Road Fan

Rejoining the way of exercise after passig through COVID 19?

Who has done this ? Wife and I recently contracted and successfully used antivirals to beat back Covid 19. We got a clearance to go outside and start needed shopping again.

Usually I do the shopping, pushing a well-filled Costco shopping card over the acreage of outlocal store Usually it's a good push for an hour or so, moving at a reasonable walking pace. Yesterday, first time in any exercise since being declared non-contagious, it was a labor to push it through the store - definitely a loss of fitness.

My plan is to restart rather slowly. Today's step was to go out to our beautiful Metropark and walk out for 30 minutes and back for the same. That went quit well, but we are resting after it. We'll probably do a similar walk tomorrow, but in-town and maybe 20 minutes longer each direction - 40-minutes out and 40 minutes back.

Anybody in a similar situation? How are you folks approaching it?

spdntrxi

My heart rate during exercise has not recovered, but my resting heart rate during sleep has.(normal for me is high40, low 50). I was basically 65-70 for 4 days during covid. I just started riding again after 14days off.. My first group ride was a recovery ride where my strava effort score is usually 20, it was 69. Followed by a fast group ride where my effort score ranges from 150-200 normally was 238. Spent sometime on the front smashing it so expected ~200. Conclusion is my heart is working harder then before and I am spending more time in higher heart rate zones.

I'm not really taking it easy as I need to get the fitness back since I have some rides I spent money on..coming up in October. Trying to ride like I normally do, sprint when I normally do etc etc , then compare the relative effort scores from similar rides since I have both HRM and Power tracked. Peak power is down, only managed 950w so far, so a few hundred down, but I will work on that.

I dont really feel anymore run down then usual to be honest... I dodged this bug for nearly 4 years and took it on with no Plaxovid or other post infection drugs. Plan to get re-vaxxed in October when the new shot comes out and continue to wear a mask around others.

Jumpski

last month I joined the ever popular covid team too. Your plan of taking things slowly is the right approach. After around seven days after a negative test I took things slowly. A couple days of walking and then back on the bike worked for me. I started cycling with easy rides for a couple of days increasing my mileage and efforts gradually. Take care

50PlusCycling

I got COVID in Hawaii last summer, and after a week of staying indoors, I went out and started riding. During the time I was sick, I felt like crap, and had an elevated heart rate, but after a week the symptoms were gone, though I felt a bit weak. Cycling got me back on my feet, and back into shape.

Road Fan

So my first walk was Tuesday the 29, and now on Wednesday 8/30 I should take #2.

MinnMan

I took it very slow after COVID. Shorter rides, no hard efforts or high HR. Everything came back within a few weeks, but as they say, patience is a virtue.

Like spdntrxi, I paid attention to my resting HR as well as my HR on the bike. That helped me gauge when I was ready to go out and hammer again.

pdlamb

I took it easy for a month after Covid, then started back on the bike pretty slowly. Took me about three months before I was getting back into the swing of things -- then ruptured a disk. Ugh!

I'm cautious about pushing things too quickly for a couple reasons. First, I didn't want to damage my heart, as is possible particularly after Covid symptoms have subsided. Second, at my age and condition, I'd prefer to make sure I'm adequately recovered to try to avoid atrial fibrillation down the road. As always, YMMV.

prj71

I had Covid in October 2021. Actually did two mountain bike rides when I had Covid of 15 and 25 miles miles. They weren't the easiest but I did them. Kept at it while Covid was disappearing. I was winded during rides but after about 2 weeks I was back to my normal self.

MinnMan

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9170595/

Iride01 

I got COVID at the very end of 2020. After 3 weeks of wondering all sorts of if's, I got better. I had my heart checked out by a cardiologist that gave me the okay. So I just went back to my normal riding but not quite as hard or long. Took a few months to get back to normal. I think your body will tell you what you should or shouldn't do if you just listen to it.

Calsun

More than 500 people die each day in the United States at this time from contracting Covid and yet people still treat it like they might get the flu and do not take precautions. Even taking an adequate amount of vitamin D (to get the blood serum into the middle of the "normal" range) can reduce the odds of getting Long Covid by more than 40% and this is a cheap supplement.

GhostRider62

It took me about 6 months to mostly recover from Covid. My resting HR still is not back to normal. Joint pain is slowly resolving but still an issue. Sense of smell took 7 months. Normal breathing took 6 months as did 5 minute max power as did morning heart rate variability. I take a minimum of 10,000 IU D3 daily and have done so for 2 decades. I got it at a kid's birthday party last Fall and it was my only time in public for over 3 weeks. I avoided the inevitable for 3 years. With such a high R0, there is not effective precautions besides staying in the house.

nlerner

I got COVID for the first time (I'm vaccinated and fully boosted) back in March. I started taking Paxlovid right away (I'm 63, so getting a prescription wasn't hard) and even felt well enough after about 4 or 5 days to go for a 30-mile bike ride. But then i got a nasty rebound case and managed to test positive for 17 straight days. This was a particular problem because I had an ambitious bike tour planned with a bunch of friends starting early April. Two days before I would need to fly cross country, I finally tested negative, and a follow-up test the next day was also negative, so I figured I was good to go.

