I don't really have anything to add other than to say that I wish you well. I don't often hear it talked about but the mental and emotional fatigue is absolutely horrible to deal with as well. I feel for you.

I feel for you. I was hit with Mono maybe 5 years ago - whether re-activation or not, I don't have a clue but what I do know is that it hit me hard. My liver function was impaired and red blood count plummeted - not easy on an endurance athlete. I'm sure it was an opportunistic episode as I was training like mad through illness and no sleep (8 month old boy at the time was not letting us get any). Learned my lesson the hard way.

The prevailing feeling I had coming out of it was that I was "starting from scratch". I had a good 6-8 weeks of nothing at all, and then gradually re-introduced aerobic exercise back into my life. I've had breaks before for one reason or another, but this was different - it felt like I had completely lost my "base", whatever that means. Maybe something to do with the drop in red blood count, dunno. But it felt to me like I was right back to square one when I first took up endurance sport.

The good news; you do get it back. I've never quite been the runner I was since before the illness, but that is probably a result of not training quite so hard in the run and getting well into my forties. But my biking has improved beyond where I was pre-illness, stronger than ever. I got my black t-shirt at Norseman last year. You will be back in the game, it just might take a little while.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Rich.