henrik99

Curious about others' experiences getting back to normal training/performance following recovery from Covid. I searched and saw a good post on this forum from 2020 that was closed to replies. Very curious if (hopeful that) those who were experiencing long-term effects and a slow or sub-par return to performance are seeing normal performance again by now.

I'm curious because my own return, while initially promising, has run into issues lately where I feel like an 80-year-old man on hills and when my HR gets above about 85% max HR. Some rides feel close to normal, but seemingly randomly, on others it is a night & day difference pre-covid to post-covid where hills that were reasonably challenging, but commonplace climbs beforehand now feel multiple degrees harder, slower and more exhausting than ever.

I tested positive and had a mild/moderate case back in early Feb of 2021...chills, achy, cough (but never as bad a cough as those I often get with a virus), lots of fatigue...enough to knock me and my wife down for a few days. Within a week we were feeling pretty decent again with taste/smell still a bit of an ongoing issue. CDH cleared us 10 days in. I've seen the articles about it being risky to return too hard/fast, so my return has looked like this.

• 2 weeks off following positive test (other than a few light walks in neighborhood)
• Return to short, 1 hour-ish light/base type miles of riding for about 2 weeks (think Zone 2)
• Reintroduction of rides with more climbing for about 1.5 weeks (think Zone 2/3 with a few Zone 4 spikes)
• Getting back to normal gravel and trail rides with a good share of climbing 2 weeks ago to current (think Zone 3/4 with a few Zone 5 spikes...a few longer 2-3 hr rides...some days off and recovery rides mixed in)

Anyone having similar experiences? Anyone experience this and then found a full return to normal?

JohnDThompson 

Have you discussed this with your physician? There is growing evidence that even mild COVID-19 cases can cause long term, possibly permanent heart, lung, or kidney damage. An EKG and/or pulmonary function tests may be helpful.

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/2021...ss-study-shows

henrik99

I have not yet. I guess I've come to view the "long hauler" symptoms as an increasingly common thing that we just have to accept for now. With it being so early in terms of having detailed, accurate scientific knowledge about the long-term effects and what to do with them, I honestly don't expect anything helpful or insightful coming from our doctors on that subject yet. I suppose that's why I'm reaching out here to see if I can find others who are further along from the date of their illness, had a similar experience and are either getting back to normal performance now or still wrestling with it.

ericcox

GCN actually did a pretty good episode on this.

chaadster

I went down with COVID hard back in mid-October, with the whole pulmonary/shortness of breath thing. Unfortunately for this discussion, I have not experienced any “long haul” symptoms, and was able to successfully phase in increasing intensity of workouts to the point where now, about 5 months later, I’m well past fully recovered.

I made my first recovery ride on the stationary bike on November 9th, so about two weeks after my ER visit. My improvement was steady and progressive, and by January ‘21, I was feeling 100%.

Best wishes to the OP.

Dan333SP

You might be referencing my thread from late last year-

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...t-covid-3.html

I think I mentioned in an update to that thread that I ended up developing DVT that was most likely a result of Covid-related blood vessel damage, and as of about a month ago I was finally cleared to go off of my blood thinner and return to outdoor riding (stayed indoors since October due to the risk of bleeding out if I were to crash).

As a further update, I actually had what I think was a panic attack over this past weekend and had an ER admission. I had shortness of breath, dizziness, disorientation... stuff I've never felt before, thought it was maybe an embolism. They did some diagnostics and found evidence of cardiomegaly (enlarged heart) but no other cardiac issues, not sure if it's Covid-related because I have no pre-covid CT scans to compare to, so I'll be following up with a cardiologist in the next week or two.

As for fitness, I feel as strong as I did pre-covid and to be honest, I returned to training immediately following recovery, I was even doing light trainer rides while I was still actively sick, which maybe wasn't the best idea. The only thing that kept me off the bike for any length of time was the blood clot as using my affected leg was excruciating. That lasted for about 2 weeks, I think, but I was able to build back up to normal fitness once the pain resolved. I definitely had shortness of breath and quick exhaustion for a week or so after contracting the virus, but I never lost my sense of smell and the exhaustion resolved pretty quickly.

Seattle Forrest

Jack Tone 

I got it a year ago, mid Feb. Had a fever for a day, but no symptoms except for fatigue. I could barely walk for about a week. To this day, I have about half my strength and half my endurance. I've gone from competitive group rides to riding alone for fun. Still happy to be riding at all.

henrik99

ericcox ...Thanks for the GCN link. Don't know how I missed that one. Always impressed with the amount of content they churn out.

chaadster ...Glad to hear you're feeling back at full. It's of course a bit different for everyone, but that's an encouraging timeline.

