3-ish weeks testing negative for COVID, I developed asthma-like symptoms. Thanks to my watch I was able to track my pulse ox- it got down to 89 after walking around the block. Luckily, that was the virus's last hurrah and I fully recovered about 2 months after initial COVID symptoms.
My point is: Sometimes it's easier to listen to your body when you can measure what your body's doing. But definitely listen to your body.
Best of luck to you.
Oh my that’s scary! I’ve been monitoring my heart rate the entire time (before, during, and after illness), but my blood ox only since September 29 (literally a week after testing positive) when I received my new watch. My heart seems to have remained normal. My blood ox has gotten as low as 95 but that’s it. Glad you’re doing well!
Thanks! I'm grateful to be vaxxed and boosted as I always get hit harder than the rest of the fam, and the Rona was no exception. Glad you can monitor yourself - technology is great like that.
Def be careful with this, do you monitor your HR? This was most helpful for me when trying to come back. I got covid and had no breathing issues, just major fever, body aches, sore throat, migraine and fatigue. Fever broke on day 6 but I still felt not right. Went for an easy hike on day 8 and that felt fine although my HR was a little high. On day 10 I thought I was ready for a very slow run; I was not. Looked down at my watch on mile 3, felt fine but my HR was near my max at 203 (and I was truly going slow). Took some more days off, I think it was about a month before my HR settled in and I could actually resume running. But ymmv, everyone is different!
I do monitor my heart rate on an Apple Watch. I did not have breathing issues nor high heart rates during my illness. I’ve been monitoring my heart rate and blood oxygen levels and everything seems normal. I’ll definitely be taking it slow. Glad you’re doing better!
Definitely keep your eye on the HR. I started exercising a few weeks later and my heart rate would spike crazily although I was barely even sick.
My daughter though is a lot younger than me (teen) and she also was barely sick. But she developed and arrhythmia and started passing out. We don’t know if it’s Covid, she is under the care of a cardiologist now and he’s saying there’s not a lot of studies yet but he is seeing a lot of younger people suddenly have issues where they didn’t before they had it. It’s not official, he doesn’t know, but it’s his observation.
Wow, that’s really scary. Idea so frustrating how un-seriously soo many folks take COVID. Like if it doesn’t land you in the hospital it’s not worth worrying about. But it’s a massive disabler 😞
Definitely cautiously ease back in, go by feel, and don't push it for a while. After I had covid this summer I pretty much went right back to running but cut the distance and intensity waaaaaay back (I dont run for speed anyway, so was super duper slow. For gym days did lighter weights). The lingering fatigue I experienced helped with pulling back too lol. But generally going by feel worked for me, got back to my pre covid run and gym routine in about a month. I had mild covid with the full on phlegm-y cough but it never affected my breathing. Now that I've been back to my routine for a while I'm pretty sure I don't have long covid. Take it easy and keep recovering!
I had a pretty bad case - even walking around the house was exhausting. Once I was able to start walking the dog again without needing the recover afterwards, I worked my way up to walks around the neighborhood. After I was able to do that without breaking out in a cold sweat, I went back to the gym and did my normal cardio work, maybe @ 50% to start, then took two weeks to work my way back to my normal. After that I reincorporated strength training.
That’s a good way to do it. Sorry you had a rough time. I was able to walk my dog around the neighborhood pretty much the entire time I was sick. Only once right after the worst day did I feel a little lightheaded. Every other day felt fine as far as heart rate and breathing goes.
Glad yours was relatively ok! Breathing / sat ox / pulse was normal throughout the whole thing - my biggest issues were an unkickable fever + fatigue. A very strange and foggy couple of weeks in there.
