So you had ~13% drop and how soon back did you do the power test? I wouldn't have done 20 min test for a while after 2 weeks off. You'd already know your fitness is down because your sick. So how quick was the 20 min test after being sick? Few days? Week? 3 weeks?

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I think your illness simply reveals something that we all take for granted . . .our health. I'm as guilty as the next guy so it's not just you. Since most peeps here are extremely active, as compared to the normal population, we assume that we can just bounce back up with minimal decline. Infections don't operate on our timeline. The flu illness ypically will last a week but it can take a few weeks for the body to get back to where it was. Same thing for pneumonias. I tell people that it may take 1-2 months before they are back to normal (depending on age and other comorbidities). So it is likely that a large part of your decline, whether it's 33% ;) or 13%, may be likely related to the after effects of the illness and not purely a deconditioning issue.

10th day

it was supposed to be Zone three but it wound up being a test as it was all I had!

I think that means you should do a better job of listening to your body. If zone3 is all that you had then you are pushing yourself too hard. Let your body get the rest it needs to recover or you're just going to prolong the recovery.

That's been my personal experience forcing recovery anyway.

thanks for the input

I've been recovering from the flu. 1 week sick, then Zone 2 work for a few days. 1 week post-illness, I can hold same power in intervals, but lungs aren't all the way back yet, so I keep my workouts short. HR is fine though.

This thread started at the same time I was suffering from the flu or flu-like symptoms. Whatever it was, it kicked my a$$. I had done a nice solid trainer ride on 3/6 and woke up the next day feeling like crap. I sequentially went thru the head cold stuff, the body aches, the headaches, the nausea, lack of appetite and other unpleasant bodily issues. When I started back up on 3/17 I had no strength or endurance.

I'm scheduled to participate in Ironman Florida 70.3 on 4/9, but I don't expect to be racing it. Oh well.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

Some posters have touched on a key issue. The deconditioning from injury and illness aren't exactly the same thing. Both can vary depending on the specifics. In your case, since you are able to swim I'd say you lose little to no overall condition. Let the injury heal properly.

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Formerly DrD

Gomez broke his elbow last season and Richard Murray broke his collarbone....

Have patience in your recovery.

+1 to this

My last real bike ride before layoff was March 9, did some really hard over-under intervals with a 28 min CP of 300 W

Got sick on the 10th, next ride was the 13th, when things kinda stunk. Then no riding for a week while preparing for a move

Did 20 min at 305 W yesterday (2nd ride back) and 30 min at 293W today. So probably lost 5-10W during this time. Really small blip in the grand scheme of things.

I used to worry and kvetch about getting sick and missing 4-5 days of training, but i've since realized that i don't lose that much, if at all.

You started this post on the 12th and it's now 11-12 days later. How about a update? Are you back on the bike or running yet and how much, if any, fitness did you lose.

FWIW, when I take 10 days off I lose at least 20% of my fitness and it takes about 2 weeks to get it back. Doesn't matter if it's lifting, running or biking. It's always been that way but getting worse the last few years. Other people don't seem to lose much even when taking off twice that time. It all depends on the person.

OK, this is what happened to me :)
I didn't run for 7 days and didn't bike for 5. I swam all the time, 5 to 6 days a week.
My problem was achilles tendon related (inflammatory but not a really bad one). Fortunately my friend, medical doctor suggested me to do a mesotherapy (more on http://www.mesotherapyworldwide.com/...Dr_Jules_Marthan.pdf )

He told me that I could train as of tomorrow (day after the first set of injections). I decided to wait a little bit longer, but not much longer. So I went back to my training sessions like everything is ok (hard runs, hard bike).
15 days passed, and my achilles is much better, I didn't lose any fitness (I thing that this 5-7 days of no run/bike even did good to me), and physically I feel great (except that achilles thingy :)). I run like hell (for me) and my FTP is actually 5W higher than 30 day ago.

So, nothing wise to write, since I didn't do full 10 days rest as I planned....

Bottom line I can recommend this therapy to you all, if you have a similar problem. I received 4 treatments, one every other day, and after second one I noticed that some miracle things are happening.

if we put this into running, 30% loss is going from 40mins 10k into 53mins
i crashed with my bike last year and hospitalized 2 months. i did not lose that much even then

you should review your % probably

Perhaps it depends on the level of athlete a person is.

I'm at best a 42' 10K runner, after several weeks off running I can still run a 46' 10K, probably a 45'. That's nearly a 10% drop in time.

I could see a 35' 10K runner dropping to 42' which is pushing 20%.