Easy rules for not catching a cold...and thereby wrecking Fall Training

1. Don't touch your face.
2. Drink a gallon of water a day.
3. Don't share drinks.
4. Wash your hands several times a day.
5. Avoid a wet chill...if you know that gets to you.
6. Use antibio wipes.
7. Kiss kids during seasonal transition or trouble spells only after
washing them or something.
8. Take Vit C and Zinc and Echinacea supplements.
9. Avoid drinking alcohol or staying up late if you feel trouble spell
coming on.
10. When feeling a cold take Zinc lozenges and use Zicam nasal gel...and
pray.
11. Use humidifier and air cleaner/ionizer.

Lastly, what is it about change of season that does it every time?

Feel free to refute or add to this list.

I've become somewhat of a germophobe since I work at a hospital and come in
contact with all kinds of very nasty bugs, and I would change the list to:

1.. Wash your hands
2. Wash your hands
3. Wash your hands

....

I think I probably wash my hands more than 25 times per day. Once and while
take off your watch and scrub up past your elbows. Also if possible, I avoid
opening doors with my hands. I push them open with my elbow, hip, or foot. I
push elevator buttons with a pencil or the back of my knuckles. I flush the
public toilet with my foot (not good for the next guy I suppose, but supposedly
he is washing his hands too ! ). If you don't have to use your hands, you won't
contaminate them, especially in public places. If you're under a lot of stress
from training, school, or work, then limit your exposure to public places. I
make mental notes of who's coughing, and try to go the otherway.

Other than that, it's just good nutrition and _trying_to get adequate sleep.
I've never gotten the flu shot, and don't plan on it. Not that I'm afraid of
needles, but I avoid any invasive procedure I can, including that. I rarely get
the flu, and if I do, I blow through it in 2 - 3 days.

There's other little rules I have such as never eating the cafeteria hot food
that's been sitting out all day and had a hundred people putting their face
over it and sniffing it or drinking from public water fountains unless I'm
dying of thirst ( "bubblers" here in Milwaukee ! ).

That's just my routine that seems to work for me. Your milage my vary !

John Wilke
milwaukee

Feel free to refute or add to this list.

1. Ride your bike to work (unless it is seriously raining) every day until
skiing begins. Works for me. I don't worry too much about the other things.
Helps fall training, too.

I often feel a little "hyper" the day before I come down with actual
cold symptoms. If I train that day ("hyper day"), I tend to train "too
hard" and though I've worked hard I don't quite feel right. Then the
next day I'm sick. So I credit this unexpected burst of short hard
training to a body stimulated by just starting to fight a virus. Has
anyone else had this experience? or do I have cause and effect
backwards here?

Bruce Mardiney

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 01:37:04 GMT, "Gary Jacobson"
wrote:

I was nailed with a bad cold a couple of weeks ago after I did one of the
hardest one hour roller ski sessions in memory, and that was less than a
week after a very long road bike ride. So based on this one episode (bad
science, I know), I concur with the established idea that very hard training
sessions can create a lowered immunologic response to pathogens.

Rosendale, New York

Bruce Mardiney wrote:

I often feel a little "hyper" the day before I come down with actual
cold symptoms. If I train that day ("hyper day"), I tend to train "too
hard" and though I've worked hard I don't quite feel right. Then the
next day I'm sick. So I credit this unexpected burst of short hard
training to a body stimulated by just starting to fight a virus. Has
anyone else had this experience? or do I have cause and effect
backwards here?

I think you're exactly right.

Looking back, I've very often (nearly always in fact!) had this happen
to me.

As I've gotten older I've learned to recognize the feeling, which means
that a few times I've been able to recover much more quickly by simply
stopping all training for some days.

Terje

--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

Other than that, it's just good nutrition and _trying_to get adequate
sleep. I've never gotten the flu shot, and don't plan on it. Not
that I'm afraid of needles, but I avoid any invasive procedure I can,
including that. I rarely get the flu, and if I do, I blow through it
in 2 - 3 days.

This whole topic is about colds and the protections we take.
It may be possible to recover in 2-3 days from a severely
debilating cold.

Nobody EVER recovers from flu in 3 days, no matter what strain
it is and no matter how strong their immune system is.
3 days into this purgatory the flu is still building in violence.
If you dont recognise this then you've never been hit with it and
never been close to anyone suffering from it.
Mike
Just had my 2003 flu jab, as I never ever ever want flu again.

The flu shot is no guarantee against getting the flu, plus everybody reacts
differently to the virus.

I really don't ever get sick for more than 3 days. I probably spend more time
in the ER getting xrays after bike crashes !

jw
milwaukee
(no flu shot for me thanks)

PS: I got the tip for Zicam gel plus zinc lozenges from Pete Vordenberg who says
he uses it at the start of a cold to shorten it. Pretty good source, eh? --And
credit where due.

