A couple of days ago I was contacted by an athlete who recently contracted the Covid virus. He asked how he should return to training when the time was right. I wish I had an answer for him, but I don’t. My only advice was to exercise (I’m reluctant to call it “training”) conservatively and cautiously. That means he should not be in a hurry to get back to normal training and should take more rest than normal while putting no pressure on himself to work out. I hope he follows that advice as we still don’t know what the long-term effects on our health may be.
His note got me wondering what other athletes have done after having Covid. So I posted a tweet asking for comments on how they returned to working out. I was overwhelmed with responses. The following are most of the ones I received. (They are still coming in.) These are sometimes quite candid, but I did very little editing. You’ll find everything here from “I trained and raced through my illness” to “I’ve decided to give up the sport as it just isn’t worth it.” And everything in between.
Here are the comments…
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Hi Joe, just saw your post about COVID. I caught it back in jan 2021 and took 4 weeks off the bike, body felt very inflamed and kept all the training around VT1 after 5 months back to normal and my body’s response to this virus was inflamed. It felt like doing anaerobic workouts without any warm-up or cool down.
Hi Joe. I had Covid that took around 2-3 months to recover from. Training took a hit. Heart rate went through the roof at the slightest effort and recoverability took a dive. I learned to focus less on numbers and more on feel. Volume and intensity had to be dialed way back with a gradual increase in volume first to get my aerobic base back.
Hi Joe, hope this message finds you well. I had COVID just recently, with some small side effects but nothing crazy, and I kept training easy while I had it (just endurance rides and never over Z2). I found that during it, I was quite fatigued, and when I had a test shortly after, I was still a bit fatigued. But in the weeks since, I haven’t seemed to have any issues… we just had a training camp with quite a high load and a bit of intensity, which I felt fine doing, so that is good. Will see how it goes forward but so far so good.
13 mos ago. Super fit, was a cyclist now into CrossFit. Big aerobic engine. Covid put me on my ass for about 2 days then I was really tired for about a week. Back to swinging a kettlebell after about 5 days at home. Back to the gym after 2 weeks but it took about 3 weeks total to feel like my engine was back. I would get about 2 mins in to an effort and come unglued. Just chipping away at it and showing up and I would say I was 100% at 4 weeks.
Hi Joe, I saw your tweet & have just recently returned to light training after testing positive for Covid! All in all, not too bad at low intensity. Have kept sessions short, up to 90 mins as feel slightly “out of puff!” Breathing has definitely been affected, don’t think I could push the numbers I was pushing before without my heart rate rocketing!
Hi Joe, Had Covid April 2020 and really struggled to get back to anything like full fitness for well over a year.
Hi Joe. I’ve had COVID twice this year and it’s written off my tt career (such as it was) to the point that I’m selling my gear and bike. I don’t think I’ll ever get back to a level where I can compete. I’ve put on 10kg and can’t go into the red without having to spend the day in bed afterwards. I can now do short rides of about 60 with a 23kmh average. It’s very frustrating.
Hi Joe, I had Covid last October 2020 with mild symptoms. After resuming training luckily I’ve not experienced any issues. I’m 51 yrs old and just reading your Fast After 50. Last September just had my PB in Rome marathon and next year I’d crush some others PB in running and triathlon since I’m planning my first full IM. Thanks for all your work that I’m using through your books. Have a nice Christmas!
Had COVID Oct 2020…took 2 weeks off as a precaution (myocarditis) and got the ok from the cardiologist. Zero issues coming back…jumped right back in. Qualified for Kona in May.
Hi Joe, I had Covid Jan 2021. First 30min walk after, I had to stop a number of times. Then on hill walks my HR went up to 200 on any hill. Heart rate went sky high very quickly for about a month post recovery. Heart echo and stress ECG was normal. Running fitness came back faster than cycling, but it took a good few months for running to be back to normal. Cycling is still tough.
