[ryanoelke]

Hey Everyone 🙂 I know my topic is a common one, read what I found in the forums and did some googling, but would still love any perspective/experience/input you all have here.

Got a cold last week that has mainly been sore throat, then just congestion, but also a few days of fever. Slow rolling cold, annoying. Played it conservative and haven’t done a workout in 8 days. Tomorrow might be when I finally feel up for it, crossing my fingers, if not figure Friday I’ll be good.

I have my first half-marathon in 18 days. Did two sprint distance triathlons in June and July, then switched to HM training only since then. So I feel I have built up a good base, but definitely got sick right at a time when I needed to be peaking in my plan. I adjusted it to be slightly shorter, but last week and this week would have been peak training, then 2 weeks taper.

Ok, so the main workout I didn’t get to do this week is the RHM1, which I really want to do, one because it looks fun (in that so hard it’s good way) and it will be incredibly helpful to for me to get a better understanding of pace given it’s my 1st HM, even more so now that I’ve lost some fitness and momentum.

I’m still thinking of doing the RHM1 next week on day I feel good and earlier in the week, then keep everything else tapering. But not sure what’s the best approach. Not doing it and only taper? Do a little more than taper given how much I’ve reset my form and fatigue in training peaks?

I’ll definitely keep a real-time check on how I’m feeling and adjust, but still not entirely sure about how to adjust things here.

[ckelly22]

I am interested in this as well. Last week was supposed to be my peak week of 70.3 training using the Level 2 pace and power plan. Started feeling cold like symptoms coming on last Wednesday and couldn’t complete my workout on Thursday due to fatigue from getting sick. Went to the doctor on Monday and the diagnosis was strep throat. Now I am 9 days out from my very first 70.3 and haven’t trained in a week, I have no clue what to do.

Sorry, Ryan, I am not trying to take over your post. Just looking for guidance like you are.

[ryanoelke]

Hey ckelly 🙂 No worries at all, happy for you to jump in here. Sorry to hear you’re dealing with strep! I hope you’re able to bounce back quickly.

I know reading through the forums that the 8020 wizards say to not worry as we’ve done a ton of work prior to the sickness, so not all is lost, and I took comfort in that at least. I felt better not thinking that I lost everything and wouldn’t be able to race (mine is this Sunday).

I have basically been improvising a little last week and this week. I decided to do my RHM1 big workout just because I needed to have some idea of what my pacing could be, and I’m glad I did it. I would have gone out too hot in the race no doubt 😛 However, I also took more recovery days last week to make up for this hard workout after a few weeks off. I did do three easy workouts, short and long, before the RHM1 so I didn’t wreck myself coming off of sickness, and then extra recovery after that week. I did it last Thursday, race this Sunday, so I felt good about the timing.

That being said, even this week I’m still improvising a little. I did a Fartlek yesterday for taper, but felt it more than I thought, didn’t sleep as well, so I haven’t yet done my easy run for today. If I feel more recovered I’ll do it later today, or just skip it and prioritize recovery over fitness gains given I want to feel good on race day.

Anyways, just sharing all of this for the spirit of taking it as we go 🙂

[Charles]

Matt’s article on the Training Peaks’ blog, although COVID specific, provides some great advice for managing illness and when to return to training. https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/exercise-covid-risks/

I tend to the conservative and will drop events if there is any risk of complications. Experience is returning to training too soon only prolongs recovery too long…

[ryanoelke]

Thanks for sharing that article, Charles 🙂 I also appreciated this ‘return to play’ chart that Leeyla shared:

Graduated Return to Play after SARS-CoV-2 infection – what have we learned and why we’ve updated the guidance

I also should also mention that I used my Whoop big time to help monitor my recovery and played things conservatively. No covid for me, thankfully, and above the neck stuff, but I stopped training the day I woke up with a sore throat, and didn’t return to training for 10 days, and only after having at least 2 solid recovery days at the end I did a very short easy run, and then waited for a peak recovery to start doing longer runs, and then after that still feeling good, some workouts with intensity. Luckily I still had 2 weeks+ before my race this week, otherwise I definitely would have dropped.

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