Covid Experiences, share some data

Training
1

Disclaimer: I know the collective TR wisdom is not to replace advice from an actual physician, however the nerd in me is curious about the TR community COVID experience. TR offers unique measurable performance indicators in our exercise routine, therefore this seems like a great group to seek data.

I have been cleared from quarantine, but I threw my training plan out the window. I can tell my energy levels and training capacity have been thrashed. I am in no rush to start pushing things.

I have questions for folks who have been through it:

How old are you?
When did you get COVID?
How long were you sick?
How soon after recovery did you feel up to training?
How soon did you do a ramp test?
How much power did you lose?
Did you get back to pre-Covid power?
If you achieved pre-Covid power, How long did it take?
Any other notable effects or changes (HR changes, breathing rate, sweat levels, etc.)?

1 Like
2

38, male, generally well, slim, highly active, no long term health problems.

Got Covid mid-late September (confirmed by PCR).

On the Friday, Iā€™d been out for a ride in the morning and was struggling by the end (no energy). By the evening, I was tired and feeling a bit below bar. Woke up Sunday with a throbbing head and feeling sweaty - thermometer confirmed slight temperature.

I essentially had moderate flu symptoms for 3-4 days. On day 3, I lost my sense of taste and smell completely.

I felt fully recovered by day 6 or 7. After a few horror stories on the net (re. myocarditis etc) I arranged for blood tests and an ECG, which I had on day 10 - everything normal. I was cleared to train easy.

First ride day 12 (I think), felt like hard work, HR was reading 10bpm higher than I expected, and I was breathing a bit harder than I should have been. By day 17-18, that had passed.

Ramp text day 21 - down about 5%.

Ramp test 3 weeks ago - bang on pre-Covid levels.

Iā€™ve had no lasting after effects, save my sense of smell which is still about 50% reduced. My sense of taste has 90% returned, though I will have occasional meals when I can taste the first bite or 2 then the sense ā€˜fadesā€™ as the meal goes on. Certain flavours still taste odd; orange tastes like mint, for example, and mint itself is like the strongest menthol ever and is unbearable.

YMMV - take care and seek medical advice if in doubt.

Edit: FWIW my fiancee, 29, carrying a few spare pounds but by no means obese, recreational cyclist and lightly active, had very mild symptoms indeed and never had a temperature. She felt fine more or less in 48 hours.

5 Likes
3

31, September, ill for about one week, took 6 days off from start of symptoms. Donā€™t have the ramp test data but no meaningful drop in FTP. No lingering symptoms to date.

2 Likes
4

Ugh, tested positive for it today. I just took a ramp test last week, and I have been riding lower intensity/offseason rides on the trainer.

The lack of taste/smell is killing me, I have a very acute sense of smell and love cooking/food. Hopefully that returns quickly, otherwise it will diminish the shine on my life.

Will document and update this thread as another data point once I beat this thing.

5 Likes
5

Sorry to hear about the diagnosisā€¦get well soon!

6

Thanks! Luckily Iā€™m not having any symptoms beyond the smell/taste, so Iā€™m hoping that will be the extent. I have been working from home and not going out or associating with people without a mask, so it sucks. I suspect my SO (who is being forced to come into a half-empty office a couple days/week) got it from someone there and brought it home. :confused: His parent company has just been the worst since his company got bought out last year.

On a funny note, I made a garlic emulsion (toum) and it is an intense garlic explosion of flavor that will make your eyes water. Right now I could lick a spoon of this stuff and wouldnā€™t bat an eye.

1 Like
7

I came down with it the saturday before thanksgivingā€¦bad sinus headache, lost taste and smell, muscle aches and pretty good fatigue. I slept probably 12-14 hours a day and usually struggle to get 7 hours of sleep. Anyway it only lasted about 5 days and had two negative tests 7 and 9 days after the positive test. I have fully regained my sense of taste and smell 14 days after I lost it.

8

41years, male, shiftworker with slightly elevated blood pressure, normal BMI. Tested positive on Tuesday, got my first symptoms Monday(a slight need to clear throat more often, not even a cough) while my wife was just recovering from it. Tuesday, Wednesday I had fever. Thursday onwards various cold symptoms. Stuffed sinuses, sniffles. No throat pains, no lung issues and nothing else as of now.

Planning to start training when I go back to work(7 days after positive, 48h without fever or severe symptoms here). Throughout Iā€™ve been wearing a Garmin Vivosport with constant PulseOx turned on. Havenā€™t seen anything drastic there either. A few more breaths per minute during the fever days and elevated(8-10beats)resting HR thatā€™s back to normal now. I realize a watch is not medical grade, but since I have a baseline to compare with it feels justified to bring up.

The day before my first symptoms I did a ride on Zwift with completely normal numbers, despite obviously being infected. Since my wife had it before me, I could ā€œprepareā€ somewhat by sleeping more and I also straight away dropped my habit of weighing food and just ate loads.

