Recovering now. 32 yo, FTP 305. I did Pettit about 4-5 days after symptoms and I think it made my breathing worse. It took a lot more out of me than normal. The days after that my asthma got worse and I had to take oral steroids. I am now 14 days from symptom onset, and I think I’ll probably try Pettit again today to see what happens.
1 Like
I think the prevailing opinion is to wait longer than you want to.
The rest probably did me some good. I think I added 23w to ftp on like my third session back.
Good luck, and let us know how it goes.
Recovery has been a slow process for me. It’s about 2.5 months since first symptoms. I wasn’t able to get a test until after about two months, at which point it came back negative. Maybe someday I can get an antibody test if a reliable one becomes available and confirm or rule out covid.
Though I’d categorize my symptoms as generally mild, the cough was persistent for over two months, and my lungs still don’t feel normal but have improved considerably. Heart rate issue has popped up 2 or 3 times while at rest with a RHR that dropped off the charts for a few minutes. I also experienced some myalgia for a short period.
I’ve just completed my second short TR workout after about a two month layoff. No doubt my conditioning and FTP has plummeted, but at this point I’m just hoping to begin a return to normal and get some regular exercise slowly started up.
2 Likes
In early April I got sick from my stomach. It was different weird kind of sick. Didn’t quite have the runs, but had lots of mucus coming out, sorry I know that’s gross, I don’t know how else I could describe it. Anyhow, this continues for about 4-5 days, accompanied with slight fever and shortness of breath. The shortness of breath was just that, no cough, just short of breath. I’m thinking it’s just my asthma. Then fever continues… Damn, let me get tested for COVID-19. Got tested and was positive. I started to worry slightly, I was thinking about my asthma and being positive is not going to be good. Well it turns out I was short of breath for about a week. My doctor said to self quarantine, notify everyone I came in contact with, and to self quarantine.
Overall, I have to say I have had worse chest colds in the past. I feel very blessed I only had mild symptoms. I did everything to try an avoid getting infected, the lack of social distancing was and is a huge problem where I work. I believe that is where I got infected, but can’t say for sure. Everyone in my family tested negative. So happy I didn’t get anyone in my family sick.
My training is coming along nicely, no adverse effects from COVID-19. I would say that my stomach is much different in the way I digest food now. I have never had any issues with my digestive track, well now I do… I blame COVID-19 for it.
Hope you are back on track, like many have said, get advice from a medical professional. Good luck with your recovery.
6 Likes
Thanks to everybody for sharing their recovery stories. It’s helpful to know I’m not the only one struggling. So here’s mine so far.
I’m about a month out from the first onset of my symptoms. I did test negative but my doctors told me that in all probability I had COVID after they ruled out some other things such as blood clots etc. My symptoms were very mild, never had a fever or aches. My only symptoms were extreme shortness of breath and fatigue. 2 weeks after the onset I got onto my bike trainer for 5min where I rode at 75W and it was tough. (345W FTP before the virus). I slowly built up to where I was able to do around 30min at around 200W over the next week. Then I tried a short 10min jog, and that caused me to be short of breath for a couple days. Since then I’ve been riding mainly on Zwift so I can take it easy as needed and have gotten up to 100min at around 260W NP. I think I’ll try a run again soon but I don’t want to jump back into that too much but I’m feeling pretty decent on the bike.
The one thing that I did notice is that I’ve been setting HR PRs in Training Peaks on many of my rides. I’m definitely not pushing as hard as I was before the virus, so it’s interesting how my RPE, Watts, and HR have decoupled. Has anybody else noticed that on their recovery?
3 Likes
Very similar case description as to what happened to a good friend with similar numbers and including the heart rate elevation. Its been the better part of 4 months and he’s still working his way back. Age 55-60 male. Covid wasn’t too bad for him, but the road back has been slow. We hope he makes full recovery with time.
1 Like
Pass along my well wishes, and steer him to the Survivor Corps group on FB if he’s looking to compare notes with other long haulers. Plenty of company and he might find some useful information, or at least an understanding group to lean on which can help with the outlook.
1 Like
I tested Positive on July 7th and got my first Negative (blood test) on July 21 and under the advise from my Dr (that is also a runner) said to try some 30 minute rides at 50% FTP and watch my heart and listen to what my body was telling me.
Did that for a week and redid my ramp out of boredom. FTP dropped by 1 point so i decided to restart my plan today. Oh and i’m a 47 year old male that just started TR a month and a half ago.
