.

Common mistakes

• Trying to sweat it out. Sweating does not flush out a cold, and hard exercise can make you feel worse.
• Doing intervals with a head cold. Easy is fine; hard is a gamble.
• Going back too soon. The day the fever breaks is not the day to train hard.
• Racing while ill. You will not perform well, and you put others at risk.
• Ignoring a cough that moves to your chest. That changes the verdict from easy to rest.

When to see a doctor

This page is general guidance, not medical advice. It cannot diagnose your symptoms. Get medical advice:

• Before training again if you have chest pain, palpitations or unusual breathlessness during or after an illness. Stop training until a doctor has checked you.
• If you have a high fever, or a fever that does not go away after a few days.
• If you have trouble breathing, feel faint or your symptoms get worse instead of better.
• If you have asthma, a heart condition or another long-term illness and are unsure whether to exercise.

If you are well but tired, use the do I need a rest day? check instead. Tell LeCoach you are ill and the coach suggests how to adjust your plan, and how to build back up once you are well.