--

Jeff Potter
****
*Out Your Backdoor * http://www.outyourbackdoor.com
publisher of outdoor/indoor do-it-yourself culture...
...offering "small world" views on bikes, bows, books, movies...
...rare books on ski, bike, boat culture, plus a Gulf Coast thriller
about smalltown smuggling ... more radical novels coming up!
...original downloadable music ... and articles galore!
plus national "Off the Beaten Path" travel forums! HOLY SMOKES!

I meant to reply to Rob's post...

I believe I've gotten a flu shot twice and gotten a cold twice. So I
don't like the idea of have a cold now to prevent the flu later.

Another point is that I don't think the researchers have any idea what
flu strain will spread by the time they ship the vaccines out to the
medical community. I would think the lead time on making and shipping
a vaccine would be at least a year. Who can predict a year out what
flu will spread. So it seems like you're getting a shot for a flu that
likely will not be a problem.

I've heard, (but I don't know) that the flu shots have a number of
other ingredients. So they may have predominantly one harmless virus,
but how pure is that virus. Are there any metals, inactivation
ingredients, etc? Then there is stories about various problems
(autism, HIV, birth defects...) being linked to previous shots. Maybe
that's paranoid.

Of course all this depends on the fact that the flu shot is effective.
How do they test that? I'd like to hear if people who have had a shot
are actually protected if they are exposed.

The real reason I don't like flu shots is I hate needles. Man, that
Hep B series was a killer for me. I couldn't be a pro cyclist.

Jay Wenner

I believe I've gotten a flu shot twice and gotten a cold twice. So I
don't like the idea of have a cold now to prevent the flu later.

I believe you have a Phd in biology, no? YOu certainly understand that
you didn't get the cold from the flu shot, right? It's just "post hoc
ergo propter hoc" - confusing coincidence with causality.

Another point is that I don't think the researchers have any idea
what
flu strain will spread by the time they ship the vaccines out to the
medical community. I would think the lead time on making and shipping
a vaccine would be at least a year. Who can predict a year out what
flu will spread. So it seems like you're getting a shot for a flu
that
likely will not be a problem.

If you read up on it they do indeed know what flu strain will spread.
It doesn't take a year. They identify the new strain as it appears in
Asia, create and distribute the vaccine before the strain spreads to
America. It's an amazing piece of science, engineering, and
government. We should all celebrate this amazing piece of work and not
distrust and denigrate it.

I've heard, (but I don't know) that the flu shots have a number of
other ingredients. So they may have predominantly one harmless virus,
but how pure is that virus. Are there any metals, inactivation
ingredients, etc? Then there is stories about various problems
(autism, HIV, birth defects...) being linked to previous shots. Maybe
that's paranoid.

Anytime you inject a foreign substance there is a risk. However, the
MILLIONS of lives saved each year by the vaccine far outweigh any
risks. You will not get HIV from a flu shot.

Of course all this depends on the fact that the flu shot is
effective.
How do they test that? I'd like to hear if people who have had a shot
are actually protected if they are exposed.

Since anecdotal evidence seems to be so popular here, I'll say this:
I've had a flu shot every year since the early 90s and I've not had the
flu since then. And the number of colds I get each winter has
declined. As someone else pointed out, if you really get the flu, then
you don't get better in a few days. It takes WEEKS. I had it once and
it wiped me out for the rest of the ski season (I had it in January).
So I am sure to get my flu shot every year.

The real reason I don't like flu shots is I hate needles. Man, that
Hep B series was a killer for me. I couldn't be a pro cyclist.

Now perhaps we get to the root of the matter. Use the shot as an
opportunity to practice relaxation techniques to deal with stress. You
can handle it.

Rob Bradlee

If people did what they should do for their health, it would tank the
fast food industry, tobacco industry, and alcohol industry. People
seem to be very lazy and myopic these days. In the end people will
reap what they sow.
--Matt


(Rob Bradlee) wrote in message o.com...
The experts are predicting a nasty flu season, and so I'm already
anxious
about missing my pinnacle race scheduled for late January. If I had
any
faith in the flu vaccine I'd go for it. (Bad science?)

Why not get the flu vacine? Have you ever had the flu? I have had it.
Not the "I've got a bad cold so I call it flu" kind of flu. But the
real deal. It devastated my ski season. I get the vaccine every year
and have less and less colds each year. Why anyone would NOT get the
vaccine is beyond me. It's damn good science.

Rob Bradlee


=====
Rob Bradlee
Java, C++, Perl, XML, OOAD, Linux, and Unix Training