Other than injuries, contracting a respiratory infection affects and usually sabotages an athlete's training regimen.
Poof! Gone are your months of training and fitness gains just two weeks before the race.
Moreover, air pollution in several Indian cities (emphasis on Delhi) further increases the risk of respiratory infections when an athlete inhales the pollutants during workouts.
Most runners have suffered exercise induced respiratory infections during a training cycle, especially while peaking in training. Many catch the bug immediately after finishing a race. These infections disrupt training cycles and if there isn't enough time to recover before a race, then even race performance is affected.
During exercise- Consuming a beverage delivering at least 6% carbs (one liter/hr) during a minimum 1 hour long cardio session of high intensity will help maintain blood glucose levels. This 6% is usually found in sports drinks like Gatorade.
Poof! Gone are your months of training and fitness gains just two weeks before the race.
Moreover, air pollution in several Indian cities (emphasis on Delhi) further increases the risk of respiratory infections when an athlete inhales the pollutants during workouts.
Most runners have suffered exercise induced respiratory infections during a training cycle, especially while peaking in training. Many catch the bug immediately after finishing a race. These infections disrupt training cycles and if there isn't enough time to recover before a race, then even race performance is affected.
There is a J shaped relationship between exercise duration and intensity on one hand and the risk of infection on the other (Risk of Upper Respiratory Tract Infection in Athletes: An Epidemiologic and Immunologic Perspective by David. C. Nieman, DrPH, FACSM)
Several intense workout sessions per week or high weekly mileage can multiply the risk of an infection.
At 96 kms of running per week you can double the risk of an infection as compared to 32 kms of running per week (Nieman DC, Johanssen LM, Lee JW, Arabatzis K. Infectious episodes in runners before and after the Los Angeles Marathon. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 1990;30:316-328).
Therefore an athlete training for an ultramarathon or a marathon will be at a greater risk for respiratory infection than an athlete who is training for a 5 km, 10 km or 21.1 km race since the training intensity is higher.
Several authors have written that prolonged cardio leads to temporary but significant reduction in immunity and host defense, thereby opening a window during which a virus becomes active and stronger.
In addition to the stress of exercise, an athlete should also consider the quality of air since there is a positive relation between pollution, exercise and respiratory infections. Exercising in polluted air increases the chances of respiratory infections.
To reduce the incidence of respiratory infections, one simple way is to reduce the intensity of exercise, but that is impossible when an athlete is training for a race and has to stick to a rigorous schedule.
But maintaining a proper and scientific diet is one of the more manageable methods to reduce the risk of respiratory infections which are arising from exercise intensity and/or exercising in polluted air.
There are many studies on different food and supplements which can help in reducing respiratory infections. So what are the dietary precautions that you can take to reduce the risk of such respiratory infections and continue with your intense regimen?
Carbohydrates (before-during-after):
Maintaining appropriate carbohydrate levels before, during and after exercise has been shown to reduce the incidence of respiratory infections.
Training on low levels of carbs can increase the magnitude of exercise-induced immune alterations, such as higher plasma and salivary cortisol levels, decreased glutamine levels, higher number of circulating immune cells and an enhanced cytokine response.
Before exercise- maintain a high carbo intake at all times (in numbers this would be 12.0 gms carbs/kg body weight/day).
Post exercise- Ingestion of small amounts of carbs slowly over a span of a few hours will help in regaining normal blood glucose levels (in numbers this would be 1.2 gms of carbs/kg body weight immediately post-exercise).
The underlying rationale is that adequate carbohydrate availability and stable blood glucose concentration may limit stress hormone responses (cortisol), provide glucose as energy substrate for immune cells and help to maintain immunity.
Protein (at all times):
Maintaining a protein rich diet repairs tissue damage from exercise, helps reovery and improves bodily functions by supplying necessary amino acids, and thereby reducing respiratory infections.
A good amount of protein intake for an athlete would be 1.5 gms of protein per kg of body weight.
Glutamine supplementation orally (before or during or after):
Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in human muscle and plasma and during exercise it is severely depleted which leads to suppression of the immune system, thereby increasing the risk of respiratory infections.
A scoop of Glutamine supplement pre-workout can help maintain the glutamine levels during the workout and even better would be another scoop post an intense workout to restore the glutamine levels in the body.
BCAA- Branch Chain Amino Acid supplementation orally:
BCAA i.e. Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine are known to reduce muscle breakdown, help in recovery and prevent immunodepression after intense exercise sessions.
BCAA tablets, powder and serum are available at most nutrition/pharma shops.
Creatine supplementation orally:
There some studies which indicate that oral creatine supplementation can support the immune system. Creatine increases muscular performance for short-duration high-intensity exercises and is a staple for many people who do weight training.
Creatine is mostly sold as a powder or liquid for oral supplementation in the form of Creatine Monohydrate. Supplementation usually leads to water retention but nothing noteworthy unless you're a supermodel or semi-naked instagram user.
Creatine Monohydrate powder is available at most nutrition/pharma shops.
Vitamin C supplementation orally before races:
In a study it has been shown that athletes who had supplemented daily with 600 mg vitamin C significantly reduced their risk of respiratory infections after participation in an ultramarathon. (Peters E.M., Goetzsche J.M., Grobbelaar B., Noakes T.D. Vitamin C supplementation reduces the incidence of postrace symptoms of upper-respiratory-tract infection in ultramarathon runners. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1993;57:170–174.)
Probiotics (Yogurt/Probiotic capsules):
Probiotic bacteria occur naturally in fermented food products and can be bought at stores in the form of drinks such as Yakult or as a food (yogurt).
There are even capsules such as Enterogermina which can be bought at a pharmacy.
I've researched 'curd' but there are no studies to show its effectiveness even though it does have a lot of healthy and useful bacteria. My hunch is that it must be similar in effect as yogurt.
Probiotics can improve an athlete’s efficiency by maintaining healthy gastrointestinal tract function, reducing susceptibility to illnesses such as acute infectious diarrhea and its associated symptoms, enhancing host resistance to upper respiratory tract infections and improved immune function (Salarkia et al. (2013) Effects of probiotic yogurt on performance, respiratory and digestive systems of young adult female endurance swimmers: a randomized controlled trial)
Calorie restriction:
There are only two ways to lose weight- eat less than maintenance levels to create a calorie deficit or exercise enough to create a calorie deficit.
However, the key is to avoid sudden weight loss since it affects the immune system and most importantly never increase training and reduce calorie intake simultaneously since this will doubly effect your immune system.