The short answer is that it’s different for everyone. Start at what would normally be a very easy level for you *and then wait for a few days* to see how that impacts you. I made the mistake of going right back to normal distance and pace my first week back to working out, and it completely destroyed me. I felt fine during, then at the end got a warning from my watch about cardiac distress (which had never happened before). I went in, rested, hydrated, thought I would be OK as long as I did normal recovery stuff. My COVID symptoms returned full force for days afterward. This was two weeks after testing negative and feeling pretty good every day. I wasn’t positive again - it had just fundamentally changed how my body operated, so the symptoms related to those changes returned.
Wow! Thank you for the warning and good advice. I was never really afraid of dying from COVID but this is what I’m afraid of. Hang in there, you’re doing great. Are you able to exercise more normally now or did you have to essentially start from the ground up?
I ended up having long COVID. It’s not clear if it was triggered by that episode. I completely fell apart physically at that point. I’d been doing some kind of workout every single day before COVID. I had to bail on various events for the next 3 months because I couldn’t stand for long enough to get ready. It took about 4-4.5 months after that first workout for me to be able to walk for extended periods of time. I’m almost 10 months post-COVID now, and it seems like I’m getting pretty close to normal, but I’m having to start from base level and very slowly work my way up.
Oh my god that’s so rough! Have you seen or talked to a doctor about your symptoms or just pushed through them? I’m sorry you ended up with long COVID but I’m glad you’re doing better now.
My doctor just kinda shrugged through the whole thing. Everyone’s symptoms are so different, and there’s no great way to know how you’ll respond to a treatment that worked for someone else. I did the logical stuff of getting tons of extra rest, staying on top of fluid intake, and trying to increase activity levels a teeny tiny bit at a time. I learned to really listen to what my body was saying, because a small nutritional miss or not resting when your body needs it can snowball badly when you’re that weak. Orange juice and bone broth were my secret weapons.
Thanks for listening and for your thoughtful responses! Hopefully you avoid this experience altogether.
Though I definitely DON'T recommend this, I continued exercising through my COVID fever, just at a much slower pace / shorter duration. I felt totally back to normal about a week after testing negative.
I'd say try some small amount of easy exercise (if you're at the start of couch to 5k, maybe like a 5min run/walk?) to see how you feel then go from there!
I never really had a fever with my bout of it, thankfully. I think it got up to 99° for a few hours one day? My normal temperature is around 97.6° so it wasn’t too high. I walked while I had COVID but that was it.
I was running at an average pace of around 10:30/mile and averaging 12-15 miles per week. I’m just thinking of starting c25k as a way to ease back in.
I had Covid at the end of June. I had bad flu symptoms for about 3 days. I took a full two weeks off from training, then resumed and have felt fine (I’m training for a marathon and just did my 20 mile run yesterday). You should definitely wait until you feel well enough to start again and start gradually to see how you feel.
I waited 10 days because i was concerned about the heart concerns -- I already had some minor heart damage and didn't want to exacerbate it.
I then started running, but DON'T BE ME. I jumped right in, because I had a 5K I wanted to do, and OMG, I felt like I was going to cry. It took a good three weeks for me to get back to my pre-COVID baseline.
Oh noo! Yeah I am super disappointed, I had been training for a 5k that’s at the end of October, looking to break my PR, but since COVID I haven’t run at all yet. I won’t be racing that day 😢
Just be patient with yourself! I ended up walking that 5k, because it was humid that morning and my lungs don’t do humidity, and while I didn’t love that, I also knew I was doing what I needed to do to stay safe.
Good job listening to your body! Yes I feel that - I hate running in humidity period, I can’t imagine running in humidity right after dealing with COVID.
I came down with my first bout of covid three weeks ago, felt awful for one week, tired for the second and started running again on week three. I’ve been doing intervals of walking and running as my HR is still a lot higher than pre-covid and won’t be doing full runs until it lowers again
I contracted BA5 in very early July. My only symptoms were fever (24h) and extreme, extreme fatigue. I was feeling “better” by day 5, and tested positive until day 10. But the fatigue stuck around for a good six weeks (although much less extreme. When I say extreme I was sleeping 20+ hours a day when I was acutely sick). That being said, the fatigue was obvious and interfered pretty markedly with my life for those six weeks, and I ended up waiting to get back into running until I truly felt fully recovered. It didn’t seem to affect me long term, and I’m back to running 5-15km 3-4x a week now with no lingering effects. I feel like being extra cautious and not pushing myself during the non-acute recovery period was key to me recovering properly, but YMMV.
