How to Deal with Getting Sick as a Runner

Andie Cozzarelli [00:00:01]: One of the good rules of thumb is, you know, if it's above the head, so anything in your upper in your head, your congestion, that kind of stuff, not necessarily something that's gonna be horrible to keep running through. Anything below the neck, so anything in your chest, if you have a fever, anything like that, we don't wanna run through. We just have a higher likelihood of of exacerbating things, making things worse, creating prolonged sickness, more likely to get, you know, infections and different things like that. And so, we wanna just be really careful and really let your body guide you.

Cory Nagler [00:00:37]: The new year is here. And while the holiday season has come and gone, cold and flu season is still very much here. Sometimes there's nothing you can do about it, but man, it sucks being sick. Even a really minor cold can leave you feeling less energetic for a run. And workouts might be the last thing on your mind for more serious illness. It might sound insane to non runners, but one of my first thoughts when I feel a cold coming on is how is this going to affect my training? And I don't think that I'm alone on that. You don't necessarily have to completely cut out running for a little bit of congestion, but running more than your body can handle is likely gonna do more harm than good. So today, I'm joined by coach Andy, and we're helping you figure out how to adjust your training if you start feeling under the weather.

Cory Nagler [00:01:18]: We do have a lot of training experience navigating sickness, but neither of us are medical professionals. So please don't take this as professional advice and consult your doctor if needed. There's a fine line between giving your body the rest it needs and fitting in just enough running to keep your fitness, if you're healthy enough for it. Of course, there's also nothing wrong with taking a break from running. Your body will thank you. We'll cover topics like what kind of symptoms are okay to run through and which aren't, how to know when you're ready to get back to normal training, and how to adjust your training plan while you're sick and after you recover. I'm wishing everyone listening good health in 2025. But just in case you happen to pick up a bug, you'll know what to do.

Cory Nagler [00:01:57]: So let's get into it. Hello, runners, and welcome to the Run to the Top podcast, where our goal is making you a better runner with each and every episode. I'm your showrunner, Corey Nagler. And I'm an elite runner, but together, we'll explore new strategies and topics to take your running to the next level This podcast is created and produced by the expert team of coaches at runnersconnect.net where you can find the best running information on the Internet as well as training plans to fit every runner and every budget. Welcome back to the show, Andy. As we're recording this, we are just in that really weird period between Christmas New Year's. So how you doing this weird time of the year when I can't even figure out what day of the week it is?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:02:48]: Yeah. I, you know, I have no idea. I've been traveling, and and we got back right before Christmas. So it just feels like I'm in this blur, you know, just waiting for the New Year. So almost there.

Cory Nagler [00:03:00]: Where did you travel to? And thank you for right off of a vacation, making the time to fit in a podcast.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:03:07]: Yeah. We, so I was in back in Raleigh where we moved from for a week. We were finishing the move. We didn't quite get everything out of the house. And then we, were in Florida, celebrating, Christmas with my sister who just had twins. So that was super exciting, got to meet them. But, of course, I got sick right before we were literally, like, the day before I started getting a cough that, lingered and got worse by the time we got there. So I, unfortunately, couldn't be around the babies too often, but, I think that perfectly leads into the the conversation today, though, you know, being sick this time of year.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:03:45]: So I'll let you let you go ahead and jump into things.

Cory Nagler [00:03:49]: Yeah. I'm sorry to hear that. And, honestly, this was inspired by my own experiences too because I recently got back from a a trip for a race out of the country and, of course, found myself sick for a lot of that trip and thought this would actually be a good topic because, unfortunately, being sick sucks, and it's kinda disruptive to your running.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:04:05]: Oh, yeah. For sure. And, you know, I think I've been seeing a lot of athletes that I coach who are also dealing with this this time of year. I think there's a lot of stuff going around, and our, you know, our immune systems have probably shifted and changed a little bit in the years since COVID. So it's a good good topic to to kinda go through and and discuss.

Cory Nagler [00:04:24]: Yeah. So right off the bat, I think anyone who's not a runner probably is thinking, why would you ever run when you're sick? And, of course, there's definitely times when you're not gonna run. So how do you decide if that's something you should even consider? Are there symptoms that maybe you don't wanna run through and others that you would?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:04:41]: Yeah. So, I mean, you know, coming from somebody we're not we're not doctors like you like you mentioned, but, you know, there are certain things that I try to use, as as markers for myself. And so even this last week when I was in Florida, most of my symptoms were cough, and I didn't really quite feel run down. I just kinda felt, you know, occasionally, I had a headache, and I just you know, I didn't feel like running in that circumstance. And so I sort of tried to use a little bit of, you know, how are you feeling motivation wise too and and also, how are these symptoms and will running may make that worse? Will how will any of these things how are they gonna impact how I feel? And so those are some of the considerations that I try to take into account. But on a on a larger scale, we don't wanna run-in through anything. There's, like, a one of the good rules of thumb is, you know, if it's a bull above the head, so anything in your upper in your head, your congestion, that kind of stuff, not necessarily something that's gonna be horrible to keep running through. Anything below the neck, so anything in your chest, if you have a fever, anything like that, we don't wanna run through.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:05:49]: We just have a higher likelihood of of exacerbating things, making things worse, creating prolonged sickness, more likely to get, you know, infections and different things like that. And so, we wanna just be really careful and really let your body guide you. That was kind of what I used last week, and I took Tuesday off in the middle of the week because I was kinda feeling more crummy that day. And then the next day, you know, my energy levels were fine. I felt good. You know, other than the cough, I was that was the only symptom I had. I was, you know, feeling good, so I went ahead and went for a run and and ran by feel. I avoided doing a workout.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:06:26]: I actually shifted all of my training around so that I could push off doing any intense work because especially if, you know, I took the day off the day before, so I don't know how my body's gonna feel. So I pushed off the workout until later in the week, and just ran easy a few days just to see how my body responded, and, you know, I think got nothing got worse, And, you know, I still felt fine. My heart rate, that was something I looked at was what my resting heart rate was showing and then also what my heart rate was looking like while running because that can be a good indicator of the stress that your body is going through. And so that was those were some other factors I took into account when I was, gauging whether or not I was healthy enough to continue to run. And then I did a workout later in the week and just did one that's more of a effort based so far, like, workout instead of doing a full blown, you know, you know, distance based with specific pieces. I really just went by feel and and sort of progressed through the workout that way. And so I think that's a good way to sort of go through training when you're sick. But it's it's very it's very nuanced.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:07:32]: It's it's individual. There's context to it. So, you know, we we can talk about different types of illnesses and that kind of stuff as well. But from a general scope of things, you know, you can use those rules of thumb that I mentioned in the beginning, and then and then allow yourself to go by feel.

