Sick so often I'm considering quitting running. Can anyone help?

Have you tried doing anything different?

isk wrote:

Have you tried doing anything different?

I haven't tried any other sports during the winter, or really anything unusual other than rest until the sicknesses have ran their course. I probably average 7 hours of sleep during the school week due to a heavy workload of school while I average around 10 during the summer/weekends.

Cut out all dairy products if you are dealing with respiratory stuff. Eat more fruits and vegetables, make some juices and smoothies with them to have fun. Try not to stress too much over your heavy workload.

You need to eat more fruits/veggies. Going one week without fruits or veggies is horrendous health. One possible cause might be that you aren't getting nearly enough vitamin C and things like that.

Change your diet. Stop eating so many glutens/grains.

get more vitamins like D and E. More meat, more vegetables, leafy greens. Veggies with lots of caffeic acid, quercetin, fiber.

Eat fewer saturated fats and more healthy fats like olive oil and fish oil. Eat more fish, eggs, chicken. Put spices like turmeric and garlic on your food.

Stop being stupid, illness is caused by poor diet + too much work.

You should look into whether you have any dietary intolerance or issues like celiac disease, lactose intolerance, etc.

It's extremely unlikely that you have a nutritional deficiency. That's a load of bs. Take a multivitamin tablet and you'll be fine.

Your problem is that you work out too hard. Drop those killer intervals and do some old style Lydiard training where you finish comfortably tired.

When you eat is important, especially for someone as thin as you. You should figure out how to get some calories before workouts and , more importantly, you should be sure to get calories as quickly as possible after you workout.

First, every body responds to the stress of training differently. However, ALL bodies produce cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that is produced in greater abundance when you train hard. It also acts as an immune system suppressant.

Schools are germ factories. I teach 6th grade. Last year, I significantly upped my training, and got sick 4 times in a four month stretch over the winter. The illnesses would linger for 7-10 days, and impact 2 solid weeks of training. When I went back to look at my training logs, I saw that each illness was preceded by a particularly hard week of training.

I realized that I am always around germs, but my body, when healthy, is able to fight them off pretty well. However, if you add the additional stress of hard training, my body simply can't keep up.

My guess is that your immune system function is average to below average, or your body produces lots of cortisol during training, or some combination of the two. The only solution that worked for me is to cut mileage or intensity. For me, intense speedwork like intervals impacted me the most.

I know it is frustrating. My advice is to log your training, sleep, etc., which will allow you to observe patterns more closely.

Hi been coaching HS guys and gals for decades. Have run into this..as you describe. I'm talking elite runners and beginners. To the Doctors we go. Doctors would suggest maybe child mono, a little low here and there..buy nothing was ever conclusive. Runners would be dealing with sore throats, head ache, respiratory problems, torn down big time physically. The fever was the end mainly. They would have a mild fever that could last 8 days! Many of these kids stopped running and in a year or two got way strong. Not as a runner but working out, baseball, one in tennis etc. As a coach it drove me crazy but no way do I think you should be sick all the time. What other damage could this be causing? Nah, I say pull it, take care of yourself, get way strong slowly. No way do I let you live with these sicknesses, and ill health. Fever...NO way! If Doctors can't help, you need to put an end to this now and get strong. Maybe some day things will change. For now I don't want you having a sore throat...no way! Take care, and put an end to this for now, best of luck...get strong and get your health back,.IMHO.

Have you considered getting your iron levels checked? I was anemic sophemore year and got sick all the time. It was horrible. It would be good to check out especially if you have been feeling more run down lately.

I was also plagued by respiratory illness throughout school to the point that my lungs have permanent damage.

Now I make a real effort to take in plenty of foods that are supposed to be beneficial for immune function. I also take things like oil of oregano, and supplements such as "Moducare" during times when I know I am under severe stress, training or otherwise.

I do notice that I am far less prone to colds etc. when I limit anaerobic work to the bare minimum.

Give up all dairy products now. They are very mucus forming and will stagnate you lymphatic system. Most of the fluid in your body is lymph fluid, if you want to stay healthy, move it!

Definitely bring this issue up with your pediatrician but in the mean time, be sure you get plenty of sleep, try to improve your diet and most importantly, without being obsessive about it, wash your hands more often. Sounds basic but if you are prone to upper respiratory infections, you need to limit your exposure to these viruses. In other words, no finger (or other items like pencils) in your eyes, nose or mouth. Those viruses live a long time on surfaces so you can see how laying your pencil down on a desk somebody has just coughed all over and then chewing on the eraser can get you sick!

You desperately need better nutrition.

Diet might be a concern, but I don't believe it should be your primary concern. There is no magic food.

Anything that boosts immune system function--lots of sleep, proper nutrition, lowering stress levels, good hygiene habits like washing hands--these should be your target behaviors, not just one.

A small cold that catches you after a hard session of 800's becomes much more than a small cold--it becomes a lingering cough-and-sneeze-fest as the virus sets in for a while. A flu or flu-like virus that catches you after a hard workout can have symptoms that linger for weeks.

My three pieces of advice-- 1. Don't beat yourself up. 2 Do everything you can to boost immune function. 3. Back off the intensity during peak infection months (November-March) to let your body recover to lessen the chance of getting sick.

I got tested for anemia, lyme, mono, and they all came up negative last year and this year. I've tried convincing my parents to eat healthier and they try for maybe 3 days and then stop. Thanks for the advice so far it helps to know others have this problem.

Echo all the people telling you to eat better. Ever since my teens I would get multiple colds per year and usually one bout of flu. Since massively reducing nutritionally barren grain/sugar foods (breads, pasta, soft drinks, the usual) and necessarily replacing those calories with nutritious food I just don't get sick anymore. If your family is strapped for cash then maybe try to find a good vegetable soup that you can have a few times a week (better yet make your own but I realise that may not be realistic for you).

Multivitamins and fortified foods aren't as good as real food.

Ignore this bad advice, above. Try to go gradually vegan,with no meat or dairy. Hard at first, but you will eventually feel fantastic. You have too many stressors and are probably overtrained. Same thing happened to my kid during HS tennis. Take some solid weeks off. You won't lose fitness. Also ignore that nonsense about gluten and grains--the nutritional fad of the moment. 6% of people have celiac disease.