This tour was planned for five days, from Redwood City to Atascadero, CA. I wasn't at all sure how I would feel or if I'd have to bale, but figured I'd only know if I tried. First day was up and over the coastal range to route 1, about 45 miles and nearly 5k feet of climbing. I'm normally a pretty good climber, but I had to go quite slow and take frequent breaks to bring my heart rate down, but I made it to the summit without barfing and enjoyed the twisty descent. The next day was about 75 miles along the coast, and I felt pretty cooked after 50 miles, but managed to gut out the last 25. Each day thereafter, I started to feel stronger, and ended up riding 7 day in a row and generally feeling strongest on the final day. It was helpful that this group on the whole had a range of riding abilities, so I didn't have the demoralizing effect of trailing way off the back of the pack, and it also helped that we had great weather and an incredible view of California wildflowers as a result of all the rain that fell over the winter.

My plan at this point is not to get COVID again! But that might be a challenge given new variants.

Skullo 

Got it the first time first week in May. Three days in hospital in ICU. Took three IV bags of antiviral while there then home on Oxygen supplement for a few days.
After a recheck at Dr office May 22 started cycling slowly for a half hour or about 3-4 miles. In a few weeks I managed 20 but the next day my body revolted and I was vey run down. Held myself to 15 for a while. Worked my way back up to a couple 28 plus rides last week . Then had another next day bonk. Felt like I had ridden a hilly century.
My lower back is bothering me like never before and cycling has never made my back hurt.Could be a long Covid thing.
Can still ride with out back pain.
I plan to hold my self down to 20 -22 miles for a while. Will try more intensity , less time in saddle. That should keep the fitness I have gained back Days I don’t cycle I walk a mile.I have long ways to go.
My breathing has not returned to pre covid levels.
I would rather be a hermit than catch this bio weaponized virus again.

Listen to what your body tells you.
My infection hit fast and hard.

Don’t push to hard or it can set you back. It keeps happening to me . Good luck.

Biker395 

Have you a reference for that?

There is a recent study that indicates metformin is helpful in reducing incidence of Long Covid by 40%, but I had not heard that with respect to vitamin D.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...C%20and%20safe.

Random11

I've had COVID twice. Both times I felt really bad for about two days, but recovered rapidly and was right back on the bike. I know it affects different people differently, so I'm not saying anything about anyone else--just that I recovered quickly.

MinnMan

Interesting accounts from everybody here. The experience does vary a lot.

There is no generic experience or strategy except, as many here have said, listen to your body and be willing to take it slow.

spdntrxi

I talked to a Doc about plaxovid and she warned that she had seen rebound cases after that med.. so that kind of turned me off it. It was day3 when I talked to her and the chills and muscle aches where already gone at this point, so she did not advise it.

GhostRider62

Wow

I am sure the Pfizer is running multisite, blind placebo controlled studies right now.

https://health.ucdavis.edu/news/head...vid-19/2022/02

https://academic.oup.com/jcem/advanc...gad207/7116659

https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-a...n-d-deficiency

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-21513-9

Skullo 

I have been taking vitamin d for years ,numbers are also good in bloodwork.
I was told when I left hospital it would likely take 6 months to get back. If you did not require hospitalization you likely will have a shorter time of recovery.
As of now I don’t believe I have long Covid. The lower back problem has been coming on slowly for years. I read a couple articles about long Covid people having back aches. A lot of folks get back aches.

prj71

The healthier a person is the less severe the symptoms and the shorter the duration. Eat right, exercise etc.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7858040/

Skullo 

I was fit and healthy . Good bloodwork numbers ,good checkups. I live in Utah and ride up mountains. Doctors and nurses said I am not the person they typically see in ICU with Covid Pneumonia. I did respond very quickly with antivirals. If I was an overweight couch potato I might not be here.
Perhaps the vaccines damaged my immune system .
I can still ride and climb well. But I can tell my breathing is not back where it was.
Three times though I have had serious fatigue one or two days after a harder effort. My Strava numbers show steady
upward progress. I do expect to get at least close to where I was before. I am fighting the aging process as well.
I will be avoiding crowds .Don’t need anymore of this crap.

MinnMan

I am tempted to respond to this, but it would lead to the kind of discussion that belongs in P&R.

More generally, healthier people are statistically less prone to severe outcomes, but that statement shouldn't be mistaken for the assertion that they are fully protected from them.

pdlamb

roflmao!

Biker395 

Jeez. Thanks. I misread what you wrote!

Yea … I have heard that someone with a vitamin D deficiency was more likely to have severe COVID. I thought the claim was that more vitamin D than the baseline amount reduced chances of long COVID.