Cory Nagler [00:07:49]: Yeah. That's what my coaches used to say as well as a rule of thumb in terms of the below or above the neck in this case, but I guess essentially the same as the head. But I'd love to hear more about how you actually use heart rate and especially when you're sick. Because may maybe you're better than I would be in this case, but I think if I were to try to use heart rate when I was sick, I'd just be staring at my watch the whole run and just begging for it to go down so I can keep running.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:08:13]: Yeah. I that was I you can typically tell before you even run if your resting heart rate is elevated, then it's very likely that your body's working pretty hard to try to fight something off. And so that can be a good indicator that if it's, like, way higher than normal, that it's probably not smart for you to run because your body's currently under that type of stress. If it's just a little bit higher than, you know, you can go, but I would take it easy. And then during the run, I you know, and this was something I especially did during COVID because we were seeing a lot of athletes with they when they had COVID, their heart rates were running high. And so sometimes people would feel fine, totally fine, but their heart rate would be elevated, and that's just a clear sign that your body is, under duress. And so we have to be mindful that even if you feel fine, if you're seeing, like, really high heart rate values when you're trying to run while sick, then you're probably not helping yourself too much. So when I when I did have COVID, I had very mild symptoms, but I did notice the day I went to go run.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:09:13]: I took a few days off there. It was really important that, with COVID and flu and stuff like that, that you really are more cautious. That's definitely not something we wanna mess around with because we don't wanna create long term illness, long COVID, or, you know, prolong or create more more damaging effects from the illness or the viral illness. But that was something that, you know, I took a few I was very cautious, took days off, took maybe 2 or 3 days off. And then, you know, I was feeling good. I didn't have a fever, and I just decided to go for a run and I noticed my heart rate being much more elevated than normal. It was, like, getting up into the 1 sixties running really easy. So I did a run walk that day.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:09:53]: And then the next day when I went out, I was also monitoring it, and I noticed it came down. And so that was a good sign to me that I was managing my symptoms well, that I was listening to my body, that my heart rate was coming down, that it's, you know, it's coming off of that high heart rate. It's coming off of that stress. So, that was a good indicator for me. If it if it hadn't been able to be controllable on that day when I went for my run and I I kept that run real short. I didn't I tried not to do anything. I didn't do any intensity. I really tried to be really mindful of how long I went and all that kind of stuff.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:10:29]: But if if if I was feeling bad at the same time and I was seeing those heart rate values, that's when you stop, call it, give yourself some more rest, and and keep going from there.

Cory Nagler [00:10:38]: Yeah. This intuitive approach got me thinking, about comparisons to injury. Because one of the things my physio or chiropractor always tell me is, think about, is it getting better worse as you run? Do you think that applies to sickness as well, or do you maybe have to be a little bit more cautious compared to an injury?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:10:55]: I think it can apply because, you can see if you've stressed your body too hard by how your body responds to that exercise when you're sick. So if you're sick and you do a hard run and next thing you know, you're just feeling so much worse the next day, then your body probably wasn't it's it's under too much stress for you. It's essentially that when your body feels bad the next day after a hard session when you're sick, it's mostly because it it's gonna need extra recovery time. So most likely, you didn't also get any benefit from that workout. It's kind of like doing running too hard in a in a workout. You're you're just stressing your body more than it can handle, so it needs to recover further. And so your body's responding in a way that's saying, hey. This is a lot for me to take on and, you know, I need more I need more time to recover and your immune system needs more support.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:11:45]: And so we don't want to create this system where we're not supporting our immune system constantly and it's continually being drained and drained. It just creates, constantly and it's continually being drained and drained. It just creates this cycle where you can be more susceptible to picking up new illnesses, and then you just get in this cycle of just being sick for a long period of time, catching new things and all that. So, I'm always pro. I think I caution on the side of support your immune system first. So I'd rather you be a little bit more cautious with your rest and recovery and taking it easy, than just to force through it. Because I just think that's not gonna, like I said, even if we can do workouts and be fine and or be okay, like, are we actually getting any benefit from those workouts or are we just sort of prolonging something or just adding more stress that your body's taking longer to recover from? So yeah.

Cory Nagler [00:12:40]: Yeah. I've definitely made that mistake of training too hard through sickness. And sometimes you just feel like you've been hit by a train the next day. Your body just does not recover properly.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:12:48]: Yeah. And I had that experience too. I was like, I'm feeling better. I'm gonna go try to do this workout. And I tried to do it, and it was awful. Like, it just didn't it didn't go well at all. And I I ended up, like, having to shut shut it down, like, halfway through, but I also had done, like, an out and back. So it was definitely the dumbest decision.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:13:06]: I had to, like, still find a way back to my car, despite that. And, you know, I I tried that workout again, you know, a couple weeks later, and I was way faster and just felt tons of loads better. So, you know, it it you can you're probably better off just sort of delaying things, and that's what I did last week. So I pushed some of the workouts I had last week to this week, and maybe I would have been fine, but, you know, it's not worth that. You know, I don't have anything pressing that I have to run, and I think every workout works together. So if you have to skip a workout or let one go or push training a little bit, you'll be fine at the end of the day. All of it's gonna come together to work to work together. So

Cory Nagler [00:13:49]: Yeah. Now is a good time to call myself out because I was feeling a little bit sick even before my race and ran the marathon. And it was probably worth it for the marathon by the time you travel to Europe. But for any other regular workout or run, the the amount it probably delayed my recovery is definitely not worth it.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:14:07]: Yeah. Yeah. The races are a different story. You know, you kinda have to you do whatever you can. You take you take all the, you know, the the medicine that you can and do all the recovery stuff. You do everything you can going into a race, and you gotta kinda take your best shot and and make the smart call. But very similar to when I ran the Olympic trials in 2016, I had a chest cold, mostly from from overtraining, which we can also talk about how that affects your immune system and how you're more susceptible to illness in the taper, if you're if you're in that state. You can still be more susceptible to illness in the taper even if you're not overtrained.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:14:42]: But, I was overtrained for sure. And so when I tapered, I got sick maybe the week before. And it being a chest cold and it being warm out there, the chances of that race going well were pretty low for me. But I I tried anyway because you're not gonna just give up that opportunity, but you kinda have to be ready and able to decide if that race is just not worth pushing through. In in your case, you probably were like, I didn't feel as good, but I could continue to race. And in my case, I actually was ended up with heat exhaustion, which, was probably exacerbated by being sick since I couldn't really I was having, like, a lot of the chest congestion and and coughing and and a little bit of difficulty with breathing even before the race. So, you know, I ended up dropping about halfway through. And so that was the right call for me that day even so even when race day, you kinda have to be able to to hold yourself accountable and and know exactly kind of, like, what's the right move here and and and race is smart race smart too so that you can, come out of it, you know, have better you have you have more races to come.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:15:48]: So, you know, use that also as a marker. Yeah.