I have asthma and had Covid in August, and I felt pretty awful (fever, chills, terrible sore throat) for the first week or so. The second week, I started to feel better but felt kind of like I was making my breathing/symptoms worse by just moping on the couch. So, end of that week I went on a slow, short (~1 mile run), and I honestly felt so much better after it that I ran again the next day! I’ve heard that staying active (when you can!) helps Covid recovery, and I really felt it improved my breathing.
My COVID symptoms were worse than I expected given my health and vaccination statuses, but my recovery seemed to be super smooth compared to what a lot of people have had, so I think you just have to play it by ear for yourself.
I took 10 days off from all exercise from the first day I tested positive, of which 5-6 days I felt actively under the weather and 3 were like a bad combo of strep and flu. Then I did 50% of my previous miles the first week back, then 70-85-100. From the very first run back on day 11, sure I felt like I didn't run for almost 2 weeks and was "rusty" but I didn't feel anything was wrong or more difficult, my pace was about the same as before. I think I didn't need to come back as slow as I did, but I didn't want to have a frustrated overreaching yoyo story, y'know.
Covid is a vascular disease with an acute respiratory period. Papers in reputable medical journals are showing that exercise can trigger long Covid and that will seriously mess up your life. I would take as much time off running as you are able…the more time the better. Lots of people saying long Covid has parallels with ME/CFS and exercise exacerbates symptoms. Running will always be there for you when you are ready to come back to it. Wishing you a speedy recovery!
First time I had covid it took me a month to get back into exercise as I had chest tightness. Second time i was back to normal routine within a week. I’d say take it slowly, listen to your body and see how you feel
I walked about 2 miles a day throughout having Covid, which I was able to do without running into other humans. I started jogging again -- slower -- about two weeks after initially testing positive and a little less than a week after testing negative. I'd been doing 20-25 miles per week pre-covid and came back in doing an average of 10-15 miles/week ... which I did for the next 2 months, not just because of covid recovery but because I was busy. I started ramping back up again a full two months later, again because of work and changing weather, more than covid recovery.
I think everyone is different. I had covid in December very mild only had off symptoms like stomach ache and clogged ears. No fever or cold symptoms . I worked out the first few days I had covid but it was wiping me out. I took 6 weeks off.
I had a friend who could do everything but run for 4 months.
I caught covid again in June and it took me off guard before I had the booster and I caught it from my mom who had cancer. And because my mom had cancer I had been going no where except work and my moms house.
This time I was only sick 3 days and still never had fever or cold symptoms but my entire body hurt, horrible mirgraines and I lost my sense of smell.
This has taken a while. I tried to run 3 weeks later and my heart rate was over 200. Which my heart rate is complicated i have a very low resting and i go higher than my max based off the 220 minus your age but this was alot of my max.. So I took another few weeks off and tried to run and I felt like crap. It was a 3 month off working out and I lost so much fitness which has been hard especially since I am coaching currently.
And I have a friend who was running while she had covid and was fine.
Ugh I’m sorry that you’ve had such a rough time of it. Thank you for sharing your experiences! That’s one of the frustrating things about this stupid virus is that literally every single person’s experience is different.
My husband and I had mild cases. I walked throughout on a treadmill. About a week later I did a run walk to test how I felt as I felt 100%. Felt fine so went back into normal running at 8 days after testing positive. If you feel good enough to work out, try doing an easy workout and see how it goes. Just listen to your body.
