COVID recovery timeline among athletes

[markie]

I got it from my daughter over this last Christmas. I had two days where I was lethargic. I took my kids for a walk in the woods and could not chase them down. They are 7 I’m 49. I rode my bike on the third day and was back to normal in 6 days. I was boosted 2 weeks before, so that was probably very lucky!

[callmeishmael]

I got it September 2020, pre-vaccinations.

I remember being 30km into an easy ride on the Friday, and thinking 'wow I've got no legs today'. Cut the ride short (45km) and felt really, really tired, like I'd done 140km.

Began to feel flu-like symptoms in the evening, and woke up the next day with a sore throat and cough. By midday I had body aches and a temperature.

This began to improve after about 48 hours - at which point I totally lost my sense of taste and smell.

By day 5, I felt well enough to try an easy spin on the turbo. I felt very gassed and mid Z2 watts had HR at 85-90%. On my wife's advice (she is a medic), I did no exercise until I was allowed out (day 10), and I went and had a private ECG, troponin, etc. All came back normal and I was cleared to resume training. Build it up steadily over 2-4 weeks was the advice.

Over about 2 weeks, I gradually got back to normal, though it was probably a month before I regained full fitness.

It was just before Christmas 2020 that I recovered my sense of taste and smell.

Touch wood, there have been no long term effects and, taste and smell aside, it wasn't any worse than a nasty-ish bout of flu. But everyone is different. My wife (who caught it from me, pre-vax) had virtually no symptoms other than mild fatigue and a slight headache for 24 hours, but I know an age group triathlete who took well over a year to recover. And we all know the worst case scenario...

[MikeD]

67, vaxxed and boosted. Day 11 since onset of symptoms. Felt like a cold. Felt feverish and achy early on. Feel good now but still suffering sinus congestion and mucus in throat. Went riding and hiking recently, easy to moderate effort and feel good while doing so. Congestion is worse in the morning. Wonder if I should retest or not worry about it? From what I've read from the CDC, you may still test positive after the 10 day isolation period (even with the antigen test), but are not contagious. Sometimes, when I've had a cold, it developed into a sinus infection and lingered on. I wonder if that's what's going on now? I'm using a Netti pot to irrigate the sinuses.

[bikerboy337]

Just updating for anyone else wondering about the longer-term impacts.

I'm almost 3 weeks from my positive/symptoms for COVID, and 2 weeks from fever/cough/symptoms. I would say i had about 4-5 days of fever/cough/symptoms then started to clear up. What I wasn't ready for was the extreme fatigue that has ensued.

Week 1 post symptoms was just fatigue, brain fog, and short of breath as well as light-headedness. I had 3-4 days where it almost felt like a panic attack, heart racing, lightheaded, almost the feel of hyperventilating, but i was breathing slowly. Luckily that has gone away and for the last week i have felt ok, with the exception of fatigue and insomnia/rapid heart rate.

Week 2 has been fatigue, i think driven mainly from very poor sleep, inability to stay asleep and when i do sleep, its very restless and i rarely get to REM sleep. My average heart rate during sleep has been 10-20 bpm higher than pre-covid. On Saturday I was exhausted when i went to bed, tossed and turned all night and my average heart rate was 77bpm with a resting rate at 66 (i'm normally average in the low 50s at night with a resting heart rate around 48).

Doctor has proscribed my some meds to start tonight to help me hopefully get some better sleep as i have felt pretty good the last week, just exhausted from the inability to get good sleep. Room is dark, white noise on, no electronics 2 hours before bed, no caffeine, etc... doing all that stuff and i just toss and turn all night and my heart feels like its racing.

Anyways, hoping the meds will help me get some rest which i think is the last hurdle i have, its very frustrating as i've never had sleep issues, i just am partly awake all night right now...

I have been able to get a few 1.5 mile walks in the past week, thats my only exercise, hoping in the next day or two i can try to spin on the trainer lightly and see how that goes. Never expected to be hurting this much after 2.5 weeks and 2 weeks without symptoms, but it is what it is...

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by bikerboy337

Just updating for anyone else wondering about the longer-term impacts.

I'm almost 3 weeks from my positive/symptoms for COVID, and 2 weeks from fever/cough/symptoms. I would say i had about 4-5 days of fever/cough/symptoms then started to clear up. What I wasn't ready for was the extreme fatigue that has ensued.

Week 1 post symptoms was just fatigue, brain fog, and short of breath as well as light-headedness. I had 3-4 days where it almost felt like a panic attack, heart racing, lightheaded, almost the feel of hyperventilating, but i was breathing slowly. Luckily that has gone away and for the last week i have felt ok, with the exception of fatigue and insomnia/rapid heart rate.