Cory Nagler [00:15:52]: It sounds like you've developed a really intuitive sense of when your body is able to keep pushing and when you really need to pull the plug even at a race as important as the US Olympic trials.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:16:02]: Yeah. It was hard. That was one of those things that I I mean, I had been walking already anyway. So, you know, it was kinda one of those things that's like, you know, it's not worth it to keep going, but this has taken me it's not like this has been like a, oh, you yeah. I know exactly how to manage this. It's been years of me not doing that to get to this point where I'm just a lot more flexible with myself with training. And that's kind of what, I think a lot of my athletes have taught me that probably, seeing how they've managed and negotiated through injuries and how I would tell them to do it. It's kind of helped me reflect on, like, what are you doing? Why are you running? Have you feel so bad? But, yeah, this last week, I was still coughing and having that while running, but mostly after because it kinda gets all that phlegm going.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:16:48]: But I was feeling good in all of my runs, so I was letting that be the the most important factor. And, you know, if I had a headache or didn't feel good before, I was kinda negotiating with myself. So

Cory Nagler [00:17:02]: I think runners can be so stubborn and wanting to push through, so it's a good message that looking back on pulling the plug on a race like the Olympic trials, you have zero regrets and still label it now as the right call.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:17:12]: Yeah. And I it helped me for later that year. I ran my 1st marathon that went well. And so, you know, not putting myself in this, like, deep hole, kinda continuing through that was what I needed. So, yeah.

Cory Nagler [00:17:27]: Yeah. I wanna take a little mini detour because you talked a little bit about getting sick a lot while you're running. And I've heard this before that your immune system is compromised when you're training a lot. And it it makes sense. Your body's focused on so many things when you're at a high training load. But one thing that I notice is the time when I tend to get sick the most is during the taper or right before the raise, which to me personally is surprising because I would think it's when you're doing the most draining. But maybe you have a sense why this is.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:17:57]: Yeah. And I don't I can't I don't know specifically why, but I've even read stuff that talks about how you're more susceptible to illness in the taper. And maybe it has something to do with just like when you're in the depths of training, your body's really in a protective mode. It's trying to keep you healthy. It's trying to keep you from, it wants you to be able to continue to do that. When you strip some of that away, your body is going to respond in a way that's like, oh, okay. We don't have to have our defenses up quite as much because we're not carrying that same load. We're not, similar to the way that you those aches and pains you can get in the taper.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:18:30]: I think very similar to how you'll feel those a little bit more when you're tapering than maybe you felt in training because your body's able to sort of disguise that pain with, you know, the pain of training, of training hard. And so I think that's probably part of why we start to see that happening more in the tapers that we're stripping some of that away. We're more susceptible. The other thing is that if you race, especially at this time of year, the cold can have an impact. You know, the cold doesn't make you sick. Running in the cold's not gonna be the reason that you get sick, but it lowers your immune response. So or so you're not you're more susceptible to getting sick when you're in when you're in the cold a lot, but also, you know, colds and all that kind of stuff. You're closer to people.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:19:11]: We have a lot more, you know, family gatherings and times where we're together with people indoors. So that's how we see those things spreading quicker during these times a year. So, it could it could be that you did everything perfectly correct and you took care of yourself, and you tapered right, and you, you know, you didn't taper too much, and and you still get sick. And it could just be that, you know, right timing for, you know, picking up something. You just came into contact with the right person at the right time and or I guess the wrong person at the wrong time, to get to get sick, and it's just more common this time of year, and and that can be sort of a a part of it. But, yeah, you're definitely gonna be a little bit more susceptible to picking some stuff up. And I think the taper can be a part of that and, like, how we manipulate that to, you know, if you do over taper, you're more likely your defenses drop way more. And so we sort of have to manage that with the training a little bit.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:20:09]: And that's something I've been sort of thinking a lot about with some of the athletes I coach. And it's but it's hard to know. Right? Like, it was it the taper? Was it just, you know, the holidays and and being in contact with people more? And, how did that impact and and all that stuff? So yeah.

Cory Nagler [00:20:26]: But before this comment, I should really reiterate that I'm not a medical professional, but this almost sounds like a little bit of the hair of the dog. It's like, you know, if you keep drinking, you you're not gonna feel the effects or just if you keep training hard, then you never get to that taper phase where you get sick.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:20:40]: Yeah. Right? And it would be great if you could just continue that, but, it won't won't work in your favor quite so much. But, it's really about managing how you how you kinda cut down and and do all those things. Yeah.

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Cory Nagler [00:22:05]: Check out the research and the results for yourself at massedge.com/iron. That's masedge.com/iron. Plus, runners connect fans will automatically save 20% on any purchase. Yeah. So maybe let's get into some of that management piece, because I think it's almost simpler if you're, like, really sick. Like, I think if you're sick with the flu or COVID, just stay home, rest. That's probably the best advice. But if you do have just a little bit of that, you know, that congestion, runny nose, and you're probably okay to run, as it it sounds was probably your case, How do you figure out how to balance your training loads so that you can still train but help your body to recover?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:22:50]: Yeah. So, I think that for the most part, like, what the data says is that you you're not gonna necessarily your performance isn't impacted by a cold. A cold's not gonna, you know, derail you or make you slower or do any of that stuff. But sometimes the effects in how we feel when we have a cold does impact our performance because you just don't feel good, and we sort of need some of those, you know, positive influences in in when we start a workout to maintain our paces and and run well. So there's those factors that can impact. So, you know, from what I did was I moved things around last week so that I could, you know, see how I felt with an easy run before pushing on a workout. So that's a good way to adjust. You know? And on the worst day of the cold, you know, when it first starts and you're feeling crummy, that's a good day to go ahead and take a rest day, or or shift just, like, a short easy run to that day, see how your body responds, see how you feel.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:23:48]: If you feel worse than rest the next day, and then, you know, try another easy run before you push on any type of workout after sickness. I always wanna have a test run of just an easy run before attempting that. So you can always be flexible with your workouts. You might have to drop a workout, and that's gonna be totally fine as well. You know, I think it's better that you have less intensity during that week when you're sick so that it doesn't develop into something worse. You're not like, your performance may not be worse. But if you do go train hard and your body's response to that is that it's more stress and then we get an infection, then that's gonna impact our training, and that's gonna make us lose a few days. So I'm always thinking, okay.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:24:35]: What how does this how would this fare next week and the week after? You know, if I run today, will that mean that I'm going to be worse off next week or in the next few days? Or is that or is running today gonna be, you know, safe for me to still be able to think in the future of, okay, how does this fare, with the races I have coming up? Like, I don't want this to linger. I want this to go away as fast as possible. So what does that mean for how I plan the training that I'm gonna do in the next few days? And so that's gonna be something where you really have to be able to listen to your body and and be very, very true to yourself and honest with, you know, how do you feel, and how will this affect me going forward? And, you know, a misrun, you I you know, sometimes a misrun is the best solution for feeling better. And, you know, training is not beneficial unless it's you know, we're rested and recovered and feeling good. So if that means, you know, take that extra rest day, then by all means, that's gonna be the the the way that you get faster. That extra run probably won't make you better. So it's kind of like, you know, recognizing that each run that you do doesn't really have that big of an impact on you as a as a on your training as a whole. So if that means we miss a few runs and per we don't have the perfect training and volume's a little bit different one week to the next, then that's okay.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:26:02]: That's part of the the, ups and, the ups and downs of the training that you're doing. So yeah.

