I am struggling to regain my fitness and motivation to ride my bike post 2 month long respiratory illness in February and March.
I have tried getting back out on the road but finding I am struggling and having to stop at least twice on a 17 mile (27km) route which previously 50-60 miles was not an issue.
Has anyone had similar experiences and how did you recover , it’s causing a huge amount of frustration currently and no longer have the urge to ride my bike which is not good. I am asthmatic which is slowly coming back under control. Thanks in advance
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First and foremost, follow your doc’s advice. Take what medical professionals say over what a bunch of internet-yahoos tell you.
I can’t relate to your exact situation, but about 15 years ago, I was struggling with Achilles issues and trying to switch to triathlon. I simply started short and slow and gradually built up from there.
And when I say “short and slow”, I would literally run .1 miles and walk back. After a couple days of that, I would go to .15 miles and walk back, etc. I wasn’t building fitness, I was building confidence and I celebrated every pain-free “run”.
So my suggestion is to start short and slow. Pick a distance / time you know you can do. Go out and ride it and come home happy you accomplished your goal. Then stretch it out a bit the next week. Slowly build your confidence and fitness while celebrating your accomplishments.
You mentioned asthma….i assume you are using your inhaler prophylacticly before your ride?
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I am/was in a similar boat. I came into the base season in January fresh and ready to crush. Did a huge block that ended early March, took the rest week and the household immediately got sick. I was fine for about a week (and into another hard week of training) when the sickness hit me–sore throat, sinus, and wet lungs. I felt better after about 10-14 days (and didn’t ride at all when I was sick because I didn’t want to force a setback and actually loose fitness) but just still was so tired. I did some 15-30 minute Z1/2 rides once or twice a week for a about two weeks. During this time I marked my calendar as “sick” in Trainer Road and kept extending it because I did not want to train and was prioritizing extra sleep over riding. After I felt better turned off sick on calendar but TR did have me in mostly easy workouts that first week back. I did about half of them or one hard workout a week and the rest just pedaling because I was still coughing and getting lightheaded from hacking so hard during efforts. It’s cold here so outside was not happening/didn’t want to wreck the lungs. Now I can say I’m recovered but feel like I have lost my top end so I pivoted and started up a different training plain on TR with low volume. Nailed a super hard workout. Feel like I’m back on track. My advice is don’t train hard until you are ready but even some easy pedaling will make you feel better. Coming back is HARD but it happens pretty quick after you get comfortable with suffering again. Good luck!
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Despite being in great shape, I caught a bad case of Covid in 2021. Two weeks of covid, and two weeks of recovery, and my FTP had dropped about 30-40%, I could barely do my old zone 2 power and my HR would be zone 4+. I took a couple of months off to fully recover and tried again, only to be met with a lack of ability to recover and extremely high heart rate. I took a few more months off and that’s when I finally started to feel like myself again. It took me about a year to get back to normal power & heart rate. Sometimes we just get illnesses that knock us down, and take much longer than normal to recover than we expect. Just keep your head up and give yourself time to recover physically and mentally!
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Thanks for your response, doctors have done their bit and as far as they are concerned everything is ok.
I use my inhaler before I exercise which helps.
The issues I had were covid related for the third time ,
First time I had covid in November 2021 it was around 8 months before fully recovered, second time in December 2022 was around a 3 month recovery.
I think you are right it is definitely a case of just doing a few rides and just ride don’t worry about the numbers.
I do have a habit of putting a bit of pressure on myself which is what I need to stop doing.
Thanks for your reply
I may do a week of light workouts on the turbo just to get my legs and lungs used to working again and hopefully that will help start to build the motivation back as well.
Thanks for your reply
I feel your pain it was my third bought of covid that has contributed to the issues I am currently recovering from.
Keeping the frustration at bay due to little motivation is the hardest part at the moment but as you rightly say mental and physical recovery are definitely needed I am just a little stubborn 
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That sounds like a good idea.
I think at this stage you just go out and ride and smell the roses. Don’t focus on performance at all.
Once when I was totally detrained, I made a deal with myself that I was going to go ride this easy, flat 10 mile trail every day for 10 days straight. I made 9 out of ten days but it really helped me get in to the routine of putting on all the gear and going out for a ride. I also got a fantastic fitness boost riding 90 miles in 10 days which made all future rides much more pleasurable. You can use high frequency training to your advantage. I think short session 2x per day could be effective.
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