Starting over after Covid

Training
67

I also got covid right around Christmas and symptoms started right around the 27th. I got one day of muscle aches and from there it was mostly congestion with coughing. Thankfully I never had a fever and no real extreme fatigue. My resting HR was noticeably higher and HR shot up as soon as I went up a set of stairs or did anything more that moving around the house. Breathing was mostly ok, maybe a little difficult at first but after a few days it seems to be back to normal. It’s been 10 days since my first symptoms and I feel mostly back to my normal self with my resting HR pretty much down to normal.

I’m now pondering when I should get back to training again and reading articles and this thread it seems like delaying return to exercise is the best strategy as I must say I’m a little worry of potential lung and heart inflammation in the long term. I would normally only take a few days off the bike when dealing with a bad cold or flu and would start exercising as soon as possible. It just feels different this time and I’m quite worried about long term effect as I have a tendency to return to exercise too soon when recovering from illness or injury.

I’m trying to be smart about this and I was wondering if anyone had things I should look for before even attempting to train again? Resting HR seems normal but it’s hard to say as I wasn’t really monitoring it before the illness and naturally goes up after a week of no exercise anyways. As I’ve lost fitness as well with the the rest, should I only ride in Z2 for a full week and just monitor if my HR is around where it should be? Should I also lower my watts by some amount (for reference, I was at 302 watts FTP) and use Z2 with that new lower value?

Thanks for your input everyone and stay safe!

2 Likes
68

I definitely went back too soon, no question.

This was posted earlier in the thread, which might be helpful: https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.m4721

My plan was to calibrate against some of the sessions I’ve done a lot once I got through that, but thus far I’ve not been able to get through that. :slightly_frowning_face:

3 Likes
69

I’m about three weeks from initial symptom onset. Outside of struggling to clear my sinuses, something that is normal for me this time of year, I haven’t had any symptoms for nearly two weeks. I started riding when we returned from our Christmas holiday trip, about five days ago. I’ve loosely followed the progression suggested above: after having ridden a quick 15 min zone 1 session on Dec 23rd, I was off the bike and away from home until Dec 30th.

I did not lower my FTP initially (for IF purposes):

31st: 30+ min Z1/2, (.59IF, kept HR around 75% of max HR, one spike to 80%)
1st: Pettit, but reduced the 70% FTP portion to 65% (0.62IF, HR stayed in Z2, but high Z2, up over 80% a couple of times, I reduced intensity to bring it back down)
2nd: Off (no fatigue or adverse symptoms)

Reviewing progress and by instinct, I dropped my FTP 10W from 280 to 270W to account for loss of fitness. I started my base training at 275W in October after two weeks off the bike (coming from 305W).

3rd: Pettit (no reductions) - 0.63IF, average power about the same as on the 1st, average HR was down to 131 from 141bpm on the 1st. Max HR was same, a single spike at the end of the 70% section (roughly the same power). Overall, HR at comparative powers was 6-10bpm lower than the previous workout.

This was definite progress.

4th: Pioneer -2 (45 min 75-80% FTP) - .74IF, average HR was OK overall, but this started to feel harder than it should near the end, and HR got up to SST levels ~85%maxHR at the end. Breathing and RPE were in line, late in the ride breathing rate picked up. No adverse effects here, feel fine this morning.

At this point, I’m looking at the HR difference as a loss of fitness, moreso than being indicative of any systemic issue. To be safe, rather than pushing more tempo today, I plan to back off intensity and ride in zone 2 for 90 minutes and rest again tomorrow.

Next step may be a further FTP reduction (to 255-260W) if HR doesn’t stay in line today, and then resume normal training progression at reduced fitness level and reduced duration this weekend. Essentially I’m planning a bit of an accelerated progression over the course of the next three to four weeks, but starting as if I’m coming off the couch into my base phase again.

5 Likes
70

I got COVID at the end of my recovery week. Symptoms started on December 24th (chills, fever, headache, and body aches). By Christmas day all symptoms other that the headache and a few body aches were gone. I waited until December 31st to get back on the trainer. I decided to do Pettit which I did last on December 20th. My average heart rate for the session was 22 BPM higher and my max heart rate was 25 BPM higher. All training since then has my heart rate going much higher than it should for the effort level.

So coming off of what should have been a good block of training with an FTP bump into basically the worst fitness in years.

71

Looks like that’s the case for you. Wish my body was making that sort of sense.

