I got diagnosed with COVID last week. It’s the omicron variant which is ripping through New Zealand (where I’m from at the moment) so am pretty sure it’s that. Anyway, I am slowly starting to feel better now and was beginning to wonder when I could get back into training as I haven’t trained much at all over the last 6 weeks due to a cold and now COVID (tested twice for COVID over a 4 week period when I was sick initially but negative both times).
I’ve seen some recent reports that suggest that in order to minimise the risk of long covid, you really have to take it easy with resting up etc.
i will give you my N=1 . dx’d with covid Feb 9th, and it was relatively mild as far as symptoms. Son and wife also positive, no one really got very sick. i took 4 days off and returned to 80%-90% training level. some workouts felt great, some felt a little less so, but nothing that really concerned me. trained 10 straight days, with one ski race (started a little slow because i hadn’t done much intensity, but by the end felt strong.)
Then on Feb 24th something hit me like a ton of bricks. started in my chest with this weird sensation for a few hours (felt like “cross cough” the cough you get after a CX race in the cold, where your lungs spasm if you try and take a deep breath.) I have been coughing significantly since then, 14 days ago. started as dry but hacking and deep cough. then came URI symptoms, congestion, mucus (no fever though). i took a covid/influenza/RSV test at work and all negative. chest xray negative . Son got sick a few days later, he’s 2.5yrs old and he was miserable. croup like cough , fever, copious mucus… he still has the cough and mucus today. about 4 days ago he started the classic whooping type cough so we all went on azithromycin for possible pertussis. since starting that med we are all definitely improving. so whether this is weird post covid thing or something totally separate infection i can’t say for sure. if i had positive pertussis test that would make it easy. So this probably doesn’t clear anything up for you at all, but i would be safe rather than sorry (although my gut feeling is that we all caught something new and unrelated.)
edit: covid and dpt vaxd
*I don’t have to much to add except I’m in a similar situation. I got covid around Feb 23/24 but symptoms didn’t show up until Feb 26 when I ran a half Mary. I had run 11 miles the week before at a faster pace but when I finished, my whole body was sore. I chalked it up to the race. After a couple hours the body aches continued to increase and I felt terrible. The next day, I wasn’t any better so I decided to take a test - negative (which I don’t believe). Similar symptoms the next day but tried an easy spin. About died. Made it 10 miles in 40 min. (The week before i rode 70+ miles @ 20 mph). Following day took another test and it was positive. It was about 5 days after I am pretty sure I contracted it. Didn’t do much of anything until yesterday when I decided to try an easy run. Made it 2 miles on the TM and hr stayed down. Got on the bike today and rode 45 minutes averaging 19 on a flat course with a low hr. I’m about 2 weeks out from when I felt I contracted it. Just wanted to share my experience. The only symptom I ever had was body aches but I was exhausted. Like slept 13 hrs per night with a 3 hr nap during the day.
I was sick for about a week with covid in January. After a couple days of my morning hr being normal I started some light exercise keeping my hr below a pre determined level. 115 one day. Then 120 etc…
No lasting effects that I know of. And yes, due to some detraining my hr was a bit higher for awhile.
Well just remember there are always anomalies. My covid story:
Bad fever but not too bad, no breathing issues. In bed for 3 or 4 days.
Was able to jog about 4 weeks after infection
After a month, I was at tip top condition running 60km per week including the Sunday long run of 25 ~ 30km.
Six months after infection, i caught a cold - confirmed it wasn’t Covid - but since then I have felt terrible and haven’t been able to exercise without getting bad post exertional malaise.
On good days I feel ok, but on bad days i feel exhausted…sort of hungover. If I exercise, the malaise comes on about 24 ~ 48 hours later and lasts for 3 or 4 days sometimes. This has been going on for almost a year.
Take care of yourself. It’s really a crap shoot on who will feel bad and who won’t.
