Tested positive Friday morning. Saturday was rough but today I feel pretty good, especially after a nap. I’ve got a slight bit of drainage and that’s really all that’s going on at the moment. I don’t want to jump back in too soon and wreck myself but I also know the sooner I get back the less fitness I’ll lose. How did you know when to get back on the horse?
I had covid in January 2022 and was only off the bike for 4 days with a very very mild case. I had the Flu in May of 2022 which knocked me out for almost a month.
I wasn’t on TR and didn’t get into the science nearly as much back then though.
Take your time. Forget about what you have planned anytime soon.
I have long covid, but the type that pops back up when you get a virual infection. The first virus I took my time to come back and ended up stronger, second time I pushed through as race season is starting in Australia. Now I am stuffed and can’t ride a bike.
So forget about getting back straight away and take your time. It will be better in the long run.
@TexanDad I had 7 hours of fever from Covid on a Friday. The next Tuesday I did my regularly scheduled VO2max workout & went on with my regular schedule of workouts. I’m not sure that’s a super smart way to do it but it was no problem for me.
With the latest strains, some folks feel good 3 or 4 days after symptoms appear and get right back to it. Others take longer.
I had covid a month ago. As did my wife. For me, it was 6 days totally off the bike and feeling very sick for 3-4 of those days. I knew on my last ride before symptoms that I was infected. No power and HR was up. Got back on the bike a week after symptoms appeared, but felt weak and rode easy for another week… Then another week after that which got progressively better until things finally felt normal (normal sensations supported by power and HR data).
Still have a lingering dry cough, but doesn’t seem to be a problem on the bike. Wife had a slightly easier course and was feeling better 4-5 days from infection and mostly normal after a couple weeks.
We know exactly when (and by whom) she was infected, so our timelines from infection, to symptoms to positive tests, to negative tests are clear.
Covid is no joke, so I’d err on the side of taking longer to get back to hammering. Good luck and hope you have an easier course and rapid recovery.
I had it last week in August and have had a very similar course as you and Darth, also with the persistent cough. Felt pretty bad the first week (even did Paxlovid), slow and easy 2nd week, built back up, did two cross races this weekend. Don’t think I’m completely back to where I was pre-infection, but pretty close. This variant hit me harder than the one in December.
There are people out there who will be able to bounce back like @Brennus and there are people out there who will take a long time. IMO, the smart path is to follow that British JSM info graphic. Once you are symptom free, you work back into it with easy and short rides, then within 7-10 days you’re pretty much back to normal training if all is clear.
I know of many cases of people who get COVID and aren’t right for a month. There is a reason there is no set guidance for it. IMO people who try to train within 4 or 5 days of a positive test, or who are still symptomatic are really taking a risk - not of dying or that, but instead of exacerbating the illness and making it much worse to the point where it costs them a month or more of training/fitness instead of just a week or two.
The prudent thing to do is to be conservative, base it off of symptoms and a conservative return to training protocol. That is what I coach all of my athletes to do with this thing.
I’ve gotten it 3 times and the first (Delta, Aug/Sept 2021) was a bad flu for 4+ days. After that I spammed the forum with that British JSM infographic. But since then, the last 2 times, my spring allergies are far worse than these new variants. And multiple times in the last couple years I’ve been around someone that tested positive the next day and no symptoms at all. One of them was fully vaxxed/boosted/masked and freaked out and went to the hospital. Use common sense.
I have one of my athletes who tested positive last week. He cleared symptoms except for some coughing fits this weekend, he says. He can go back to work on Thursday (health care). What I’ve told him is we will start riding when he goes back to work and is cough-free. We’ll follow a similar path to that infographic, but probably more like 4 days than 7 days of an easy progression before resuming normal training assuming no issues. I’d be willing to let him ride 30 minutes at 100W before he goes back to work, but I told him to lose all coughing first.
As you said, use common sense, don’t lie to yourself about your symptoms. If you’re still coughing, don’t ride IMO. And then ease back into things so you don’t bite off a big workout and have a relapse or make a not-so-bad situation a lot worse, as is the case with any URI. I wouldn’t coach someone to do what @Brennus did under any circumstances with any URI. YMMV. I see people do stuff like that and get away with it a lot, but as he said, it’s not the “super smart” thing to do IMO either.
Well we aren’t doctors and he didn’t say if it was a low grade fever! Every March I get low grade fevers and sore throats from spring allergies, sucks to be me!
I’m coming back from covid as well and it’s a huge bummer! I’m almost 2 weeks out from initial infection and still have an elevated RHR and abnormally high heart rate even when doing light walks around the neighborhood. Ample time and rest seem pivotal to recovery
I know everybody hates being off the bike and the potential to lose fitness gains. But people will hate more if they push things too hard too soon and end up delaying their recovery or worse potentially doing some sort of long term damage.
My symptoms are about 95% clear. Still testing positive unfortunately but I’m not sold on the antigen tests entirely, I’ll trust what my body is telling me over a peice of cardboard. I’ve currently got my Crux pulled apart for a mullet conversion so that’s helped with the urge to go ride. My rhr is back to normal, the only thing still bothering me is some lingering drainage, but it’ll pass soon enough. I went ahead and blocked off my calendar as ill through Saturday, I’ll see how an easy endurance ride feels at the weekend.
Seems like you’re handling it well and doing the right things. Kudos, it’s hard to do. In reality, we need to treat all URIs a little more seriously than most of us do. COVID’s just a little different because there are still some unknowns out there and people who have suffered longer term issues (at least with the older variants).
But a common cold can turn into a sinus infection which keeps you off the bike much longer if you just ignore it an don’t give your body time and energy to recover, too.
No lie there, I caught the flu just after Gravel Locos in 2022, took the bike to Broken Bow the next weekend and went out on a little gravel adventure and had to call the wife to come get me (after having to ride 5 miles to find cell service) I was not recovered AT ALL, then it turned into a Sinus Infection which was another 2 week ordeal and then probably a month before I felt normal on the bike again. Don’t need all that a 2nd time.