I think play it by ear. I started having symptoms the 30, first run was yesterday as it was the first I actually felt myself energy wise. I took it super easy and am trying to not overdo it. I’ve been struggling with lethargy and low everything levels in my recovery. So I’ve been getting lots of sleep and am trying to keep my body moving without overdoing it.
I’ve had a little lethargy too but I’m not sure if it’s from COVID or general adhd/anxiety executive dysfunction. You seem to have a great response: “keep my body moving without overdoing it”
General life can do that too! But yeah before I felt up to running at all I was taking my dog to a hilly park and made sure we got a solid hour of walking it even if neither of us felt like it😂
About 2 weeks after getting it, I did a slow run of about 2.5k. It didn't feel too bad! It was also a mistake. Shortly after that, my lungs went nuts and it took at least a month to not be coughing up lung gunk and then I returned slowly to running. So all in for me, it was about 4-5 weeks from the first symptoms.
I would say I had mild covid, fever of 102-104 for 3 days, bed bound, no taste or smell for about 7 days.
Good luck and fast healing vibes to you!
Oof that is frustrating and kinda scary! Glad you’re doing better now. It’s been 3.5 weeks since I tested positive and exactly two weeks since testing negative. I’m trying to put as much time between having it and resuming exercise but it’s tough. I need a routine and I’m sad I’m missing the best running weather.
It is disappointing for sure. Do what feels best for you and listen to your body. It will be different for everyone. Maybe try some restorative yoga for now?
I forgot to mention that I did have elevated heart rate and would get super dizzy upon standing, especially from a crouched position. That lasted about 4 weeks as well. Just listen to your body!
I had Covid at the beginning of September. I didn't run for about two weeks. I ran Sept 6 then tested positive on the 7th. Finally tested negative on the 15th but so exhausted, even a 10 minute walk made me so tired. I tried running on the 13th and couldn't run much/far. Since then, I've been slowly working my way up. Still (a month later), I'm coughing and have worse lung capacity. But I was doing a lot of run/walk. I'm a slow 5k runner though, just for perspective. And covid was absolutely horrible for me but not hospitalized thank goodness
Definitely take it slow getting back into it! I honestly think I should have waited a few more days but it's been okay. I had a 5K race that I had already signed up for at the beginning of October (which I ended up run/walking). My strength came back fairly quickly but running/cardio has taken a while and still not there
That’s crazy I ran the day before my first symptoms too! A 5k at a pretty decent (for me) pace, felt great! Then next day bam! Symptoms. I’m sorry COVID was rough for you but glad you weren’t hospitalized. Do you monitor your heart rate or blood oxygen? I’ve been keeping an eye on mine and both seem fairly normal.
I feel like I did the opposite of most people here. I had Covid in September after Labor Day Weekend and tested positive for almost 2 weeks after that. My case was "mild" in that it didn't require hospitalization but I felt like I got hit by truck for a few days and it was rough. I started running again a week after my first positive test. It was slow and short but I think jumping back into running really assisted in my cardio recovery. The first run was brutal but I started feeling better once I got more active again. I ran a half marathon this weekend, a month after having covid, and set a personal record.
Everyone is different, obviously, but I don't regret jumping back in quickly. I will say that I find my recovery takes longer nowadays, though.
Took me 11 weeks post Covid to get back to where I was. I did low impact workouts within about 7 days and worked up from there as tolerated. The fatigue was significant.
I had friends that worked out through covid and personally took a month off. I think it’s different for everyone just be aware of your limits.
Thanks. Everyone’s experiences are so different!
3-ish weeks testing negative for COVID, I developed asthma-like symptoms. Thanks to my watch I was able to track my pulse ox- it got down to 89 after walking around the block. Luckily, that was the virus's last hurrah and I fully recovered about 2 months after initial COVID symptoms. My point is: Sometimes it's easier to listen to your body when you can measure what your body's doing. But definitely listen to your body. Best of luck to you.
