How to avoid the bugs this winter
More training time is lost through common illnesses than any other cause. The fightback starts here: Hannah Reynolds sets out seven ways to beat the bugs and keep riding
Winter is a difficult time for cyclists. Not only does the inclement weather get in the way of our training but the increased likelihood of coughs, colds and illnesses can lead to time off the bike too. We all know how frustrating it is to feel yourself building fitness and going well only to be struck down by a bug.
There are many obvious things you can do to stay healthy. One of the first is to avoid places where you are likely to come into contact with people who have a cough or cold. Crowded public transport, warm office environments and social functions are all great places for picking up a virus — but unless you can live life as a hermit, it is impossible to avoid other people, or their germs.
As with everything, prevention is better than cure, and while it may not be possible to dodge a winter illness
altogether, there are many steps we can take to reduce our chances of picking one up, even without the extreme measure of going into winter isolation. Here are seven great tips from the experts on how to stay healthy this winter.
1 Eat well
In the winter especially, it is tempting to look for supplements to support your diet and ward off illnesses. Some supplements can be beneficial, but before reaching for a tub of tablets, make sure you have all bases covered with a healthy diet.
Danny Webber, performance nutritionist at Nutrition X says, “Ensuring you eat plenty of fruit and vegetables is key. Eat a variety of seasonal fruit and vegetables throughout the day to provide your body with all the required vitamins and minerals.
“Do this by ‘eating a rainbow’ every day. Fresh soups and smoothies are an easy way to increase your daily intake. Eat oily fish — salmon, mackerel, sardines — two to three times per week for omega-3 fats, plenty of fibre, and include sources of probiotics such as Greek yoghurt to promote gut health.”
Supplements are the icing on the cake of a healthy diet, to fill in the gaps where you may be deficient. With a nutritionally broad diet, you should be able to cover all bases, but Webber adds: “Vitamin D is an exception to this, as it is primarily obtained from sunlight exposure to the skin and we can’t get enough through food alone. Reduced sunlight exposure through winter can result in vitamin D deficiency, which is positively associated with higher incidence of upper respiratory tract infections [URTI]. Throughout the winter I’d recommend taking a daily vitamin D3 supplement, up to 4,000IU being a safe upper limit.”
Depleted liver and muscle glycogen stores have been associated with poor immune function, so keep an eye on your carbohydrate intake. If you are trying to lose weight, cut calories from your meals, not from your training fuel; indeed, be careful to fuel well before, during and after your sessions.
2 USE herbs and spices in your cooking
Herbs and spices can help support your diet and add flavour, nutrition and immune support to your daily meals. Medical herbalist Euan Maclennan says that natural herbal remedies can help boost your immunity and maintain health during the colder winter months. As well as being herbal director at Pukka Herbs, Maclennan is an NHS GP in central London and teaches pathology, clinical medicine and differential diagnosis to undergraduates.
Two excellent winter warmers to add to your cooking and your smoothies or drink as a tea are turmeric and ginger, as Maclennan explains: “If you’re looking to give your immune system a boost, say hello to the super-spice turmeric, which contains an army of antioxidants to fight off harmful free radicals. It is also a powerful anti-inflammatory, boosts blood flow and helps to alleviate pain. Turmeric strengthens the joints and tendons to protect the muscles from damage.
“Ginger is a warm anti-inflammatory, providing relief from inflamed and painful musculoskeletal conditions as well as increasing the flow of blood to the joints.”
These are great choices after a numbingly cold winter ride. You don’t have to look to the exotic for herbs to support your diet; stinging nettles can be found everywhere and are a great source of iron. Steam or boil them like spinach — once cooked, they lose their sting — or drink as a herbal tea. “Nettles reduce fluid retention, as well as being
an effective anti-inflammatory,” says Maclennan. So grasp the nettle when cold, wet weather leaves you feeling stiff or sore.
3 LOOK after your Lungs
Mike Loosemore is lead sports doctor at the Institute of Sport and Exercise Health, which is part of the University College of London. He specialises in sports and exercise medicine.