Week 2 has been fatigue, i think driven mainly from very poor sleep, inability to stay asleep and when i do sleep, its very restless and i rarely get to REM sleep. My average heart rate during sleep has been 10-20 bpm higher than pre-covid. On Saturday I was exhausted when i went to bed, tossed and turned all night and my average heart rate was 77bpm with a resting rate at 66 (i'm normally average in the low 50s at night with a resting heart rate around 48).

Doctor has proscribed my some meds to start tonight to help me hopefully get some better sleep as i have felt pretty good the last week, just exhausted from the inability to get good sleep. Room is dark, white noise on, no electronics 2 hours before bed, no caffeine, etc... doing all that stuff and i just toss and turn all night and my heart feels like its racing.

Anyways, hoping the meds will help me get some rest which i think is the last hurdle i have, its very frustrating as i've never had sleep issues, i just am partly awake all night right now...

I have been able to get a few 1.5 mile walks in the past week, thats my only exercise, hoping in the next day or two i can try to spin on the trainer lightly and see how that goes. Never expected to be hurting this much after 2.5 weeks and 2 weeks without symptoms, but it is what it is...

Front page of Sunday Seattle Times: "Long COVID grips some Washingtonians and perplexes scientists; new research underway"

Here's hoping better for you, but sounds like some are really struggling.

[gasman]

Originally Posted by MikeD

67, vaxxed and boosted. Day 11 since onset of symptoms. Felt like a cold. Felt feverish and achy early on. Feel good now but still suffering sinus congestion and mucus in throat. Went riding and hiking recently, easy to moderate effort and feel good while doing so. Congestion is worse in the morning. Wonder if I should retest or not worry about it? From what I've read from the CDC, you may still test positive after the 10 day isolation period (even with the antigen test), but are not contagious. Sometimes, when I've had a cold, it developed into a sinus infection and lingered on. I wonder if that's what's going on now? I'm using a Netti pot to irrigate the sinuses.

If you test positive you have virus present and are still infectious. The CDC recommendations have not always been based on good science in my mind.

BB-I hope you feel better soon. Long covid is real and needs to have further study.

[bikerboy337]

Just figure i'll update my experience again for anyone dealing with similar issues.

I'm just about 5 weeks out now and finally starting to feel "normal" again. I've been on some sleeping meds for about 2 weeks now, as i have been dealing with insomnia (tossing and turning all night) and a high HR at night. I've been sleeping well while taking the pills, so thats good, allowing me to recover. HR still tends to be 15-20bpm higher at night although the past few days its getting there. My normal "avg" HR at night was typically around 60bpm, and it was high 70s for a few weeks. Just now getting back towards normal. Averaged 65 last night with a resting heart rate of 55, so close to where i was pre-covid.

The strangest thing has been my HR by far... i did my first ride on Friday, a whopping 15 miles, plan was to keep my HR low the entire time, take it easy... on flats no problem keeping my HR in the 140s, as soon as it went uphill, into wind or had to put any power (i'm talking 100 watts, so not real power), my hr spiked to the 170s... maxed out at 178 (normally max is around 172-173 on climbs where i'm putting out 300-400 watts for a few minutes). My breathing was fine, and the HR was not connected in any way to lack of O2, slow breathing but rapid HR, would spike back down to 140 once it was flat/downhill and i coasted...

Got another ride in Sunday, similar issues, but not nearly as bad, HR was high, i went super slow (100 watt power), and not as alarming. Was able to keep the HR under 165 for most of the ride.

Another easy 15 yesterday and much better, kept HR under 160 the entire time, averaged under 150... still was going 1/2 speed (took an hour for ride)

Anyways, long story short, i'm going on 5 weeks since infection and hoping that things are on the upward path. Still amazed its impacted me this much, was worried about my HR, but feeling much better now after the past few days... will be doing super easy workouts moving forward for the next week or two with lots of rest in between, hoping that i can actually train by mid-may with some real rides, rowing and running... but for now, taking it easy.

[saf-t]

The thing that's so amazing about this disease is its variability.

I was talking to someone yesterday about a stress test that they had just gone for (not covid-related). The nurses doing the test said that they'd been seeing a lot of folks coming in for stress tests who had previously had covid, and were still experiencing respiratory issues.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by saf-t

The thing that's so amazing about this disease is its variability.

I was talking to someone yesterday about a stress test that they had just gone for (not covid-related). The nurses doing the test said that they'd been seeing a lot of folks coming in for stress tests who had previously had covid, and were still experiencing respiratory issues.

I really wish that science was able to tell us what makes an individual likely to experience different symptoms once exposed and then hopefully offer treatment for those most affected by their exposure.. There are obvious pre-existing conditions that increase mortality risk from exposure but it doesn't seem there is much if anything that can tell you if you are going to experience long-term respiratory or cardiac issues, or other - brain fog, memory and sensory loss, etc. It is really difficult to know right now what your actual risks are - once vaxxed/boosted, how much further do you go to protect yourself from exposure and at what personal/social cost? It seems we are all stumbling in the dark, with personality traits being more of a driver in behavior than science........

