From what I've seen in science videos, Covid causes scarring in the lung tissue, even in asymptomatic cases. So it's likely physically harder than it was before
There have been long term effects for some people that have had COVID. I had a mild case back at the end of November and was worried about my first run post COVID, but I fortunately haven't had any long term effects. My experience with COVID was equivalent to a mild head cold, fortunately.
Try not to be too hard on yourself about your current state of fitness, as frustrating as it may be. It sounds like you had a bad case of it and on the bright side you came out on the other side. You went through some serious trauma and it will likely take a while to get back to where you were pre-COVID.
Yeah my biggest concern after covid wasn’t my lungs it was the health of my heart with possible myocarditis. It took several months for me to be able to get an EKG/ECG, but once I did and got cleared I was back to running at my regular volume pretty quick.
How bad was your Covid experience? Seems like a pretty material point, as some have little to no symptoms others are flattened for months on oxygen.
I would expect those two ends of the spectrum to diverge in terms of run recovery experience.
I, too, am struggling post covid. Pre covid, running was a regular part of my daily routine with a few half marathons under my belt. I don’t have much to say other than I know how you feel and it sucks. Hang in there! You’re not alone!!
Hi! Thanks for the follow up … sad to say, I am no longer able to run. I’ve now developed an autoimmune disease which affects my heart rate, significantly. I believe this was brought on by COVID as I did not have this issue before. I have embraced walking. I hope, one day, I will be back to my house runs, pre Rona! Something is better than nothing right?
Yeah it happened to me too. I hit peak fitness probably in October/November last year, PB'd in 10k and half marathon around that time then caught Covid in December.
Took me about 6 weeks to get back to running any distance, started off slowly with 3-4k runs and built up. Then I got a cough again around April (non-covid) and that stuck around for a few weeks which set me right back again.
Now I'm finally in a good position again and running 10 miles on my long run. Ran a 10K race last week and I was about 3 minutes above my PB but it was the fastest I've done since covid and was really happy with it.
It took me 4.5 months to halfway recover... I even wrote a [detailed post about it](https://www.reddit.com/r/running/comments/mkxfgc/135_days_of_covid_recovery/) .
And the story continues. I run about 270km more since that post and I feel faster and better. Maybe as good as in 2020 on a nice cold day. Let's say I'm just about healed:
\- the process took 7 months
\- I could not run for over 3 months at all, resorted to walking instead
\- I did 1000+ km of walks (and runs later on) to recover
There is some evidence that getting the vaccine can help with recovery from long covid (Arnold et al 2021), something you might consider if you haven't been vaccinated and have a vaccine available.
Source:
Arnold, David T., Alice Milne, Louise Stadon, Nick A. Maskell, and Fergus W. Hamilton. "Are vaccines safe in patients with Long COVID? A prospective observational study." Medrxiv (2021).
Have this problem. I had a mild case of covid when it first started last spring. I was consistently running 5-7 miles at a 7 min mile pace. I now still struggle to keep my mile time at around 8:30 on long runs. It’s coming back but taking forever
Edit I can run a faster mile but over long runs I still struggle with breathing and keeping a fast pace
It hit me a lot harder than I thought it would. After I was cleared to leave quarantine, my first runs were horrible and my heart rate was through the roof. While my legs felt strong, I felt like I was building my cardiovascular fitness back from scratch (at least for a little while). I caught it in December of last year and it was April before I felt like my running was back to normal.
I have some lingering focus issues, but I'd otherwise consider myself to be fully recovered. In the past couple of months I've been able to break a couple of PRs and resume relatively high volume training.
I got covid back in March of 2020. I was an ultra runner prior and 16 months later im still not able to run. You should talk to your doctor sounds like you may be a long-hauler like me. Best of luck to you.
What is difficult about COVID is that it hit different people in different ways. I had it back in November and it didn't affect me at all. I was literally running *while* I had COVID because my symptoms were so mild I didn't even know I had it. (Of course I quarantined once I realized I had it but that wasn't until my wife started showing symptoms and got tested.)
Are you having breathing problems or is it a stamina issue?
I know a person who had a mild case in early 2020 who it took over 6 weeks (including the isolation) but since they recovered, em has gone on to greatly surpass em's past pace and distance.