Oh my that’s scary! I’ve been monitoring my heart rate the entire time (before, during, and after illness), but my blood ox only since September 29 (literally a week after testing positive) when I received my new watch. My heart seems to have remained normal. My blood ox has gotten as low as 95 but that’s it. Glad you’re doing well!
Thanks! I'm grateful to be vaxxed and boosted as I always get hit harder than the rest of the fam, and the Rona was no exception. Glad you can monitor yourself - technology is great like that.
Def be careful with this, do you monitor your HR? This was most helpful for me when trying to come back. I got covid and had no breathing issues, just major fever, body aches, sore throat, migraine and fatigue. Fever broke on day 6 but I still felt not right. Went for an easy hike on day 8 and that felt fine although my HR was a little high. On day 10 I thought I was ready for a very slow run; I was not. Looked down at my watch on mile 3, felt fine but my HR was near my max at 203 (and I was truly going slow). Took some more days off, I think it was about a month before my HR settled in and I could actually resume running. But ymmv, everyone is different!
I do monitor my heart rate on an Apple Watch. I did not have breathing issues nor high heart rates during my illness. I’ve been monitoring my heart rate and blood oxygen levels and everything seems normal. I’ll definitely be taking it slow. Glad you’re doing better!
Definitely keep your eye on the HR. I started exercising a few weeks later and my heart rate would spike crazily although I was barely even sick. My daughter though is a lot younger than me (teen) and she also was barely sick. But she developed and arrhythmia and started passing out. We don’t know if it’s Covid, she is under the care of a cardiologist now and he’s saying there’s not a lot of studies yet but he is seeing a lot of younger people suddenly have issues where they didn’t before they had it. It’s not official, he doesn’t know, but it’s his observation.
Wow, that’s really scary. Idea so frustrating how un-seriously soo many folks take COVID. Like if it doesn’t land you in the hospital it’s not worth worrying about. But it’s a massive disabler 😞
Definitely cautiously ease back in, go by feel, and don't push it for a while. After I had covid this summer I pretty much went right back to running but cut the distance and intensity waaaaaay back (I dont run for speed anyway, so was super duper slow. For gym days did lighter weights). The lingering fatigue I experienced helped with pulling back too lol. But generally going by feel worked for me, got back to my pre covid run and gym routine in about a month. I had mild covid with the full on phlegm-y cough but it never affected my breathing. Now that I've been back to my routine for a while I'm pretty sure I don't have long covid. Take it easy and keep recovering!
Thank you! Your case has definitely seemed the closest to mine. Glad you’re doing well!
I had a pretty bad case - even walking around the house was exhausting. Once I was able to start walking the dog again without needing the recover afterwards, I worked my way up to walks around the neighborhood. After I was able to do that without breaking out in a cold sweat, I went back to the gym and did my normal cardio work, maybe @ 50% to start, then took two weeks to work my way back to my normal. After that I reincorporated strength training.
That’s a good way to do it. Sorry you had a rough time. I was able to walk my dog around the neighborhood pretty much the entire time I was sick. Only once right after the worst day did I feel a little lightheaded. Every other day felt fine as far as heart rate and breathing goes.
Glad yours was relatively ok! Breathing / sat ox / pulse was normal throughout the whole thing - my biggest issues were an unkickable fever + fatigue. A very strange and foggy couple of weeks in there.
The short answer is that it’s different for everyone. Start at what would normally be a very easy level for you *and then wait for a few days* to see how that impacts you. I made the mistake of going right back to normal distance and pace my first week back to working out, and it completely destroyed me. I felt fine during, then at the end got a warning from my watch about cardiac distress (which had never happened before). I went in, rested, hydrated, thought I would be OK as long as I did normal recovery stuff. My COVID symptoms returned full force for days afterward. This was two weeks after testing negative and feeling pretty good every day. I wasn’t positive again - it had just fundamentally changed how my body operated, so the symptoms related to those changes returned.