1 Like
72

I had a very mild case of Covid which was happened 6 days after my booster so take this for what it’s worth. The booster took me out for 3 days then I was fine. Then Covid hit (mild). I felt fine after about 3 days and jumped on the trainer for a 1.5 hr endurance session (at home due to quarantine). That went fine - felt strong and HR was low due to a weeks rest. Next day I resumed my training plan (adapted for time off) with a VO2 workout which again when fine. I took a rest day and did a four hour outdoor endurance ride which also went fine. I have since continued with the TR plan.
I have had no lingering issues at all from Covid and notice no HR or other differences from before.

2 Likes
73

It will, give it time! <3

74

Odds are good you’ll be back where you were within a 4-8 weeks. Try not to dwell on it… I’m living the same thing.

1 Like
75

I don’t have much faith in that to be honest. The first time around I was basically back to full fitness within three months. This time I’m two months in and I can’t even complete a 100 FTP session without my heart rate hitting the 150s.

76

I hope you are right. It still feels like I am loosing out on fitness as I should be starting a build phase now versus starting over with base again, and I hoped to be further a long in 4-8 weeks.

Oh well, today was my pity party day as this mornings workout was greatly disappointing. I couldn’t even hold 10-minutes at Sweet Spot when prior to COVID I was doing 3x17-minutes and 2x22-minutes fairly easily.

2 Likes
77

I’ve found useful both in coaching others and in my own experience to think of recovery from illness as “training.” Today’s prescription might be total rest. It might be 15 or 30 min in zone 1, or it might be your first tempo ride for one ten-minute interval… doesn’t matter, whatever it is, it’s what your body needs. You can’t progress until your body is done recovering anyway, so any training you try to throw onto that stress of recovery just delays your eventual progress.

Some days, especially when you’re sick, your recovery is your training. Do the best you can to ditch those thoughts of progress and “where you would’ve been if only…” they’re just counterproductive and serve to rush you, and add more stress at the time when you need to be doing exactly the opposite.

6 Likes
78

I’d feel better about that had I not just given my body an entire month of rest. :wink:

I do get what you’re saying though.

1 Like
79

Six days back on the bike, 90 min Z2 by RPE/HR +3 sprints. Sprint power was better than early season, so that’s good. HR still tracked high for RPE and power. Tomorrow off, back Friday with a longer Z2 ride, probably 2+ hours.

Also got my negative test result back today, so full clear on that anyway.

1 Like
80

I’m About 6 weeks into using Trainer road and now I’m into day 4 of having testing positive for COVID. I’ve been pretty unwell with heavy cold line symptoms but feel better today. So I read up on training and it reckons to not be on the bike for 10 days after symptoms go away.
Anyone else gone through this? I’m double vaccinated and boosted if that makes any difference. Can I do easy recovery rides keeping my heart rate low under 115bpm whilst I wait for the 10 days to be up?

1 Like
81

The guidance in most articles is doing nothing but day to day stuff until you’ve been symptom free a while. No point in rushing to get back and dragging out your recovery.

(Even a recovery ride is exertion)

82

I wouldn’t ride at all. I had fatigue as my only symptom, did a 15 min easy ride five days after onset and I probably shouldn’t have. I did it for my mental sanity.

You just need to accept that you are going to lose some fitness from this. Your body needs full recovery and then start again.

2 Likes
83

So, 2.5 months since getting infected and I think I’ve found a power level that I can work at without causing crippling fatigue and swelling / inflammation the next day.

20% FTP drop on where I was (which was already lower than where I was previously due to recovering from injury). Yay. That’s nearly as much as I’ve managed to add in the last 2 years of training.

84

The good news is two-fold: 1) you already know your body is capable of doing what you were doing pre-injury; 2) so does your body. It’ll come back a lot faster than you think, but not nearly as fast as you want it to. Practice patience, keep plugging away.

85

I’m old now, things might not be quite that simple!

86

Came down with Covid Sunday afternoon, had sinus issues, chills, low fever, and fatigue through Tuesday evening. I was able to work from home on Wednesday but lost my sense of taste and smell. Thursday I did a total body weight lifting routine that didn’t exceed 20 minutes. This morning, Saturday, I did another total body weight lifting routine and my sense of smell and taste is coming back. I want to get back on the trainer bike but my wife has talked me out of it so I’m going to wait another day. I actually feel pretty good…53 years old by the way.

2 Likes