Getting Back on the Saddle after Having COVID-19
On January 28th, I was walking out of the gym when I noticed a missed call from my friend and fellow COVID bubbler. The call was followed by a text, “I just tested positive for COVID, call me asap”.
Every Sunday, our little bubble had been meeting up for a walk and then to sit in a large, well-ventilated brewery. Outside of my trips to the gym, where there are never more than 3-4 people in the 2000 sq ft space at a time, and the grocery store, this little group of friends were the only people I would regularly spend time with.
I called my friend who was devastated to tell me that she had tested positive. She had felt tired since Monday but she had newborn twins, she was always tired. She woke on Thursday and couldn't smell the diaper pail so she headed out for a rapid test. Within minutes, they gave her a positive result. She has no idea where she got it. As the mom of young babies, she rarely left her house except for pediatrician visits.
For a little over 24-hours, I had felt like I was starting my period. I had a headache and my back hurt. It was a little off my cycle but being in my mid-forties that’s not unusual. Plus, I had gone trail running on Tuesday and with Atlanta’s mild January, things were already blooming, but to be safe, I headed straight for the walk-up testing location in my neighborhood.
By Friday afternoon, I had a good bit of fatigue setting in and a positive COVID diagnosis.
After talking with Selene Yeager about some of the writing she had been doing on COVID and athletes, I decided that I would take 14-days off of any type of exercise with the exception of easy dog walks.
For a few days I experienced the ‘typical’ COVID symptoms, fatigue, some brain fog, I lost my taste and smell for a for about 3-days, but for the most part, I continued working from my home office. It was a mild case with fatigue being the biggest side effect. Most days I would just be incapable of anything but laying on the couch from about 4:30 pm on.
Getting back on the bike has been an interesting process. The hardest thing about having COVID was the unknown. Would I be a long-hauler? Was my life forever changed and the things I loved might be gone? I have a tendency to ‘be tough’ instead of exercising self-compassion…after all, another friend who tested positive was out running 6-miles not long after her positive result. But the fatigue was winning the battle between self-compassion and wanting to be tough, so I decided to listen to my body.
I tried my first easy trainer spin about 13-days out from my exposure. It was just a 30-minute easy spin but it felt like I had ridden for several hours. I took a long nap that afternoon.
That week I went back to my gym routine without any intensity. I was happy to find that I was having no issues when it came to my heavy strength sets, but I did need some additional rest in between each one (laying on the gym floor to be exact).
Three days at the gym wore me out that week so I didn’t add any additional workouts outside of the normal dog walks.
A week after that first spin, I decided to try an interval workout on my trainer. This particular workout had 4 sets of 5 minutes at 140 watts - which should be a very easy pace for me. My heart rate was 177 during those 5-minute intervals - a few weeks before it would have been around the 144 range on that set.
This workout also required a nap but I didn’t feel nearly as wiped out as I had the week before. Fatigue was still hitting me pretty hard late in the day at this point.
I decided to stick with indoor riding for the next few weeks and continued to modify the intensity of my workouts. My heart rate has continued to be a little wonky. Before COVID, my resting heart rate was somewhere around 54, my Garmin is currently clocking my resting heart rate around 72 (I don’t wear my watch tight enough to get a good read on the wrist heart rate so I take that with a grain of salt but I was wearing the same watch in the same manner pre-COVID.) I’ve also had a few instances where I’ve felt like I can’t catch my breath when talking after a workout. I have a pulse ox monitor so I know that my levels are good.
Finally, on Saturday I headed outside but rather than our local gravel route, which has a significant amount of climbing, I opted for a popular bike path called The Silver Comet - long and flat. It felt great to be outside and besides making a rookie mistake of going to ride at lunchtime and forgetting to take my snacks out of the car and put them into my jersey, my body felt good. I hit a wall at about mile 20 but that could have been from poor fueling. I happy wrapped up 32-miles and didn't feel like I needed to nap the rest of the afternoon.
Overall, I’m grateful for a very mild case. While I was in isolation, a friend’s mother died from COVID. Last weekend, a former coworker who was just two years older than me also died from COVID. Even though I’ve had some lingering fatigue and heart rate issues, those seem to be improving from week to week.
Here are a few of my recommendations if you find yourself with a positive test.
Take time off - even if you don’t feel badly. Some very fit and healthy athletes have had long-term issues and there’s some research that exercise can make your symptoms worse.
Get a pulse ox monitor. Your mind is going to play all kinds of tricks only you. Being able to measure the level of oxygen in your blood will give you peace of mind or alert you to a more serious problem.
I wish I would have monitored my heart rate more closely through the process. I would recommend taking it several times a day and writing it down. Monitor how long it stays high.
Don’t let your mind go down the negative road. There are people with no co-morbidities who will develop really severe cases. It’s rare but when you have COVID and love your active lifestyle, it’s easy to go down the path of catastrophic thinking.
A lot of people will try to give you advice. Most of them don’t have MD behind their name. Fortunately, my brother is a Physicians Assistant who works in the ER. I tuned into him and out of everyone else. Dr. Google is definitely NOT your friend in this situation.
Finally, there’s a weird shame and stigma around COVID in many parts of our country and the world. I follow the rules and have done the right things and I got COVID. I decided to tell everyone because I think that shaming people is bullshit. Most people are doing the best they can right now and frankly, I’ve never seen someone change behavior because people publicly shamed them or tried to be the COVID police.
I’m grateful to be through it and for many good friends who supported me, even making my quarantine birthday special. If you’ve had an experience with COVID and want to share, let me know!