Riding post-Covid?
 

Anyone else on the forum contract the virus? I tested positive last week and really only had severe chills/aches for about 3 days, but now I'm nearly done with my isolation period and I feel pretty good with one notable exception. I can hardly sustain any effort at all. It's not that my HR spikes, I just feel like I'm running out of oxygen when I sustain what used to be a very easy effort just 2 weeks ago. I can't breath deeply enough and I feel as if my lungs aren't at full capacity. I never had a severe cough so this is surprising to me.

I'm wondering if anyone else has dealt with this, and if perhaps some sort of inhaler was helpful? How long did these effects last for you?

Edit: To be clear, I'm not riding outside, this is all on my trainer in my home. Don't want anyone to think I'm putting others at risk.

Anything quantitative to share? What are your blood oxygen levels while riding?

I don’t have a blood ox sensor at home but when I went back for a follow up test a couple days ago (negative) I was at 97%. My threshold power using my smart trainer before Covid was around 270-280 watts, threshold HR around 170-175, now if I can sustain 200 watts for an hour it’s a big challenge and my HR never goes above 160. Riding at 180 watts feels about as hard from a perceived exertion standpoint as 300 did a few weeks ago. It’s really an awful feeling.

How long ago was your last day with symptoms? I think you’re supposed to wait 14 days from then, before training again.

Really sounds like you’re nowhere near recovered.

How’d you get it?

Good luck and take care!

This sounds awful and so sorry it happened to you.

You've very likely got injury and ongoing inflammation of your airways and the gas exchange surfaces in your lungs. This thing is no joke, it's like smoke inhalation or a snootful of chlorine gas. Thank God it's as mild as it is! I would suggest going a little easier on yourself and giving the situation a few weeks or months to improve, while expecting a full recovery.

A resting O2 sat of 97 is okay, but it doesn't say anything about what's happening on the bike. It could be worthwhile getting a reliable pulse oximeter for use during exercise as a reality check while you recover. It's not something I know much about, but 88-92% has been used as a training target for clinical populations. There are also pulmonary rehab programs and I bet a lot of them are getting very good and seeing their share of athletes these days.

Seriously, all the best and I hope you're back to 100% in a few weeks, but in the meantime take it easy and let us know how it's going.

It might just be taking a long time to fully recover. I think a finger tip blood ox sensor is pretty cheap and might be a good investment. 97 is a good normal number, but maybe something is happening as you exert yourself? Maybe try to do ‘the same’ workout every couple of days and see where HR and Power are trending over the next week or so. Probably not too many medical studies of athletes recovering from Covid yet. Keep us up to date!

What I remember reading even back when we thought it wasn't here was that people in HK sometimes had trouble with things like walking afterwards. It can really mess up your cardio system for a long time. Sorry to hear you got it; fingers crossed it doesn't linger like this.

I kinda think this is one of those things like the old Henny Youngman joke:My understanding is that a week after even mild symptoms is often around about where people who end up in the hospital start to decline, so maybe consider this a warning not to imagine you're all better now.

Zone Two.

Based on current FTP.

Thank you! I did exactly what they tell everyone not to do, I went to a wedding and was careless about my mask. Multiple people tested positive after. In case anyone else needed proof that this should be taken seriously, there you go.

Agree with MoAlpha and datlas. Not speaking from experience and IMO obviously there's not a whole lot of settled science with this stuff yet, but it seems like the current understanding is that it can take a very long time for symptoms like shortness of breath to improve, and that exertion can exacerbate the problem in a big way. Listen to your body, take it real easy, and I hope you recover fully and soon.

So no SLAMDANCING? Is dealing with Covid the future of road cycling?

Yes.

Correct.

Sad!

The future of everything except onanism at the moment.

This is the second time I’ve encountered that word in the wild. Thank you for taking the vocabulary lessons of
the membership here in hand.

Fitting you’re a seaman.

Ok I’ll stop now.

Thank you. I have things very much in hand here.

Dan,

One of the MTT coaches tested positive the second week of August. She said she had the sniffles for a week. She sat her 2 weeks and started back up. She tired easily on the weekly runs for 3 more weeks before she was back to normal.

I didn't get the virus, but got an injury late March/early April. No exercise through April, May and June. Started back up when MTT started in July. The aerobic fitness is still not back to where it was before the injury. Not even close. Hang in there. It will come back.

Not to inject any more gloom into this conversation, but the prevalence of myocarditis (heart muscle inflammation) on cardiac MR after mild COVID-19 infection is high and while most cases are asymptomatic, this is the reason for the 14-day return rule for athletes with asymptomatic or mild disease. It also means that any potential cardiac symptoms in athletes post-COVID should be investigated aggressively.

Google - Long Covid. I know some people have long term issues.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...m-effects.html

I didn’t have COVID, I had influenza-A which is a pretty bad form of the flu with similar effects as Covid-19 in terms of lung function. It took me months to recover my fitness. It seems like, even though you feel fine, your lungs still aren’t recovered from damage that they went through.

Quality.

my son had it, never had any symptoms, but when he would go for a run, he said it felt like he had a bear on his back. The only reason he found out he had it is that his work required everyone to get a tested plus and a serum test. He found out he had anti-bodies. Said that feeling while he was running lasted about a month. This was back in July, said he feels fine now.