TL;DR: Does anyone know of a doctor in the Philly area I could go see who might be able to figure out why I lost the ability to train hard? A doctor who understands athletes, won't blow me off, and won't tell me I need to "start exercising".
Background:
Male... 40yrs old. Up until the pandemic, I was crushing it. Went 9:29 at IMTX in 2018. Qualified for Boston 2019 with a 2:59 BQ. Went to 70.3 WC a couple of times. Was chasing a Kona slot...
Then 2020 happened. I never stopped training. The only real difference between my training pre-pandemic and now is that I stopped mostly doing the SUPER long IM training (what would be the point?). But I did do a few century rides (both in Zwift and solo outdoors) in the spring of 2020.
Starting around June-ish last year, I quickly lost my ability to train well. I went from running 7:30 pace for long runs (meaning that was a non-stressful pace) to barely being able to hold on to 9:00/mi for only 5 miles, and having that wreck me for days. I found myself unable to recover from even easy sessions. A short run at what I would call a slow pace would cause me to feel like I had run a marathon the day before. On the bike I used to be able to roll 200 watts average for hours at a time (and still run a strong marathon off of that after 112mi). That kind of power feels like a challenge to me these days. I haven't tested my FTP lately but based on how stuff feels I could say I easily have lost at least 30-40 watts off of my previous 310 FTP.
And just to reiterate, I didn't sit around at all in 2020. I got out every day and did whatever was on my plan. Granted it wasn't a plan to build for a race, but I had a plan laid out and I stuck to it.
I feel like I am constantly in a state of deep fatigue. Getting out of bed is a major chore. Every muscle is stiff and sore all the time. If I am in bed overnight, or even in my chair at work for a few hours, standing up takes a solid minute of stretching and slow movements to get my muscles to loosen up, and even then I have to be careful not to cramp when I stand up. For a while I was laying in bed having to pee, and debating whether it was worth the pain of getting out of bed to empty my bladder.
TMI alert: I also developed some bowel issues. For a while I found myself unable to be too far from a bathroom. I started doing all of my training in my basement on my trainer or treadmill just in case I had an emergency and could be only steps from the bathroom. I regaled what I thought at the time was a humorous story in the "I shit my pants mid-run" thread about my incident on the IMLP run course... but looking back that was the start of this issue. It has gotten better, but isn't completely resolved.
In any case, back around September 2020 I had had enough of this and decided to go see a doctor. I told her this story, and how I am here because I can no longer put down big training weeks of 15+ hours, and now can barely get out of bed. She ordered a bunch of blood work that would test for anything fatigue-related. Thyroid, Lyme, Mono, etc. She also did a normal CBC and such. I asked if she thought I should also get a COVID antibody test, but she said no and that she wouldn't think it would show anything if I thought I might have been infected in June (as it was now September). I don't have reason to believe I had asymptomatic COVID, but it was a thought I had.
The tests came back negative for everything except my cholesterol was "slightly high". Her recommendation, left as a voicemail: I should eat a healthy diet and start exercising 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week. To say I was pissed off was an understatement. I called the office back and asked to speak to her. She gets on the phone, looks at my chart and after I told her what I was used to from an exercise perspective, she simply parroted what she said before. To start exercising.
Anyway...
Long winded story to say... I need help. I never got sick this past year. As far as I can tell I was never infected with COVID (though I accept that asymptomatic cases happen). Yet, here I am with no explanation as to why my body has completely betrayed me. I need to talk to a doctor who understands when I say I used to be able to run sub-3 marathons and now can't get out of bed without pain.
Also... I am now two-weeks (as of today) past my second Pfizer shot... so I doubt there is any way to test if I had COVID in the past now since I have been fully vaccinated
Background:
Male... 40yrs old. Up until the pandemic, I was crushing it. Went 9:29 at IMTX in 2018. Qualified for Boston 2019 with a 2:59 BQ. Went to 70.3 WC a couple of times. Was chasing a Kona slot...
Then 2020 happened. I never stopped training. The only real difference between my training pre-pandemic and now is that I stopped mostly doing the SUPER long IM training (what would be the point?). But I did do a few century rides (both in Zwift and solo outdoors) in the spring of 2020.
Starting around June-ish last year, I quickly lost my ability to train well. I went from running 7:30 pace for long runs (meaning that was a non-stressful pace) to barely being able to hold on to 9:00/mi for only 5 miles, and having that wreck me for days. I found myself unable to recover from even easy sessions. A short run at what I would call a slow pace would cause me to feel like I had run a marathon the day before. On the bike I used to be able to roll 200 watts average for hours at a time (and still run a strong marathon off of that after 112mi). That kind of power feels like a challenge to me these days. I haven't tested my FTP lately but based on how stuff feels I could say I easily have lost at least 30-40 watts off of my previous 310 FTP.
And just to reiterate, I didn't sit around at all in 2020. I got out every day and did whatever was on my plan. Granted it wasn't a plan to build for a race, but I had a plan laid out and I stuck to it.
I feel like I am constantly in a state of deep fatigue. Getting out of bed is a major chore. Every muscle is stiff and sore all the time. If I am in bed overnight, or even in my chair at work for a few hours, standing up takes a solid minute of stretching and slow movements to get my muscles to loosen up, and even then I have to be careful not to cramp when I stand up. For a while I was laying in bed having to pee, and debating whether it was worth the pain of getting out of bed to empty my bladder.
TMI alert: I also developed some bowel issues. For a while I found myself unable to be too far from a bathroom. I started doing all of my training in my basement on my trainer or treadmill just in case I had an emergency and could be only steps from the bathroom. I regaled what I thought at the time was a humorous story in the "I shit my pants mid-run" thread about my incident on the IMLP run course... but looking back that was the start of this issue. It has gotten better, but isn't completely resolved.
In any case, back around September 2020 I had had enough of this and decided to go see a doctor. I told her this story, and how I am here because I can no longer put down big training weeks of 15+ hours, and now can barely get out of bed. She ordered a bunch of blood work that would test for anything fatigue-related. Thyroid, Lyme, Mono, etc. She also did a normal CBC and such. I asked if she thought I should also get a COVID antibody test, but she said no and that she wouldn't think it would show anything if I thought I might have been infected in June (as it was now September). I don't have reason to believe I had asymptomatic COVID, but it was a thought I had.
The tests came back negative for everything except my cholesterol was "slightly high". Her recommendation, left as a voicemail: I should eat a healthy diet and start exercising 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week. To say I was pissed off was an understatement. I called the office back and asked to speak to her. She gets on the phone, looks at my chart and after I told her what I was used to from an exercise perspective, she simply parroted what she said before. To start exercising.
Anyway...
Long winded story to say... I need help. I never got sick this past year. As far as I can tell I was never infected with COVID (though I accept that asymptomatic cases happen). Yet, here I am with no explanation as to why my body has completely betrayed me. I need to talk to a doctor who understands when I say I used to be able to run sub-3 marathons and now can't get out of bed without pain.
Also... I am now two-weeks (as of today) past my second Pfizer shot... so I doubt there is any way to test if I had COVID in the past now since I have been fully vaccinated