Has anyone ever PR'd while sick or coming back from sickness?

When I was a freshman in high school I ran 18:07 for a PR at my region meet. I had a fever and felt like crap. However, my coach put the fear of God in me so I ran my heart out.

I just think it depends.

IDK if anyone else notices this, but the 2-3 days before I get sick and the first day I get sick, I have ridiculously good runs/workouts/races.

It is at the point where I can tell when I'm going to get sick because I will just have the most amazing run ever, and I know that means my body is gearing up to fight a cold or something.

I have no idea why this happens, but my team mates experience similar a phenomenon when they get sick.

I'm going to start licking doorknobs the days before a big race...

I got sick about 10 days before my first cross country race (8k) last year. had to take about 3 days completely off, and tone it down for a few more days after that. still kind of had the sniffles on race day, but was mostly ok. I pr'd by a minute. I also went on to take another 30 seconds off later that year, so a pr was probably coming no matter what.

probably still depends a lot on other circumstances, just like PRing when not sick...

Shalane Flanagan PRed and won an olympic medal after coming back from violent food born illness during the week leading up to the race.

qijgfddghg wrote:

i got sick a week before a big race. i jogged very little/mostly easy, and 4 days before (still a little sick) did a light workout. it felt sluggish. i should be recovered in 4 days but has anyone ever pr'd while sick or coming back from sickness in a race longer than 3200?

I've run a lot better when still sick that I would ahve guessed. I would not be surprised of people PRing after they were msotly better, just due to the forced rest....so depends on how you will be race time (e.g. still very sick of mostly better and rested)

Was racing really well my 5th year of track in college, but got food poisoning or a flu or something that knocked me out for a day or two mid week before Sea Ray Relays. Didn't even get out of bed for two days and was still in really poor shape in the van on the way down to the meet the day before. Felt decent enough to jog the morning of my race, but then spent most of the day napping...ended up running a PR and winning my heat of the 1500 later that day.

PR wasn't necessarily a surprise because of how well I had been racing that entire season, but definitely was after the week I had. I agree that a couple days of forced rest didn't hurt...

I ran a 4:36 1600 on a 200m track back when I had a PR of 4:28 as I was coming down with some kind of cold. That was the fastest I ran all indoor season, even though I got to race at the Armory a few times later on.

My 5k PR is still the race I ran with Bronchitis on a 200m indoor track. I was feeling better than the 2 days before it when I ran the race but was definitely still sick. Oh, and I developed a bloody nose 600m in. For the record I ran 14:44 that day.

Ran my first sub 4:30 mile in high school with a cold and feeling feverish and generally shtty. Did not even want to race, but was told to just do what I could. Did not want to lose to the other schools best guy so when he forced the pace I went with him, and then buried him with a kick 4:27 to 4:33, all gapped in the last 150. Competition can draw more out of you then you may think you have. However, in the 800, when I started my kick to do the same thing, this giant goopy snot ball slid down the back of my throat and I started choking on it. First DNF ever due to snot ball. I still laugh when I look back at that.

that post about licking doorknobs is f*cking hysterical.... i thank you for that. the first time i ever broke 4 in the 15, i had been violently ill earlier in the week. i always had wondered why. i guess we should all start licking doorknobs, huh?

my half marathon pr came after I had the stomach flu which prevented me from running for 10days. Sometimes getting sick is an indication that your over training a bit and your body just needs a break.

I had viral menengitis (don't know if thats spelled correctly) last week and was in the hospital for 2 days then 5 days later I competed in a triathlon and split 14:41 for the last 5k of the 8k race (my old pr being 15:24)....i was pretty pumped

Sorry but most triathlon courses are short

guess my garmin was off then....

Never in the history of the world.

Yes, but I was well due for a PR and ran only a half-second faster than a recent PR in high training on a harder course.

So, yeah, you can still improve, but running healthy allows you to tap 100% of the potential.

I broke 2 mins (my first time) in High school and I was sick as shit when it happened.

I PRed for the half marathon (back in 1984) after being sick. I got sick the weekend before the race and did no running on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday I jogged an easy 2 miles each day at about 8:00 pace and felt lousy. But on race morning on saturday I felt good and dropped my PR from 1:08:53 to 1:08:13. That was a pleasant surprise. The rest was needed and I had just enough time as if the race had been one day earlier I still was feeling sluggish.

I ran my high school PR in the 1600m of 4:51 after I had to take a week off from bronchitis. It was almost a 10 second PR.

It was the district meet and i had only started running again the day before the meet and I jogged a couple of miles. Come race time, I felt so fresh that after 800m when I usually felt sluggish, I felt like I had just started running and it seemed so easy!

I still feel I could have ran much faster during that race had I pushed it harder the first half, I was just not expecting to feel that good halfway through the race.