Training after Coronavirus

[Stretched@Birth]

18 minutes ago, Frosty said:

I dunno, seeing some bikes you’ve owned, there is nothing wrong with your sense of taste.

Jokes aside, wishing you a full recovery.

😳, thanks! I must say, I’m really liking the latest one. Was unsure about the purchase, but am happy I bought it. 

[daveno7]

On 1/4/2022 at 6:03 AM, Eldron said:

I'm pretty sure the Smash It part was sarcastic but given that people have told us about friends that have died right here on the thread your comment was downright insensitive at best and borderline dangerous at worst.

Following that poor attempt at humour up by lumping viruses into a one "rest and hydrate" cure and downplaying the seriousness of covid is terrible advice.

Long covid and damage to lungs, heart etc is a rare but real thing.

 

 

instances of long covid will be seen in health care systems for years to come...

[stefmeister]

20 hours ago, NotSoBigBen said:

I want to comment on the lengths that 'weekend worriers' go to in their training but it's best left unsaid

Don't let us hold you back, I've got a turd to drop as well.

[NickGM]

16 hours ago, Stretched@Birth said:

Some ramblings about my experience - I landed up in hospital in June 2020 with suspected heart issues, probably largely stress induced, Cardiologist checked me out remotely (was a weird experience, Face Time with the doc while his assistant operated the equipment for the ECG, sonar, pressures, etc.).  Ended up on some BP meds for high BP, and 2 weeks later I tested positive for COVID, so I suspect I picked it up whilst in hospital.  Wasn't super sick, few days of the flu, slight fever, but lost my sense of smell and taste. 

Prior to this, I was relatively fit.  Post COVID, any form of strenuous exercise has become a chore.  A 30km ride is followed by a 2 hour sleep, and feeling completely wiped out for the remainder of the day.  In Jan 2021 I had a follow up with the Cardiologist (again, remotely), stress ECG, and a battery of other tests showed all ok, he says my heart is strong, stopped the BP meds and says life must carry on.

My smell issues, the tiredness have remained with me, and we are 18 months on.  So finding any motivation to ride has been difficult.  Towards the end of last year, I thought it's time to pull my finger out of my dark place, HTFU, and do something about my fitness.  The rides that I have done still leave me feeling super drained.  A few weeks ago, I pushed a bit harder than I should have, forced myself to finish the ride, got home at about 10:30, heart rate 120bpm, showered, 114bpm, crashed on the bed for about 45 mins, my wife woke me, 110bpm.  It was only after 5 that afternoon that it dipped under 100.  This has become the norm with my rides, though the recovery time seems to be improving little by little.  

Bottom line I suppose is that everybody is different, we experience COVID differently, and each of us knows our bodies best.  I've decided to ease into it, I'm only competing with myself, and that it is going to take time to build back my fitness. 

Some are very fortunate to recover quickly, some, not so much, Long COVID is a thing.  Some are even less fortunate, I've heard of a few guys in my age group (40-50) who have had heart attacks, post COVID and Post Vax.  Look after your health, listen to your heart, and no exercise goal is worth it, not even the free coffees on Vitality... 

Appreciated this. Keen to hear how you progress.

[LazyTrailRider]

On 1/6/2022 at 9:54 AM, jcza said:

Unless you're a professional the Supersapiens system is too expensive. (or have loads of cash to burn) 

My wife is type 1 and uses the FreeStyle Libre system (which from what I can see is the same physical sensor unit). It's been a R2k/month cost for several years, so not cheap by any means. Some comments from experience (I've "installed" probably 200 of them in her arms over time):

• It's most definitely not even close to 100% accurate. We've had readings that were 50-60% out at any given point in time when cross-checking with a finger-prick sensor.
• The reason she tolerates the inaccuracy is simple: It gives trend data (on your way up, or on your way down) which with traditional testing needs several tests over a few hours (or several within an hour).
• We've had more than a dozen faulty units which stop working after a few days (one of them only lasted a day). The distributor has been relatively supportive in replacing them, but it continues to be a hassle, taking into account that it's R500/week...

As a system for accurate training, I wouldn't trust it. It's out by too far too often to use the data to inform diet over a long period of time. In our experience, its benefit is primarily to figure out whether you're going to crash or go hyper in the next hour and dose your insulin (or sugar intake) accordingly.

Edited January 7, 2022 by LazyTrailRider
Typo fixing

[JohanDiv]

I've had the bugger twice last year..first time was end of Jan, just a few weeks off the bike, no biggy, but the second time was early August and suffered long covid symptoms thereafter. Migraine for 42 days straight, brain fog, and couldn't control my HR..walking up the stairs it would shoot to 170bpm. The first time I was able to go on a training ride again was two and half months later on 18 October. I've also not been able to get anywhere near my Max HR of 202 since then..my FTP went down from 324W to 245W during that 9-10 months period.

But all is not lost, I've been on a 12 week structured workout program since 18 October and got my FTP back up to 304W. New max HR still at least 10 bpm below my old Max HR though.

Here is an example of what my first workout back looked like vs this morning(12 weeks later):

Really struggling to keep 280 watts for 2min intervals at 190 bpm VS Reasonably comfortable 320 watts for 5min intervals at 180 bpm.

I'm honestly surprised how quickly it took to recover some fitness after struggling so long to get back on the bike! Motivation to keep pushing to get back to where I used to be..

Edited January 11, 2022 by JohanDiv

['Dale]

Migraine for 42 days straight, ag no man, eina @JohanDiv🤕

Yeah, man, the lower MHR is pretty in line with what athletes report. Sterkte, Bru.