Cory Nagler [00:26:08]: Yeah. And I can probably link it in the show notes, but I do know we have an article out about how quickly you lose fitness. And, really, within the 1st week or 2, it's almost negligible. So if the average minor sickness is 3 to 5 days, even if you took that whole time off, I'd imagine you're you're probably not losing that much compared to if you resume normal training.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:26:27]: Exactly. And I had a client who missed a bunch of training. She was supposed to race, this was Richmond last year, and she, missed a lot of training going into race week. So she was in the taper, and pretty congested and all of that. And we decided to just switch to the 8 k because we were like, I don't know if it makes sense to run a marathon. She's still a little congested, and we talked on race week. And, but, you know, she we decided to switch to the 8 k. She ran a PR in her 8 k.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:26:56]: So she maintained fitness pretty well through that despite, she felt better by race day from having rested. And, yeah, so she was able to pull out a really strong race. You know, she did have to change distances because that was gonna be more suitable from from the training perspective and where she was with the mistraining, but, you know, it still worked in our favor to be able to still go out there and try something. And and, yeah, I think it's important to recognize that we really don't lose that much, and we can build it back quicker than we expect. That was something that I now have 2 experiences having taken 3 months off from training in the more recent future. So one was I wasn't allowed to do any cross training at all, because I had to keep my heart rate down, and I was dealing with a more of an autoimmune thing. And this time, it was from surgery where I was sort of doing some cross training, but several of those months were just sort of, like, spinning my legs on the bike. But the difference between coming back this time and that time was just wild.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:27:56]: Like, I've was jumped right back into training following the surgery, just from this minimal amount of cross training. So if, you know, you feel okay, but the thought of a run feels a little bit too demanding, you can always pop on the the pike and just do a light spin just for time. That way you can also stay inside, and not be exposed to any elements that are gonna lower your immune system further if it's cold out, and that can be a good way to still maintain that fitness through that period of time. And just a little bit takes you a long way, which is what I experienced just in these this last, you know, half of a year where I was recovering from my hip surgery and, you know, my race. I just I did a race beginning of December, which was, what, like, 7 months 6, 7 months after I had my surgery and ran faster than I did the last time I raced this race. So, so that goes to show, like, you know, do what you can, but you're really not losing fitness that quickly.

Cory Nagler [00:28:53]: So I've seen that you're back to a little running. I don't think I noticed the race. Do you maybe wanna call out what that race was and the time?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:28:59]: Yeah. It's actually a really great race in, North Carolina at Rocky Mount. It's a small town, about 45 to 50 minutes away from Brawley where we I used to live. And, it's awesome, actually. It raises money for MS. The, the race director's wife has MS, so they send all the proceeds to MS. And she's out there. The whole family's out there.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:29:20]: They put on the event themselves, and it's actually a brewery throw down. So they score it cross country style, And all the breweries have teams, and and you're they're competing against each other. And so I signed up, and they just put me on a random team, but the race director wanted it to be competitive. So he put me on a team that had a chance of beating this team that has won the last several years. And so the women's team at Bond Brothers, we actually won this year, which was pretty cool. But it was a 4 mile race, and it was my second one that I was doing. And I ran I don't know the time. I ran about 6 no.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:29:54]: 5 42 pace or 5:43 pace. But the last time I ran it, I think it was, like, 5:49 or something like that. So, I was pretty excited to and I, had to kick to to win at the end. So I outkicked a a girl at the finish line. So it was a pretty exciting finish there. But I I was racing trying to race by feel, started a little quick, and then tried to just keep things even and not really pay too much attention to my time and just have fun with it. And that's kinda what I ended up doing, and it and it worked and it worked well. But, yeah, that week, I also had to be flexible with my training because I we drove to Raleigh and got in late, and I just had to skip a run before that race.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:30:33]: And I kinda was like, you know what? This is better for me because I think I would have just been more stressed and more tired if I had tried to squeeze that run-in. So, you know, goes to show that it can be beneficial.

Cory Nagler [00:30:43]: Yep. Pretty solid for a December race. Is that equivalent of probably a sub 18 5 k. Is that right?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:30:49]: I think so. Yeah. I I I don't know yet. I was like, wow. I was surprised, you know, I was kinda guessing what I thought I could do, and I was faster than that. So I was pretty pretty excited to sort of have that be my second race experience as we continue to to build things up here.

Cory Nagler [00:31:05]: Not bad coming off of illness and surgery.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:31:08]: Yeah. Yeah. It's been it's been fun. It's been been enjoying sorta, you know, getting back in the swing and just just having fun doing races that are enjoyable. So that can be a good way to sort of also navigate this this time frame where we could be more likely to get sick or, you know, have some different things popping up with schedule and travel and stuff like that is just, you know, throw some races in there that, maybe you're not putting a huge stock on, but you can just sort of, you know, see how you can do with low expectations. And and, sometimes you can surprise yourself, and I think that can be a really way to build some confidence as we head into the new year.

