My Covid-19 Journey

Today I decided was a ride day, on Zwift of course. So jumped on the TdZ for Stage 5, a nice flat fast route. Decided against the slightly tougher Richmond course, as I don't want to push too hard too soon. Starting out I felt a bit urrgh, but as the first few miles passed, I settled in and found my flow.  45 mins or so at 225w, with a max HR hitting 160s. Haven't done that for a while! And thankfully it didn't feel too dramatic either.  Gentle spin after to let everything settle down. End result, feeling good, but cough has increased a bit post ride. Which is pretty normal for post effort recently. A little bit productive, but not painful, and most importantly, no stress on the trachea this time. So things ARE improving. On the flip side, today's test was..... POSITIVE! Oh well, they are coming up positive almost immediately, so any chance of early release is out the window. But that's OK, I am actually alright with that. Take it easy, (yeah yeah I know I'm not...

Another test, and it's still positive. Last night's sleep wasn't as good as the night before, definitely more broken, but ended up waking refreshed and fully charged. Last start to the day, starting work early to pass the time, and then getting in a 4 mile run. I say run, but same as before, intervals building up to a longer duration of running. Can't say it was too hard on the body. Legs and lungs not struggling, and HR recovering quickly each time. So that was a mental boost for me. Definitely could not have managed that for a couple of days.  Took my LFT around lunchtime, and as I said it was positive. Big bold line within 75 seconds of starting the test. So pretty sure that's right. The earlier running helped get things moving in my lungs, with a few nice coughs, but thankfully no soreness in my throat while breathing harder today, so that's an improvement. This afternoon, feeling daring I decided to jump on the rower for a bit. Wake the whole bo...

Phew, really ran out of energy by this evening, but have my appetite back a bit. Probably partially the extra food I took on that sapped the energy from my reserves. Nice to actually feel like I'm fueling myself again now. Maybe tomorrow I will be sensible enough to take it a little bit easier physically, and save some energy for existing. Cough a little more productive this evening, but a lot less frequent, so throat feels like it's getting a bit of break. Resting HR has been nicely back down at 43bpm today, while temperature has remained at 36.8c Still feeling positive that things are on the up, but also more than aware that I am still a bit poorly, and just don't want to accept it.  Will tomorrow bring a negative test? I doubt it right now. 

Feeling good this morning, I decided to jump on Zwift and get some miles in. In my head I had some strength back, but wasn't going to over do it. Setting out I immediately realised I didn't have anywhere near the amount of energy that I thought I did. Part of it I think is from quite relaxed for the past 4 days. So more energy for general existence that I have had of late, but certainly not enough to make an impression on Zwift. Other than my legs feeling a bit weak, the main thing I noticed was a sore trachea. From lots of coughing, and a little extra effort to breathe, it has left things quite raw and sore. So any increase in effort to breathe, and it becomes vert noticeable, and quite uncomfortable. Backing off a little to let things settle down, after about half an hour the sensation became "normal" so I was able to raise the effort a bit more, but still being sensible, and keeping the HR way down. Just enough to keep the fans on the NeoBike spinning. (set to 100b...

Last night was a pretty comfortable evening I must say, although lack of appetite meant me missing my dinner. Snacked on a few bits then hit the hay for the night.  Another early ish night last night, a tum full of pills, and a relaxation audio track playing, and off to sleep I went.  After a good long sleep I woke to get up to pee, and without thinking launched myself out of bed like I usually would, half way to the bathroom and I thought, "oh hey, I feel quite good". Back to bed and settled back to sleep in no time. Waking this morning, once again Garmin agreed with my take on things. A good sleep.  Giving myself time to wake up properly before jumping to any conclusions, I finally settled on the feeling that I was almost back to my usual self. I can feel some remnants of an infection on my chest. A deep inhale reminds me I don't have all my breath back yet. But aches and pains are gone, I don't feel particularly hot, although my temp is still up around ...

Feeling a little bit more like myself today, and less strain on my chest and throat, I decided it would be OK to have a ride on Zwift this morning. Nothing too stressful, just take it nice and easy for a stage of the TdZ. I started out nice and gentle, and slowly built up the effort til I could feel it was starting to get too much, then backed off a bit. Definitely have a lot more energy today than I did yesterday or the day prior. But can feel there is still very much a limit to what I can do. It was nice to get the heart beating a bit more, and the lungs working harder for an hour or so. Ironically just as I finished the main ride I got a message from Doctaly saying it was time for my daily assessment. Reported that I am starting to feel a bit better of course.  Towards the end of the ride, and ever since, I have had a bit more of a cough, so my chest and throat are starting to get a bit sore again. That said, the cough is productive, so although a little ...

Last night, I have to say I got quite a good nights sleep, probably one of the best I have had for quite some time in fact. Might be something to do with rearranging pillows and sleeping more upright to aid breathing, and support my shoulder a bit better. The numbers don't lie. I have to say, I feel how Garmin thinks I feel, so yet again, quite impressed at the data I am getting. My SATS are right back up again, and my RHR is settling down, also my body temp is starting to drop a bit now too, down from 37.2c to 36.8c this morning. I have definitely still got some crap on my chest, but it is starting to move, and feels like less is building back up. Certainly less pressure on my chest now, and the soreness is starting to go now. After speaking to the doctor yesterday I feel more reassured that I am OK exercising still, so will be jumping on Zwift shortly to spin my legs, and keep things moving. No efforts will be made today for sure.  Fingers crossed this is the bounce back, and...