Hi Joe, I had Covid 19 November 2020. I had been pretty run-down prior to catching it due to some family issues. I am a 60 yr old male who is a regular cyclist, not really competing but regular rides of 60 miles or so at about 16mph and either riding or training 2 or 3 times a week. I was off training completely for about 4 weeks. I started back slowly on a Wattbike following a base plan training plan. After about 6 weeks post infection, I started on my regular social route, I was about 40W down on my normal pre infection pace. I would say I am pretty much back to where I was pre infection but I haven’t improved much if at all over the last year. I have had a pacemaker fitted since 2006 due to a complete heart block so maybe not the best.
Re: return to training post-Covid. First week, whenever HR went over 145 (my max is around 180) I’d have to stop and either walk or soft pedal. Second week similar but not quite so pronounced, then on the whole ok. That being said 6 weeks on I still have occasional dips, nothing major, just shortness of breath at easy intensity or feeling really tired after a workout. To be fair some of it may be loss of fitness—my Covid kicked in about a week after a 2-4 week end of season wind down, so essentially I lost something between 4-6 weeks of conditioning. What I would say is, it’s not like normal flu or a severe cold. It’s more pervasive, it sneaks up on you (certainly in my case) and just makes you feel sluggish rather than violently ill. I would also add, in my experience, taking it really really easy coming back to things is the way to go. Hope this helps.
It took me about 6 weeks to get back to 90% of pre COVID level. Still working on last 10%. Not linear progress.
One week before I experienced high HR and muscle pain. Then I got Covid-19 in March 2020. I started too soon with training for two weeks but experienced I was very tired. So I stopped training for a week. When I started again I quickly developed my fitness back to the state before Covid.
Have I had Covid and returned to training? Yes. First 2 days with high fever (38.4°C or so), I just wanted to sleep. Days 3 and 4 feeling bad (37°C) but I could enjoy reading or watching TV. Day 5 I took my bike to the pharmacy and got a test. It was positive so I couldn’t return to work in day 6, but I started to run and train since day 6 because I knew I needed fresh air, sun and outdoor activity to recover fastest… 20 minutes. Day 8: 25 minutes. Day 10: 35 minutes… And I have become stronger and more constant. I recovered my taste and smell by day 18 or so. I’m 36. I did a 5 km test 4 months ago (day 15 after Covid or so) and my pace was 6:10 min/km. Now my pace for 5 km is 4:58 min/km. I feel motivated and want to push myself forward.
Hi. Just picking up on your message re recovering from Covid. I’m doubled jabbed but still got Covid at the end of October. First week was like flu, second week felt ok but no energy (needed a lie down after 30mins catch with my two boys). Third week started back slowly. Paid close attention to my HR and keeping it easy. I’ve developed a tool EnDuRA, one of the key metrics is the relationship between %HRR and %6min power. I used this as a guide to slowly increase duration but not intensity. Cycling (Zwift) numbers at low intensity are now back to normal. Running LIT numbers are almost there (also some loss of form to get back!). I made the decision when I had Covid to not even think about anything higher intensity until January 2022, i.e. at least 2 months after Covid. For reference at my most recent pre-Covid best I was a 45 year old 34:30 10k runner with 300W FTP training about 6 hours per week (4 running, 2 riding). Hope that helps.
Ref. your tweet on C19: mild course of C19 here in 2020. Return to work 10 days later. Normal physical activity for 4 weeks only as a precaution (sick before any guidelines were out). On initial return to easy LIT sessions thundering head ace post workout. Gradually got better over 4-6 weeks. No issues from a muscular or cardiopulmonary point of view. Reasonably trained amateur before falling ill, VO2max in low 60s. PB in FTP40 test 6 months later, so definitely no residual issues regarding performance.
Fully vaccinated in February. Eligible for booster in late August and received the booster in early November. Tested positive six days later. Exposed at work. Returned to exercise week after isolation period when I was asymptomatic. Noticed elevated HR with minimal activity. Did not return to any running or interval training (on bike) until HR was down to normal with just walking—about 3 weeks after positive test. I think I am about 6 weeks out now—3 weeks from “3 week walking period”—feeling well and back to regular training on bike, running, strength work. Did not receive an EKG or cardiac blood work. Hope this helps. Reach out anytime, Mr. Friel! Appreciate your work!
