Author: Jolene Cooper

That’s my first Christmas carol reference of the season. It must be the snow on the mountains that’s bringing it out of me.

Last week I shared my joy that my running endurance has returned to it’s pre-sickness level, I’m still ecstatic, don’t get me wrong, but I haven’t been getting out to run nearly as much as I’d like to. And I’ve got two hypotheses as to why that is.

1. It’s cold outside
2. There’s other stuff I’d rather be doing.

I said Brrr, it’s cold in here.
Most of my work out clothes are t-shirts and shorts, I’m blaming my earlier reliance on indoor gyms. While the climate controlled gym is pretty appealing now that I can see my breath, I think need that external stimulation to keep me going. When I worked out at my gym in Ontario, I required my iPod, and a tv or book or magazine to keep me on that treadmill or elliptical for my cardio bout. To be honest, I think I developed Exercise Induced Attention Deficit Disorder.

Ok so that doesn’t really exist, but it probably should. And don’t even think about trying to get it in the DSM IV, I’m on the phone with the APA right now.

Tangent, sorry. OK so maybe the A.D.D. isn’t always exercise-induced…

If I’m not that thrilled with returning to the indoor sweat box, I need to figure out how to stay warm exercising outdoors.
Most of you BC natives are probably already familiar with winter exercise gear, but here’s some helpful info for everyone else.

1. Layer. Wear a synthetic layer close to the skin to wick the sweat away. The outer layer should be breathable but protect against wind or rain.
2. Don’t over dress. The general rule is to dress like its 20 degrees warmer than it is. That sounds like a bit extreme to me, if I were to dress like it was 25 degrees outside today, I’d freeze! I’m going to start with a 10 degree differential and let you know how it goes.
3. Put a lid on it. You lose 40% of heat through your heat, so wearing a hat will help keep you warmer.
4. Hand’s up. Another 30% of heat is lost through the hands, gloves that wick away moisture will keep them warm on cold days.  On extremely cold days, mittens will keep your hands warmer.
5. Bottom half. Running pants should be synthetic material that wick moisture away. Since our legs generate lots of heat, we don’t need as many layers on our bottom half.

Here’s the article where I found most of this information:
http://running.about.com/od/coldweatherrunning/a/wintergear.htm

I’ll tackle hypothesis # 2 next week.

Pssst. I’ve got something to tell you. 

Guess what it is.

Nope.

That’s not it.

Ok you’re terrible at this game, I’ll just tell you.

I had the most amazing run on Thursday.

What made it so amazing you ask?

Well, it was exactly everything it was before I got sick.

And you want to know something else?

I had another great run last night.

 That’s right. I’m back baby!

 I’m fully recovered from being sick (or at least well on my way), and officially out of my ‘fall funk’.  Not to say that I like fall anymore than I did last week, but I’m coming to terms with this season and trying to make the best of it.

 I’ve noticed that I’m not the only one in better spirits this week.  The past few weeks, most of the department was gloomy and lethargic, this week, there’s more of an upbeat feeling in the office. I’d say some people are downright cheery.

I’m not sure what’s responsible for this positive change, but I’m putting my money on last week’s awesome potluck lunch.  

Hopefully many of you out there in virtual UBC are feeling similar happy thoughts.

If not, have a potluck lunch.  HSE can show you how it’s done.

So, it’s not Summer anymore. Officially.
Alright, so it might have been officially autumn weeks ago, but I was still hoping Summer would blend seamlessly into Spring and Autumn and Winter would be skipped entirely.
For all of those people who love Fall and Winter, I make no apologies.
Fall and Winter means I’m constantly wearing my coat indoors, sporting a runny nose and frozen fingers.

I’m still struggling to get over my cold from a few weeks ago, but as my respiratory system is always the slowest to recover, maintaining my regular running schedule is proving to be challenging.
In the summer, I noticed that everytime I did the Grouse Grind, my lung capacity temporarily increased, making my next run a breeze, so to speak.

So, being the impatient person I am, decided to hike the Grind yesterday in hopes of recovering my respiratory system ahead of schedule.
I can’t tell if it worked yet or not, but I can tell you it was quite the challenge.
I should have realized that if my lungs weren’t functioning fast enough for my running, they surely weren’t going to cooperate for climbing Grouse. 

But I survived. I made it to the top, both sweating and hypothermic.
Figure that one out.

So while I may have temporarily increased my lung function, I might’ve gotten myself sick all over again.
The path up Grouse was paved with good intentions?
If I accomplished nothing else, I’m almost positive I worked off my turkey dinner.

So far, most of our blogging has been focused on being healthy, and preventing illness and disease. But what about when you do get sick? Despite all your best intentions, the hand-washing and vitamin C, you end up with a cold or flu, how do you recover to regain your health? As it seems half of the campus is currently sick (our department is no exception), I figured this would be the best time to discuss the recovery process.

Hi, my name is Jolene and I was sick last week and still came to work.

Consider this an open apology to everyone in my department and to those I worked closely with last week. I tried to limit my personal contact, but I’m fairly certain at least one person in my office is sick because of me.

I took last Tuesday off to rest through the worst of it, but was far too overzealous Wednesday and Thursday, requiring me to leave early on Friday afternoon to recover once again. In hindsight, taking the few days off at the beginning would have allowed me to recovery much sooner, and I would have been much more productive once I returned to work.

By the way, I do feel much better now, thank you for asking.

So what did I do to speed up my recovery?  Or what should I have done to speed up the recovery?
1. Rest.  Nothing like a good 15 hour sleep to rejuvenate the immune system.
2. Meds. I had no idea if what I had was a cold or flu, but to cover my bases I had cold AND flu meds and took them liberally, mostly just to ensure I got adequate rest.
3. O.J. I was drinking orange juice like it was my job. Yes, vitamin C supplements probably would’ve been more effective, but I figured adding extra liquids to my diet at this time couldn’t be a bad thing.
4. Exercise. Ok so this one took me some time. I waited until I was feeling 70% better, until I went for a slower-paced run along my normal route. The run itself was a struggle as my respiratory system is always the last to recover, but the improvement to my well-being after that run was well worth it. I could feel the colour return to my cheeks, the warmth return to my nose and fingers.

I think most of us are aware that regular exercise helps boost immune function, but when you are sick, when should you skip the run and crawl back into bed? This is a question that lingered in my head all last week. So I thought I would share my findings with you, in case you had the same question…

http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/should-i-exercise-while-sick/e75e72e50d803110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/fitness/fitness.coaches/chris.freytag

So, in conclusion, what’s the best way to speed up a recovery from the cold or flu?
My answer: Do as I say, not as I do.

Stay home and get some rest.