Howdy all, first off, I’m not sure I ever had covid. I’ve never tested positive, neither have any of my immediate family members, I took an antibody test in summer 2020 that was negative. But I play in a band and we had 5 shows in 5 weeks Feb 15 -March 14 2020, and I was exhausted the week of March 23. No respiratory symptoms, but just physically shot and sleeping all the time.
Now for some numbers
Summer 2019 I was 61Kg FTP ~ 250, 5 Min ~ 290, Max ~ 1150
Since then, I’ve been around 62Kg, FTP ~ 200, 5 Min ~ 230 Max ~850.
It doesn’t seem to matter what I do, how I train, (eg polarized vs sweet spot) how much I rest, what I eat, I don’t get anywhere near where I was. I Seem to have problems being able to go super hard, so possibly can’t go hard enough to effect top end? But my LT1 is probably 30 watts lower as well.
Life wise, I had a stressful late 2020 - early 2021 with work & family, the band played more in 2021 & 2022, and my heavy weights gym work has been very much limited. The band work in 2022 make sense as I played 32 shows, and its hard to train hard or long the day after, even if I don’t drink anything. I still was averaging around 35-40 hours a month the last few years, and 2022 was lots of Z2.
So I am wondering if there is any data out there about what long covid may do to overall fitness levels and or ability.
From what you said a reasonable person would conclude that you probably never had covid. I don’t know how old you are but at 40 I’m holding up ok - though I’m quite not the athlete I was 4 years ago. I also need noticeably more sleep and recovery now to function well. If I overstress and underrecover over the next 4 years I’d expect a similar decline in myself.
Might be worth getting a thorough panel of bloodwork done. Lipids, CBC, metabolic panel, iron, ferritin, CRP, testosterone. Knowing nothing else I’m going to guess T is on the low end.
This episode is an excellent one and very relevant to your situation. I suggest giving it a listen:
Thx, I appreciate the feedback. I think I missed that episode, I’m not in the car as much so I don’t listen as much as I’d like to!
IRT your points, I’m not going to disagree with any of them. I have been using Whoop for the last few years and trying to train when green, or at least yellow. Oddly I always seem to have good days in the red! I have been good with sleep for the most part, but I’d agree with lack of R&R. My hobby is fun, but also work. And while I do get enough sleep, I never feel rested. I have gotten full blood work and cardio vascular check up, Everything is “fine”, T is low but that is expected at 53. By “fine” I mean better than average for my age, but not off the charts great.
Training wise, yearly hours seem pretty consistent since 2015, +/- 5% of 400 a year. Which, in all honesty may not be enough to be competitive at 53. I will say doing sweet spot seemed to have a negative effect on my fitness. And in hindsight I think lack of super hard efforts may be part of the issue.
Again, I appreciate the thoughts. I’m guessing too much rock n roll and work!