Runners: Joint pain after flu?

I was in week 3 of a 13 week program to get in shape to run for exercise and do 5 and 8k’s when I came down with the flu. I’ve been recovered for maybe 5 days, but my joints are not responding the way they did before the illness. I’ve been semi-active, and I went hiking last week and kind of overdid it even though my joints were bothering me. I was going to run this morning, backtracking to week 2 of the program (run 2 mins., walk 2 mins., repeat 11 times) when I realized that my ipod was not charged and I decided to try it later in the day. I took a few jogging steps before figuring that out, and my joints were still bothering me. I’m young and moderately overweight but not obese, and I’ve never had joint pain before. I tend to think that it’s an aftereffect of the inflammation in your joints and muscles that comes with the flu… I’ve had to stretch a lot more to get my muscles going since then.

I can still try and go for a run tonight. I don’t want to overdo it again but I don’t want to get any more behind than I already am. My running book has advice on training after injuries but nothing about this. Any advice?

I was out sick from running for a month recently from the flu and had some strange side effects, but mostly breathing / lung related that went away after my first week running. It took me about 2 months to recover to my times before then (I’m a long distance runner).

I find with most minor joint pain goes away after the muscles warm up. Especially if you are in a cold area now. Only advice I can really give is to walk about 10 minutes before stretching to warm up your body. If it still bothers you after a week of running might as well give the doctor a call.