COVID recovery timeline among athletes

[Octave]

Originally Posted by Louis

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?

COVID-19 is a systemic inflammatory disease which happens to be transmitted by the respiratory system. In the end, nearly every organ in your body, from your skin and blood vessels to your heart, lungs, and brain, are all impacted by the massive inflammatory response often known as 'cytokine storm' - it's more akin to sepsis than it is to a classic respiratory disease.

[Beldar77]

For those of you who had a few problems bouncing right back into activity and had to take some time off I have a couple of questions;

Was the recovery totally gradual? and how often did you "push" to test your self?

Did anyone feel bad and then all of a sudden it cleared up?

Were there any indicators that things had turned the corner?


So 2 weeks ago my 16 yr old son got what seemed to be mild Covid (less than 24 hours of low fever and feeling bad). He's got a summer of serious soccer ahead of him as his team has qualified for the regionals of USYS and the National PRO league but his 1st attempt to return to practice last night did not go well. Thankfully he stopped at the 1st sign it wasn't perfect.

(EDIT added this: He had blood & enzyme tests as well as an ecg and Lung X-ray. All were normal.) We have talked to his doctor and we of course are urging some level of patience but I'm interested to know if there is anything we can look for as a positive sign.

Thanks.

[jimcav]

Here is how it has gone for me, although it is hard to imagine recovery could be similar, but mine has been very gradual.

I continue to have issues with feeling short of breath and high (160-180) heart rate with what used to be laughable exertion (2019=6min mile or 13 miles in 91-93 minutes fairly routinely; currently I can run 2.2 somewhat hilly miles non-stop, best mile pace (relatively flat portion of route) has been 10min!).

I have found that 'pushing' it sets me back. FYI I've gone through this 3 times now, with original COVID iin '20, Delta in 8/21, and now post-Omicron 1/22.

If his doctor has checked various labs for cardiac enzymes to ensure he doesn't have any myocarditis type of thing, all I can suggest is that he listens to his body.

When I didn't, I'd have severe fatigue after exercise, plus a set-back in terms of how far or how fast I could jog the next time (loose use of the term 'fast', but I'd go from a 10-min mile pace to 11-12 the next time, if I pushed too much before).

What worked for me, is I just pay attention to how I feel. Jogging I feel short of breath, have that max effort feeling, even though shuffling--so I stop and walk. Initially I was very obsessive about looking at the HR, but it really doesn't natter if it is 148 or 188 or 208 for me, what matters is if I feel bad AND it is over 140 (I have not felt bad below 140--i wear my Garmin Fenix watch to check HR for any activity, even yardwork).

Radiant heat from the sun (even if only 68 F outside) makes it much worse, and I need to be well-hydrated, or it is worse. I also noticed I'm much better if I sleep well (which for various other reasons I have really not so far this year).

So I go out, and if I feel ok, I can go a bit farther, or a bit faster, or a small combination of those. You will see improvement because, for awhile, it feels like being horribly out of shape, but NOT being able to get in shape (very frustrating).

But keep hope alive, because one day you start to actually improve in terms of distance or speed or both, and hopefully that will be far sooner and faster for him..

best of luck to him.

[rnhood]

Have two cycling friends that recently got covid. Both said it wasn't anything more than a mild cold. But they did isolate themselves for two weeks, sort of. They were back riding with our group today. Nice to have them back.

[Beldar77]

Originally Posted by jimcav

Here is how it has gone for me, although it is hard to imagine recovery could be similar, but mine has been very gradual.

I have found that 'pushing' it sets me back.

If his doctor has checked various labs for cardiac enzymes to ensure he doesn't have any myocarditis type of thing, all I can suggest is that he listens to his body.



What worked for me, is I just pay attention to how I feel.

So I go out, and if I feel ok, I can go a bit farther, or a bit faster, or a small combination of those. You will see improvement because, for awhile, it feels like being horribly out of shape, but NOT being able to get in shape (very frustrating).

But keep hope alive, because one day you start to actually improve in terms of distance or speed or both, and hopefully that will be far sooner and faster for him..

best of luck to him.

Thanks. Added info to my post because of your statement about enzymes. I will keep reading this thread to see your progress. Good luck on your recovery.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Beldar77

For those of you who had a few problems bouncing right back into activity and had to take some time off I have a couple of questions;

Was the recovery totally gradual? and how often did you "push" to test your self?

Did anyone feel bad and then all of a sudden it cleared up?

Were there any indicators that things had turned the corner?


So 2 weeks ago my 16 yr old son got what seemed to be mild Covid (less than 24 hours of low fever and feeling bad). He's got a summer of serious soccer ahead of him as his team has qualified for the regionals of USYS and the National PRO league but his 1st attempt to return to practice last night did not go well. Thankfully he stopped at the 1st sign it wasn't perfect.

(EDIT added this: He had blood & enzyme tests as well as an ecg and Lung X-ray. All were normal.) We have talked to his doctor and we of course are urging some level of patience but I'm interested to know if there is anything we can look for as a positive sign.