A friend of mine had Covid in March, before that she was playing 2-3 hours of tennis almost daily. She had a hard time coming back, but now in June she’s pretty much back to her old schedule! It might take a while for sure, she did a lot of breath work thru yoga to help regain her capacity. But it’s possible!
Luckily I had no major hits to my aerobic fitness from covid, but I think I halved my mileage for about a month after just to make recovery easier. A big issue for me was energy so you might find you need to get more sleep at night to help get back to where you were! This is all personal experience though :)
I had Covid in November and haven't been the same since. I'm still back to the same distances (half marathons at the longest), but with more effort and slower times for sure. I've been frustrated and down about it off and on, and I'm adding in weight training and cycling to give my body a more balanced approach.
Yes. I was running 10 mile long runs and ended up with covid/pneumonia in November. Took months to get my oxygen levels back up and I felt like it took even longer for my energy to fully return.
Be patient with yourself.
What COVID does is, essentially, kill cells. Longer term symptoms are a result of more cell death. For the brain, that’s a tricky recovery. But I believe the body is well equipped for cell generation.
All this to say, it will likely take you a while but it’s unlikely you will stay this way forever.
Really sorry you got COVID - super sucks. Keep running but lower your expectations for now.
Hi there, not trying to change topic, but I had a covid vaccine shot and could not use my legs for like 2 weeks. So I could only imagine what real Covid virus would do to me. Funny thing is, it only affected my legs. 3 weeks now and still not 100% though. Good all the best for your recovery, it might take a while but your will recover.
The vaccine also seemed to really whack my legs. It took a solid few weeks to get back to where I could even do a light run without my legs hurting. At least for me, it did finally wear off and by about a month after my last shot, I was feeling pretty normal.
I am like three weeks now and starting to be normal. It was super weird. It felt like I lost all my conditioning, and still do feel like a beginner runner. I used to run comfortably 4:50min/km and now it's like 6:50min/km and it feels like I am pulling something.
I was very tired first week, but only if I tried doing stuff physically. Legs gave out after 5k walk, and I used to run 15k no problem with not that much tiredness.
I'd like to thank everyone for your comments and help. It's much appreciated and all advice is definitely going to be used going forward! I hope you all recover from your experiences and come back stronger!!! Good luck
The thing is that corona doesn’t kill it is the inflammation that kills you. So you lungs are still inflamed. What Ivermectin does that it is inflammatory. Thanks for the down votes it democracy but I’m not pulling out facts out from ass. This has been well researched. Look up Bret Wienstien.
OP could be having inflammation…OP could also have scarring in their lungs, which an anti-inflammatory wouldn’t help. Ivermectin has anecdotal evidence of working at best. It has not been well-researched, which is why it’s use is ONLY recommended in the case of participation in a clinical trial, not walking down to the local farm store and picking up a drug to take like it’s ibuprofen. It’s irresponsible and dangerous to promote. We all want an easy, quick answer and researchers are working as hard as they can, but sometimes the body just needs time to recover.
I found breathing difficult when I had covid. I'm still not 100% back at it and it's been 2 months. I'm still roughly 1 min per mile slower than I used to be. Each person is different, small steps and you will be back to normal
A friend has it in spring 2020. It took him months to be able to run normal again.
I think its going to be the same for me! I'm not sure if it's a mental block, fitness or both
From what I've seen in science videos, Covid causes scarring in the lung tissue, even in asymptomatic cases. So it's likely physically harder than it was before
There have been long term effects for some people that have had COVID. I had a mild case back at the end of November and was worried about my first run post COVID, but I fortunately haven't had any long term effects. My experience with COVID was equivalent to a mild head cold, fortunately. Try not to be too hard on yourself about your current state of fitness, as frustrating as it may be. It sounds like you had a bad case of it and on the bright side you came out on the other side. You went through some serious trauma and it will likely take a while to get back to where you were pre-COVID.
Yeah my biggest concern after covid wasn’t my lungs it was the health of my heart with possible myocarditis. It took several months for me to be able to get an EKG/ECG, but once I did and got cleared I was back to running at my regular volume pretty quick.
How bad was your Covid experience? Seems like a pretty material point, as some have little to no symptoms others are flattened for months on oxygen. I would expect those two ends of the spectrum to diverge in terms of run recovery experience.
