RECOVERY
RUNNING AFTER COVID
For many runners, the challenges over the past year of the Covid pandemic have been related to lockdown. But for those of us who actually contracted the virus, the wildly varying symptoms and after effects have had long-term implications that no-one could have foreseen
Words: Fiona Bugler
In March 2020, just before the first lockdown, Coronavirus was hitting the headlines and many of us, like me, were wondering whether we’d get it. Coronavirus was all everyone was talking about and, as I joined the start line of the Cambridge Half Marathon on 8 March 2020, it had crossed my mind as we huddled together that at least one of the 11,000 plus runners might already have, or contract, the virus. I was right.
Covid-19 has become the fifth documented pandemic since the 1918 flu pandemic; first reported in Wuhan, China, and subsequently spread worldwide. A year on and more than two and half million lives have been lost around the world and the global lockdown has impacted all our lives.
A few days after the half marathon, I couldn’t shake off the tiredness. I didn’t have a cough or temperature and was sure that I had just pushed too hard, having also run the Brighton Half a few weeks before. I decided the best thing to do was to go for a run and called it ‘Kill or cure’ on Strava. Then, a few days later, on 15 March, I ran again, calling it ‘Kill or cure – part two’. After this run, I didn’t run again for 10 days.
Lockdown began on 23 March, by which time I’d been told on a phone call to the doctor that it was very likely I had Covid-19 and I should isolate for seven days. I was floored; all I could do was sleep. A week after feeling tired, I felt really poorly and developed a high temperature and my sense of taste and smell disappeared. I was aching all over and had a pain in my chest and upper back and, despite my tiredness, I found it hard to sleep. After another week or so, I developed the dry cough.
Covid symptoms
According to the NHS, most people with Coronavirus have at least one of these symptoms: a high temperature, feeling hot to touch on the chest or back; a new, continuous cough, meaning coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours; a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste.
Official advice for recovery has remained the same throughout the pandemic, ie, most people with
After three days, I was struggling to breathe. Soon after, I felt like I was drowning; I coughed up what looked like water and my heartrate soared to 110
COVID
“I felt like I was drowning”
Geraldine McGroarty, 30, is a surgical registrar in London and A&E doctor who contracted Covid at work
I’m a fit person, I played rugby at championship level, did strong man and endurance running, and before I contracted Covid-19, I was at peak fitness and really pleased to have run a 46-minute 10K.
My job probably put me at a higher risk of Covid; one of the things I do is carry out chest drains and, given Covid is airborne, it’s possible I was exposed to a high viral load.
Symptoms started with general aches and pains, followed by a temperature and then, after about three days, I was struggling to breathe. Soon after, I felt like I was drowning; I coughed up what looked like water and my heartrate soared from 45bpm at rest to 110. I rang 111, who said I needed to get to A&E.
I had severe pneumonia and it was very scary. I didn’t want to be ventilated and I thought I might die. Eventually, though, the oxygen mask was removed and I went home.
I was flooded with endorphins on discharge and probably overdid it. I took 10 days off exercise completely and when I went back I was only doing short distances, no more than 2K, but I was getting chest pain and stopped.
Once I went home, there was no follow up; everyone was playing catch up and the NHS was having to deal with the ongoing crisis. I had to find my own way to recover and, through trial and error, I realised I needed to go right back to basics where exercise was concerned so I reduced the weights I lifted and rested a lot. After five months, I gradually got into more of a routine, but only ran shorter distances up to 5K. And now, almost a year on, I’ve got my resting heartrate back to 50 and can run 10K in 55 minutes; still almost 10 minutes slower than before.
My hypothesis is that when you’re very fit and working in a stressful job, your immune system is compromised. I think that could partly explain why my body reacted so badly to the virus. I’m concerned that, as we do not know the long-term effects on the lungs, I will develop scarring and fibrosis. When I run, I’m very conscious of breathing and try to focus on breathing in through my nose to filter out the smog. I’m not sure if I’ll ever return to where I was fitness-wise.