“We are currently working on a big research project into respiratory health, aimed at elite athletes. Respiratory health causes more time out of training and competition than any other illness or injury. If we can understand respiratory health better, athletes will miss less training and be better prepared for competition. The knowledge from this project will filter down to amateur athletes and benefit everyone.”
Loosemore works with a whole range of sportspeople, including elite and amateur cyclists. “Cyclists are at increased risk of respiratory health problems: because of the mileage they do, they shift a lot of oxygen through their lungs.”
This applies to all endurance athletes who are breathing deeply and rapidly during their training. “If you are cycling in cities where the pollution levels are high,” adds Loosemore, “consider wearing a mark to filter pollution particles from the air.”
Exercise-induced asthma can be worsened by cold air during the winter months. Loosemoore advises: “Get yourself tested properly if you have shortness of breath or feelings of a tight chest while cycling, as it could be a symptom of exercise-induced asthma.”
Prevention is always better than cure, and Loosemore suggests that if you are training regularly, you should “make sure you have all the immunisations you can, such as a winter flu jab or MMR.” If you do get ill, the temptation for many riders is to keep training regardless. “If your temperature is below 38 degrees and your cold is confined to the upper respiratory tract, you can train,” says Loosemore. “However, if you have a cough or temperature, you shouldn’t train at all.”
Training through a cold, or getting back into training too soon, often leads to increased time off the bike, so err on the side of caution, as Loosemore cautions: “The rules about training with a cold are really for people who are competing at a high level. As an amateur in the offseason, it would be better to take some time off.”
If you do have a cold, you can use supplementation to help reduce the duration of your cold, but Loosemore comments: “Unless you are doing a massive amount of mileage, you probably don’t need supplements as standard.”
Sucking zinc lozenges, up to a total of 75mg per day, and taking a maximum high dose vitamin C, up to 1,000mg per day at the first sign of a cold may reduce the symptoms and duration of your illness.
4 treat the first signs Of a cold
Everyone knows the tell-tale signs: scratchy throat or itchy nose. At this point, it is still possible to reduce the symptoms or duration of your cold — if you act fast.
Keri Filtness is lead nutritionist for Nature’s Best, and her advice is to take echinacea: “Echinacea is a traditional herbal medicine, which can be used at the first signs of cold or flu, as a cold and flu relief product. However, it is important to check the suitability by reading the information leaflets and limit its use to just 10 days.”
It is generally agreed that supplements are not necessary unless your diet has deficiencies in certain areas — hence the recommendation to take vitamin D in winter. However, two winter supplements come up time and time again with every health expert. “There are several nutrients that can contribute to the maintenance of normal immune function, and one of the best known is vitamin C. Eating plenty of seasonal fruits and vegetables is advisable, as these tend to retain more of their delicate nutrients, since they have not had to travel so far.
“Zinc is also important for immune function so consuming good sources of this mineral such as nuts, seeds, pulses and wholegrain cereal products such as
muesli is a good idea,” says Filtness. Furthermore, taking high doses of vitamin C and zinc at the first sign of a cold has been shown to reduce the severity of symptoms. “Zinc lozenges can be used if you are suffering from a sore throat; look for a product that has additional ingredients such as honey, vitamin C or bee propolis to help soothe the delicate membranes in the throat.”
If you do have a cold, give your body the tools it needs to fight it off and to make you feel more comfortable. “Drinking plenty of fluids and consuming a diet rich in fruit and vegetables is advisable; consider pineapple, which contains an enzyme called bromelain, as it may help to thin any excess mucus. Why not also add some herbs and spices such as onions, garlic, turmeric or a little chilli to your diet, as your sense of taste may not be great if you are all blocked up, and these spices contain compounds which have additional health benefits.”
Finally, NHS GP of 20 years Dr Ross Perry reminds us: “Colds are viral and as such you don’t need antibiotics, but take time off, as rest is important — otherwise the colds tend to linger longer.” Stopping your training early on is better in the long run than continuing to ride with a cold which could then take weeks to clear up.