I was diagnosed with Covid on 25 Feb. I had almost no symptoms, but my wife had covid, so I was testing daily. On 26 Feb I felt slightly unwell but certainly didn’t need to go to bed. By the 27th I felt fine, a little bit tired, but nothing more. I had 2 days off training, and for more than a week I trained exclusively in Zone 1. On 9 March, I did a run interval training at the track, I ran OK, however the intervals completely wiped me out the following day. I took the next 2 days off. Saturday 12th March I did a 10k easy run, with the last 3km at marathon pace, I then did an 80k bike ride in the afternoon, the first 40km was extremely social, but needed to get home, so pushed a “normal” ride pace (70% IF). Sunday, I felt good, another 10km run in morning (Zone 1), then another ride in the afternoon 90% Zone 1, But I was feeling great, so pushed hard on a big climb and set a new FTP. Today I feel great, but back to zone 1 training.
My experience, which is similar to other people, is that low intensity training post covid seems fine, pretty much normal. However, hard efforts take longer to recover. It’s important to listen to your body, if you need a couple of day’s rest, then take the rest.
So far my blood sugars haven’t been too bad. Given I am not exercising I have a pretty stable routine from day to day so it is easier to keep my levels stable with not as many variables.
I got really tired Sunday after walking my daughter to a playground nearby and pushing her on a swing etc and also got tired yesterday afternoon after lunch. I found it impossible to concentrate at work yesterday afternoon. So still seem to be getting quite a bit of fatigue now and again. I haven’t had the tiredness or fatigue so far today though.
My other symptoms are not as bad now, but still seem to be lingering a bit. Have had a bit of nasal congestion and what feels like mucus at the bottom of my throat, and today I have a slightly runny nose with that mucusy feeling at the bottom of my throat. I don’t feel too bad but don’t feel completely ‘normal’ if you know what I mean.
So don’t think I can start counting from being ‘7 days symptom-free’ as am really wanting to get back into some form of exercise.
I’m triple vaxxed, although only had my booster the week before I got COVID - as hadn’t had it earlier due to the illness which I had had for around 4-5 weeks prior.
Any improvement over the year, or just the ups and downs of being a long-hauler? I’m at about the 2 year mark now, doing better than at the 1 year mark but realizing that it’s pretty much a chronic illness that I’ll need to manage for the remainder of my days. I’m able to do a bit more of light exercise than before but am still subject to post-exertional malaise.
I’ve definitely been feeling better in small increments over the year, but post-exertional malaise is definitely still a symptom.
In some cases the PEM is clearly brought on by exercise, but sometime it’s difficult to identify the trigger. I’m extremely busy with work and have two kids so very active doing stuff with them all of the time. So when i go from feeling 70% to 40% I’m not always sure. The PEM usually comes on 24 to 48 hours after the activity. That said, i tried swimming laps for the first time in many months last week (750m) but felt like trash about 3 days later, so it’s hard to say. I did notice however that only felt bad for about a day and half vs. other times where i’ve felt awful for three or four days. That is either me slowly improving, or perhaps i just didnt work as hard and was stronger when i started the workout vs. times before.
Good luck. Two years is a long time but hopefully you’re on the road to recovery. My goal is still to run a 100 miler, and if i have to wait 20 years to do this i will still do it.
Good to know on that BC007. I’d seen some comments about that elsewhere but hadn’t really checked it out much. I’ll need to drop Kaiser if that stuff becomes available, because there’s a 0% chance they’d cover that treatment.
Yeah, our symptoms should continue to slowly improve on some sort of declining logarithmic trajectory over time. I’ve had some stretches of multiple good weeks now with fairly low symptoms as long as I don’t overly stress my body. Right now things have kicked up again from pressing too hard over the past couple weeks, just more of that never-ending learning curve of what’s too much for the body to handle. Like you’ve noticed – work, life, any of those stresses all take a toll and contribute to the cumulative fatigue that triggers PEM. I can handle a few bad days now if that’s all it is, but I just want to avoid the another six month relapse of 12 hours sleeping nightly plus naps with never-ending exhaustion and bouts of brain fog, etc. That was the worst.
Hope you get back to running for your 100 miler some day. I missed running for the longest time, but now I’ve pretty much accepted that chapter is over. I can walk a lot most days, so that’s my thing now.