Just had Covid. Coming back to training was no problem at all. No differences with before.
Hello Joe, had Covid last February, was back training easy by May but the main issue I’ve had and still have is blood oxygen levels. They have never returned to normal and this causes a lot of fatigue.
Just had COVID in the last two weeks. Done a couple of light training 5km runs and feeling OK from them, no unusual fatigue or breathlessness. I am grateful I was double jabbed but still felt pretty rough and couldn’t train at all for 10 days. For context, I normally train an hour a day 6 days a week. Primarily running, cycling and swimming.
Regarding coming back from COVID; I am a cyclist and was hit pretty hard with it but no needing to be hospitalized. I have preexisting conditions that affect my lungs. My specialists told me COVID is a lot like urban warfare. You start feeling better and that equates to the battle being over but buildings are still smoldering. I was laid for about two weeks with bad symptoms, week three I felt more normal but had awful fog brain. I could not concentrate on anything longer than about 30 seconds. After those three weeks, I did about 3-4 weeks of very easy Z1 riding and after that was able to start moving back to normal training. I was able to bounce back for the most part but I was a few percentage points from where I had been the previous year. Just kept consistent. Yesterday I put up some decent numbers for a few short efforts. Conservatively paced 385 for 7 min (felt 400+ could have been done if I wanted to bury myself) and 435 for just over 4 min.
Hi Joe, had Covid in October 2019 having been training since 2011 after a return to cycling as a mature athlete. Was a good junior cyclist then had 15 years away from the sport but have won several Masters titles on the track cycling in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. I was not seriously ill, but resting HR was 120 during the 6-7 days of infection. I ended up having 6 months completely off the bike before slowly returning. Now back to within 5% of my best ever.
Saw your post about Covid. I’m just getting over it. I was sick for 2 wks, mostly dizzy and nauseous with some chest congestion. Rode for the first time last night (rollers) for 1hr. Keep HR in Zone 2, (avg 132bpm), RPE felt about right for effort but Power was down 30 watts compared to pre Covid (for same HR). Chest felt tight, but no shortness of breath. Going to continue riding at same HR (+\-) till watts = pre Covid, HR zone 2 normal, then plan on increasing to some HR zone 3 & 4 rides. But this is new territory for me, I’m open to your suggestions. Also hope you’re asking for research, not due to being sick yourself!
Hey Joe, Background: I’m a lifelong athlete. Cat1 cycling / 70.3 Worlds / Nordic skier. I had Covid in November 2020 and experienced minimal symptoms (loss of taste + smell & fatigue for 5 days). I dropped my normal volume of 10hrs/week by half for 7 days and then resumed intensity after 10 days since feeling normal again. After a few weeks of struggling, I realized that I was really not back to normal fitness-wise (resting HR would not come down). I subsequently took more days off in my training and continued with my normal routine on other days. Yet I was in a rut for months. A forced family vacation in July with no training yielded a noticeable improvement upon returning to normal activity. I doubled down on extra sleep, stayed in Z1 with very low volume for August & September while noticing improvement. In October, I tried a block of 3X 10hrs/week still at Z1 with great success. I was finally able to digest the training. Yesterday, I skate skied for the first time this season and responded well (HR recovered well). My takeaway is even though I was asymptomatic after 5 days with Covid, I should have rested way longer. This thing is different than the common cold or flu. I took me a year to return to almost baseline. Hope this helps. Let me know what you gather from your analysis. Thanks for all you do.
Had Covid last month, fully vax. 41 year old, short distance triathlete. My map/VO2max drop about 15% in 1 week. I was not very sick, but I got a great fatigue after. After Covid, recovery was very slow. I had to cut my training in half. It took me 4 weeks to recover half of what I had lost. I still don’t recover as fast as before. Hope I will be back in shape in 2-3 weeks.
