After avoiding it all this time, I finally got it a couple of weeks ago.
I can’t say I got it bad - really no worse than a nasty cold (but with additional bodily aches and pains). I’m now testing negative and generally feel just fine. However, not sure that means I’m fully recovered?
I’m nervous about resuming exercise (especially cardio work) too soon. I’d hate to trigger long COVID or do anything else to make things worse.
Anybody know what advice doctors give us endurance athletes about resuming exercise?
After avoiding it all this time, I finally got it a couple of weeks ago.
I can’t say I got it bad - really no worse than a nasty cold (but with additional bodily aches and pains). I’m now testing negative and generally feel just fine. However, not sure that means I’m fully recovered?
I’m nervous about resuming exercise (especially cardio work) too soon. I’d hate to trigger long COVID or do anything else to make things worse.
Anybody know what advice doctors give us endurance athletes about resuming exercise?
When I had it, mild as well, I took around 5 days off. Once my resting heart rate returned to pre-illness levels and I felt well, I went for an easy 30 minute run. Wasn’t great and wasn’t terrible either. Heart rate was a bit higher than normal for the same pace/route, but not alarmingly so. I was back to pre-illness shape within 3-4 workouts.
My household got it last week and it’s really knocked my wife and I down. I had COVID coming out of both ends at various times over this week. I’m on the mend now but still have a cough and some tightness in my chest. I’m absolutely nervous to get back to things but I’m going to take it ease until the chest pressure disappears.
My post-covid experience had my heart rate going sky high during easy-moderate running for months; every run ended feeling like I had just cooked myself in a race. I never went back to my doc, but heart rate eventually returned to close-to-normal levels (but still slightly elevated, assuming my fitness is still there).
Had COVID with mild symptoms - noticed a higher heart rate while running easy (~10 beats). Didn’t feel it but thought my HR monitor was off. Then I looked at my dog walking data and saw that my walking heart rate was higher too. No real increase in effort. Anyway, plan to monitor my heart rate more closely and not push the effort.
I found this article rather helpful for a general description of what might be happening from an autonomic nervous system standpoint and the responses of other runners. https://www.themotherrunners.com/...rt-rate-after-covid/
I’ve had COVID twice. 1st Aug 22. I was decently sick. Ended up getting pneumonia as well. After talking to my Dr he basically told me the faster I could force myself to get back to normal activity the faster my body would bounce back. The first week was pretty awful, but my body did bounce back pretty quick. I did an Olympic distance triathlon about 3-4 weeks after and I was fine. Wasn’t my best result, but it wasn’t bad at all. 2nd time I got it was July this year. It was very mild. basically a head cold for 2 days. I did a Olympic distance triathlon 10 days later and felt fine, and haven’t had any issues since.
I’ve had COVID twice. 1st Aug 22. I was decently sick. Ended up getting pneumonia as well. After talking to my Dr he basically told me the faster I could force myself to get back to normal activity the faster my body would bounce back. The first week was pretty awful, but my body did bounce back pretty quick. I did an Olympic distance triathlon about 3-4 weeks after and I was fine. Wasn’t my best result, but it wasn’t bad at all. 2nd time I got it was July this year. It was very mild. basically a head cold for 2 days. I did a Olympic distance triathlon 10 days later and felt fine, and haven’t had any issues since.
I will second this advice. Get back to normally as soon as you can, it most likely won’t be any problem at all, these variants have weakened substantially. If you take too much time off, then your fitness will degrade and it really will be a problem getting back going, nothing to do with Covid per se. If getting back to normal ends up being a problem you’ll for sure know. Going for a walk is worthless to a triathlete.
My acupuncturist suggested NAC and not going to the well for 3 months, to make sure to avoid long covid. He works with several athletes that were healthy before getting it, and now are unable to regain pre-covid levels of health and fitness. I am at 4.5 months now and have no issues. I did reduce my volume and/or intensity during that 3 month period knowing the long term is more important than any 1 race.
Good thread for me; I completed a really hard 50 mile MTB race Saturday where I felt lousy with a stomachache the whole race. Sunday I was very sore and also spiked a fever. Tested positive Sunday night for first time in pandemic. Had a crackly cough and fever through Tuesday and then just tired till yesterday. Feeling pretty good today and will retest.
It’s been a long time since I’ve not worked out for a week and I’m ready to resume, carefully, and am looking for guidance and appreciate the links to the resources and suggestions!
Your advice contradicts the article you posted. They are actually seeing lower mortality with a more rapid return to moderate exercise. For a triathlete, going on a walk would not be moderate exercise.
