Move back everything and redo Build. Cut Specialty short as needed for your target event.
Also keep in mind there is a huge range in how sick different individuals are getting with COVID-19. Some have almost no symptoms and unfortunately some die, then everyone else is in between. For some with more severe symptoms there have been concerns about permanent lung and/or cardiac damage.
So definitely treat yourself as an individual. Ease back in and see how your body responds.
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This is not true. It is not over hyped. Iāve treated covid. It causes severe pneumonia, even in young healthy people. While fit people will cope better with severe pneumonia it doesnāt protect you from getting severely ill. Covid can last and typically does last about 2 weeks. It is often more mild in the first 7 days followed by a rapidly progressive respiratory failure in a subset of patients. There is also reports of sudden cardiac death and possible myocarditis (heart inflammation) this is not known definitively. I would wait at least 2 full weeks for a mild case of covid before stressing yourself physically if you are recovering from covid, possibly 3. More severe illness may require a month.
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Talk to a doctor and donāt ride right away. Wait at least a week to fully recover.
A doctor specialised in sport said to me that for every day of serious illness (like the flu or the covid or anything that cause fever) you should wait double the amount after recovering because there is a serious risk for the heart to be attacked by the virus and he had some people that trained just after a flu that needed heart transplant because of that.
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Similar to others here that had symptoms but no confirmation. I hacked for almost two weeks, and even after two months, my lungs are still not 100%.
That said, what a perfect time to take a rest. No events planned in the foreseeable future, so take it easy and enjoy being a bum. Bodies need rest phases.
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I am a geek about my physiology and thats why I put this up. To see if there is any consensus or commonality of others. We arent doctors and what happens to me doesnt mean it is gonna affect you the same. Kinda like your stockbroker telling you past performance of this stock doesnt guarantee future performance.
Background
55yr old male. Serious Recreational Cyclist. No talent for racing. Avg 8 to 10 hours a week.
Infection Time Line with symptoms
Sat 70 mile ride felt great. Sunday recovery spin felt great had a light occasional cough. Not to try and hack something up or a tickle. Monday did a hard but short Vo2 workout. Tuesday morning felt like I had overdid it in the weight room. Legs, ankles, hips and back. Chalked it up to efforts on the previous days workout. At break I noted my resting HR. It was 67! Normally 50to55. WTH. Took some Advill (yes I shouldnt have)within 45 min felt normal. By lunch telling wife I was going to ride long and steady that afternoon after work. I work for a large retailer. When the Advill wore off, I just felt a bit whooped but the soreness of the legs and joints from the morning were gone. Decided to take a rest day. Wife went to hold my hand and said you are kinda warm. I didnt feel it but ok. Temp 99. Usual for me is 97.9. Went to bed and woke up early Wed with light chills. Fever now a shade over 100. Get sent home from work at a wellness precheck. On the way home there was a tire on a trailer locked up and the driver didnt know it. It was pouring smoke. It was so bad I was thinking why isnt that on fire? Then it dawned on me Why cant I smell that? With the window down still noā¦Crap. Do TeleDoc and they say get tested. I go get tested. Negative for flu and strep. Covid results in 3 days. At the clinic I notice some tightness in the middle of my chest. Doc says you are pretty congested. Continue to run low grade fever, light cough the rest of the day and evening. Thursday am the fever is gone and the light cough is reduced but now a sore throat. Not bad but its there with the chest. My gastro bits start growling in a weird way that Ive never had happen. No build of pressure. Just a bunch of noise. Thursdays symptoms continue thru Fri. I get a call and get the positive conformation. Today is Sat and the previous days symptoms are there but in a lesser degree. That being said. If I didnt know what I was looking for, I would of returned to work as soon as the fever was gone. The lack of smell thing freaked me.
Things about how my body is reacting to this.
My heart rate variability was totally normal until Tuesday am. I hit an alltime low with that metric My resting HR was 15 beats high. I dont know where the water is going. I know how to hydrate. My Tanita scale does a pretty good job and I know what I need to take in to hit certain numbers. Im drinking a quart of water every two hours and its not going in the toilet. My weight isnt going up either, Im putting down 2 gallons a day and just sitting in bed.
Doc said very low intensity on the trainer is fine if body feels like it. I feel I could drop 50miles but know that would be stupid. Will do first light trainer session later this evening and see how my lungs feel.
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I had something bad a few weeks back, doctor didnt think I was bad enough to warrant testing but it did affect my lungs pretty badā¦my advice is to lay low and get rid of it before you get back on the trainer. There are no races to train for or group rides so just heal first.
I had classic COVID-19 symptoms the first 2 weeks of January. The worst cough of my life. Many sleepless nights because I couldnāt stop coughing. Ran a persistent fever for 5 days. Iāve had the flu many times in my life, but never experienced anything like that. Interestingly, I performed a ramp test on 29Dec, just 2 days prior to āfeelingā sick, and performed well below what I had expected according to my previous workouts. COVID-19 wasnāt really on the radar here in the U.S. at that time and I never saw a doctor, but now Iām hearing physicians saying they had patients with those symptoms even back in December who were testing negative for the flu. I donāt know with any certainty whether I had COVID-19 or just had a very bad bout with a seasonal flu, but it makes me wonder. Even once my symptoms were gone, I felt incredibly weak on the bike for another 2 weeks. I kept rides short and easy for those next 2 weeks, then bounced back strong with a 6.5% increase in FTP after just 1 week of intensity added back in. Bottom line was that taking a couple extra easy weeks paid off.
