Starting over after Covid

Ok so that’s me down with Covid despite 2 jabs and a booster. 10 days of zero training :face_with_thermometer::face_with_thermometer:. Can already picture my ftp tumbling down big time. Would appreciate any experiences of guys who’s been there - is it a rocky road to go back?

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Sorry to hear this. I take it you’re in the uk as am I.

I’m curious - do you have any symptoms?

I’m due my booster next week.

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I got COVID towards the end of August. It laid me flat for three days. I was sleeping for 12-14 hours a day.

That first week saw me do nothing. NOTHING. The most I could do was make it down stairs to sit in the garden and feel some fresh air on my face. Honestly, training and FTP were the last things on my mind. In total, I took seven days completely off the bike.

In the second week, I started easy with Petit. No Spin-Ups or Form Sprints, just spinning the legs. I kept the cadence low and focused on my breathing. My HR did bump up to my upper endurance levels but it would flatten out and remain level for the duration of the workout.

After a 3-4 days of Petit and the-like, I headed outdoors (once my isolation period had passed) and did more easy spins. No more than an hour and a half at most.

Second week I tackled West Vidette +1 and Carson +1. My legs were there but my breathing was still towards the top end of my zones so I’d consciously back things off.

At the end of the day, you have to listen to your body. I had a rough three days but in all honestly, I think my COVID experience was very mild. I had no respiratory issues. It’s also going to depend on where you were in your training. I was in the final six weeks before my A Event. I was carrying good fitness.

My advice. Take it easy. Very easy. Like coming back from the off season. Give yourself time and be prepared to adapt. I dropped my FTP by 20 watts. I gained 10 of those back in six weeks but I did have to approach my A Event with an open mind.

Good luck moving forward :+1:

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Newbie to cycling here (bought my first bike September 2020) so my experience might not be that useful but caught Covid on 20 August this year. It knocked me for six. At the time I was double jabbed. I rested for ten days before gently getting back into it with a series of Little Park rides. Ramp test 23 September showed a drop of 26.9%. Since then I have just been building back up slowly but not done another ramp test yet.

All advice at the time was take it easy and let your body get over it and I would endorse that.

Hope you feel better.

Mark

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Yeah I’m in UK. Its only 2nd day now so still early but I’ve been worse TBH. I guess its the vaccines making it milder. So far it’s not much different to a common cold.

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Wondering if this may have been my problem both times.

First time I got it was before they were doing testing, so I just sort of tried to get on with it not knowing what I had (later confirmed by antibodies). Took months to properly get back to any sort of fitness.

Second time (about a month ago) I thought I was OK after a couple of weeks and basically got right back to it… I most definitely was not. The last week has been hell, just utterly exhausted all the time and my cough / sinus issues have come back to a similar level as I was in the first week of being sick.

Sucks.

This is a good article:

And it links to this UK “graduated return to play” protocol that worked well for me:

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Oh crap man, you had to go through this twice!

I had it this year, end of April. I was in isolation for 2 weeks, the only exercise in this period was 20’ of yoga once a day, only on the second week. I had mild symptoms, main difference from a cold was losing the sense of smell.
Doctors recommended getting back to exercise very slowly, so like @PusherMan said I did petit like workouts after bumping my FTP way down, 30% or so. After 5-6 workouts on very low intensity in the following 2 weeks I did an FTP test and started the base block.
Good luck on your recovery and don’t worry too much about FTP losses, it will come back, just give some time…

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I don’t think there’s any evidence to support this. Please don’t just spread rumors or opinion. The advice is okay, but no one has any facts that explain long covid’s origins yet.

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Yeah, I’m not overly pleased about it. Not least because the first time I got it I’d only just recovered from a broken pelvis. :frowning:

I also just started recovering from covid. I chose to manually lower my FTP, and then I chose to do traditional base, rather than Sweet spot base. I think it has worked really well.

How much have you lowered you ftp by?

From the article above, if you follow that protocol:

image

That is a minimum of 20 days off the bike. For me <70% HRmax is active recovery / zone1 during normal training. Relative to prior FTP (pre-C19), the first bike ride at <70% HRmax my power was 25% prior-FTP :rofl: and slow rolling at 10-12mph outside. Easy workout after easy workout, my power relative to prior FTP slowly ramped up into 30% and then 40% and … Just take it slow and easy. I followed that graduated return protocol, and after resuming normal training my zone2 / endurance was back to 2021 peak fitness by the end of the first 4 week block. Then last week, 1 week into next block, my threshold workouts at 94% were back to 2021 peak fitness as measured by power-to-HR. I’ve got reliable power-to-HR data, and haven’t bothered doing any formal testing.

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Double jabbed and boosted as of last Wednesday. Never felt right after the booster, so got tested Sunday… positive. I had ridden Friday without issue and then tried sweet spot Sat and Sunday and knew something was off, bailed on both workouts.

Heavy fatigue Sat/Sun/Monday, no other symptoms. Feel normal today… did a quick yoga-like workout. I’ll be forced off the bike for six days due to holiday travel coming up. So, I’ll post my experiences here for others too.

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Am very interested in this thread. Have just finished my 10 day isolation after a positive test. I’m in the UK. Double jabbed plus had a booster only days before I was positive. Had only cold type symptoms and now feel pretty much fine but very nervous about when and how to start training again.

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Been scouring the internet for advice for breakthrough infections like ours. My symptoms even more mild than yours… but most advice seems to be very generic and say rest for at least ten days after onset of symptoms, then be symptom-free for seven days before resuming according to the protocol @WindWarrior posted or something similar.

Seems discretion is the better part of valor here, especially this time of the training year. Would rather lose fitness months before any races I care about than have it drag into January and affect things even more.

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Ya, not a lot of info. Everyone I know testing C19 positive right now is fully vaxed and boosted. Most tell me they had mild flu symptoms for a 2-4 days and then some downtime for a week. Pretty similar to mine. My youngest just graduated from UNR and came home for the holidays. She has worked for old navy since high school, went to the bars last week to celebrate with friends, and wakes up coughing. I keep trying to maintain 6 feet. She is a close talker. The struggle is real :rofl:

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PCR.

I’ve done all the digging, and Pfizer won’t give you a positive on the PCR test. I had one day of symptoms after my second shot. Got my booster Wednesday, didn’t feel great Thursday but felt fine on Friday, then all downhill Friday into Sat/Sunday. Tested on Sunday and was positive. We returned from travel in NYC a week earlier, so it’s not surprising if I did get infected.

Just did some housework for about an hour, and am more tired than I should be.

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How about some experiences? Saw this on Twitter just now, was going to post on your Strava workout but remembered this thread:

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