Getting back into shape after COVID
I got the bug while in Hawaii, a bit of sore throat and runny nose, followed by a mild fever and a couple restless nights. The test at the clinic came back positive, so I hunkered down at home until I felt better and two antigen tests came back negative. A side effect of my infection was an elevated heart rate, which has been hovering in round in the 90’s (70’s is usual), and a much higher resting pulse. My sense of smell went away, but has mostly come back.
But staying indoors and not going out at all weakened me a fair bit, and I have been working to get back into better shape, and try to get my heart rate down. Last week I began with some easy rides around my neighborhood and Waikiki. Yesterday I rode to Diamond Head, and then hiked to the top. It was a pretty good workout, but I paced myself and after riding home I found I felt pretty good. Today I went on a 25km ride with some minor climbs, and though my heart rate was higher than usual, I did better on the hills than I expected, and felt pretty good after the ride.
Though my antigen tests are negative, I can’t return home to Japan until I get a negative PCR test, which the doctor says may be as long as a few weeks. So, plenty of time to ride. Hopefully I’ll be doing some 50km rides next week. It seems like I can’t come to Hawaii without having some problem which gets me stuck here longer than I had planned. But there are worse places to be stuck.