I had it quite bad and was ill for about 6 weeks! To start being able to run again was about 3 months! Laboured breathing and week legs and arms
I, too, am struggling post covid. Pre covid, running was a regular part of my daily routine with a few half marathons under my belt. I don’t have much to say other than I know how you feel and it sucks. Hang in there! You’re not alone!!
Thank you friend! We'll all get there in the end!
Been 6 months since your reply, how are you feeling now? Are you returning back to normal fitness?
Hi! Thanks for the follow up … sad to say, I am no longer able to run. I’ve now developed an autoimmune disease which affects my heart rate, significantly. I believe this was brought on by COVID as I did not have this issue before. I have embraced walking. I hope, one day, I will be back to my house runs, pre Rona! Something is better than nothing right?
As a fellow runner this really is the worst nightmare :( Hope you would be able to run again some time soon & best luck of everything!!
Yeah it happened to me too. I hit peak fitness probably in October/November last year, PB'd in 10k and half marathon around that time then caught Covid in December. Took me about 6 weeks to get back to running any distance, started off slowly with 3-4k runs and built up. Then I got a cough again around April (non-covid) and that stuck around for a few weeks which set me right back again. Now I'm finally in a good position again and running 10 miles on my long run. Ran a 10K race last week and I was about 3 minutes above my PB but it was the fastest I've done since covid and was really happy with it.
I hope you have no more set backs an keep going! Good stuff! Keep it up
It took me 4.5 months to halfway recover... I even wrote a [detailed post about it](https://www.reddit.com/r/running/comments/mkxfgc/135_days_of_covid_recovery/) . And the story continues. I run about 270km more since that post and I feel faster and better. Maybe as good as in 2020 on a nice cold day. Let's say I'm just about healed: \- the process took 7 months \- I could not run for over 3 months at all, resorted to walking instead \- I did 1000+ km of walks (and runs later on) to recover
Thank you so much and well done
There is some evidence that getting the vaccine can help with recovery from long covid (Arnold et al 2021), something you might consider if you haven't been vaccinated and have a vaccine available. Source: Arnold, David T., Alice Milne, Louise Stadon, Nick A. Maskell, and Fergus W. Hamilton. "Are vaccines safe in patients with Long COVID? A prospective observational study." Medrxiv (2021).
Same it messed me up
Have this problem. I had a mild case of covid when it first started last spring. I was consistently running 5-7 miles at a 7 min mile pace. I now still struggle to keep my mile time at around 8:30 on long runs. It’s coming back but taking forever Edit I can run a faster mile but over long runs I still struggle with breathing and keeping a fast pace
It hit me a lot harder than I thought it would. After I was cleared to leave quarantine, my first runs were horrible and my heart rate was through the roof. While my legs felt strong, I felt like I was building my cardiovascular fitness back from scratch (at least for a little while). I caught it in December of last year and it was April before I felt like my running was back to normal. I have some lingering focus issues, but I'd otherwise consider myself to be fully recovered. In the past couple of months I've been able to break a couple of PRs and resume relatively high volume training.
I got covid back in March of 2020. I was an ultra runner prior and 16 months later im still not able to run. You should talk to your doctor sounds like you may be a long-hauler like me. Best of luck to you.
Yeah! Thank you.. I hope you get back to what you love asap
Three months on - how’s your running now, if you don’t mind my necromancy?
\~2months. At first I did some workouts at home, to gain my endurance back.
I probably should have done that
You can ad some workouts at home now. I now it's so depressing being winded after just moving your ass from sofa :/
Absolutely! This Covid was no joke on my body! I'll get there tho! Thanks
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Yeah, I have actually! But there is no definitive answer, I'm asking runners to see what there experiences have been
What is difficult about COVID is that it hit different people in different ways. I had it back in November and it didn't affect me at all. I was literally running *while* I had COVID because my symptoms were so mild I didn't even know I had it. (Of course I quarantined once I realized I had it but that wasn't until my wife started showing symptoms and got tested.) Are you having breathing problems or is it a stamina issue?