Iā€™ll let you know how it goes next week with getting back in the saddle. Hopefully my body has this under control now.

9

32 M, healthy. Healthcare worker. End of August. 10 weeks, neurologic symptoms and tachycardia. Exercising again after another 3 weeks and a negative echocardiogram per current ACC recommendations. Ramp test down 15%.
Itā€™s not worth it to rush it.

3 Likes
10

Thanks for sharing your experiences so far. I did get back on the bike, not ā€œtrainingā€, just turning the pedals. Definitely not where I was, but it felt so good to ride my bike and be outside.

I am not ready to take a ramp test or really start thrashing myself. So I canā€™t answer all of my own questions so far. But here are some of my stats:

  • 50YO next month
  • I was sick 2 weeks + 3 days.
  • I lost smell/taste for a week longer, it is back now (taste 100%, smell 50%). Smell was gone completely (I could put my nose over a tub of vicks vapor rub and not smell it, a brewing pot of coffee too). Very glad this is back
  • Fatigue is still noticeable at +4 weeks, but I am working and functioning fine.
  • My voice is worn out.
2 Likes
11

I lost smell/taste for a week longer, it is back now (taste 100%, smell 50%). Smell was gone completely (I could put my nose over a tub of vicks vapor rub and not smell it, a brewing pot of coffee too). Very glad this is back

Ughhghh this scares me. I am 4-5 days in of missing those senses and itā€™s driving me crazy. Normally I sniffing all sorts of stuff (milk, foods in the fridge, laundry) and now itā€™s totally useless. I think my taste wants to be there, but missing the olfactory sensors is the worst.

12

In my early twenties I lost most of my sense of smell due to a cold, but I was surprised to notice how much of it I actually had left as this is on another level completely. Everything from forgetting I made coffee to not noticing a full diaperā€¦

13

One thing I have noticed and am a little concerned about is the lingering fatigue. I am about 10 days since my symptoms went away and 7 days since my negative test. I still have fatigue amd weakness in my legs. I did a zwift group ride at about 2.5/3 wkg and could hardly stand up the next morning. It took 3 days for my legs to feel semi normal. I have read that covid gets into mitochondriaā€¦hopefully there is no long term damage.

14

Glass half full side of losing the sense of smell! :rofl:

1 Like
15

I was not at the riding level you were, but I have the same feeling. The ā€œpushā€ in the legs is not there. We are kind of close regarding the onset of symptoms, hopefully we start coming around soon.

16

I was about day 18 or so after first onset of symptoms, so about day 10 of ā€˜feeling betterā€™ before I had the ā€˜snapā€™ back. The first few rides before that were slow and hard work. Obviously n=1, but a couple of weeks of being a bit ā€˜offā€™ is completely normal after a virus, so hopefully youā€™ll be fine soon.

17

Interesting side noteā€¦was due for yearly blood panel and my doc added the covid antibody test and it came back positive. I have heard that test was about 50% accurateā€¦

18

Iā€™m 37.
Not sure when I actually contracted it, but I lost my sense of smell and taste on 11/11. Decided to train that night anyways as I felt fine otherwise. Had an FTP of 383 at that time.

Tested positive the following day.

Proceeded to continue on with my plan, sweet spot base II, low volume.
The following week my workout (Jespson) on Wednesday was pretty hard, but I was fasted. That weekend I rode 62 miles. Thanksgiving week I did a 47 miler that had 7,250 feet of elevation, and went way over the prescribed TSS.

Next ramp test came on 12/1. Had expected to fall since I didnā€™t do but one ā€œrecoveryā€ ride and I actually worked out in the gym that same morning.
Well I came away with 389.

Iā€™m currently doing general build, low volume. Havenā€™t noticed anything out of the ordinary.

1 Like
19

Back in July my wife (39, healthy) and oldest son (14, healthy) tested positive. Both had similar symptoms, low energy for 3-4 days, minor fever for 12 hours, loss of taste and smell for 10ish days. I would say back to full energy in the 7-8 day range. My other two children and I tested negative, but I have no idea how, as we were not staying separate in our house as we did not suspect we had it. I did feel low energy just ā€œnot wellā€ one day which could have been something, but again I tested negative. Feedback from my MD was that sometimes people will test negative if they are not currently exhibiting symptoms via the nasal swab test, and that particular healthcare organization does not trust results for the antibody tests due to the apparent lack of accuracy.

Iā€™m very thankful that this was our experience, I know others have had a much tougher time with the virus.

2 Likes
20

Youā€™re not alone. My wife and I know two couples who had one household member test positive (both had symptoms) and their significant others tested negative and had no symptoms. They were not distancing at home since the infected party didnā€™t know they were infected until a few days after exposure. One of the parties who tested positive has numerous respiratory issues and felt fine after a week of mild symptoms

All in all, I donā€™t think anyone knows with 100% certainty how this thing spreads and whoā€™s more vulnerable

1 Like