Cory Nagler [00:31:46]: Andi, you're, you're spoiling ahead a little bit because I'm actually working right now on putting together an episode about how you can work racing into your training better.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:31:54]: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Sorry to get ahead of jump ahead of that. But, yeah, that's kinda what I'm doing now. So

Cory Nagler [00:32:02]: Perfect preview. One of the things you mentioned was on the cross training piece and about how maybe it's a good option to hop on, the bicycle for an easy spin if you're sick. But I think one of the key caveats there is easy. Because, again, coming back to the stubborn runner, I think the tendency might be to go, well, I'm not running, so I'm just gonna go hammer the bike or the elliptical or whatever it is. So let let's say you are a little bit under the weather and you're switching to the cross trainer. How do you still make sure that you're maintaining that right effort level?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:32:30]: Yeah. I that's honestly one of the hardest things is especially when you're on a stationary bike. Like, I hate cross training. It's just so boring. And sometimes, the only way for me to really stick to it is to get competitive with it, which is not I mean, that happened yesterday. I shouldn't have I ran on the treadmill and I was did a group run, and then I was like, oh, now I like to soar. Anyway, the like, what I was doing, especially coming back from surgery, was, you know, finding, like this depends on what kind of bike you have, but we had a Peloton, and I would, just do the routes around the the areas. Like, they you can go just ride a route that's in a random spot.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:33:07]: So there wasn't really some competition to it, and I was just sort of, you know, going around the city, which was kind of fun and distracting. So that helped me to just kinda keep the effort easy. It was just kind of, like, enjoying the where where I was in the world based on the the route that I chose. So that can be a way to keep it easy, but, you know, also just sort of, like, turn on if you don't have that, turn on the a show you like and and just watch the show and just pedal comfortably as you watch that show. And, don't don't feel like you have to make it anything insane. And then the other thing that I often do is instead of doing, like, what's the equivalent of running 5 miles on the bike? Because that would really be like doing a pretty long run a little a pretty long bike ride. Instead, I just go for the same amount of time that I would spend running. So if I was doing, you know, a 30 you know, if I was planning to run for 35 minutes, then I'll hop on the bike for 35 minutes.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:34:00]: So spending the same amount of time, doing that activity is kind of how I will translate that to the bike. And that's partially because I'm like, that's not it's not my favorite thing to do. So, you know, I don't I don't want to have to be on it for more time than I have to, and that also just kinda keeps the the the time association with the training that you're doing a little bit more manageable. So you don't feel like you're just, like, having to spend so much more time cross training because that I think that kind of eats away your willpower, and your willpower is part of what keeps you going when when training when we have these interruptions. And so I'd I'd rather kinda keep some balance there, so that when I get back to running, I'm excited and motivated to keep going.

Cory Nagler [00:34:43]: Yeah. And I think that's another piece of sickness too is just personally, like, when I feel crappy physically, the last thing I wanna do is, like, have to push myself into a workout I don't wanna do. So Yeah. My preference is always when sick. If I don't feel like going for running, even if maybe I could be up to it, to just go ahead and skip it and take the mental break.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:35:02]: Yeah. Yeah. I think that's definitely, like, the the first thing that I would, like, you know, advise towards is, like, just rest. You don't really have to replace that fitness with anything. And, you know, like we said, a few days off. I mean, a lot of the science and the data that we've looked at, I mean, it shows that you have to take at least, like, somewhere, like, 10 to 14 days off to see a negligible decrease in VO 2 max. It's, like, 6 to 7% or something like that, which, can be made up when in a couple of weeks. So, you know, that that break time is not necessarily something that's gonna be, like, kill your training, especially if you have a really good foundation behind you.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:35:39]: And actually, that's one of the reasons why a lot of the training that you're doing, we design it to have the buildup phase be there so that we build up a base of fitness so that if we have these periods where we have to take days off or we have to take or, we're sick or something and we have to miss some training, that actually helps us to maintain better than if you just jumped back into training. I think, I've seen this with athletes who are trying who are pro level who maybe the the racing season is coming up, so they have a really short and condensed training cycle. And, they their fitness, they can't maintain it for as long because they don't have that base behind them, but they also don't have as much room for interruptions because they lose a little bit more a little bit quicker. So, that's one of those things to keep in mind is that, you know, build that base so that we have the room for these little periods to pop up, and we can take those and be fine. So, but, yeah, that just remind yourself too that if you have that base, that even more so, you're gonna be just fine if we have to rest a few days to recover from sickness.

Cory Nagler [00:36:43]: Yeah. I always like to build in sort of a week or 2 more in a training block than I think I really need to get up to fitness because there's always gonna be those times where you possibly need a a break. I I don't know about you, but or have you ever had a training block that kinda went perfectly and where you didn't need any workouts missed or any time off?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:37:02]: I, you know, I don't think so. It's funny because I will think back on work like races that went really well, and I ran my PRs and stuff. And I'm like, oh, it's perfect. But, like, when I've looked back at training logs, I'm like, oh, actually, you know, I felt crappy there and crappy there. So it's never really quite perfect. I I did in the past have a lot harder time letting go of and then not doing things. I used to just, like, be really, a little bit too focused on being perfect with it that I I don't think I made the smart decisions, which is probably why going into the trials I was overtrained was more because I was worried about not doing all the things and not checking all those boxes that I, ended up overdoing it when I could've just been, like, a little undercooked and probably a lot better off. So yeah.

Cory Nagler [00:37:53]: Yeah. I think that's one of the reasons I love logs and taking notes when you're running. And for any runners who don't do this already, I would strongly advise to keep notes when things don't go your way as well, because I find them so much more beneficial. And in my most recent training block, I think when I missed a little bit of time for training with injury, it was so helpful to be able to look at other training blocks where I also missed time and go, actually, you can still run pretty well even if you're not hitting every workout or running every workout.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:38:21]: Yeah. Exactly. It's I think it's good to to be able to have that that comparison to look back on. And that's the same thing with this last 3 months is like, oh, you know, I came back a lot faster than I did in that last 3 month period, and that goes to show just, you know, the difference in how, those two time periods had to be structured. And, I think it's given me that appreciation that there's there's more flexibility in training than, it sometimes feels like.

