This tends to be the time of year that we face many training challenges and, beyond the short days and inclement weather that can be bothersome, a bout of illness is almost inevitably destined to interrupt your training plans. It seems to be a yearly ritual of minor hassle for normal people but, for the athlete, it will add the additional annoyance of lost training quality. It also presents a host of questions on how to manage around the illness. Should you stubbornly train straight through illness? Fully rest up and wait for it to pass? Somewhere in between? It all depends. Matt Dixon explores the relationship between the common cold and your approach to training,and offers some sensible solutions and strategies to managing illness.