[AngryScientist]

Everyone in my family of 5 got it a couple weeks ago. We had the home tests and we were all positive. Symptoms were consistent with a mild common cold, lasted a few days.

I will say that my fitness got zapped pretty good, I feel like I was in pretty good shape, and a good chunk of that got erased in a couple days.

[sjbraun]

Vaccinated and boosted x1, though I am immunocompromised. I got Covid in January. Not too serious, I have worse head colds- mostly brain fog, sore throat and fatigue. I did no activity for 10 days, then started with short walks of 1-2 miles. At day 12 after my positive test, I started riding very short distances. By the end of the 3rd week after testing positive, my riding was back to normal.

But then in late March, I had a second breakthrough case. While I was less ill with the second case, my recovery was much slower. Any activity would shoot my heart rate into the 140s. Walking from the bedroom to the kitchen would send my resting HR of 60 up to 110. And going from lying to standing would result in a racing heart and significant orthostatic hypotension, (ie my BP would drop going from horizontal to vertical.) I'm back in the bike, and while my recovery has been much slower than it was after my first case of Covid, I am improving. I road 180 miles last week, not at full effort but getting closer.

This morning I had an intake interview for a 4 year Long Covid study. The nurse working with me said my cardiac issues are pretty common among people in the study. As a study participant, I might undergo a more thorough cardiac work up. I'll be curious to see if Covid has had any lasting impact on my physical capabilities. I'd hate to be a cardiac cripple.

[Louis]

Sorry to hear that SJB, but nevertheless, it's an interesting situation.

Do you have any particular insight on why a respiratory system thing like COVID can have such a massive effect on your cardio-vascular system?

All the best as your recovery continues.

L

[jimcav]

I'm just over 4 months out from my 2nd breakthrough in Jan, '22. 1st time it took 8-9 months to get back to feeling normal, and being able to exercise and actually get into shape. 2nd time took just over 4 months, so I was hoping the same with this 3rd round, but it looks to be lasting longer.

All 3 acute cases were pretty mild, and the 1st was the worst as far as being acutely ill. Even then never sick for more than 3 days, and other than the severe tiredness, 1-day of temp to 104, and loss of taste; it was not much worse for me than a bad cold.

But having to sit down and recover after watering plants on a sunny afternoon is a bit humbling and frustrating, which is what I did today as I saw my HR hit 110 just standing there holding a garden hose up at shoulder height.

I do better when it is cool and not sunny, and do terribly if I am at all dehydrated. My ability to vasodilate blood for heat issues in the direct sun and exercise is really gone. I hike/jog at night and am up to a 10min mile on flat ground, whereas in 2019 I could still do a 6-min mile easily and do 13 miles in 90 minutes at high noon. It was going to end eventually, but this is a really unwelcome glimpse at me 20 years from now.

Having had it get better the 1st two times, I'm still hopeful, but I should never have mentally made fun of chubsters on electric mtn bikes.

[deluz]

Thanks everybody for posting.
I am immunocompromised from several factors.
I am now just getting to the point to where I feel comfortable living life more normally. I recently started going to the public pool which was unthinkable a few months ago. After reading the stories here it reminds to be always be vigilant. I still wear a mask in any public place although most people here no longer do so. The data shows the number of cases has gone way down, but I am not sure how reliable that is since a lot of people are using home tests and those results do not get reported. Deaths on the the other hand might be a more reliable indicator.

[sjbraun]

Originally Posted by Louis

Sorry to hear that SJB, but nevertheless, it's an interesting situation.

Do you have any particular insight on why a respiratory system thing like COVID can have such a massive effect on your cardio-vascular system?

All the best as your recovery continues.

L

Thanks Louis. COVID isn't a respiratory disease. Its transmitted via the respiratory system, but it a multi-system disease. From the article, Effect of Covid-19 on the Organs
"his is a review of COVID-19's extensive effects on virtually all the organs. It causes inflammation, endotheliitis, vasoconstriction, hypercoagulability, and edema. Lymphocytopenia, elevated D-dimer, elevated fibrin degradation products (FDPs), and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) are observed. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT), venous thromboembolism, pulmonary embolism (PE), systemic and pulmonary arterial thrombosis and embolism, ischemic stroke, and myocardial infarction (MI) are reported.

In the heart it can cause acute coronary syndrome, congestive heart failure, myocarditis, and arrhythmias. Kidney injury is usually secondary to systemic abnormalities. Stroke occurs even in young patients. Delirium and seizures are common. Anosmia and impaired sense of taste are reported. Psychological problems are common among patients as well as providers. Stool may contain virus. Lactate dehydrogenase may be elevated. Various skin manifestations including patchy erythematous rash are reported."