Its been a while since I was last on here !
Hoping those of you that have been diagnosed with Covid are recovering (if recent) or are making progress if full recovery was not achieved.
I was diagnosed 6 days ago via a self-test after the initial nasal swab test the day prior stated negative.
I am 55, 178cm and 72.5kg. BP 125/85, RHR 42
have been out of tri’s since 2011, but still maintain baseline fitness and compete in running events 10-21km, with a view to returning to multisport as soon as my business is launched and stable.
I was vaccinated 07/2021 & 09/2021 with Astrazeneca and 01/2022 with Moderna.
Although I deem myself to be strong as an Ox, I was diagnosed with Chronic Ulcerative Colitis in 08/2008 which led to a Total Colectomy between 04/2013 > 04/2014. This involved removing 1.2metres of my colon, rebuild of my rectum and after 3x3.5hour operations,5 hospitalizations over 16months, I am basically normal. Although I wore an ostomy bag for the year during surgeries, they reconnected the piping and I basically live a normal life.
Immuno-compromised , probably to an extent. But like most here, I lead a VERY healthy lifestyle.
I dont drink at all, don’t smoke, follow a wise eating plan and exercise 6-10 hours weekly. I do not currently swim or cycle anymore, but run 60-70km weekly and do resistance training.
Back to Covid…
I a sore throat, no fever, phlegm and a cough for 4 days and a sore back. Paracetamol and some cough medicine was all I took and currently feel fine.
My brain feels about 90% normal as I continue to work from home and similar to how I felt after 1st vaccine.
Bit of phlegm still, but otherwise I feel ok.
Having experienced substantial ‘recoveries’ between 2008>14 through Colitis and surgeries, I am pretty well in tune with what I should and should not do.
Caution, is always my mindset. With a view to ‘sustainable’ overall health and well-being.
I will stay indoors for another 2 or 3 days, go get another PCR self-test (somehow) and then likely start walking daily for 30mins initially, and if all feels well in the days following, I will slowly up the mileage much as we do in training.
Although I feel I could run right now, I am more concerned about ‘long Covid’ or doing any damage to my body, than returning to structural training.
I first noticed symptoms April 6th (daughter was symptomatic and tested positive on the 4th, rest of family was symptomatic on the 5th). Didn’t test positive until the 8th. Two days of lung pain, sore throat, aching joints/muscles, but never had a fever. Cough persisted for about 12 days. Tested regularly and didn’t come back negative until the 18th. At that point it had been over a week since my symptoms started improving so I tested things out with a quick (30 min) bike ride, keeping it in zone 1. Seemed ok, heart rate was roughly where I expected it to be, though hard to keep steady. Tried a 20 minute treadmill run (again, zone 1) last night (the 20th) but my heart rate was erratic. Afterwards felt palpitations for a few hours. Looks like I’m back off exercise for a bit and will probably be getting things checked out with the doctor.
I pretty much feel fine, though I’ve always been a sufferer of insomnia and exercise is what lets me have a good sleep. I’ve been on 3-5 hours of sleep a night for the past week, so understandably I’m feeling fatigued. At this point it’ll be pretty grim if I’m ordered off exercise for a few months.
Wow that is a long time until you tested negative again, but maybe that is common.
It seems that taking a REAL break is the safest manner to return to cardio exercise
That said, I used to be like many here,training 15-22 hours weekly and always in race shape, so I know how frustrating a lay off can be, especially if body seems recovered.
For sleep, I recommend 5 cherries an hour before bed or a supplent with tart cherry juice, it works.
Good luck !
This is a helpful thread. I’m at day 15 since I had a fever with a COVID positive and haven’t trained at all just due to listening to my body. But I’m also not one to push through Illness; I’d say that’s probably related to a mastery source of motivation vs a can’t miss a day control focused motivation … and just having a historically slow to recover immune system. I saw what Kate Grace the runner has gone through with long COVID and I have zero interest in that. appreciate the thoughtful feedback here.