Hi -- Bummer for you. I *may* have had it in early March. I wasn't too sick -- I went skiing and biking at first but then I took four days off working out. Though I didn't feel so bad, I had never felt anything like it. Which makes me think it was COVID.

To answer your question, though, I jumped back into intense workouts within a few days. Perhaps because I didn't realize it was COVID, the mental part never factored in. The illness happened before the outbreak, but I had been in LA and a ski resort in Colorado the week before. Both were later ID'd as possible early areas in the US where the virus started.

Sorry to hear that. Maybe you could consider an antibodies test? I know that they are not cheap and not super reliable, but perhaps it would be worth it for the piece of mind?

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

In about 1997 I had what at the time seemed like a really bad flu. Today it reads like it might have been a virus in the Corona family. Fever. Dry cough for weeks. Throat so sore I was chugging cough syrup every 4 hours. Lost my sense of smell for several weeks. Lost is completely. Was unable to smell paint thinner, for example.

Anyway. I was profoundly fatigued for a year. A whole year.

YMMV.

I'm not sure I follow. Why would I take the antibody test and what piece of mind would it give me? I've already tested positive and the virus has run its course.

Yeah the smell thing really sucks. I can taste some salty things and really sweet things but that's about it and have zero smell.

Ahhhh! Sorry, had a brainfart.

With regards to fatigue - I had it once after a terrible case of a flu. It lingered for good 3 weeks after the flu ran its course.... went away eventually, but it sure was a big issue.

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

2nd hand reply ... my wife had it in April.
A 'medium' dose I'd say. 5 or 6 out of 10 sort of thing.
Painful chest, shortness or breath, harder to breathe. Banging headache for 2+ weeks. Fever for nearly 3 weeks. The cough came after a week.
No hospital or medic attendance needed.

Recovery... several weeks. We're now 6 weeks after the fever was back to a normal temp. And for the 1st time since, whilst just on a steady walk she didn't need an inhaler on a hill.
(Background - not a sporty person compared to many on here. But no desperate underlying problems, etc. 50 YO, non smoker etc).

Similar effects and timeline for recovery with another friend from our tri club who's in her 40s tho. A bit worse even as she didn't rest enough at the beginning.

Couple across the road. Both had it. Both reasonably fit (guy is ex Army). Talked to him 3 weeks after he was past the fever. He was still getting out of breathe when just talking across the road to me (and asking the same Q... when will I be back to running ?) .
And she was totally shattered for about a month - just constantly fatigued and needing to rest.

Hope you're back on it soon. But what I've seen from my wife and the tri club friend is you need to build up nice and slowly and steady. Too much too soon and youll be knocked back a long way.

My dad was ill in mid-March and tested positive for antibodies last week. His lung capacity still isn't 100% and his feet still swell to the point of pitting edema. He's sleeping upwards of 14 hours a day at this point. That's down from 16-18 hours a day.

I can't provide any commentary on the longer lasting effects of COVID19, we've been really pretty lucky in this part of the world (so far), but I can give my account of long lasting fatigue from illness which really got to me. It was about the time the kids went into daycare, and they are veritable petri-dishes of pathogen breeding, so yeah, I got sick.

I carried on running through the winter, I got the first cold, then the second, then a much more severe cold which turned out to be a dose of flu, all while trying to run when I wasn't feeling so bad. Things were clearly going downhill, and was starting to fatigue really badly, It came to a head one day while I was sitting at work, and it was a real mission just to lift my arms up to the the desk - time to see a doctor.

Had a couple of blood tests, which detected the Flu antibodies, but the key thing was the length of time from exhibiting the flu symptoms to the results of the test, it was weeks between them and I was still showing antibodies - I'd love for a Doctor to give some more info on this, but the GP explained to to me that the illness doesn't just come and go, there is a 'tail' where the body is still fighting the the illness (or the effects of it). The longer the tail, the worse the fatigue and longer term effect on recovery https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326619 This is why rest is important even after the sickness - its leads to a quicker 'full' recovery.

From all accounts the COVID virus is nasty, and even if the symptoms were minor, your body will have been through a fairly stressful period dealing with it - residual tiredness and fatigue are inevitable, and the longer term effects are not yet known. Take the time to rest, clean your bike, eat well, have beer, spend time with your family - the bike, shoes and pool will be there when you are better.

Thank you! I think it's easy to lose sight of what the body needs when we are used to running on empty all the time. I appreciate everyone's input.

No direct experiences but have read that many have reduced lung capacity for some time.

You can get a finger pulse oximeter online pretty cheaply to assess your body's oxygen carrying capacity.

Pulse oximetry is used for COVID19 cases in hospitals and has been shown to be a good measure of both progression of illness (goes low...sometimes crazy low to 70's or less) and recovery (increases again towards ~98).

I had a wicked virus in early March. At the time I didn't meet covid testing criteria since I didn't have an exposure and never spiked a fever high enough.

I was getting really short of breath and it stayed with me for the past couple months. My spo2 was dropping into the high 80s and I would get winded no matter what I did.