Cory Nagler [00:38:50]: Yeah. One of the things you said about, your most recent illness is eventually you sort of gradually transition into workouts with a fartlek. I guess it's almost like a an introductory workout. Where does where does that kind of fit into the whole illness piece? Because I think, you know, there's the easy runs and dial it back, but at some point, you're probably gonna go back to training. So how do you draw that distinction between we've we've sort of covered when you need to take time completely off versus easy running, but then that other step of keeping it easy versus when you're actually ready to maybe add a little bit of intensity.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:39:22]: Yeah. We actually and we have a really good blog post, I think, that Jeff wrote on this topic specifically because he sort of outlines actually, how to ease back into training given a bunch of different circumstances, whether it be a few days or you know, in my circumstance, it was, let's see. I it was I started getting sick, probably I started just having a cough, and I didn't really feel that bad Monday of last week. And so I ran that morning, and then I flew to Florida. And I was gonna double, and I just didn't have time. So I was like, I'll do it tomorrow. And then I woke up the next day, and I just felt crummy. Like, I just was like, ugh.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:40:00]: I had a little bit of, like, a sinus headache and all that, and there was a lot going on. And I just feels like just did not wanna run. I just did not feel good enough. So I stayed, took rested that day, and I said that I would shift my rest day that I had planned. I actually think I switched weeks completely, so I switched my down week that I had planned for this week to last week. And so then I was like, well, let me just see if I can still get the mileage that I want in this week and and see how it goes. And so, with that rest day, I felt better the next day. So I just did an easy run, and sort of, like, was like, we'll just take it.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:40:35]: No no worry about pace. Just run by feel. And I kinda had a set distance I was planning on doing, but I would've cut it short if it was not feeling good. And then the next day, I was, you know, still feeling fine, so I did a a a run and threw in some strides. So strides can be a good way to sort of have a little bit more intensity, without being a workout so you can see how your your breathing is and all that on a faster paced workout. So that was the my next step, and then I did a workout. So I kind of shifted my workout that I had planned to do that Tuesday when I had rested. I shifted it to Friday.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:41:09]: I think, yeah, Wednesday. Yeah. Friday. And so that gave me enough time to assess and still get that workout in, without, you know, losing too much muscular coordination and stuff like that. But, you know, if we've missed a week or so, like, that might change how we get back into training because, you know, your muscles need to be and your ligaments and all those things need, like, a slight lead in period just to kind of remind them, like, okay. This is how so what we wanna do. We don't wanna do anything too too quick and too intense that's gonna, you know, put us susceptible to injury. So, that's where we kinda have to play with timing, and maybe we use the rest of that week to just run easy and build some mileage back up before we attempt to workout.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:41:50]: So maybe we're looking at more like 4 or 5 days or whatever that needs to be, and we throw some strides in at some point. But, yeah, we'll have to link that that, blog article that really talks really really specifically on, each circumstance and and the timeline for how long you've taken off, because I think that can be a really good, you know, guide to help you decide what makes the most sense. And then it's just really, again, so much of just being relying on your your effort and how your body feels and really, really being honest with it.

Cory Nagler [00:42:22]: Yeah. We'll definitely link that in the show notes. But just to summarize a little bit of how do you figure out what that transition looks like once you're feeling better? Because I think for a lot of runners, they may think in terms of we can number how far out from races, because I think a lot of training plans, they sort of have week 1, week 2, all the way up to 16 or 18 or however long it is. Yep. And I think a lot of time after you're sick, it doesn't necessarily make sense to just pick up where you left off or go to the next week. So how do you figure out how to get back into training and then ultimately what that lead up to the race looks like?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:42:52]: Yeah. So if you're pretty deep into the training and you've put together a lot of really solid weeks of training and maybe you're, like, a few weeks out from the race, you know, at that point, you're probably just like, let's just focus on the taper. Don't go back and make up workouts. I think that's one of the biggest mistakes a lot of runners make, especially later in a training cycle, is they try to cram in and make up things that they missed. But, you know, for the most part, like, especially if you're getting close to race day, we just you're better off being undertrained than overtrained, and and sometimes you can get overtrained very quickly if you try to just go cram everything back in that you miss, especially if you've missed a week or so. So, better off to just continue as planned. The workouts are probably starting to get a little bit lighter because you are tapering. If you're sort of right in the middle, you can probably sort of, you know, skip those workouts again that you've missed, and maybe you might need to depending on if the work the workouts often build on it themselves.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:43:51]: So if the workouts you have coming up are maybe a build and you missed something in there, then that's a good time to replace those workouts that you missed with the workouts that you have coming up if they were a build on a previous week. And so that's that would be, the one of the only circumstances where we would make up things, but it's really replacing. We're not gonna do those and then add in more workouts so that we're cramming things in again. It's just you you kinda wanna, you know, ease ease them back in and and also not get too heavy. So, you may not do some of those those bigger workouts that you've maybe had closer to race day because you kinda got in you got sick in the middle, but that's okay. Like, you're building up as much as you can, and and, you can always outrace your your training. That's one of those things that even my recent race, I was I feel like I probably outraced my training a little bit because I 1st mile was faster than I've run-in training and and anything longer than, like, a minute. I maybe did a minute at that pace.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:44:47]: So we can always outrace our our training. We just have to give ourselves the opportunity to do so, and so that may mean that a little less is a little bit more beneficial to us. If we're early in a training cycle, then you probably wanna just start over. So just get get back go focus more on your build up, back on your build up phase, so that we're not sacrificing that base just so we can be prepared for our upcoming race. You may just have a shorter build, and that's okay. Like we said, again, that could also mean that we're we're more we're more prepared, going into race day. So just start from scratch and then, you know, build things some things back up, and we just may have to to cut a few of those different workouts out. We may be better off just getting more of the mileage under us and having gut base before we go into that race.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:45:35]: And that might be more beneficial than a lot of intensity anyway.

Cory Nagler [00:45:39]: Yeah. I think the hardest thing is almost if you're right in the middle of a training block. It's almost easier, like, at the beginning, you can sort of just ease back into it. Or if you're at the end, you're almost right at the taper where you're gonna rest anyways. But say you're right in the middle, sort of that maybe 5 to 8 weeks out from race day, what does that maybe look like once you start to feel close to 100%?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:46:01]: Yeah. And this is gonna be a little bit more too, again, on how how long did you take off and and what does that look like. And if it's just a few days, then you could probably just, you know, you know, ease back in right on on schedule. But if it's if it's been a week or so, we probably want to, you know, do an easy down week that week. We can always shift things around to kind of, ensure that if you had a recovery week coming up, maybe that becomes your recovery week and we, adjust how we get back into the the next weeks. And that could be something that you can try. This is one of those circumstances I think that it really helps to have a coach because they know exactly how they've trained. They they've planned the training, and they're gonna be able to help to make sure that the stepping stones that we're trying to take as we get closer to race day are met.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:46:49]: So, that way, they can really help you to adjust and figure out, like, what workouts are necessary, how can we build up the fitness so we can get those workouts in, and feel ready for them and then be ready for race day. And so it's it's really hard to give, like, a concrete, like, this is what you do type of answer, But, you know, I think that it it starts with, you know, we always wanna have a little bit of an easing in period, and that's gonna depend on how long you took off. So a couple of days, you maybe only need a couple days to ease back in. You know, if it was 4 or 5 days, then we probably wanna give ourselves about 4 or 5 days to sort of work back into things and and do a lighter workout before we do a heavy workout. If it's, you know, a week or more, then we might sort of have to to take about a week to, to really get ourselves back in the groove and feel and feel ready for a workout again. And we may sort of have to draw change those workouts, for a few weeks, to ensure that we're we're prepared, to build those up, effectively and not have it be too much too soon.