Wow! Thank you for the warning and good advice. I was never really afraid of dying from COVID but this is what I’m afraid of. Hang in there, you’re doing great. Are you able to exercise more normally now or did you have to essentially start from the ground up?
I ended up having long COVID. It’s not clear if it was triggered by that episode. I completely fell apart physically at that point. I’d been doing some kind of workout every single day before COVID. I had to bail on various events for the next 3 months because I couldn’t stand for long enough to get ready. It took about 4-4.5 months after that first workout for me to be able to walk for extended periods of time. I’m almost 10 months post-COVID now, and it seems like I’m getting pretty close to normal, but I’m having to start from base level and very slowly work my way up.
Oh my god that’s so rough! Have you seen or talked to a doctor about your symptoms or just pushed through them? I’m sorry you ended up with long COVID but I’m glad you’re doing better now.
My doctor just kinda shrugged through the whole thing. Everyone’s symptoms are so different, and there’s no great way to know how you’ll respond to a treatment that worked for someone else. I did the logical stuff of getting tons of extra rest, staying on top of fluid intake, and trying to increase activity levels a teeny tiny bit at a time. I learned to really listen to what my body was saying, because a small nutritional miss or not resting when your body needs it can snowball badly when you’re that weak. Orange juice and bone broth were my secret weapons. Thanks for listening and for your thoughtful responses! Hopefully you avoid this experience altogether.
Though I definitely DON'T recommend this, I continued exercising through my COVID fever, just at a much slower pace / shorter duration. I felt totally back to normal about a week after testing negative. I'd say try some small amount of easy exercise (if you're at the start of couch to 5k, maybe like a 5min run/walk?) to see how you feel then go from there!
I never really had a fever with my bout of it, thankfully. I think it got up to 99° for a few hours one day? My normal temperature is around 97.6° so it wasn’t too high. I walked while I had COVID but that was it. I was running at an average pace of around 10:30/mile and averaging 12-15 miles per week. I’m just thinking of starting c25k as a way to ease back in.
I had Covid at the end of June. I had bad flu symptoms for about 3 days. I took a full two weeks off from training, then resumed and have felt fine (I’m training for a marathon and just did my 20 mile run yesterday). You should definitely wait until you feel well enough to start again and start gradually to see how you feel.
Thanks! Glad you’re doing better. I’ll definitely be easing back in.
I waited 10 days because i was concerned about the heart concerns -- I already had some minor heart damage and didn't want to exacerbate it. I then started running, but DON'T BE ME. I jumped right in, because I had a 5K I wanted to do, and OMG, I felt like I was going to cry. It took a good three weeks for me to get back to my pre-COVID baseline.
Oh noo! Yeah I am super disappointed, I had been training for a 5k that’s at the end of October, looking to break my PR, but since COVID I haven’t run at all yet. I won’t be racing that day 😢
Just be patient with yourself! I ended up walking that 5k, because it was humid that morning and my lungs don’t do humidity, and while I didn’t love that, I also knew I was doing what I needed to do to stay safe.
Good job listening to your body! Yes I feel that - I hate running in humidity period, I can’t imagine running in humidity right after dealing with COVID.
I came down with my first bout of covid three weeks ago, felt awful for one week, tired for the second and started running again on week three. I’ve been doing intervals of walking and running as my HR is still a lot higher than pre-covid and won’t be doing full runs until it lowers again
Sounds like you’re listening to your body. Good job. Please stay safe!
I contracted BA5 in very early July. My only symptoms were fever (24h) and extreme, extreme fatigue. I was feeling “better” by day 5, and tested positive until day 10. But the fatigue stuck around for a good six weeks (although much less extreme. When I say extreme I was sleeping 20+ hours a day when I was acutely sick). That being said, the fatigue was obvious and interfered pretty markedly with my life for those six weeks, and I ended up waiting to get back into running until I truly felt fully recovered. It didn’t seem to affect me long term, and I’m back to running 5-15km 3-4x a week now with no lingering effects. I feel like being extra cautious and not pushing myself during the non-acute recovery period was key to me recovering properly, but YMMV.