“Therefore, we should encourage a quick return to moderate exercise with a more cautious return to higher intensity exercise.â€
Your advice contradicts the article you posted. They are actually seeing lower mortality with a more rapid return to moderate exercise. For a triathlete, going on a walk would not be moderate exercise.
“Therefore, we should encourage a quick return to moderate exercise with a more cautious return to higher intensity exercise.â€
I think it might be suspect to think that we triathletes can make up different rules for ourselves because we have higher capacities. The risks of serious hidden issues (like cardiac inflammation) might be low, but I’ll err on the side of caution. A moderate walk is a wonderful thing for any level of athlete. If you wanna go full send, though, go for it.
It’s bad to generalize with one-size-fits-all as we each have different risk factors, different age, and so on. The severity of an infection could be anywhere from asymptomatic to hospital. It depends on those factors, and also probably dose-response according to how you were exposed.
Your advice contradicts the article you posted. They are actually seeing lower mortality with a more rapid return to moderate exercise. For a triathlete, going on a walk would not be moderate exercise.
“Therefore, we should encourage a quick return to moderate exercise with a more cautious return to higher intensity exercise.â€
where did you find that quote? it still says a gradual approach.
article 1 above:
What you need to know
Risk stratify patients before recommending a return to physical activity in people who have had covid-19. Patients with ongoing symptoms or who had severe covid-19 or a history suggestive of cardiac involvement need further clinical assessment
Only return to exercise after at least seven days free of symptoms, and begin with at least two weeks of minimal exertion
Article 2 above:
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic has evolved with Omicron and its sub-variants having a lower case-fatality rate than previous variants. In Australia and New Zealand, the virus began to spread widely, only after a majority of the population were vaccinated. As a result of the ready availability of Rapid Antigen Tests, most individuals are now being diagnosed, undertaking isolation, and returning to pre-infection activities, without any direct involvement of a medical practitioner. Early concern over myocarditis occurring in young healthy individuals has eased as large studies of young athletes have revealed very low rates of myocarditis. Most individuals can return to pre-infection activity levels within 7–14 days of the infection. The presence or otherwise of medical comorbidities, symptoms occurring during the infection and symptoms in response to resumption of exercise, should guide the timelines in individual cases. This guidance provides a safe pathway for individuals to return to exercise following COVID-19 infection, based on contemporary evidence regarding COVID-19 and its effects, and the real-world experience of the authors.
Second article, it’s in there, talks about differences between recreational athletes and elite athletes. The Interesting quote:
“Therefore, we should encourage a quick return to moderate exerciseâ€
In terms of safety for individuals themselves, we are fortunate to be in an era where elite athletes have baseline data of training efficiency such as defined heart rate zones in relation to intensity of exercise and subjective scoring for training sessions. Immediately achieving at or close to pre-morbid fitness values post-COVID represents evidence of uncomplicated recovery. Our experience in Australia during the Omicron wave is that this has been achieved by Days 7–14 in most vaccinated elite athletes. Advice to the recreationally active individual, where there is less pressure to return to maximum fitness levels quickly, is to do so in a more conservative fashion. There is strong evidence that moderate physical activity (e.g. doing 7000 steps per day) is associated with reduced all-cause mortality.25 Therefore, we should encourage a quick return to moderate exercise with a more cautious return to higher intensity exercise.
Second article, it’s in there, talks about differences between recreational athletes and elite athletes. The Interesting quote:
“Therefore, we should encourage a quick return to moderate exerciseâ€
In terms of safety for individuals themselves, we are fortunate to be in an era where elite athletes have baseline data of training efficiency such as defined heart rate zones in relation to intensity of exercise and subjective scoring for training sessions. Immediately achieving at or close to pre-morbid fitness values post-COVID represents evidence of uncomplicated recovery. Our experience in Australia during the Omicron wave is that this has been achieved by Days 7–14 in most vaccinated elite athletes. Advice to the recreationally active individual, where there is less pressure to return to maximum fitness levels quickly, is to do so in a more conservative fashion. There is strong evidence that moderate physical activity (e.g. doing 7000 steps per day) is associated with reduced all-cause mortality.25 Therefore, we should encourage a quick return to moderate exercise with a more cautious return to higher intensity exercise.
which is to say, a gradual approach… not disputing getting back to exercise, the point is to take a moderate approach and build based upon feedback or response. In other words we seem to be saying basically the same thing. Moderate is for a recreational athlete not that hard then a cautious return to high intensity (gradual).
Yep a return to training with progressively increasing workload. Unless bio markers and fatigue dictate otherwise full training can resume in 7-14 days. We’ve had posters recommended taking 3 months off exclusively because their acupuncturist said so. That’s way overkill, that’s looking for excuses. There’s no evidence exercise causes long Covid.