Did about 3-4 days very easy (right at the bottom of z2), then about 2.5 weeks z2, then some easy sweetspot work for about 1.5 weeks. Another light week, then pretty much go, albeit sticking very much to the z2/sweetspot diet.
I of course got Norovirus, 10 days after the fever finally subsided. Off the bike a bunch more, completely wiped out. After this, started easy endurance and my heart rate was even HIGHER than after the adenovirus/flu.
It’s been 10 days since I had norovirus (kids gave me another cold, but whatever) and heart rate is still high - I’d say 10 beats on average when you look at NP compared to average HR (Efficiency Factor). The hard part is I basically rode half of what I usually do for 5 weeks and and no intensity at all - so I don’t know how much is loss fitness and/or elevated HR. I’ve done one sweet spot workout based solely on RPE and my power is down about 10% from before the original illness. Disheartening to say the least. I’m gonna continue with easy endurance and easy sweet spot for the time being.
I really hope it starts to normalize soon - anxiety definitely a part of it. I can see it go up even when warming up out of anticipation. I had it completely covered for a few weeks, but now am back to looking at it.
Frustrating to say the least.
TLDR: Norovirus after this flu (With complete stomach emptying/dehydration and fever) set me back even further. HR still elevated.
@jreinfeld That really stinks. If it helps, I’ve dealt with something similar. Following the holidays, one family member caught a cold, then another came back from school with a stomach bug/norovirus, then it spread to my wife, then back to the kid, and finally it hit me. January was pretty much spent trading off who got sick and nobody getting any sleep.
The last two weeks of training weren’t great either while I just felt “off”. Recovery was slow, resting heart rate was taking longer to go down, muscles felt like they weren’t fully healing, and so on. Finally, I went to the store and bought some Culturelle after a few bathroom runs during a threshold workout. I should have taken this step sooner instead of letting the body balance out on its own. Everything improved after four days and my last VO2 workout was the best I’ve felt in some time when pushing hard.
It could be a fallacy of association, but sometimes the body needs help normalizing after repeated bouts of colds/flus/stomach viruses/etc. Hopefully, you’re back to full strength. If not, you could always give something like Culturelle a try as well to see if that helps with the process.
Best of luck!
-Michael
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Just a follow up for those going through illness who are interested.
Quick recap - had some 10 day virus needing antiobiotics for sinusitis and then norovirus a week later.
It took 10 weeks from the start of the illness, or about 6-7 weeks from when I recovered from norovirus for my heart rate to normalize back to where it was pre-illness. I stuck with endurance for a week or two - and then started base phase again doing all endurance with SST two days pre weeek. I have been able to progress time in saddle without issue over this time - and I’m sure returning to higher volume has helped as well.
So about 2 months from when I got norovirus things came back to previous levels. Just an FYI for those going through some illnesses right now. (I will say it has been over a year but this is similar to the return post COVID when I had Omicron in February 2022).