Cory Nagler [00:47:57]: Yeah. I like that idea of just kind of using it as that rest week you're already gonna take even if maybe it was a little different timing than you would have otherwise planned.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:48:05]: Yeah. Exactly.

Cory Nagler [00:48:07]: Yeah. Curious, what are your thoughts on sort of lingering symptoms after you've recovered? So an example for myself is I think after I recovered from the sickness, I definitely had a bit of a sore throat, and some congestion for a while after. And I do know for a lot of people who had COVID, they had a lingering cough for quite a while. My brother, after recovering, it lasted almost a month afterwards. You're probably feeling healthy at that point, but maybe still having symptoms. Do You need to adjust your training at all for that, or or how does that maybe play into how your body responds to to a stimulus like running?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:48:41]: Yeah. I think well, so that's actually similar to what I was experiencing is that, you know, I don't I didn't see any correlation with running making it worse. I mean, I was coughing more after I ran because there's a lot you get a little bit more histamine buildup in your in your system and you you're you're producing a little bit more. And if it's cold, you're obviously your nose runs more so that aids in the congestion. But I wasn't noticing myself feeling worse as I was going along, but the cough was starting to affect my sleep more than anything. And so that was gonna start impacting my training if I can't sleep at night. And so something that I had I actually had to go to I went to the doctor. I went to the MinuteClinic because I was like, I can't sick of this.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:49:21]: I had to get rid of this. So if it's something that's impacting your sleep, anything like that, that's, preventing but you feel fine otherwise, I would go ahead and see if you can get some extra support, if there's anything they can give you that'll help to knock out any of those last few symptoms. I end up getting an antibiotic and, another different type of cough suppressant to help. And I you know, I've been doing a lot better. I slept through the night the last few days and didn't have any issues with with that. And so that's something you can definitely look into if these lingering symptoms are affecting you, in a way that is gonna start impacting your training. If, if you're just congested during the day and it's not necessarily, you feel fine, it's not getting worse from your training, and it's not impacting how you sleep, then it's generally probably okay to keep training. But that might if it's going on for, you know, like weeks weeks weeks and you're like, this is just not getting any better, then again, like, that's again another situation where you can, you know, go see a doctor, see if there's something else going on that you know, because that could exacerbate even if it's pretty mild for a period of time.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:50:28]: It could get worse or there could be more to what's causing that that we need to address. And so, but anything I think for the most part, as long as it's not you know, we're not seeing an increase in symptoms from the exercise, or anything like that, then I think generally, you know, cue can probably continue. You know, that's kinda how I would go about it. But if it's in my if it's similar to my circumstance, I would talk to a doctor.

Cory Nagler [00:50:56]: Yeah. I think if it's impacting those other parts of your day, like eating and sleeping and stuff like that, you you probably have other health related items to be concerned with, not just, running that that might warrant speaking to a doctor.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:51:09]: Yeah. And I was like, I can't I can't handle this anymore. Like, I'm just so tired of not being able to sleep properly, but feeling totally fine during the day. And I knew that if I let that lack of sleep build up, then I would probably have more issues. I'd probably get sick again. I'd probably create this cycle of, you know, not of being sick, and and then my body would really start to feel I don't impact my training. So, that was where I kinda was like, yeah. Let's go ahead and and check with somebody so I can knock this out.

Cory Nagler [00:51:42]: Yeah. The lack of sleep is very relatable. I felt that a lot after, my recent marathon because I was just so congested. It was hard. I was sleeping on my back, which I normally don't do, just to get a more elevation. But then I I had black toes, so it made the covers uncomfortable. So it was just a mess trying to get sleep. Yeah.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:51:59]: Yeah. So I'm I'm guessing you probably had to extend that recovery window a little bit there.

Cory Nagler [00:52:03]: It was definitely extended. The one nice thing about post marathon is that I wasn't so concerned with getting back to running, but, but, yeah, being sick is never fun.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:52:12]: Yeah. Yeah. The post marathon, if it's it's like I that's why I say it's like the, actually, post race anything, it's like the perfect time to get sick. Not that there's any perfect time to get sick, but if you're gonna be sick in the recovery window, like, you know, that works because you have nothing but time to just relax and and just let it run its course and not be stressed to to get back to it. So

Cory Nagler [00:52:34]: yeah. Yeah. I will say maybe a little bit less so on, like, a a traveling race when you're going somewhere. Like, if you're, you know, if you're going in this case, for me, it was over in in Spain. But also if you're going to, like, Boston or Chicago, you probably wanna explore a little bit. And generally, training wise, it's the best time after a race.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:52:49]: Yeah. 100%.

Cory Nagler [00:52:53]: So we've covered, like, most of this episode about how to respond if you get sick, whether you can run, how to adapt a little bit. But the ideal is just to not get sick. So aside from your sort of more typical health related items, you know, eat well, sleep well, is there anything runners can do to try to help themselves to not get sick during their training?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:53:13]: Yeah. So, you know, one of the things that we don't get as much of this time of year, which has an impact on our immune system, is vitamin d. So, you know, we don't have as the sunlight. We have shorter days, so and it's colder. So a lot of times we're spending a lot of time indoors. And so that can be a reason that we, you know, are fall short of getting the amount of vitamin d that we need, which helps protect our immune system. So, you know, taking some vitamin c and vitamin d and stuff like that this time of year can be really valuable for helping us to protect our immune system. You know, if you're running in the cold, we talked about how the cold can impact your immune response, and can make it so that you're more susceptible.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:53:52]: But, you know, wearing the right clothes, making sure you keep warm and all that stuff can also help us prevent some of those factors. So that can be something, washing your hands this time of the year, often, covering your mouth, not putting your hands in your mouth, stuff like that, can can help us as well. You know, I think the hardest thing is though is if you have kids, because they're always picking things up and always getting sick. And then, you know, that gets passed around the house and, they they they have a hard time not sticking their hands in their mouth all the time, I feel like. But, so that can be, I think, a challenge. But, you know, if you're taking that immune support, you know, trying things like vitamin, what is the stuff that they have out there that's that you can take the packets of if emergency? There's things like that out there that can be helpful for preventative. Zinc can be really valuable for helping us prevent colds. So if you're worried about it and you have a race coming up, that can also be something that you supplement with a little bit more as you prepare for a race is taking a lot of that extra immune support, type vitamins, and that that can be super valuable, as well.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:54:58]: So those are probably the the the tips that I would give for the most part.

