Training to prioritise during recovery
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Hello all
Hope you are doing well.
I have been preparing for Aconcagua in February (~6 weeks away) but have missed the last three weeks due to COVID and a following related illness. Unfortunately my fitness has taken a dive, though I had built a good aerobic base in the months prior and was optimistic about my fitness levels.
Interested to get your advice on the best way to make the most of my remaining 6 weeks – should I continue with the plan of just prioritising Zone 1 training and steep, weighted hikes? Does it make sense to try and squeeze in a bit of extra volume beyond what was planned to get my CTL back to where it was pre-illness?
Thank you!
Hi there – and thanks for the question. I am going to assume a relatively mild case of COVID, and that you were healthy, with a solid base of training leading up to the infection? COVID19 illness with significant cardio-pulmonary symptoms needs additional testing (ECG, stress, Echo etc) and clearance by a physician, before return to training, so if this was more than just a mild illness, you should get things checked out.
If this was a mild illness, then in terms of managing return to sport post COVID, the consensus is to limit intensity initially; I recommend keeping your HR in Zone 1 for the first 3 days, with a gradual increase in volume, keeping in Z1. If no issues, you may then resume your prior training regime, up to your AeT. By day 10, you should be back on track, so you should be able to get in a solid month of training before your climb. To answer your question, then, yes, I would focus on Z1 hiking.
I would not try to ramp up the volume too quickly ‘to make up’ for missed training. You have more to lose by doing too much too soon, than by starting slow and easy, and ramping up gradually. Cramming in additional volume, is just likely to leave you feeling fatigued. Remember to monitor for any worsening or new symptoms – cough, chest pain, dizziness, palpitations etc, and don’t hesitate to get things checked out by a physician. Problems for most fit athletes are fortunately very rare, so in all likelihood, you will be fine as you resume training. Good luck!
I followed this thread with great interest, partly since I have been working with patients with Covid during the pandemic and partly since I (finally) was caught by it myself. A concise recommendation for returning to sports after Covid was published in British J of Sports Medicine, and it can be read at the below link:
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/bjsports/54/19/1174.full.pdf
Although it is two years old and don’t discuss the newer variants, I do think it is still valid. Good luck with Aconcagua!
Thanks for posting the BJSM link. This was the framework we utilised early on in the pandemic, though our experience was that it was frustratingly slow for most athletes with mild illness, many of whom reported that had they been living in ‘normal times’, they would likely have trained through it (although this isn’t necessarily a good approach!!). There are some newer updated guidelines available now, but I have found that the following (link below) gives a good, pragmatic overview, and most athletes with mild illness can be back to normal training in 7-10 days. However, if in doubt, it is never a bad idea to be conservative.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9170595/pdf/main.pdf
Thanks so much for the update Andy, I usually don’t work with athletes so I have been using the early recommendations for my patients – since I judged them reasonable (although on the conservative side). However, I do understand the frustration for elite athletes e.g. having a positive test without other symptoms in the middle of the race season, so it is good to hear about the update. I might also save myself a few training days with the updated recommendations.
All best
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