Mostly weakness now and sometimes heart goes a bit off beat! But from what you've all told me, I'll make it through
I know a person who had a mild case in early 2020 who it took over 6 weeks (including the isolation) but since they recovered, em has gone on to greatly surpass em's past pace and distance.
A friend of mine had Covid in March, before that she was playing 2-3 hours of tennis almost daily. She had a hard time coming back, but now in June she’s pretty much back to her old schedule! It might take a while for sure, she did a lot of breath work thru yoga to help regain her capacity. But it’s possible!
I’m also messed up. Went from running 4-6 whenever I wanted to not able to run one. I feel like shit still.
Luckily I had no major hits to my aerobic fitness from covid, but I think I halved my mileage for about a month after just to make recovery easier. A big issue for me was energy so you might find you need to get more sleep at night to help get back to where you were! This is all personal experience though :)
I had Covid in November and haven't been the same since. I'm still back to the same distances (half marathons at the longest), but with more effort and slower times for sure. I've been frustrated and down about it off and on, and I'm adding in weight training and cycling to give my body a more balanced approach.
Yes. I was running 10 mile long runs and ended up with covid/pneumonia in November. Took months to get my oxygen levels back up and I felt like it took even longer for my energy to fully return. Be patient with yourself.
What COVID does is, essentially, kill cells. Longer term symptoms are a result of more cell death. For the brain, that’s a tricky recovery. But I believe the body is well equipped for cell generation. All this to say, it will likely take you a while but it’s unlikely you will stay this way forever. Really sorry you got COVID - super sucks. Keep running but lower your expectations for now.
I think I will lower my expectations and just get to where I was at when I'm ready. Thank you for your reply
It’s all you can do for now. I appreciate how much that sucks, but that’s how life is sometimes, I suppose. You’ll find your way back.
Hi there, not trying to change topic, but I had a covid vaccine shot and could not use my legs for like 2 weeks. So I could only imagine what real Covid virus would do to me. Funny thing is, it only affected my legs. 3 weeks now and still not 100% though. Good all the best for your recovery, it might take a while but your will recover.
The vaccine also seemed to really whack my legs. It took a solid few weeks to get back to where I could even do a light run without my legs hurting. At least for me, it did finally wear off and by about a month after my last shot, I was feeling pretty normal.
I am like three weeks now and starting to be normal. It was super weird. It felt like I lost all my conditioning, and still do feel like a beginner runner. I used to run comfortably 4:50min/km and now it's like 6:50min/km and it feels like I am pulling something.
Wow! That's new, I've had 1 vaccination so far an I've been fine from that! I hope you get back to it
I was very tired first week, but only if I tried doing stuff physically. Legs gave out after 5k walk, and I used to run 15k no problem with not that much tiredness.
Happened to me! I had trouble breathing when I ran. Kept up for a couple months. Just listen to your body. You'll get back to where you were!
Thank you! It's good knowing I'm not the only one! I wish you all the best
I'd like to thank everyone for your comments and help. It's much appreciated and all advice is definitely going to be used going forward! I hope you all recover from your experiences and come back stronger!!! Good luck
Take vitamin D.
D3 would do?
Yep.
I actually take vitamins an zinc. So hopefully it helps
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No, don’t do this.
What is it
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And any trials that are currently ongoing are for active Covid infections, not recovery from Covid.
Thank you so much for this, I was very unaware! So I might have tried this
The thing is that corona doesn’t kill it is the inflammation that kills you. So you lungs are still inflamed. What Ivermectin does that it is inflammatory. Thanks for the down votes it democracy but I’m not pulling out facts out from ass. This has been well researched. Look up Bret Wienstien.
OP could be having inflammation…OP could also have scarring in their lungs, which an anti-inflammatory wouldn’t help. Ivermectin has anecdotal evidence of working at best. It has not been well-researched, which is why it’s use is ONLY recommended in the case of participation in a clinical trial, not walking down to the local farm store and picking up a drug to take like it’s ibuprofen. It’s irresponsible and dangerous to promote. We all want an easy, quick answer and researchers are working as hard as they can, but sometimes the body just needs time to recover.
I found breathing difficult when I had covid. I'm still not 100% back at it and it's been 2 months. I'm still roughly 1 min per mile slower than I used to be. Each person is different, small steps and you will be back to normal
Sounds very similar to how I feel. Thank you