You start to feel it on Friday night after work, a tickle in your throat. Then Saturday you start to sneeze. By Sunday, you feel like death warmed over. But Sunday is your club shoot; the one day a week where you can shoot your bow and let everything else slide. What can you do? For most of us, on a regular Sunday, we stay home, sleep in, and just hope to feel good enough to get back to work, but what happens if you get sick in February, you know, right before Vegas or in March before NFAA Indoor Nationals or some other tournament that you have been working toward and already laid the money out for? How can you rescue the situation and get your arrows down range?
Sleep
First off, sleep makes everything better. It is when your body stops working and starts repairing. Even though the bright lights of the Strip might be calling you, find your hotel room and get to sleep. The more rest you have the stronger you will be for shooting.
Old Wives Tales--Try Em
People may scoff at the idea of chicken soup helping them get better, but the warm liquid opens congested passages, helps you to breath, and gives you easy nutrition at a time when you might not feel like eating. Hot tea, especially ginger or peppermint, can also help to open up your airways.
Check Your Meds
For many of us our go to over the counter solutions for colds and flus might be out of reach at a tournament because of anti-doping policies. Before you take anything, check out the product at the Global DRO website.
Sudafed for example is prohibited in competition:
Keep a Good Attitude
You may hear some legends floating around on the line about people putting up their best scores when they are under the weather. There may be some truth to these legends. If you are over-thinking your shooting, you might just let those tens happen! So don’t let a cold or flu derail your mental game, and perhaps contemplate that you might just have given yourself an advantage.
And Finally Be A Good Sport
If you are feeling sick, don’t share it with everyone else. You know the drill: wash your hands, cough into your elbow, fist bump or wave instead of shaking hands. While we all want to win, doing so because you laid your competition low with a winter bug isn’t the way to go.