I am quite new to TR, and have been very impressed with the system and my gains.
Therefore, I am keen to keep to the program, and was upset at getting Covid last week for more than the typical reasons. Looks like I am getting out of the woods, though, as my temperature has receded to almost normal levels.
So, two questions.
Has anyone else here recovered from Covid, and if so, how fast did you get back on the trainer? Should I have any worries about taxing my lungs?
How do I adjust my training schedule after missing a week? As of right now, I plan to just cram them up in the next few weeks -I am on a low-volume plan, so this is possible. Bad idea? Good idea? Any other ideas?
Once you get the OK from a medical professional to exercise, do not start off with the low-volume plans.The low volume plans make up for volume with intensity, and that’s probably not what you should be doing right now. Instead you should be re-introducing exercise very gently with zone one or possibly low endurance rides (z2). Also listen to your body and don’t try to push it. Allow yourself to properly recover from the illness.
Good points. I was already thinking about throwing in one or two low-intensity workouts.
However, as far as seeing a doctor, I am in New York, and am loathe to tax the medical system unless I display severe symptoms. Too many people need help to keep from dying for me to see a doctor about exercising. My ex is a doctor, and my next step will be asking her.
This is what I did back in early January. I caught something with same symptoms as COVID (minor not serious). Took a week off then started back with a few endurance rides. Felt ok so I picked up where I left off the week after that.
It took my lungs a month to recover from flu/bronchitis (maybe pneumonia?) last year. I kept trying to workout and kept making it worse. Just recover and do nothing more than walks for 2 weeks would be my recommendation.
Talk to your doc. Then I recommend restarting your desired plan at the beginning but copying a rest/recovery week to the very beginning. These should all be Z1 and Z2 rides. Pay extra attention to how you’re feeling and do not over do it. Just a suggestion, and by no means official medical or coach advice.
This is best advice on this thread. Don’t just jump back in, for one you’ll probably delay recovery and for two each session compliments and works in conjunction with previous sessions (to some extent) and you won’t have the gains you built up in say weeks 2,3 and 4 to just jump right back in at week 5.
Here’s my experience for what it’s worth. First, I’m not sure if I had/have a mild case of the virus since no testing, but I did have a dry cough and burning lungs (never experienced that before) starting last Monday preceded by two days of fatigue. I was improving and felt okay enough to try an easy ride by Thursday, so I gave a go at Pettit. Since then the cough has come back to a lesser extent and a mild headache that lasted three days. The weak feeling in the lungs still lingers since that recovery ride, so that workout was clearly too much too soon. I’m just going to do some walking on the treadmill for several days and hold off on any running or cycling until I’m feeling 100%. Then, I’ll just ease my way back into it starting with maybe a 30 minute easy trainer session and slowly work up from there if the body responds well.
This is anecdotal, but a female surgery resident at one of the hospitals in Boston who was running in preparation for the Boston Marathon got covid. With initial symptoms of “just not feeling right” she went out and did a 6 mile run. It became clear that she had the disease, so she worked on recovery, After the acute symptoms settled down, and she started feeling better, then the coughing started. My point is that the symptoms may be biphasic. I would just take it real easy for the 2 weeks it is supposed to take to stop shedding the virus. Training when your sick or recovering isn’t training, its just stress.
Take it easy - This is for anyone coming back from Covid
If you feel like you are better, try do some low intensity rides, perhaps with a day’s rest in between them. Go for walks if you can. In my experience I felt fine but doing even light exercise made my chest sore for the rest of the day. You really don’t want to prolong your illness, or permanently injure your lungs.
Also check your resting heart rate, if it’s still a bit high, then you really should be resting.
Take it easy, and stay safe all. It’s not worth rushing back.
At the time, I didn’t pay attention to what COVID-19 was. My symptoms were exactly what COVID is. I was recovered within a week, and back on my bike after an 8-day hiatus. Did I have it? Who knows. I wasn’t tested. I’m not going to get into politics here, but I think this was over-hyped. I’d imagine people like us who are extremely physically fit and healthy will bounce back with no issues.
I was on pause for a little over a week, and will get back to light riding in a few days before resuming my plan.
My issue is: how do I resume my plan? I was in the middle of a build. In order to pick up where I left off, I would need to physically move all the workouts back 10 or mare days, which won’t jibe with my target (which I am hoping will actually happen in September). So how does that work?