Staying healthy as a runner.
Warning: This post is taken from life experience as a competitive runner, and is not in any way qualified medical advice.
Staying healthy as a runner.
It's safe to say most people are feeling unsafe in light of this Corona Virus. There are plenty of medical posts advising the dos and don'ts of this pandemic.
As a runner or just generally as someone who is leaving their immune system taxted due to the stress of running or just work you would normally have to mind your self, never mind during a pandemic.
Everyone is well versed in what they need to do with regards to avoiding Covid-19 and avoiding it is the key. My experience from just trying to stay healthy, especially during just a normal flu season is simply to get the earliest detention of infection.
What I have found to be a consistent way of early detection is to take your morning heart rate. When the body is under any stress the heart rate will normally go up. So if you know what a normal range for your resting heart rate is you can detect early infection, injury or even just that you are more fatigued than normal. You can then take action, be it to just take it easy or see a Doctor.
Everyone's resting heart rate would differ based on many factors. How you find what your normal range is to take it for a few days, normally 3-5 days and take the average. You record what your heart rate is as soon as you wake up, counting how many times your heart beats by hand for 60 seconds, doing this 3 times and taking the average. If your resting heart rate is higher than 5 beats per minute, reduce your activity and pay attention to how you feel.
Additionally, you have to take your AM heart rate at the same time roughly every day to have consistent information. You must also understand your heart rate can rise for many reasons. Reasons such as stress, fatigue, inflammation, dehydration, etc. So just take it into account and listen to your body using this tool to become more consistent in your training knowing when to pull back before your forced to take time out.
Eat well, train wisely practice good hygiene and you'll be in the best place with regards to avoiding something like COVID-19.
Hope you find this helpful,
Darragh Rennicks
TEAM AK