Cheers
7 Likes
Biking has been coming along really well for me. Last week I did around 4 hours of Z2 while watching baseball games without much issue. I’ve also been able to extend my runs to around 35min and the speed is coming back. I’m mainly now increasing run volume based on not wanting to get things like shinsplints now. Still, after a hard day I notice I might be a little short of breath later on in the evening, but nothing at all severe. I’d say I’m 99% back.
(FTP pre COVID was 345. Tested on Monday and was down to 316)
9 Likes
Not sure if I had it or if anyone had similar, but went to a work conference in Las Vegas in the middle of March, then came down with something near the end of the month. Started with ear/head pressure and became increased in the head/sinuses with headaches bording on migraines that I couldn’t shake. Seemed semi congested but not the way I normally am with a sinus infection. Saw the doc, they said sinus infection. Gave me antibiotics. Took them. Nothing. Had developed some test/throat tightness and a perpetually sore throat but no cough/fever. Saw doc again. They said I had taken the anitbiotics too quick and so had to get new (different) prescription. Took those. Didn’t seem to do anything. Finally around the end of March/beginning of April, seemed to be transitioning back to feeling better. Training during that month was minimal and HR was elevated compared to normal. RHR was pretty consistent.
Since then I’ve had a dry/sore throat quite frequently and occasional weird tightness/soreness in my lungs/chest, almost feeling like I have to cough but I don’t ever actually cough. Training has been relatively good but every once in a while I have a day where I feel like a flaming rubbish bin. Looking to potentially get an antibody test to see if I did actually have it. Not sure if any of that resonates with others, either the symptoms or the lingering stuff.
1 Like
Based on all the accounts of Covid19 infections that I’ve read plus my own personal long-hauler experience, I’d say pretty decent chance based on your account. So here’s the deal with the AB tests. First, they aren’t the most reliable. Second, You are quite a time out from initial infection. Third, based on a description of your symptoms and severity, they fall in the “mild” to “moderate” camp, which would make it more likely that you’d have not experienced a strong antibody response to the illness. Coupled with the fact that you haven’t cleared it decisively, it would be unlikely that you’d test positive for antibodies. But if you have access to a free test or are willing to pay for one, you’ve got nothing to lose by taking one. If you take one at this point and it comes back negative, you shouldn’t rule out Covid19 as a consequence. I’d only use the test result to provide positive confirmation.
Some symptoms you might have had but not necessarily linked to the illness might include: headaches, blood pressure spikes, heart palpitations, tachycardia events, hot flashes without a fever, sensitivity to alcoholic beverages, myalgia, joint pain, smell/taste loss or distortions. And if you want a full list of symptoms that people have reported, go the the Survivor Corps group on FB and find the poll for symptoms experienced by people. It’s a lengthy list of symptoms.
The days that you feel like rubbish, those could very well be relapse days where you’ve over-exerted in previous days. I get these days frequently because I still struggle to drop my light exercise levels down to a low enough exertion level that they are manageable in the ME/CFS post-viral personal apocalypse. I’ve decided to completely abandon any jogging now because even small amounts utterly destroy me later in the day and following days, and I’ll be dialing down the already low intensity of any bike and swim efforts to even more minimal outputs.
Late this week I saw a link that I plan to really dive into in an attempt to quantitatively manage my activities in a way that will hopefully get me out of this cycle of exert and then relapse/suffer. I’ll share that below along with a couple others that I haven’t really delved into but plan to here in the next couple of days. Best of luck to you in recovery, be it Covid or whatever it is.
Link 2:
2 Likes
Thanks for all of this. Yeah, I’ve been fairly in the loop with respect to the studies and actual news on it but figured I would see about any “first-hand” experiences from those here.
As background, which may or may not have impact to why it was less severe, I’m a 23yo male who was previously a collegiate XC/track runner and usually cycling 15-20 hours a week. Relatively speaking, this till knocked me down pretty good. Usually with a sinus infection, it’ll hit hard for a day or two but once I get ABs, I’ll be back in a couple days no issues.
The fact things still haven’t felt right is why I’ve considered and AB test, solely to know IF I had it, not to assume I’m immune or anything. I would normally say it could be allergy symptoms but I’ve also never experienced any real allergies in my life in the Midwest so it would seem odd to have a huge sudden influx.
1 Like
Covid infections can have a very long tail. I’ve seen accounts of a 9-year-old boy and a 15-year-old multi-sport high school standout athlete who have been flattened by the illness for months. Being healthy, athletic, young, none of these things guarantee a light case or quick resolution.
Listen to your body, and give yourself copious amounts of rest and recovery. Your history of high volume competitive running/cycling almost works against you, because you have such a good engine and an incredibly deep base to draw on that you can still easily put out solid workouts that don’t begin to feel taxing at the time, but the reality is you are just digging yourself into an immensely deep fatigue hole with the ME/CFS, and you can end up paying dearly in the following days.