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Being the OP, I have been remiss in relating my experience and outcome, so here goes:
This story should be premised with revealing the later realization that my digital thermometer was broken, and I likely had a fever earlier than I realized at the time.
Had a great workout Tuesday morning. But I work outdoors (essential) and had a helluva time keeping warm, but no temperature. Worked out Wednesday and absolutely crushed it. Felt amazing. Thursday up all night with the chills, but no temp. Friday hit hard and finally registered a temperature, so I knew what it was.
Mild case though, and tried getting back on the trainer Wednesday, but failed 19m into Petit 
. The abdominal pain did me in. Tried a few light, unstructured efforts on the weekend. Felt good, but sacked out hard after each. Did a Sweet Spot workout Tuesday (now two weeks from onset), and did fine. Ramp test Thursday and added 20 more watts. And now I am back on the plan without any effects, it seems.
50 yo male. Never saw any HR issues. Never had the cough, though my breathing was nasty for a while.
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Itās now 45 days since my first suspected Covid symptoms emerged. After 21 days of being very poorly and a further 20+ of recovery Iām ready to start training again.
I donāt have a cough, heart rate is normal and my energy levels are better.
Does anyone have advice about how best to re-start my training? From the increasing number of outdoor rides itās clear Iāve lost a considerable amount of fitness, specifically to my endurance.
hey. I donāt drink. I tested 210 48hrs before my first symptoms were detected. Iām 76kg avg. I eat a very good, but not restrictive diet - red meat, gluten, dairy (all the fun stuff!)
I typically train 4-6hrs a week. I was halfway through sustained power mid volume when I got sick (but in all honesty Iād started missing the odd session in favour of cafe rides due to improving weather).
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Iād just suggest that you ease back into the training. Try a short (30-min) endurance ride, see how it goes. Listen to your body (!) and slowly ramp up from there if you are feeling like you can handle more. As you start adding some intensity back in and begin to feel like you are getting back on track, then either back up a week or two in your plan when it was interrupted, or if it feels like it makes sense then start back with base.
Iām in my second week back on the bike. Last week I did a couple very short spins on a stationary bike (5-8 minutes) coming off of a short walk/jog (10-12 min) on the treadmill. Then I did a 25-min, 30-min, and 35-min rides. Today I did a 45-min endurance ride, which was enough to bug my lungs some. So I probably will try another in a couple days, and maybe an hour endurance ride over the weekend if all is going well. I havenāt decided yet if Iāll continue with build or just go back to doing base in 2-3 weeks. Depends how things go and how Iām feeling.
This is definitely not āover-hypedā amd people need to stop saying it is. Please treat any symptoms seriously and also do not think for a moment being physically fit offers much, if any protection. There are numerous stories of very healthy people getting very ill and some dying from Covid-19.
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Although I did not get Covid, I got a bad virus two years ago that really put me on my butt.
Anytime you get a bad virus your body gets all messed up for a while. You should assume that you need at least two weeks of feeling good before you even think you should get any intensity back into the program.
Lets face it, you got a bad virus, you need to recover and there are no races any time soon. So you might as well be conservative here and not push yourself into the brink.
Iām not a coach but if you refer to Joe Friels books he would suggest that with a longer layoff you just scrap the training block that youāre working on and go back to either start the block over, or go back and do some base work.
Personally, and in my experience. I would go back to base 2. Then get back to build later. If your A race is in under 3 months. I would just find another race to make my A race and make that race a C race.
This sucks. Itās unfortunate. But if you push yourself too hard too soon, youāre not going to get the fitness you want with all the work you put in.
I know how much this sucks, but good luck.
The worst year for flu in our recent history is around 80k deaths. We are already over 50k in 3 months in usa. So stop spreading that crap!
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Just an updade. Resting HR is back to normal. HRV is normal. For the first time in years, I can truly say Ive slept enough. First spin was 6 days after symptoms. Target HR was nothing over 110bpm. Power was ok and didnt feel stressed. All Zone 1. No after effects. Didnt do anything on day 7 but have spent time on the trainer day 8 thru 11. Each time progressing with power. Up to solid Zone 2 and a bit of Tempo. Keeping heart rate down though. Power, perceived effort and heart rate all are in agreement. That being said, Im going to continue with low intensity and just build duration. I did polarized all last year so I know how to stay low. Bummed because I had a great base and had thrown in intensity lately and my FTP had a solid jump. Prior to getting sick, I averaged 8 to 11 hrs a week. I like to bikepack. My concerns are for lasting lung and heart damage. Then Ive been hearing stuff about clotsā¦
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I donāt think this is the forum for questioning the received wisdom of the scientific community but rather to share constructive advice on how to deal with this illness in the context of training.
There are no end of forums and outlets on the internet where views of this nature are welcome and I think I speak for the community at large when I say can you please take them there. If you have nothing useful to say about training before, during, and after being Iāll with Covid-19 then please do not say it, here at least.
Thank you
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You are right, I was wrong and Iām sorry.
A dear friend of mine, a young, fit and healthy cyclist is currently also battling Covid and itās not looking pretty. This is stressing me out and I overreacted. Iāll try and keep those reactions off this forum in the future.
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You know what, thatās exceptionally rare these days and takes character. Thank you and take care.
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16 Days out and I am back to more or less normal. Rode 72 miles today. Just steady state stuff. Power was good and matched perceived effort. Heart rate in expected range. Finally able to hydrate to percentages that are normal too. Im sticking to sub threshold for another week or two. Then Ill step on the gas and see what happens
Really hope that I am the norm for those that get itā¦
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