5 Get hot On hygiene
Physiotherapist Phil Burt (philburtinnovation.co.uk) worked with British Cycling over three Olympic Games and was involved with one of the longest-running sports injury and illness surveys across all Olympic sports. The survey analysed the reasons behind loss of training time. Surprisingly, injury accounted for only 15 per cent of lost training time, compared with illness at 30 per cent.
“We focused our attentions on avoidable illness,” explains Burt. “If something is going round, sometimes it can’t be avoided, but by looking at environmental factors, there is a lot you can do to minimise risk.”
One of the first things British Cycling did was to get the NHS in to teach athletes correct hand-washing techniques. It may seem elementary, but: “washing hands is really important. You bring your hands to your mouth frequently, not just for eating, and anything on them can get transferred to your mouth. People think they are washing their hands properly but often they are not.
“Hands need to be washed often if you want to avoid hand skin-communicated infections, not just after you have visited the toilet or before you eat, but at any time when you have been touching things others have touched before you.”
One of the problems with handwashing is you are relying on other people to have washed theirs as well. “We used to teach our athletes to open doors with their elbows,” adds Burt.
Public spaces can’t be avoided but again, you can minimise risk: “Congregated places are going to increase your chances of bumping into something you can’t fight,” says Burt. “We encourage athletes to carry alcohol gel and use it when they are in busy places. Alcohol gel kills most things on your skin; using it as well as [Vicks] First Defence [nasal barrier gel], you are doing as much as you can to protect yourself.”
6 Protect yourself when travelling
Travel is part of our daily lives, even more so for competitive athletes. Phil Burt says of his time in cycling: “We noticed teams that travelled had a massive spike in upper respiratory tract infections because when you are in the air you are sharing the bugs of everyone on the plane. We used to make sure athletes used First Defence [a gel barrier squirted up the nose], and it demonstrated a big drop in the number of infections.”
Former pro triathlete and MD of Performance and Connected Health, Dr Tamsin Lewis says: “The low humidity, dry air on flights means the nasal and throat passage become dry, and bugs are more likely to stick and get entry into the body, making you more susceptible. Vaseline under the nostrils and extra hydration helps.”
If you are travelling, whether for business, pleasure or training, think about the environment you are staying in, Burt advises: “We used air filters in hotel rooms to remove dust which can irritate your upper respiratory tract. Using your own pillowcase so you are breathing next to something you are used to is better than inhaling someone else’s dust and dry skin cells. Steps like these don’t stop infections but they reduce the workload of your immune system, leaving it more energy to fight the important things.”
7 TRAIN INTELLIGENTLY
Knowing your own body and applying intelligent thought to your training is a really big part of staying healthy in the winter. “Most illness occurs when you are pushing the envelope a bit too much — but that line is very difficult to determine,” acknowledges Phil Burt.
During the winter, it’s very important to keep a careful eye on your training. Having a plan or, even better, a coach to keep you on track can make a big difference. Mike Loosemore explains: “Rapid changes in volume or intensity of training is most likely to lead to illness.”
Using your training diary to monitor how much training you are doing, and checking that you are allowing sufficient rest for adaptation, is part of training intelligently. Looking back at previous years is also beneficial. “If you have had lots of colds and illnesses in previous winters,” adds Burt, “modify your training this year; spend more time indoors or reduce the volume or intensity of your sessions.”
Cyclists often take the attitude that suffering is good, and when ill or tired push through symptoms out of sheer willpower. Burt believes a key part of staying healthy is knowing “when to train and when not to train”.
You can use tools such as power meters and heart rate monitors to see how your body is responding to training, Burt explains: “Resting heart rate doesn’t show the full picture; instead, monitor your heart rate response to a known stimulus.” This could mean having a set test protocol that you do on your turbo or as part of your warm-up such as five minutes at a given number of watts. “If you know your typical heart rate reaction and one morning it goes way too high, then you know not to train that day. Heart rate response to a known stimulus is really useful.”