I’ve struggled with this for months now, having a 20 year base of multi-sport endurance training and 30+ years of being active/fit prior to that. It’s harder than heck to shut that down. I did give up all activity for 5-6 weeks, but unfortunately it didn’t seem to give me any sort of recovery from the virus. Good luck, and keep us posted.
2 Likes
My experience is nearly identical to yours, with the sinus type headaches that no meds are able to shake, congestion and then throat infections. I also saw a Dr and then 2 days later went for a test…POSITIVE. The throat infection cleared up pretty quickly but the congestion stayed and then I also completely lost my sense of taste and smell. All of those are pretty manageable but I’d say the worst part is the fatigue. I’ve never felt this “out of gas” before. Just getting out of bed and getting dressed would leave me very short of breath. I must have slept for at least 65% of the time for the last 5 days yet whenever I’m awake I still feel pretty lethargic. I do feel like I’m recovering though, but it’s just slow.
2 Likes
It sounds like you are still early on in the virus. Lots of rest, and be on guard for a crash. Do you have a pulse oximeter? You might want to watch your blood oxygen closely, especially with the SOB that you are describing.
1 Like
I do not, but the readings the Dr took a few days ago seemed normal, but per your advice, I’ll be keeping an eye on it. Luckily the Dr is an aunt of mine who is also a volunteer, treating Covid patients at a few treatment centres we have. So she’s in daily contact with us so if need be, we can arrange to see her, as she’s just a few minutes away. It’s really great to be able to chat to others that have also had this virus, as it can get really lonely in this quarantine phase. Thanks for the support and advice.
1 Like
What you all have noted about elevated HR brings up one pretty important issue – that Covid appears to damage the heart, at least in the short term (this is a particular object of concern for me, since I have a pacemaker).
Assuming Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez is recalling his doctors’ statement correctly, between 10-20% of covid cases develop myocarditis:
Just from that snippet, it’s not clear whether that is 10-20% of all cases, including asymptomatic ones, or 10-20% of symptomatic ones. This German study published on July 27 identifed heart issues in 78 of 100 subjects, all of whom had been symptomatic.
If you test positive, it might be a good idea to get an EKG and ECO before resuming training, and be prepared to take a few months off to let the heart recover before you start loading it with training stress.
5 Likes
Worth a watch re an Aussie doctor that got it. Very fit competitive cyclist. He can’t ride ever again after getting it. It’s not consistent, so just take it easy. Be safe!
5 Likes
Hello all,
I wanted to give my experience thus far, as I am sure that some people are getting ill with the second wave that we are now enduring, and as someone who has just gotten over the worst of my COVID woes and am planning on restarting SSB1LV.
For background, I would consider myself quite fit - 27yo male, 65-70 KG with a FTP of 305-325 and I have been doing TR for 3 years, fluctuating between LV and MV plans with a mix of weights and running added in.
About three weeks ago I came down with a fever of 38 degrees after a 70km spin. The fever was quite debilitating and I could hardly stay awake. From here is quickly developed a cough (not too bad) and lost my taste and smell. I knew that I probably had COVID so I isolated and all that fun stuff. I completely stopped training in order to give myself the best chance to recover quickly.
Now three weeks out my taste is back but smell is still a bit lacking, maybe 80% of normal, and my cough has finally stopped. I have started lifting weights again (nothing heavy as all gyms are closed where I live and I have kettle bells at home). Just started SSBLV1 again without taking an FTP test as I don’t feel comfortable pushing my body that deep into the red yet. The first few rides have been okay on the body and I my lungs actually feel a bit better after.
I am interested to see how it will have an overall effect on my training this season. I am generally pretty competitive in my local racing scene and wonder if I will be able to get back up to my previous level.
I would love to hear if anyone is further along in this process and has any insights or experience to share.
Thanks all.
Glad to hear you’re recovered and over the worst of it. I too had it and I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that you will get back to your pre-covid level again. Of that I’m pretty sure as I had pretty much the exact same experience and symptoms as you and took it slow, working my way back to intensity over about 3 months, just to be safe. I’m back to pushing the same numbers again and my heart rate, etc., all matches the pre-covid levels. So just take it slow and keep watching the usual numbers, making sure all is normal or expected. Some of my friends and family members that have had it all also came back to full fitness again. The bad news is the loss of smell! Mine does not want to return to 100% and seems stuck at 90%. I guess it’s not the worst thing in the world, but it’s just annoying.
2 Likes