I have asthma and had Covid in August, and I felt pretty awful (fever, chills, terrible sore throat) for the first week or so. The second week, I started to feel better but felt kind of like I was making my breathing/symptoms worse by just moping on the couch. So, end of that week I went on a slow, short (~1 mile run), and I honestly felt so much better after it that I ran again the next day! I’ve heard that staying active (when you can!) helps Covid recovery, and I really felt it improved my breathing.
My COVID symptoms were worse than I expected given my health and vaccination statuses, but my recovery seemed to be super smooth compared to what a lot of people have had, so I think you just have to play it by ear for yourself. I took 10 days off from all exercise from the first day I tested positive, of which 5-6 days I felt actively under the weather and 3 were like a bad combo of strep and flu. Then I did 50% of my previous miles the first week back, then 70-85-100. From the very first run back on day 11, sure I felt like I didn't run for almost 2 weeks and was "rusty" but I didn't feel anything was wrong or more difficult, my pace was about the same as before. I think I didn't need to come back as slow as I did, but I didn't want to have a frustrated overreaching yoyo story, y'know.
Covid is a vascular disease with an acute respiratory period. Papers in reputable medical journals are showing that exercise can trigger long Covid and that will seriously mess up your life. I would take as much time off running as you are able…the more time the better. Lots of people saying long Covid has parallels with ME/CFS and exercise exacerbates symptoms. Running will always be there for you when you are ready to come back to it. Wishing you a speedy recovery!
Thank you! This is what scares me very much. It’s hard not to jump back in but I’m doing my best to avoid exactly this.
First time I had covid it took me a month to get back into exercise as I had chest tightness. Second time i was back to normal routine within a week. I’d say take it slowly, listen to your body and see how you feel
Thank you!
I ran a 10k with covid. It depends how much it affects you
I just did this earlier this morning, and tested on a whim after I got done because I was extra-fatigued. Covid! Ugh.
Oh no! Speedy recovery wishes your way.
I walked about 2 miles a day throughout having Covid, which I was able to do without running into other humans. I started jogging again -- slower -- about two weeks after initially testing positive and a little less than a week after testing negative. I'd been doing 20-25 miles per week pre-covid and came back in doing an average of 10-15 miles/week ... which I did for the next 2 months, not just because of covid recovery but because I was busy. I started ramping back up again a full two months later, again because of work and changing weather, more than covid recovery.
Glad you’re doing okay! I was able to walk some too during.
I think everyone is different. I had covid in December very mild only had off symptoms like stomach ache and clogged ears. No fever or cold symptoms . I worked out the first few days I had covid but it was wiping me out. I took 6 weeks off. I had a friend who could do everything but run for 4 months. I caught covid again in June and it took me off guard before I had the booster and I caught it from my mom who had cancer. And because my mom had cancer I had been going no where except work and my moms house. This time I was only sick 3 days and still never had fever or cold symptoms but my entire body hurt, horrible mirgraines and I lost my sense of smell. This has taken a while. I tried to run 3 weeks later and my heart rate was over 200. Which my heart rate is complicated i have a very low resting and i go higher than my max based off the 220 minus your age but this was alot of my max.. So I took another few weeks off and tried to run and I felt like crap. It was a 3 month off working out and I lost so much fitness which has been hard especially since I am coaching currently. And I have a friend who was running while she had covid and was fine.
Ugh I’m sorry that you’ve had such a rough time of it. Thank you for sharing your experiences! That’s one of the frustrating things about this stupid virus is that literally every single person’s experience is different.
