Am I bashing my immune system?

[Peter]

I'm 66 years old.  I've been fit most of my life but have only been audaxing for about 4 years.  I've cycled since I was 40 but just messing about really.  Since I started audaxing I've done 3 RRTY, featured quite high in the AAA rankings. This year I've got 50+ points and just recently achieved my first SR, with a 400 and 600 within the last three weeks.  This isn't trumpet-blowing but to give an idea of the sort of riding I'm doing.

The problem:  for the last couple of years, I've been getting recurrent sinus infections.  These respond to antibiotics and I've had an "oscopy" which didn't find anything unusual.  I also feel tired a lot of the time, though my legs recover pretty quickly from the longer rides.  A complicating factor may be the fact that due to various circumstances, I have never had more than five hours sleep before any audax, frequently less and occasionally none.

Now, I know there are riders who are older than me who are doing greater distances, though the ones I know have decades of riding in their legs (and are probably better cyclists anyway).  But what I'm wondering is, am I doing too much for my particular abilities, causing my immune system to weaken and make me susceptible to the infections and tiredness?

Any ideas, please?

[Chris S]

Comparing yourself to other riders is a slippery slope if you ask me - we are all different, and FWIW boab and I consider you to be a strong rider - especially in them hills.

So - SR done this year (congratulations!), season is knocking on - how about easing up for a while and seeing if that improves things? Try a slightly different form of riding perhaps - some 100s that don't require stupid O'Clock starts.
I doubt RRTY is a factor - unless you are doing several in parallel and you are in fact bashing out 200/300s every week (I don't think this is the case). Doing one randonnee a month, once you are experienced at them, is pretty sustainable.

Riding 400 and 600 in close succession is hard - especially the 400 and 600 you rode. You'll be making sure you recover well from them before doing much else, I'm sure.

I can't really comment on the medical stuff (I assume you attend well-man clinics and have been tested for Diabetes etc?) as IANAD.

As for the sleep thing - if it's only sleep before a ride that's affected, then that should be OK as long as you sleep enough the rest of the time. I don't sleep well before events either; it can be a pain when you start a 400 or 600 already short on sleep. If you are an anxious person and have trouble sleeping generally, perhaps cat-napping during the day might help, if that's an option?

I hope you get it sorted. Will we be seeing you at the Venetian Nights 200 again this year?

[vorsprung]

am I doing too much for my particular abilities, causing my immune system to weaken and make me susceptible to the infections and tiredness?

Maybe.  I found that daily longish distance bike commuting in all weathers helped my immune system.  I didn't get any colds and my hayfever was some what improved.  It's possible that your pattern of riding is having the opposite effect.

I note that you are 66 years young and don't sleep properly.  Maybe this has more to do with your medical problems than bike riding as such?

You don't say what you do after a ride.  I over eat and over sleep after a long ride.  I am cautious about doing long rides on consecutive weekends

[Peter]

Thanks to both of you.  I generally sleep pretty well and usually only have trouble before a ride, a combination of adrenalin and start times and living next to a pub!  I certainly eat plenty after rides (I eat plenty generally speaking!) and I sleep pretty-well normally immediately after, including cat-naps.  It's interesting what you say about commuting V; I only commute once a week now, and don't ride quite as often during the week as I used to and I had less trouble then than I do now.  I'll look into that.  But it is definitely looking like I've put the 600 and 400 a little close together.  I'm certainly going to "concentrate" on shorter rides for the foreseeable future and had always regarded the SR as a one-off thing given my commitments.  What I don't want is someone coming up with new, interesting 4 and 600s!

Chris, I'm certainly intending to do Venetian Nights and look forward to seeing you both.  In the meantime, I'll try and get well!

Thank you both again

[teethgrinder]

Endurance events hammer the immune system and so does lack of sleep, so you probably are. Catching up on sleep will make a big difference.
Do you wear goggles when you go cycling? Ones that protect the coreners of your eyes from wind. That would probably help with the sinus trouble. I used to always get a blocked up nose after 1-200 miles until I started wearing goggles. I get mine from DIY shops.

[Peter]

Steve, thanks for that.  I don't get the sinus trouble after each ride.  I'm just getting it more often than I used to.  But it's certainly something to consider.  Thanks again.  Have you a picture of your goggles?

[simonp]

I had a bad time of it towards the end of the 2010 season, having done 4x600k and 1x1000k that summer (plus other rides). Took me months to get back to 100%. I'm 26 years younger than Peter.

[Euan Uzami]

Could it be that it's not so much the riding, but the (close) contact with (many) other people.
The longer the event, the more different people you probably come into close proximity with, the more cafes/shops etc. you go in.


edit: if you get it after each ride, then compare whether you get it as much on a DIY as on a calendar? this would prove or disprove my theory.

[Peter]

Simon and Ben, thank you both.

Ben, I don't get infections after every ride by any means, though I understand your point about contact with other riders and non-combatants.  It seems to be the same infection, which recurs every few weeks, though antibiotics shift it if I take them.  I'm wondering if maybe I need a slightly longer course to get rid of it completely, though I know chronic sinusitis is pretty common.  It may be a complete coincidence that I've picked this up since I started cycling so much but I suspect not and I suspect I need to be a bit more careful about spacing my rides out, especially the longer ones and, as Vorsprung implied, keep it ticking over in between.

Simon, that is some serious riding you quoted there, even for a youngster!  I can well believe it took a long time to get back to normal.  Can you remember, though, whether or not you were more susceptible to colds and stuff like that during that time?

Thanks again, both.