Dan333SP ...It was actually a different post I had found and was referencing, but thanks for the link to yours. There was some helpful discussion (not to mention some entertaining tangents) in yours as well.

Jack Tone ...Dang. Sorry to hear. Hope things look up eventually. Mind if I ask your age? I'm 43, for the record, but haven't felt a day over 30 until riding post-covid. :-)

As I review more and more people's experiences, I'm realizing it may be a bit early for me to expect to be near regular performance levels given the weirdness of this thing. It's just that on climbs and heavy pushing, I feel SO off the mark. But looking at the big picture, even though it's felt like a long time since the end of my covid bout, it's actually only been a little over a month since I returned to riding. With normal flus/viruses I've had in the past, I'd either be well back by now or mostly back and dealing with a persistent cough that often plagues me after getting sick. Logic follows that just like I sometimes deal with a persistent cough after getting "normal" viruses, I may still be dealing with less outwardly obvious impacts from this one.

The hardest part for me is trying to figure out if I should just lay off the harder efforts for a while or keep them mixed in while accepting that they will feel extra hard for a period and hope that feeling tails off. My concern is that if I avoid them for a while, they will definitely feel hard when I mix them back in and I won't know if that's due to simple detraining or due to covid impacts and should continue to lay off.

Either way, I suppose time should yield more insight. Lots to be thankful for in the meantime.

MoAlpha

I would not assume that persistent impaired exercise tolerance has a benign cause, especially in a trained athlete, which it sounds like you are. This virus is infamous for causing large blood clots in the veins, like Dan’s, which can migrate to the lung, but also diffuse inflammation and clotting in small arteries, affecting the lung and other organs. We know as athletes that cardiopulmonary performance is a matter of reserve and lost reserve can be a sign of lost capacity, even when performance remains good at low levels. I wouldn’t panic or cut back, but if it’s not improving steadily at this point, I’d get it looked into by someone who understands athletes and won’t just say that anyone who can ride 40 mi. is fine, ipso facto. For example, it sounds like Dan’s docs were appropriately aggressive with that chest CT.

Just the opinion of one internet rando, but, hey, this is what the health care system is there for.

Joearch

I tested positive Dec 25. Did not ride for 10 days. Did easy 10 mile rides and steadily increased. 3 months later I am back to pre positive level of riding and have been for at least a month. I had a relatively mild case and have not had any long haul symptoms that I know of. I don’t t do much climbing but may try a local hill to see how that goes.

henrik99

That's a fair point. Even though the ongoing symptoms may be common, that doesn't mean they don't have potentially concerning/threatening causes, particularly when paired with intense exercise. Of course now the more time I spend thinking about all this, the more I think "am I out of breath just sitting here?...is that sore muscle in my leg a thrombosis?...is that feeling in my chest during my run from the cold air or is my heart about to explode?!"

Unless I experience anything in the meantime that prompts me to take quicker action, I think I'll tail back a bit and go light/medium another couple weeks, test the waters afterwards, and if I'm still experiencing the same, prepare myself to meet my health insurance deductibles with doc visits/tests. I'll update here if there's anything of note.

Iride01 

I got it just after X-mas. Thankfully not bad enough that I couldn't stay home. However I felt at times worse than what I imagine pneumonia is like.

I had a EKG and echocardiogram done to make sure all was well in the heart. Lungs recovered without needing any tests, but I did do deep breathing exercises regularly while I had it and after. They really helped, as did learning to sleep on my stomach while I had it.

It was late January before I even thought of getting on the bike. An easy 21 mile ride. I was impressed how well I did. But stil didn't feel great all through February and partly the weather didn't cooperate either. Now it's late March and I feel even better than last month.

So yes, as time goes by, hopefully you'll be even less bothered by lingering COVID issues. Getting the vaccination even seems to have cleared up some of those lingering abdominal issues I developed with COVID.

If my wife wasn't on me so much to re-do the house right now, I'd be riding now. Honey-do's never seem to end........

garciawork

Wasn't bad at all. Week or two after symptoms subsided I took it easy (diagnosed feb 23, sick till... early march). Last Friday, hit a new FTP about 27 over my previous and bigger gains in the other metrics sufferfest looks at. I can say I am actually in better shape than I was before. But, I will add that my symptoms, while obnoxious, weren't the same as others I have known who had it. I had a lot of trouble breathing, a headache, and was achy for a day, but no loss of smell or real fever to speak of, so it hit me differently than it did others.