Hi Joe. I had COVID about 3 weeks ago. I actually never stopped working out. Even when having symptoms (which were measly). However, I noticed a reduction in my ability to exercise at a very high intensity, something I think has persisted a bit. Even with COVID I was doing 90-120 minutes per day of zone 2 cardio.
Joe, I’m a 49 y.o. male and have been racing off and on since I was 19. I contracted The Rona on Thursday of Labor Day weekend. Got a negative result on a rapid test the following Friday and raced a mixed gravel/MTB race on Sunday. Other than being wrecked and tired the week following and some coughing (which was more annoying than it was severe), I suffered no other negatives. I wasn’t jabbed prior to contracting it. Symptoms for me were like a heinous respiratory flu (no diarrhea or such).
Hi Joe. I had Covid in Oct 2020. In bed for 2 weeks. Took 3 more weeks until I could look at the bike and then 3 weeks of slow steady rides less than 2h. I didn’t start intervals until 10 weeks after recovery.
My son Alex is a 19 year old cyclist in South Africa. He has Covid now. He had symptoms from 15 December. Sore throat and sore body. But very mild. And also some phlem. He did not train on the 15th and 16th. He went for Covid test on 17th and actually felt much better that day. He went for a 2 hour ride the afternoon of the 17th. He got a positive test result on the morning of the 19th. Currently he feels much better.
I’m actually coached by Scott Iott, and appreciate everything you gave that group. He has helped me immeasurably. I was largely asymptomatic at first and trained normally through the first 5-7 days until I started having chills. We pulled the plug, and then when I returned to training I had one easy run where my heart rate was 25-30 bpm higher than normal at an aerobic/recovery effort. After that we backed way off, and things seemed to return to normal quickly. I am about 3-4 weeks out now and am just starting to feel comfortable getting back at it with just a minor increase in heart rate and sometimes respiratory rate. If there is anything else I can add to help you out, please let me know.
I got COVID in mid September, I had two Pfizer vaccines earlier in the year. My case was pretty mild, with fever being the main symptom. I basically saw it on my Garmin Fenix watch. I saw my stress shoot up, and my night breath rate was higher than my daytime. I started riding fairly soon, but felt a bit tired. Within a week, I was riding normally, but I had a weird symptom. When I first worked hard, my heart rate was about 25bpm higher than it should have been. Breath rate and RPE were normal. This lasted for over a month. My buddy had the same thing for about a week. My sleeping heart rate has stayed around 50bpm, vs lower 40s in the past. My Garmin Body Battery is just starting to hit 100 three months later. My Garmin Sleep Score has steadily risen since COVID. None of these lingering symptoms would have been apparent if I wasn’t working out and monitoring my data. Chatted with my doctor about this. He figured it was probably some inflammation, and that it was unlikely to get much attention, given the number of people that are dying of COVID.
Hi Joe, For 6-months I’ve been dealing with PASC (Long COVID) from an asymptomatic acute case of COVID-19. Initial symptoms begin appearing during a build training phase. Initially it just felt like overtraining, but backing off didn’t help. Biometrics showed I had a problem before I began noticing the effects—increased HR (resting and exertion), decreased HRV, increased blood glucose. I wish I would have stopped all exercise when biometrics said I had a problem. Now, tachycardia, neuropathy, MCAS issues, and I struggle with any physical exertion. From observation, it appears that fit, highly active athletes are somewhat predisposed to Long COVID.
I felt like my HR zones shifted down. I felt dizzy so I started on a recumbent bike (better if I fell over) and took about 4 weeks to feel where I was before. I’m 42 years old, 13x Ironman, chiropractor, and felt like C19 kicked my ass.
Hi Joe, I had Covid in august, nothing too serious. I had 5 rough days. I’m still not training, the fatigue is unbelievable, I’ve had 3 goes at getting back into training but then I end up with huge amount of fatigue. I’ve also had to start eating gluten free, I’ve had a food sensitivities test which has come back with 20 foods I shouldn’t eat. I’d never had any problems like this prior to Covid. Hope this helps.
