BOOST YOUR BODY
The immune system is the body’ s defence against illness and infection, and regular, moderate exercise boosts the immune system and reduces the risk of infection. On the flip side, intense training may cause immunosuppression in athletes, so to minimise the risk of infection and improve recovery, remember these nutritional tips.
When you’ re training hard, especially in the build-up to a target race, it is often the combination of intense training and inadequate nutrition that decreases your athletic performance, and this will also create a higher risk of illness frequency. Therefore, take some of this advice into consideration in the next few months, especially as the flu season hits the country just as you want to take on your Totalsports Two Oceans run feeling in tip-top shape.
HEALTH CHECKLIST
Start by keeping a simple health checklist for yourself, and make sure you meet all these requirements:
• Get enough rest: Incorporate sufficient rest days in your training programme and ensure adequate sleep for at least seven hours per night.
• Avoid crash-dieting and rapid weightloss: Chronically undersupplying energy, often done by athletes, compromises the immune cell activity. It is important to time meals to meet requirements. Even a subtle delay in food consumption after training may have negative effects. For example, to prevent the degradation of the immune system, ensure that within an hour after strenuous training there is a sufficient intake of energy( carbohydrate and protein) to avoid hypoglycaemia.
• Plan your meals: Organising your daily food intake is of great importance to ensure that the correct foods are consumed in order to meet the nutritional goals for optimal training, recovery and competition.
• Get the essentials: Having an adequate dietary intake of protein and specific micronutrients, including vitamins A, C, E, B6 and B12 along with iron, zinc, copper and selenium, are all critical factors for the maintenance of optimum immune function. Probiotics also play an important role in enhancing gut and immune function, minimising the risk of illnesses that may compromise athletic performance. The important question for athletes is whether or not supplemental form or mega doses of these nutrients are beneficial. Athletes should rather invest in nutrient-rich foods and fluids that are critical for maintaining immune system health, which will provide them with sufficient energy, vitamins, minerals and other important chemicals found naturally in food.
HEALTHY TIPS
So, that’ s all the theory … here are a few examples of putting it all into good practice:
• Include high-fibre carbohydrates such as whole-wheat, multi-grain or low-GI seeded breads, fibre-rich cereals( or add oat bran to meals), brown-rice or wholewheat pasta.
• Select a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, which are packed with nutrients and keep your plate colourful. The more colour, the better! Fresh fruit makes a good choice for a snack between training sessions, and make sure you include the peels and skins of the fruit and vegetables, to increase your fibre intake.
• Include dairy such as milk, cheese and yoghurt that contains probiotics.
• Consume whole-foods instead of processed foods.
While these nutritional tips cannot guarantee that you will not catch a cold, or worse, pick up the flu, as your training hits its peak this time of year, by eating healthier you will give yourself a much bigger chance of staying on the road instead of staying in bed!
TAKE A DAY OFF
Picking up a head cold is usually not enough to deter an avid runner from heading out the front door, but there are times when going for a run can do more harm than good. The general rule of thumb applied by many runners is called the‘ Neck Rule:’ Symptoms below the neck( chest cold, bronchial infection, body ache) require time off, while symptoms above the neck( runny nose, stuffiness, sneezing) usually don’ t pose a risk, as long as you don’ t push yourself too hard.
However, the doctors say that you should still err on the side of caution, as training with anything worse than a minor cold can escalate into more serious conditions affecting the lower respiratory tract and lungs. For example, sinusitis is an inflammation of the sinus cavity, with symptoms that include a runny nose, cough, headache and facial pressure. With a full-blown sinus infection, you rarely feel like running, but if you do want to continue training, the experts recommend a 72-hour waiting period.“ No running for three days,” advises allergist / immunologist Dr Jeffrey Dobken.“ Even without the presence of a fever, some sinus infections, when stressed by exercise, can lead to pneumonia or, in extreme cases, respiratory failure.”
THERMOMETER TEST
If you’ re still in doubt whether to run or not, take your temperature. If it’ s above 37 degrees Celsius, rather skip the run.“ Some people think that they can‘ sweat out’ a fever by running,” says medical researcher Dr David Nieman.“ That’ s wrong. Running won’ t help your immune system fight the fever. In fact, running with a fever makes the symptoms worse, and it can lead to other complications.”
For starters, during exercise, your heart pumps a large amount of blood from your muscles to your skin, dissipating the heat your body generates. If you have a fever, your temperature will rise even higher, and your heart will be put under greater strain to keep your temperature
HEALTH & WELLNESS
Runners don’ t like to skip training sessions or miss a race when they’ re ill, but at this time of year, colds and flu are par for the course. Here’ s how to decide when you should take a day off from running.
from soaring, and in some cases, this can cause an irregular heartbeat. Also, a virus can cause your muscles to feel sore, so exercising when your muscles are already compromised could lead to injury.
“ I recommend that runners with a fever or the flu hold off until the day after the symptoms disappear – and then only go for a short, easy run,” says Dr Nieman.“ You should wait one to two weeks before resuming your pre-illness intensity and mileage, and most importantly, obey your body and the thermometer, not your training programme!”
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