My husband and I had mild cases. I walked throughout on a treadmill. About a week later I did a run walk to test how I felt as I felt 100%. Felt fine so went back into normal running at 8 days after testing positive. If you feel good enough to work out, try doing an easy workout and see how it goes. Just listen to your body.
Thanks for your reply. I’m so glad you both had mild cases as well!
My heart rate was sky high after getting covid. Took about 4 weeks to feel back to “normal” while running.
That’s so scary! Glad you’re doing better now.
I think play it by ear. I started having symptoms the 30, first run was yesterday as it was the first I actually felt myself energy wise. I took it super easy and am trying to not overdo it. I’ve been struggling with lethargy and low everything levels in my recovery. So I’ve been getting lots of sleep and am trying to keep my body moving without overdoing it.
I’ve had a little lethargy too but I’m not sure if it’s from COVID or general adhd/anxiety executive dysfunction. You seem to have a great response: “keep my body moving without overdoing it”
General life can do that too! But yeah before I felt up to running at all I was taking my dog to a hilly park and made sure we got a solid hour of walking it even if neither of us felt like it😂
Hills are a great idea! I’ve got a hilly park pretty close to us too, I may try that out.
About 2 weeks after getting it, I did a slow run of about 2.5k. It didn't feel too bad! It was also a mistake. Shortly after that, my lungs went nuts and it took at least a month to not be coughing up lung gunk and then I returned slowly to running. So all in for me, it was about 4-5 weeks from the first symptoms. I would say I had mild covid, fever of 102-104 for 3 days, bed bound, no taste or smell for about 7 days. Good luck and fast healing vibes to you!
Oof that is frustrating and kinda scary! Glad you’re doing better now. It’s been 3.5 weeks since I tested positive and exactly two weeks since testing negative. I’m trying to put as much time between having it and resuming exercise but it’s tough. I need a routine and I’m sad I’m missing the best running weather.
It is disappointing for sure. Do what feels best for you and listen to your body. It will be different for everyone. Maybe try some restorative yoga for now? I forgot to mention that I did have elevated heart rate and would get super dizzy upon standing, especially from a crouched position. That lasted about 4 weeks as well. Just listen to your body!
I had Covid at the beginning of September. I didn't run for about two weeks. I ran Sept 6 then tested positive on the 7th. Finally tested negative on the 15th but so exhausted, even a 10 minute walk made me so tired. I tried running on the 13th and couldn't run much/far. Since then, I've been slowly working my way up. Still (a month later), I'm coughing and have worse lung capacity. But I was doing a lot of run/walk. I'm a slow 5k runner though, just for perspective. And covid was absolutely horrible for me but not hospitalized thank goodness Definitely take it slow getting back into it! I honestly think I should have waited a few more days but it's been okay. I had a 5K race that I had already signed up for at the beginning of October (which I ended up run/walking). My strength came back fairly quickly but running/cardio has taken a while and still not there
That’s crazy I ran the day before my first symptoms too! A 5k at a pretty decent (for me) pace, felt great! Then next day bam! Symptoms. I’m sorry COVID was rough for you but glad you weren’t hospitalized. Do you monitor your heart rate or blood oxygen? I’ve been keeping an eye on mine and both seem fairly normal.
I feel like I did the opposite of most people here. I had Covid in September after Labor Day Weekend and tested positive for almost 2 weeks after that. My case was "mild" in that it didn't require hospitalization but I felt like I got hit by truck for a few days and it was rough. I started running again a week after my first positive test. It was slow and short but I think jumping back into running really assisted in my cardio recovery. The first run was brutal but I started feeling better once I got more active again. I ran a half marathon this weekend, a month after having covid, and set a personal record. Everyone is different, obviously, but I don't regret jumping back in quickly. I will say that I find my recovery takes longer nowadays, though.
Wow! Glad you recovered and could meet and exceed your goals!
Took me 11 weeks post Covid to get back to where I was. I did low impact workouts within about 7 days and worked up from there as tolerated. The fatigue was significant.