Hi Joe, I had Covid in June. I took about 5 off training while I had it, from which I eased back in – first training day back I seriously lacked energy/high HR & felt like lungs had half capacity. Carried on daily and found I was back to normal after 5 days consecutive training. I found pushing through those discomforts mentioned above was the only way to get back, kill the virus and come right again.
Had Covid in September 2020. Mild symptoms but coming back to training (for an ultra mtb race) my HR was very high. What would have been a recovery ride, my HR would hit upper z3 and stay there. Power numbers were even worse. Post ride my HR would stay high for most of the day (70-85). Pre Covid I had a resting HR of 46.
First ride back after 10 days of isolation from contracting COVID, assumption is Omicron. All upper respiratory, nothing in the chest area. HR quickly into Z3 but mostly Z2 even though I tried my darnedest to remain in Z1.
Hi Joe I’m a wheelchair user competing for the Great Britain paracycling team. I had COVID in September. Was pretty unwell with the usual fever, aches, coughing for about a week. Back on the bike slowly for approx another week before ramping things up. Since then I’ve had a number of bladder infections and it’s really affecting my training. I’ve got some big races next year in prep for the world champs in Canada. I’m pretty concerned that my immune system is shot. 6 infections in 4-5 months. Currently finishing off a 3week camp in Lanzarote and I’ve got another infection so I’m pretty much bed bound with fever etc. until I fly home on 22nd.
Hi Joe, I was Covid-19 positive this April. Although it felt easy with mild symptoms I have been advised to rest 3 more weeks at 14th day by my doctor. It took at least 4 weeks to feel better on my bike even though I was very careful with my heart rate and perceived exertion. My FTP was around 280 watts before and even 150 watts felt 6-7 RPE. Trainings longer than 1:30hrs were really hard to accomplish. At the end of second post-covid month I was back.
Hi Joe, I had Covid in the first wave and was unwell for 3 weeks. I’m fortunate that I work in a hospital and the cardiologist advised slow, easy walks to start back and build pace and distance. I was told to monitor my morning resting HR and when it returned to new normal start back training but not too much intensity. Hope this helps.
Hello Mr. Friel, I’ve had Covid over 4 weeks ago. I am a trained triathlete, (12-15h/w). For me (vaccinated) it was just 3 days of flu and 1.5 day of fever. After that, it took 2 weeks before I was full of energy. Luckily no problems for me. My wife also had Covid in the same period and she still suffers with a lack of energy.
Hi Joe, just about to start light training tomorrow. Happy to let you know how it goes.
Hi Joe – I’m a 45 year old competitive, coached cyclist (TTs) and had a CP20 of 382 watts in 2019. I contracted Covid (UK Alpha Varient) in Nov 2020. There were no vaccines at that point but my illness was mild (sore throat, headache and fatigue). Whilst the symptoms were mild, the psychological overhead was massive and I’m sure the related anxiety of having Covid contributes to physical symptoms. Given the scary stories of issues and long Covid I decided to take 2 months off the bike. During that time I only walked the dog and did gentle yoga. I did feel like my breathing was increased slightly during normal activities. I started riding the bike again at Z1—my HR was increased 15-20 BPM for the same given effort as previously. Some of this, of course, was down to de-training. During 2021 I increased my training gently and by April was doing Z5 intervals. My HR had recovered to where I expected. In June 2021 I had a medical (I’m a part-time firefighter) and a lung function test and could compare the results with a test in 2019—the lung capacity was the same and the peak flow was 1% higher. This gave me the confidence that there was no lasting damage. I did a CP20 test last week at 355 watts. I’m now fairly confident that 13 months since contracting Covid that I’m pretty much where I was before I contracted it. It would be good to see results of your research or findings.