I still can't seem to get a run on I can only spin easy on the trainer. Definitely not recovering and get really fatigued. It's been about 3 months now. Sucks.

The antibody tests are pretty unreliable. At this time, as an individual, you wouldn't really gain anything from it. No one knows if having antibodies or having previously been exposed to covid-19 gives you additional immunity to it.

Best wishes for a full recovery to all. Thanks for sharing this valuable info.

I wonder how the pulse oximetry test shows in someone that has a much above average VO2 max and aerobic cardiovascular system from training for triathlon? I've been curious about this.

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- Jordan

My Strava

I used a Masimo one for a while a few years back and my O2 saturation was always like 95-99% it seemed and when it was lower I was more fatigued. So if your lung capacity is impacted I would guess that those results would be significantly lower. But that also assumes one has before results to compare. But could also just be useful as a day to day check to see if those rates are rising which I would assume would show improved lung capacity. But I could also be way off on that!

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Twitter - Instagram

I got hit hard with something early March right as things in the US started blowing up. I had headache, shortness of breath, fever, and massive fatigue. I almost passed out in my office at one point trying to return to work after a few days. It was weeks before I felt a semblance of normal. I never got a test because it was early on and I was not exposed to a known positive (and testing was quite frankly not available unless you were in the hospital) I still haven't been tested for antibodies so not sure it was Covid or just the flu. Regardless, in my experience, the fatigue lingered long past other symptoms subsiding. Also, every time I started training again, it felt like some other symptoms would come back (headache/cough). In hindsight, it was silly to try and get back to too much training too fast. However, 3 months removed, I think my fitness is back or even better than where it was when I got hit with whatever I had. It was a slow process.

That was also my experience with a bad flu I had in my 20's. No pneumonia, but I ran a very high fever for a few days, with some coughing and a terrible headache and body aches. I tried to play flag football about two-three weeks after I was symptom-free, and I just couldn't get enough air. It was probably 4-6 weeks before I felt almost normal.

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<The Dew Abides>

it seems to vary widely. One of my imaginary internet friends is in Paris with it, and they keep relapsing..

see also,
https://www.theatlantic.com/...ptoms-months/612679/

https://blogs.bmj.com/...-snakes-and-ladders/


https://www.theatlantic.com/...ptoms-months/612679/

I haven't had covid-19 myself, but the symptoms described in the links I'm witnessing in a few people in my network (friends, family, colleagues).

I had it but only mild symptoms. Recovered quickly but my lung capacity is taking longer to recover. Good days and bad days and steadily improving but after 8 weeks still feel like I’m missing that top 10% of aerobic performance.

I had a bad case- hospital, ICU, isolation, ect. I was released on Easter Sunday and was really winded trying to do anything-showering required sitting down. The following weekend I tried some easy spinning and was completely devastated. I had been in race shape prior to getting sick as I was racing long course in May. I slowly built up my time on the trainer and started to jog after 3 weeks. First run was 1.5 miles and my heart rate was as sky high. I was red lining for what was slower than recovery pace. Last week, seven weeks out of hospital I jogged my first 10k at a very reduced pace compared to what I was used to pre covid and had my first trainer session where I could replicate 1 minute power at pre covid levels. I am 51 and have been racing for years, this shit wiped me out! My GP told me that I should expect any workout with any amount of intensity to exhaust me, so far she was spot on.

Powerful thread. Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences.
Stay strong.

I read this post yesterday and wanted to respond properly not from my phone but a computer. I hope you get well soon.

I don't know how much validity there is to this hypothesis that was floated originally the New England Journal of Medicine, but there was talk that this is a vascular disease entering through the respiratory system (or that it might be an immune system vascular over reaction). In any case, all the tiny clots associated with this may explain why some of you are feeling so fatigued. It would make complete sense from an oxygen carrying context. Here is one of the articles:

https://www.bloomberg.com/...ey-had-more-at-stake

https://elemental.medium.com/...rything-2c4032481ab2

https://vascularnews.com/...blood-vessel-damage/

All the best on your recovery...you got this

Dev

I tested positive for covid. In fact, I had a total of 9 tests including antibody test. I’m an RN and my hospital requires that we have 2 consecutive negative tests to go back to work. So I was out for 6 weeks.

Anyway, I only had minor symptoms. Body aches for 3 days then followed by severe headaches for 3. No shortness of breath, no fevers, no cough. After about 10 days, I brought my bike and trainer into the bedroom. Started doing zwift. The first week was rough. Felt like i lost all my fitness. Couldn’t stand an easy spin for 30 min. Gradually built it up and was doing zwift races after about a week. Now Im around 90-95% on the bike.

The run is a whole different story. I did a run focus in the winter. Now all of it is gone. My runs are all so slow. My hr stays low but I get short of breathe so easily. Maybe its mental. I get too cautious when my breathing gets labored and heart rate goes up, but its only when I run. I was doing the IM Vr series prior to getting infected. Had a solid HM, but now my longest run has only been 5 miles. Im about 6 weeks symptom-free. This virus or traces of it lingers a while. I have coworkers who have been out just as long or longer than ai have.