[simonp]

It was a lot, considering I had a day job. I felt run down more than anything else, was low on energy all the time and commuting at an average of 22kph compared to today when I averaged 27kph this morning. I have found in the last couple of years that I have had a bit of sinus trouble following on from colds - a cold I get over with in a week was leaving me with a further week of runny gunky nose, and a productive cough. I would eventually get over it though. Worst period for that was the early part of the 2010 season, I DNS'd several events because of it.

The latter part of 2010 after the 1000k event I was supposed to be riding the Italian 1600k but I pulled out. I found myself route checking my 200k event I ran that year with no energy, there was no way I'd have been up to the MI. I continued to feel run down right through autumn and it was only around feb/march that I found some speed again, I did a PB for 5000m on the rowing machine at the gym and then started PBP qualifiers with a decent turn of speed.

In summary, colds do seem to drag on for longer, rather than being more common. And I feel generally knackered, when I've over done it.

[Peter]

Thanks, Simon, that pretty much mirrors my experience.  I need to take it easy for a bit I think!

[teethgrinder]

Have you a picture of your goggles?

No. I just get them from a DIY shop and use whatever seems best. They're all designed to stop stuff going in you eyes, which is what they are for. I usualy get them from Wickes or B&Q.

[Lady Cavendish]

Peter, are you doing much riding in between the Audaxes? It does sound like you are doing a lot of them, I know there are a lot of regular Audaxers on here so it can appear that it is a 'normal' thing to do every weekend, when it isn't for the general population!!

I've come down with girl-flu this week- my immune system is hugely compromised at the moment anyway but it seems a little co-incidental that it happened a day or 2 after a 200k Audax. But it's hard to say whether it was that, or whether it is the 5am commuting/gym sessions, a combination of everything, or just one of those things.

I don't get many colds so I'm lucky in that respect, I often think its the commuting/Audaxing kind of helps like Vorsprung suggests, but perhaps sometimes it works the other way!

[LEE]

I almost expect to pick up a cold following a 600k ride unless I really take care of myself afterwards (early nights, time off the bike..etc)

[Peter]

Lady Cavendish and Paul

Sorry, I've only just seen your replies, for which, thanks.  I'm actually doing fewer audaxes than last year but I have been doing 400s (2) and a 600, whereas I'd only ever gone as far as 300 before.  I don't suppose it helps that they are nearly always pretty hilly (the 200s as well) because of where I live.  It may be, as Vorsprung suggests, that I'm expecting too much of myself as I tend these days to just turn up and ride, rather than keep in training, since I don't commute the way I used to.  I still use the bike regularly in between long rides but it is just mooching about.  However, I suspect the main thing is that I've got a chronic sinus problem, which is just waiting to break through all the time!  I feel pretty good apart from that.  Will go and talk to the doc about it again soon.
Thanks again

[rogerzilla]

I cycle most work days, which involves getting changed immediately after the ride in a stuffy gym changing room full of sweaty snotty other people.  I don't get any more colds than I did when driving to work (although the time I got the fewest colds - 18 months without a single one - was when I first got a car and stopped taking the bus, to a much smaller office without air conditioning).

Hand gel does cut down on infections - use it before touching your eyes or nose.  I'm less sure about ecinachea.

[teethgrinder]

One big ride is harder on the immune system than lots of little ones. Add onto that some night riding which will be even more strain from lack of sleep.
After the 2007 PBP, where my tandem partner and I had to go flat out for the last 80km when he was ill, he never recovered until Christmas, 4 months later. His immune system was so low from PBP as well as his sickness that it never recovered very much and he was vulnerable to further illness. If it had been a 100 mile ride, he'd have probably been OK after a week or so.

[simonp]

Took me a couple of months to recover from PBP 2007. Was throwing up on the ferry on the way back and at work a few days later.

[LEE]

I cycle most work days, which involves getting changed immediately after the ride in a stuffy gym changing room full of sweaty snotty other people.  I don't get any more colds than I did when driving to work (although the time I got the fewest colds - 18 months without a single one - was when I first got a car and stopped taking the bus, to a much smaller office without air conditioning).

Hand gel does cut down on infections - use it before touching your eyes or nose.  I'm less sure about ecinachea.

Commuting in the open air definitely protects you from colds.

I never got a cold whilst commuting by motorbike.  I heard that it was the runny nose that actually protected you.  The opposite, dry, air-conditioned environments, seem to have the opposite effect and open you up for every cold going around.

As Teethgrinder says, exerting yourself while ill can have disastrous, long-term, effects.  I stupidly did a 100mile ride with, at the time, a mild chest cold.  The exertion just seemed to let the cold really take hold and I was very ill for a few weeks, with what I expected would be a 2 week cold.

Take care after a very long ride and, if you are already ill, stay at home on the Sofa and watch a black & white film instead.

[Peter]

Thanks for that, Lee.  Generally speaking, I am very healthy and pretty fit for my age.  I agree with your assessment and also Steve's.  My problems have almost always been after the longer rides, which have coincided with my doing less commuting.  The weather has not made virtual commutes very attractive this year, either.  I think the two main difficulties are lack of sleep, which exacerbates the effects of exertion and allows any underlying conditions or external bugs to get a hold and what appears to be a chronic sinus infection which seems to take any chance it gets.  I get very few colds, possibly because, like yours, my nose runs in the fresh air (when I ride, that is)!  I may be taking a bit of a break soon anyway because I've got something wrong with a knee that won't seem to settle down.

I share your love of black and white films.   They don't even have to have a decent plot.  The design is usually so much better than in colour films.  So maybe a rest-cure is in order!