Hi Joe. I am a 45 year old male cyclist and I’ve been following structured training with power and heart rate for the past 5+ years. I’m 65kg. I average between 5 to 10 hours a week when riding consistently. I tested positive for Covid on the 6th October and my first ride after Covid was 17 days later on the 23rd October. A week after this first ride back (my 5th ride back) I recorded a 30 minute period where my average watts were 205 watts for an average HR of 161 bpm. On the 12th September on a similar ride I averaged 223 watts at an average HR of 148 bpm. I’m now almost 2 months along since my first ride back and have been riding consistently for the past 4 weeks at around 6 hours per week and yesterday I recorded an average of 184 watts for a 30 minute period for a HR of 153. My resting heart rate is also higher than pre-Covid. Last night it reached a low of 46 bpm and pre-Covid this would have been under 40. I’m beginning to feel normal on the bike again but I would say I’ve lost a disproportionate amount of fitness relative to the time off the bike and it seems it has at least some sort of effect on heart rate for me. Lots more data available and keen to support.
Hi Joe. I had the delta variant last summer. Very mild symptoms for about 24/48 hours, but for 3 months after my HR was erratic. There was almost no correlation between effort and HR—most visible by the familiar Strava image with the hill and HR.
I’m experiencing high HR even on short/slow runs, since recovering from mild Covid. Turbo cycling at medium pace seems ok.
Joe, It was a brutal transition back. From my lungs to my muscles, the month after Covid was brutal. I do have a difficult time in winter training but can’t even explain how I suffered last year after my Covid experience. At 55 now I guess my body needed that time. 2021 I got back to just enjoying my bike. 2022 I’m competing and feel confident that I will be relevant. My coach has looked at my TP files and agrees and will start structured training after the new year.
Hi, I had Covid in November. Had super fast heart rate events twice, random revving of the heart 15 mins into exercise within first two weeks of return. Had the same between March and October 2020 which subsided until recent Covid. Been under cardiac at hospital, no major issues were found. Mainly I’ve had fatigue lasting for first couple of weeks. First few runs became run-walks due to tiring more easily. Feeling back right now 6 weeks on!
Re: Covid and training. I got it very early into the pandemic. Didn’t get hit that bad (was out of commission for ~2-weeks, never hospitalized or truly worried about my health). But it took over 1 year to get back to anything near pre-Covid levels. Even once I was able to start training at full load (probably ~3 months post) I just didn’t respond to any training. I’m only now starting to see good results but am still ~20% lower ftp then I would typically be this time of year.
I suspect that I had COVID in December of 2019 before it hit the media. I’m struggling with high heart rate and shortness of breath. I’m so incredibly frustrated. I just started on a beta blocker Friday.
Hi Joe, I had COVID back in August. It’s only really in the last 5-6 weeks that I have been able to train again properly! Fatigued from just doing a day’s work (my job is not physical). When I was riding, running, or swimming, I felt all I could do was below intensity stuff. Also kept picking up stomach bugs. Feeling ok now but fitness levels are nowhere near where they were pre-Covid! All the best Joe! Have a great Xmas.
Hello Joe. I had COVID (Delta) in Aug. I isolated for 10 days and during the 10 days did some light walking and started with moderate cycling 3 days after my isolation. I felt strong and hungry to train, no side effects (breathing, coughing or any pains). I’m 37 years old. Weight is 78kg and my height is 77cm. I exercise 3-4 times a week with 1-2 HIT sessions per week. No more than 4 hours of exercise per week.
Hey Joe, hope you’re ace!! My other half caught Covid in October and I quickly followed about 3 days later. I came down super hard with it. Luckily after 10 horrendous days I felt back to myself in two weeks. But I fully rested in those 10 days. Mainly due to being too ill to move. But my other half (Head Para Coach for British Tri) is suffering with long Covid. But I’m suffering with sciatica nerve issues from all the inactivity and resting during and post!
Hi Joe. Covid has completely taken away my passion and energy for the sport. I have no energy or enthusiasm to coach, train, or compete after 10 years. It simply doesn’t seem important any more. Time coaching/training/competing is time away from my loved ones who I could lose at any time. This demanding, relentless, and selfish hobby sport requires time and energy I simply no longer have. Good luck in all you do.
