Where to start after getting sidelined with the flu

Training
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Even though my wife and I were vaccinated, we caught Influenza Type A from our home from college son over Thanksgiving. We’ve never been so sick with the flu in a long time. Two plus weeks of it so far. I’m going to try to start my training in about a week and was thinking of just doing a low volume POL plan mixed with some stretching/yoga routines. I’m not sure I’m going to be ready to do sweet spot kind of work for a while and thought the polarized one might be a better choice to ease into it.

Sean

2

It’s a good idea to wait a few extra days once you feel ready to train. Also with the Z2 start. After 1-2 sessions if it feels good I would start with some easier = achievable intensity eg tempo/SS.
Good luck!

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I’m in the same boat. I’ve just had 8 days off with the worst flu I can remember.

I did 40 minutes low z2 (0.6IF) on day 1 back, and did an hour at 0.65 yesterday. HR is still 5-8 beats higher than I’d expect but that may be partly because of the layoff.

My plan is 75 minutes at 0.65-0.7 today, then a day off, and then to try an achievable sweetspot workout. If both of those go ok, I’ll start my block again (I was only a week in anyway).

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4

Mid November, I hit my peak FTP of 230 @ 176lbs. No sickness since April. Then came Thanksgiving week…

After bronchitis, norovirus, and now influenza type A over a 5-6 week span, there’s also a question if wtf is my FTP? I’m not doing a ramp test anytime soon. I lost a ton of weight (165 lbs now). Anyone have FTP suggestions? AI said 216. I bet it’s even lower. This flu is brutal!

Hang tough folks!

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5

One of the hardest years for me, I have pretty much been sick for over 2 months. I was lucky enough to get out 2 weekends ago and then the following week I picked up the FluA (prior to that it was RSV) and now I’m battling bronchitis. I have 2 little ones under the age of 3.

I am currently sitting at an FTP drop of 50 points (yes 50 points).

But guess what, its okay guys this is for fun. The advice I can give is when you are feeling better to give it another day or two and then just start plugging away with your training. It will come back and you will feel better/stronger eventually. The best thing to do is not get worked up or too overly concerned, it will hurt you in the long run and lengthen your recovery and mental game.

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Sorry to hear this. I have a six and a two year old. Seems to be a hell of a year for people with kids. Good advice. Hoping to get on in the next few days once others start to feel better. It’s looking up.

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Yeah I’m getting frustrated now… Took a break in October then after that got sick after like a week for one week, then my Kids were constantly sick and training time wasn’t as much as I would have liked, In December first my wife comes down with Covid, right after that I’m down with the Flu and then the little one got another bronchitis over Christmas and now I have a nasty cough for over 1 Week that I can’t get rid of, really want to go back on the bike but It is probably better to get rid of the cough first. Really hope it gets better soon…

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Sorry to hear that. Following the flu, we came down with some other upper respiratory virus that was neither RSV nor Covid. Wife proceeded to get pneumonia. Now we are trying to just get over this post-viral cough and congestion. I’m holding off as well until I get rid of this cough. I need a do-over of late November and December…

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Stay strong and dont get frustrated.

I started symptoms on 12/20/22 and felt like I “could” ride again on 1/1/23 and I still held off, I have hardly to no cough and just an occasional snot shot (about every hour to 2 hours) and I am going to attempt to resume riding tonight.

That’s roughly 14-days for my scenario, a very long and drawn out 14-days but “half” a month for course and recover with anti-biotics.

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Thanks guys, yeah it is now 14 Days since I last was on the bike… But i recon 2 more days and the cough should finally be gone if it continues like it has… Need to replan my base and build now… but at least it gets better hope you guys are back strong soon :slight_smile:

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There seems to have really been an uptick in colds, flu etc., this year. My wife got it, has been KO’d for well over a week now. Rest of my family got it too when I saw them. I am the only one left standing and just waiting for it to come by and take me too :smiley:

12

It’s been my experience that I can trust my body to tell me when I’m ready to work hard. When I was younger, I’d jump in too early and set myself back additional days or even weeks.

Now when I get sick, I limit myself to easy recovery/base/z2 rides until I’m finishing rides antsy for more and still feeling refreshed.

An extra day or three of taking it easy will get you back to 100% much faster than hammering too soon, IME.

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13

I’ll share my experience, as I just began training in earnest again yesterday after getting hit by the double-whammy of the flu followed closely by a sinus infection which kept me off the bike for all but 3-4 days in between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Sequence:

*Thanksgiving day … did my final “healthy” workout. FTP 300
—-Was out of town all weekend after that at my daughter’s dance competition (cue ominous music). No training.
—-Returned home Monday, my normal strength day and felt depleted so skipped it.

*Tuesday, November 30th (day 5 off the bike): woke up with what I thought was a very bad head cold. It continued to worsen and on Saturday, December 4th went to the doctor where I tested positive for the flu, which was day 4 of feeling sick.

*Started feeling better on Thursday, 12/8… I gave it one more day (at this point it’s been 15 consecutive days off the bike) and then did a one hour test ride in Z2 on Saturday. Felt good, so did the same on Sunday.

*Monday, December 9th was a scheduled off day, so I stayed off the bike. Decided to resume normal training on Tuesday.
—-Tuesday: 90mins Z2 - success
—-Wednesday: 2 hours SS - success
—-Thursday, 90 mins Tempo - couldn’t complete. Felt lightheaded and abandoned after 60 mins.

*Friday, 12/16 - visited doctor, diagnosed with sinus infection, prescribed a course of antibiotics.

*Completely off the bike from 12/16 - 12/25. I was feeling better by the 23rd, but stayed off out of an abundance of caution.

*Week of 12/26 - 12/31: kept a more-or-less normal training schedule but all my rides (4) we in Z2 between 1:30 - 2:15 in duration.

I responded well to the week of Z2, so I began my training in earnest yesterday and promised myself I would adhere to the TR AI FTP number.

January 3rd, 2023: FTP 278 :anguished:

I don’t know if I have any advice for anyone. I, too, had my flu vaccine this year. I thought I waited long enough to avoid the common follow up infection. Maybe I went too hard … I don’t know.

The FTP drop is a total gut punch. And, unfortunately, my SS workout yesterday more or less confirmed it is accurate. I did 4x12 yesterday at 250W … and 45 days ago I was doing 2x45 tempo workouts at 255W with a HR that was 10-15 BPM lower than yesterday.

I spent the better part of yesterday feeling sorry for myself … I had a training goal of getting to a 315-320 FTP this year, but now that seems completely unreasonable. I’m hoping it somehow takes only 2 months to get back to pre-illness levels.

Back to work, I guess🤘Many others have suffered far more disastrous setbacks with consequences much more significant than an ego bruising FTP decline.

Good luck to all. Stay healthy.

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14

I would first go for a few walks. If you start to feel uncomfortable or hot when you walk over a slight hill then you are not ready. Try taking L-Acetylcysteine (aka jiffy bag stuff) to decongest the lungs. When you can walk briskly for half an hour or so without problems you are possibly ready to climb on the bike again. Get well soon.