Thanks.

So...was he tested for COVID?

[ripvanrando]

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

Covid attaches to ace2 receptors. Lots of them in old people's lungs, hearts, kidneys, liver, GI tract and especially poorly maintained ones.

[ti_or_die]

I have often used this graphic to share with people I talk to who seem to think this is just a respiratory illness.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by Beldar77

So 2 weeks ago my 16 yr old son got what seemed to be mild Covid

(EDIT added this: He had blood & enzyme tests as well as an ecg and Lung X-ray. All were normal.) .

My family of 5 all had a mild case of covid about a month ago. After 2 weeks it was nothing more than a distant memory.

He's 16 and sounds like otherwise healthy. I bet he has absolutely nothing to worry about here. I wouldnt try and infer any parallels between what some old guys on the Paceline recovered like and what your young, healthy, active son will recover like. I say if he feels fine, he's fully recovered.

[Beldar77]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

So...was he tested for COVID?

He tested positive yes.

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

My family of 5 all had a mild case of covid about a month ago. After 2 weeks it was nothing more than a distant memory.

He's 16 and sounds like otherwise healthy. I bet he has absolutely nothing to worry about here. I wouldnt try and infer any parallels between what some old guys on the Paceline recovered like and what your young, healthy, active son will recover like. I say if he feels fine, he's fully recovered.

I don't think long term he has much to worry about either. I was just hoping there were things to look for to give him encouragement that recovery would be soon. Like your your 2 week statement for example.

[lorenbike]

.

[Black Dog]

Developed symptoms a week ago Saturday. Sore throat, congestion, headache, fatigue, and mild fever. 48 hours later symptoms more or less gone. Same day I became symptomatic I torqued my back. I could not stand or walk much for 4 days. My back recovered enough for me to get out for a easy 40km yesterday and today I did a 135km ride. Felt ok except for the fitness regression that a week plus off the bike would normally bring to my 49 year old body. Fully vaccinated and boosted last December. I was very careful to stay below the red line on the bike for my back and for recovery from illness. I feel doubly fortunate and grateful that it all went down as well as it did. I have friends that are as fit as me who have taken months to recover. They could not climb stairs without having to rest. They all pushed hard just after initial symptoms cleared and then regressed. I am glad that I had to take it very easy due to my back.

[marinwaterguy]

Just recovering from Covid this week and reading his thread has been helpful in putting into perspective what recovery looks like.

[kgreene10]

OP here. Thanks to everyone for sharing. It’s been really useful to learn about others’ experiences.

Here’s my update. It’s been nearly four months since my symptoms started. I had trouble getting a full breath for three weeks and sustained some liver and kidney inflammation that required steroids but abated quickly. I was amazed at how deeply affected I was given that the illness itself felt so mild — like one of the lighter colds I’ve ever had.

Once I could breath normally again, I started walking but moved surprisingly slowly for several weeks. In mid-March (five weeks in), we went to Big Bend and I was really glad to have my 82 year old mom there as cover for slow and minimal “hiking”.

I used to get 6-8 sinus infections per year before I had surgery. Sometimes it would become bronchitis or even pneumonia twice. I always recovered faster than I have from mild COVID. In addition to the respiratory hangover, I gained more weight than I ever have with time off from intense exercise. I’m still a flyweight at 6’1” and now 165, but that’s 9 lbs up in a short period of time.

Good news is that I’m back to riding and no longer require a midday nap. I ratcheted back up slowly, starting with just 5 mins on the trainer. Now I can do the normal 100k weekend ride. It feels great. I did lose a huge number of watts at ftp and I’m still down at least 20%, but I think I’m gaining each week.

All in all, I feel immensely more fortunate than the more than one million in the US and 6m worldwide who have succumbed to the disease. And I feel really lucky not to have developed brain fog.

My best wishes to everyone still dealing with an illness.

[Alistair]

Glad to hear you're on the mend!

My own experience in May...
Day 0 - felt like a mild cold or bad allergies, not sure if really sick
Day 1 - knew I was sick, went to bed after lunch
Day 2 - COVID test (take home) negative, but pretty sure I had it, fever 102*, popping Tylenol like candy
Day 3 - COVID test positive, feverish, cough, pounding headache, etc
Day 4 - fever starts to go down, out of bed, but mostly on sofa, checking work emails
Day 5 - back to work (at home)
Day 6/7/8/9 - slowly return to normal feeling
Day 10/11/12 - feel fine, but not quite up to exercise
Day 13-21 - slowly ramp back into exercise. Lung feel fine, but ZERO power and tire easily.

Basically, took a month before I was back to normal. I've had the flu a few times as an adult and this was by far the worst, partly because it actually was worse, and partly because of the unknown/worry.

My wife also caught it at the same time. Her case was worse. She had a monoclonal antibody treatment, which helped keep her out of the ER. But, she's still coughing nearly a month later.