A number of athletes have caught COVID over the past couple of years. Among those who fell sick, but not to the point of being hospitalized, have any best practices emerged in terms of recovering from that?
How have these athletes overcome the general fatigue, brain fog and light headedness that present along with the more common cold-like symptoms?
Have a listen to Dr Ross Tucker’s podcast on covid. There are a few but this could answer your question. There are links to the studies referenced too.
Thanks for sharing. I’ll definitely listen to the podcast but i’m also curious about folks’ personal experiences with coming back from COVID.
I got it after a wedding in NYC in mid-march. I am vaxxed and boosted. Had a day or two of symptoms so mild it was hard to tell if i was actually sick or just had a sore throat from screaming along to the wedding band, then about two to three days of less mild fatigue, malaise, fever, etc. I felt pretty bad, but it wasn’t as bad as last time i got the flu (truly the flu, not a bad cold).
Starting about seven days after exposure, i felt good enough to get back to work (not in-person, working from home) but still was taking it easy, keeping the hours on the short side. I still felt some fatigue and a little brain fog and had a lingering cough.
I took another full week of rest (so, two full weeks since symptoms resolved) then started exercising again and have since done 3 sessions over 5 days. First impressions:
i. it felt good to be active, even felt good to push it a little. I mostly rode endurance pace but popped up to tempo over a few hills, and it felt good. Didn’t feel week or anything.
ii. RPE/Power is not that different from where it was before i got sick.
iii. However, heart rate is a lot higher for a given power. That said, it’s hard to tell whether it’s anything to do with COVID or just the fact that i was sitting on my butt for three weeks
iv. I get fatigued faster and manifests as things like cramping and muscle twitches. But again, hard to tell if it’s anything to do with being sick or just the inactivity.
i’m currently walking that balance. I want to get back to it and it does feel good to ride, but i’ve been told to be cautious.
Unfortunately I can’t personally relate, as I haven’t had covid; if I have, then I must be asymptomatic. I do get sinus-related problems once or twice a year and it forces me off the bike. A friend, an ex-WT doctor, who is now practicing back home (South Africa) advised no training until 7 days after the symptoms have disappeared. This includes covid. If the HRV and resting HR haven’t returned to baseline values, then training is delayed.
My experience being I’ll has been limited. In February and March I was ill, twice. First was a sinus, headache and general fatigue; perhaps being fully vaxxed worked, or it was just the normal sinus stack I get annually. I was off the bike for 7 days and raced 2 weeks late (had the best race performance in a long time). Second was an extended period of a runny tummy. Did recovery rides only keeping the HR below 55% of max. Did a team TT (180km) last weekend and had another super strong ride.
Below is my resting HR, daily + 7d average. Easy to spot the increase relating to the days when I was ill or fatigued, or both together.