Cory Nagler [00:55:03]: And is it just specific nutrients or do multivitamins help as well? And the reason I ask is because I have this recollection when the COVID outbreak started that everyone was taking, like, Flintstones gummies or different multivitamins thinking that it would protect them.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:55:18]: I mean, I think that they probably have some amount of all those different vitamins, but it's the it's probably the potency is probably a lot lower. So whether or not you're meeting the needs that you're you would want to kind of really create that safeguards around your your immune system, I, you know, I I don't know. I don't know how much is in each one of those. And, I'm sure there's some multivitamins out there that are specifically designed for immune system support. So, you know, if that's I would look for those over just kinda your generic because your generic is just gonna be like, we make sure that we're daily getting all of these different vitamins in a in a probably smaller dose or smaller quantity. And the other thing I think that with some multivitamins is, you know, are there some interactions between different vitamins that are gonna make some less, you know, less, you know, absorbable by the body? And that's something you wanna be mindful of with a multivitamin is, knowing which ones will interact with other ones and to help you pick which one is the best one for you. But but, yeah, I think, you know, knowing what exactly you need for immune support, will help you to to kind of target those specific vitamins, like vitamin d and zinc and vitamin c and stuff like that.

Cory Nagler [00:56:31]: Yeah. And it's hard to know exactly what you're deficient in, but, again, I'm not a doctor, so don't quote me on this, but I do know the one nutrient that my doctor told me the majority of people do need, especially in the winter, is vitamin d.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:56:41]: Yep. A lot there's not a lot of foods that we we can actually also get it from. They're they're not foods that people typically eat regularly. I think it's like fish and, like walnuts and I think I don't remember exactly. But, yeah, we're just we don't have it as many food sources. So this is the perfect time of year to to to load up on it a little bit more.

Cory Nagler [00:57:03]: Yeah. So I do hope that everyone listening is staying in good health and has a good training block. But if anyone's listening to this right now, kinda curled in bed, feeling maybe a little bit under the weather, what's your best advice for, you know, how to how to bounce back, I guess?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:57:18]: Yeah. My my best advice is to, 1st and foremost, let your body rest. If you're not feeling good and you really need that rest, it's better to take it than to force yourself through it. I am super pro. Let's give your immune system every chance at success. So if that means a little bit more rest, then then go for it. If you if you're feeling fine, but you're a little sick, you know, it's okay to to kind of step out and and see how your body's feeling when you when you move it. And sometimes a a run when you just have a little cold can help us to clear some of that out.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:57:50]: You have to embrace the snot rocket a little bit, but, you know, it can be a good tool to help us clear some of that out. But just keep in mind that no matter what you have to do to get better and feel better, that, you know, rest and recovery and all of these things are going to help you in the long run. And don't be fearful of having to adjust or change your schedule. You're gonna be fine. You're probably gonna be better off for for it if you if you allow yourself to be flexible.

Cory Nagler [00:58:20]: A 100%. A little PSA to make sure you look around you before letting go any snot rockets.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:58:24]: Yes. Make sure there's no one behind you, especially if you're racing.

Cory Nagler [00:58:31]: Yeah. Good courtesy on the run.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:58:33]: Yep.

Cory Nagler [00:58:34]: And just so we wrap up, any personal plans running or otherwise for the rest of the holiday season?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:58:40]: Nothing the rest of the holiday season. I'm looking at some races. There's a, the Chattanooga marathon is coming up. So, I've been kinda looking at wanting to do some more local races around here just to kinda try some different things out. So I might do one of the races there and then, maybe a a race back in Raleigh that, I've done a couple of times. That's just a fun, half marathon there. And then, you know, kinda seeing how my body continues to feel and hopefully a marathon in the fall, but kinda just letting letting taking it, you know, day by day with the with the hip and making sure we're still headed in the right direction.

Cory Nagler [00:59:17]: Yeah. When's the Chattanooga marathon?

Andie Cozzarelli [00:59:19]: March let's see. March second, I think, is the date. So I might do, like, the 5 k there because it looked flat and fast. I just thought it might be fun.

Cory Nagler [00:59:29]: Yeah. And that's from my recollection of, of that area, that's pretty pretty good running weather in the morning in March.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:59:36]: Yeah. It should be on the cooler side, but, you know, anytime you're in the south, you know, you never know. Like, it could be 70 tomorrow and then go back to 50 or 30. So, but it should be pretty good weather, and the the marathon and the half, I believe, are pretty hilly. It's pretty hilly around here as I have have learned. I did an 11 mile run that had 11 100 feet of elevation gain in it 2 days ago. So, but, yeah, it'll be fun to try to to build some strength out here and then and then race off of it and see how it goes.

Cory Nagler [01:00:09]: Yeah. Any chance of a 5 k PR?

Andie Cozzarelli [01:00:12]: Maybe. I mean, who knows? My Rode 5 k PR is a little isn't as good. So I don't know that I could run a 5 k 5 k PR like my track PR, but, who knows? Let's see. I think my my Fode 5 k is just under 17, so we'll see. Maybe.

Cory Nagler [01:00:29]: Okay. Yeah. So just a little bit faster pace than what you ran for 4 miles.

Andie Cozzarelli [01:00:32]: Exactly. Yeah. So we'll keep an eye on that. I'll talk about it later, see what happens.

Cory Nagler [01:00:38]: Okay. Awesome. Yeah. We'll, we'll catch up on it on, either the next podcast or whatever the first one is after the race. But, that's awesome. Yeah. Wishing you, good luck with the race and good health.

Andie Cozzarelli [01:00:48]: Thanks. You too.

Cory Nagler [01:01:03]: Thanks for listening to the Run to the Top podcast. I'm the showrunner at Runners Connect, where as always, our mission is to help you become a better runner with every episode. You can connect with me on Instagram at corey_ Nagler or through Strava by searching corey Nagler. And please consider connecting with the rest of our team at runnersconnect.net. If you're loving the show, you can help us reach more runners by leaving a rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Lastly, if you want bonus content, behind the scenes experiences with guests, and premier access to contests, and consider subscribing to our newsletter by going to runnersconnect.netforward/podcast. I'll see you on the next show. But until then, happy running, everyone.