[DIPSLICK]

18 minutes ago, 'Dale said:

Migraine for 42 days straight, ag no man, eina @JohanDiv🤕

Yeah, man, the lower MHR is pretty in line with what athletes report. Sterkte, Bru.

does it ever recover or are the Pro`s saying it is what it is,?

[Frosty]

18 minutes ago, JohanDiv said:

I've had the bugger twice last year..first time was end of Jan, just a few weeks off the bike, no biggy, but the second time was early August and suffered long covid symptoms thereafter. Migraine for 42 days straight, brain fog, and couldn't control my HR..walking up the stairs it would shoot to 170bpm. The first time I was able to go on a training ride again was two and half months later on 18 October. I've also not been able to get anywhere near my Max HR of 202 since then..my FTP went down from 324W to 245W during that 9-10 months period.

But all is not lost, I've been on a 12 week structured workout program since 18 October and got my FTP back up to 304W. New max HR still at least 10 bpm below my old Max HR though.

Here is an example of what my first workout back looked like vs this morning(12 weeks later):

Really struggling to keep 280 watts for 2min intervals at 190 bpm VS Reasonably comfortable 320 watts for 5min intervals at 180 bpm.

I'm honestly surprised how quickly it took to recover some fitness after struggling so long to get back on the bike! Motivation to keep pushing to get back to where I used to be..

Have you done a Functional Aerobic Threshold Test (FAeT) before and after the gogga?
30bpm (+/- 2bpm) below your LTHR for at least an hour; longer if your previous effort was longer.
Your Efficient Factor (EF) will be a good indicator of your aerobic fitness level.

[DIPSLICK]

23 minutes ago, JohanDiv said:

I've had the bugger twice last year..first time was end of Jan, just a few weeks off the bike, no biggy, but the second time was early August and suffered long covid symptoms thereafter. Migraine for 42 days straight, brain fog, and couldn't control my HR..walking up the stairs it would shoot to 170bpm. The first time I was able to go on a training ride again was two and half months later on 18 October. I've also not been able to get anywhere near my Max HR of 202 since then..my FTP went down from 324W to 245W during that 9-10 months period.

But all is not lost, I've been on a 12 week structured workout program since 18 October and got my FTP back up to 304W. New max HR still at least 10 bpm below my old Max HR though.

Here is an example of what my first workout back looked like vs this morning(12 weeks later):

Really struggling to keep 280 watts for 2min intervals at 190 bpm VS Reasonably comfortable 320 watts for 5min intervals at 180 bpm.

I'm honestly surprised how quickly it took to recover some fitness after struggling so long to get back on the bike! Motivation to keep pushing to get back to where I used to be..

well great come back, good luck going forward, are you under a Physician or someone who is monitoring heart/ lungs, ??

[NotSoBigBen]

There more I read here and hear from others the more thankful I am that I came off so lightly ... strongs guys!

[_David_]

19 minutes ago, DIPSLICK said:

does it ever recover or are the Pro`s saying it is what it is,?

It seems that some Pro's / Athletes develop Covid induced myocarditis but from what I have read the virus is still too new and the long term consequences for anyone are not yet fully understood.

https://athleticsweekly.com/performance/coming-back-from-covid-1039950988/

[DIPSLICK]

1 hour ago, _David_ said:

It seems that some Pro's / Athletes develop Covid induced myocarditis but from what I have read the virus is still too new and the long term consequences for anyone are not yet fully understood.

https://athleticsweekly.com/performance/coming-back-from-covid-1039950988/

the thing that humans battle with is the unknown, and things out of our control, the down the line possibilities for athletes and average joe, scary. I will be very cautious if I get that gogoo as there are so many unknowns loooong down the road,, 

 

[justinafrika]

On 1/6/2022 at 5:21 PM, Stretched@Birth said:

Post COVID, any form of strenuous exercise has become a chore.  A 30km ride is followed by a 2 hour sleep, and feeling completely wiped out for the remainder of the day.  In Jan 2021 I had a follow up with the Cardiologist (again, remotely), stress ECG, and a battery of other tests showed all ok, he says my heart is strong, stopped the BP meds and says life must carry on.

My smell issues, the tiredness have remained with me, and we are 18 months on. 

 

On 1/6/2022 at 5:42 PM, ChrisF said:

He first got covid in 2020, and has been for the one test after the other .... doctors just cant find out what is wrong.

 

Heart just not right ...

 

Always tired ....

 

On 1/6/2022 at 9:34 PM, daveno7 said:

instances of long covid will be seen in health care systems for years to come...

 

Prof Reisa Pretorius, HoD of Physiological Sciences at Stellies, in a recent continuing professional development event said that early indications are that 25 to 30% of those diagnosed and studied develop long covid.  Individual variables of effects and recovery are exceptionally varied and impossible to predict and clearly some simply haven’t, yet...

Fortunate to have a 12 lead ECG and a load of diagnostic and observation devices, even so I’ve been exceptionally cautious in getting back into rides and in increasing distance and intensity.

[JohanDiv]

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

Have you done a Functional Aerobic Threshold Test (FAeT) before and after the gogga?
30bpm (+/- 2bpm) below your LTHR for at least an hour; longer if your previous effort was longer.
Your Efficient Factor (EF) will be a good indicator of your aerobic fitness level.

Nope I have not done an full-out hour session yet...before Covid I could hold 185bpm for an hour, and 183bpm for two hours. I'll report back once I've done an all-out effort again(Hopefully at the next Trailseeker at the end of the month) 

[JohanDiv]

2 hours ago, DIPSLICK said:

well great come back, good luck going forward, are you under a Physician or someone who is monitoring heart/ lungs, ??

Thanks! I had my GP check heart and lungs every second or third week during long covid symptoms. He checked for blood clots and took blood samples and didn't find anything off. I only started exercising again when he gave me the clear. Haven't been back to him again since.