I thought I had fully recovered. I did a 500km Back country bike packing race in the mountains 3.5 weeks later. It literally could have killed me. Rode for 15 hours the first day less eating and rest time. That night tried to sleep in around 5 degress C in an emergency bivy bag with all my clothes on. Lungs had been filling up with mucus for about 4 hours. I was able to get most of it while riding but when I stopped to try and sleep for a bit I kept waking up I kept running out of oxygen. I kept waking up every 10-15 minutes struggling to breath. No cell service, no hospitals around and I was not about to hit the inreach button. After trying to sleep for 2 hours we were off again and rode for 18 hours to get to the next community including a 12 km hike a bike. Grabbed a hotel and slept propped up with pillows. In the morning my options at the health center were to take an ambulance 1.5 hours in the wrong direction or continue. I rode 24 hours through the night to get finish at 11 am the next morning and then drove 2.5 hours to an emergency room.
My point is I had been training for over 1.5 weeks after recovering from covid and was fine. Now I still have a bit of lung butter from last August. I wish I would have skipped the race and the 12km hike a bike.
On another note my wife has long covid. It is hell watching her! I could not handle that.
Yup. Not one of my smartest moments. But after day 1 I was closer to the 2nd night stop than the start. Thought there would be a hospital in that town. It was just a walk in clinic that could do nothing to help (or was unwilling). After sleeping in a warm bed the second night I was feeling not too bad. So the next day through the night went quite well. Really had no lung issues as I kept riding. Even stopped for a hot shower around dinner time and then rode through the night. I started the drive home… ended up stopping at a rest stop for a few hours nap and then a couple hours later the lungs started having severe issues about 35 minutes from home so I stopped at a small town and hit the hospital. Left a few hours later with a couple of inhalers.
All in all I wish I would have skipped the race. But we also know a lot more now then we did then. My original posts started around post 82. We know a lot more now than then. I had 3 weeks of recovery and good riding so thought I was clear.
Yes I finished the race as there were only 2 choices. 1 take an ambulance 1.5 hours away in the wrong direction further into a different province or continue on in the proper direction. After a warm good nights sleep I was much better. I rode through the night without much problems. It was not until a few hours after I stopped riding that the lungs became a problem again and I went to emergency on the drive home.
Comment from afar: Is it that important? Main race (a one off) vs health for the season? How the health goes doesn’t have a for sure answer, it’s an unknown,
I don’t have the feeling of taking a risk here - I’m just pissed that my HR is higher and so is the perceived effort - which will most probably impact my race performance.
HR started to go down btw. Not yet at the January levels (when I was in the best shape of my life), but halfway there.
Just to be clear - if I had trouble breathing or any other apparent long Covid symptoms, I would not race. But it’s not the case.
I’ve tested positive for the THIRD time this morning - symptomatic but just a bit of a sore head and cold like symptoms - no temperature which is good.
I have my A event in 10 Weeks and B 4 weeks after that, going to rest up all this week then all going well start a return to play protocol next week via walking onto Z1 then Z2 before resuming my training plan. I lost my A event last year to Covid and basically ended my season and sat on the couch… not letting it happen this year!
This is interesting to read, 6 weeks is way longer than I was hoping!
I had my first bout with COVID last week, I was up to date on my boosters and symptoms were fairly mild, but I’m starting to feel chronic fatigue set in.
I did two 0.50 IF rides for 45 mins 7 and 8 days post-symptoms and felt okay after, but 50% isn’t too much work. RHR and working was/is normal.
I may try to up to 60% FTP tonight and see, it’s really the fatigue that’s driving me nuts right now.
Same here Managed to start doing 30min IF 0.5 on day 10 after onset of symptoms (2 days mild fever and then 2 days sore throat) but still wake up not feeling 100% even after 14 days.
I was back to VO2 max intervals 3 weeks after testing negative at end of my Covid bout. But you’ve got to listen to your body. I was good to go after 3 weeks, you may not be.
It took about a week past onset of symptoms for me to test negative, I’m about 3 weeks in, in total.
I still have pretty bad fatigue, just feels like I have heavy eyelids all day, and I have constant tinnitus as a constant reminder that I still have some lingering symptoms.
I bailed 25 minutes into a .6 IF workout last week, going to try again today.
Tested positive for the first time last Friday, so I’m currently about 5 days in. Haven’t lost taste or smell, but have had constant headache, muscleache/lethargy/tiredness, and near-constant diahhorea. Haven’t had any significant symptoms in the chest or throat yet, and hoping they don’t end up developing.
Once the symptoms fade, planning on doing some very low-intensity (Z1/Z2) short-duration (45-60min) rides to see how the body responds, and then slowly increase from there…
Good luck. I was vaxxed and boosted and the flu-like symptoms were mild, and taste/smell changed slightly for maybe on the 4th day but was back to normal in a day or two. It’s just this fatigue I can’t seem to shake just about 3.5 weeks in. I bailed 10 mins into the .6 IF attempt yesterday.
Following @teamsuchevich 's lead, I found weight training to be more productive at this point.
I’m glad to hear that you are trending in a positive direction, even if its way slower than you had hoped.
Its just so confusing as to why everyone is so different with recovery. Neither my wife nor myself are vaxxed at all (please dont judge me lol). And she was 100% better and back to training in a week.
Like I said earlier, if I had known that I got it I would have taken the advice of others and just hit the couch for as long as possible. But a 70.3 in which i really went to the well…with an insane amount of travel piled onto my body. I think it was the perfect storm of crushing my immune system at the worst possible time.
OMG. I am not sure if I am suffering from covid again. I have taken tests but the home tests we have here do not test for Kraken and show negative. I have been ill since Sunday and am just starting to feel better today. Today is the last day I can cancel my planned cycling vacation and recoup some of my money. I am heading to Puerto Vallarta on the 23rd. I will be riding in a 100km Grand Fondo on the 25th and then will be staying to ride until the 8th of April. I’ve rented a room at an airbnb and am use flight dollars and credit card points and will only be out of pocket about $300 for the trip.
I am hoping this is just a man cold/flu. my timing really sucks.
Well I avoided getting covid this entire time. Finally got it on Monday after visiting in-laws that came back from a cruise last week. This despite telling everyone they should self quarantine for a week…but no one listens to me and I look like the crazy bad guy. Anyways, I’m on Day 5 and finally feeling better. Have had no cough or congestion. Just felt tired this entire time. Hope to take it easy on the bike next Tuesday. since covid will be here to stay, I wonder what damage this causes over the course of the next few decades as we age. Especially if we can get this multiple times a year. Rough but so far not as bad as a really bad cold.
Oh jeez. Hope it’s not and you feel better soon. FYI remembering your story what kept me very chill during my own covid recovery last september. 3 weeks before I felt ready for exercise beyond walking , and another 3 weeks before I resumed training, but so far no lingering effects. Thanks and good luck with your PV dilemma. (we are having a similar issue with Mallorca, but it’s due to French transport strikes not sickness).
Well It is just a man cold / flu that I was of course in my death bed over. Recovering well. Looking forward to the trip. Have still not been on the bike. Taking it easy. Learned a lesson… Kind of
Managed to start doing 30min IF 0.5 on day 10 after onset of symptoms (2 days mild fever and then 2 days sore throat) but still wake up not feeling 100% even after 14 days.
