The coronavirus impacts everyone differently. Unfortunately, I fell ill and in fact tested positive for COVID-19. As an athlete with asthma, this was certainly a concern for me. Here, I detail my experience with the COVID-19 virus as an athlete.
Saturday 11/21
Looking back, this is where it began, my experience with the COVID-19 virus as an athlete. At the time, I, unfortunately, did not realize it. As we know, you can have the virus before experiencing symptoms, and the symptoms overlap with several other issues. This day, I felt very tired. I wasn’t sure if I was overworked, overtrained, or underslept, but I would soon find out…
Sunday 11/22
I woke up Sunday morning around 8:00am feeling terrible. The symptoms I experienced immediately were:
- Splitting headache
- Extreme body aches, especially in my back and neck.
- Fatigue (I slept again until 2:00pm).
- Slight congestion.
At first, I had NO temperature. I was still able to eat, I was just exhausted. As the day went on, my temperature rose. By midday, it was around 99.5, and then by the evening, it hit 101.0. By that time, I took some ibuprofen to relieve the fever. I was able to eat all day, though not as much as I usually do.
Monday 11/23
In the middle of the night, I woke up a few times thinking I felt a bit better. When I woke up, I realized this was not the case. As I woke up, the medicine was wearing off and my temperature was beginning to rise. The only symptom I NO LONGER had was headache (thankfully, since I could still work online then) I took medicine again and ate. In the morning I felt:
- Fever (chills)
- Body aches
- Fatigue
- Congestion
I was able to request a test from my doctor and then quickly received confirmation it was schedule for 2:00pm. I headed to my test and then was told I would hear back within about 12 hours (so at 12:00am).
For the afternoon and early evening, my fever stayed down. I figured the medicine wore off by then, so I thought it was staying down on its own. By later in the evening, it was on the rise again. As my temp rose, I felt more chilled and worse physically. I took the Advil again ( for those concerned about the use of NSAIDs with COVID, here’s information from the FDA) and it brought my temperature down. Whenever my temperature was lowering, I would sweat immensely. So, as my temp rose off medicine, I’d feel cold, very weak, etc. When it was coming down with medicine, I would sweat and feel very hot.
Here are the symptoms I exhibited that late evening/night:
- Fever
- Body aches
- Fatigue
- Worse congestion (stuffy nose)
Tuesday 11/24
I slept horribly Monday night. I woke up at like 5:00am with severe chills and to a rising temp. I took medicine, but it took a bit to take effect. Finally, I went back to sleep, and I woke up with my clothes drenched in sweat. I received the notification with my test results at 2:00am, which I checked in the middle of the night to find that COVID-19 was detected.
When I woke up, I immediately took the ibuprofen, as I did not want to deal with the fluctuating fever today. My congestion was worse, and I noticed my taste was drastically reduced. I did not have an excessive cough, but I would occasionally have a cough with nasty yellow phlegm. The symptoms I experienced throughout Tuesday were:
- Body aches
- Fatigue
- Fever? (stayed on medicine to reduce it)
- Congestion
- Occasional cough
- Loss of taste and smell
While I experienced some new symptoms, I also felt SLIGHTLY better/ more mobile. I was able to get some laundry done, write several articles, and get up more often. I am not sure if this an improvement or due to controlling my fever with ibuprofen.
Wed 11/25
Tuesday night I took some Nyquil which really put me to sleep. I slept from around 11:00pm to 10:00 am Wednesday morning. I could tell I really did not have a fever anymore when I woke up. In general, I was feeling slightly better. I did not take medicine this day, as I was able to tolerate my symptoms. What I experienced on day 4 was:
- Body aches (though less than before)
- Fatigue
- Congestion
- Minimal taste and smell (I could only taste like salty, sweet, etc not really specific flavors).
While just resting, I didn’t have much of an issue, but when I would get up and do things around the house I’d experience some shortness of breath.
Thu 11/26
I slept for 10+ hours again Wednesday night. Thursday I woke up feeling significantly better than I had. My body aches were way less severe and I just felt overall much better. I was able to get up and make a small breakfast. I still felt very tired and just not healthy, but I was feeling better overall.
However, now that my fever, aches, etc started to get better, this is when the cough began. I was not coughing constantly, but every hour or so I would have some coughing fits that would dispel yellow phlegm. I was still able to take a nice walk outside to get some fresh air.
My symptoms today were:
- Fatigue
- Congestion (only a little)
- Shortness of breath
- Coughing
Friday 11/27
After another long night’s rest, I woke up feeling like I was still on the rise. I still felt tired/drained, but a lot better than I had earlier in the week. My symptoms were:
- Slight congestion
- Coughing
- Fatigue/ feeling drained
- Low appetite
- Loss of smell
- Drastically reduced taste
Throughout the day, I was quite a bit more active than I had been. I began the day with a nice long walk (careful to avoid others by a landslide, crossing the street, or turning around when necessary). I was up most of the day, sitting at a table chair or getting some things done. I did another short afternoon walk and then finished with a VERY light workout.
There’s a lot of concern about athletes raising their heartrate too much during or after COVID, so I was very careful to just do an extremely light workout. I did body weight and light band work with a time limit of 30 minutes. Then, I finished with about 15 minutes of stretching. My HR was around 110 during the workout, and I didn’t really break a sweat. It felt really good to move my body, but my muscles do feel weak and just tired. I will continue trying to add movement and light exercise as I feel better, being careful of my heart rate and breathing.
Saturday 11/28
I felt about the same when I woke up Saturday. Once again, I slept for quite a long time, from about 12:30am until 10:00am. I started my day with a walk, and kept pretty busy throughout the day. The symptoms I had were:
- Fatigue
- Slight congestion
- Occasional coughing/shortness of breath
- Loss of smell
- Reduced taste
Later in the day, I tried my first bit of cardio. I went for a light bike ride. It was VERY difficult. I was coughing and felt short of breath, symptoms I experience with asthma normally around a HR of 175+, but my heart rate was only around 120. Afterward, I was very tired. I took another walk to cool down, and then finished up with some cleaning and laundry. By about 6:00pm, I was exhausted and relaxed/hydrated for the rest of the night.
Wednesday 12/02
Today is my last day in quarantine (according to WI health protocol), and 10 days after I first showed symptoms. Since the weekend, I’ve just continued to feel better and better, and to increase my workout intensity. Here’s a brief overview of the last few days:
- Sunday 11/29: I did a band and light dumbell lift. My heart rate was 120-130 throughout the workout. I had quite a bit of coughing and felt sort of weak or out of sorts but was able to get through it fine. I did not do any cardio.
- Monday 11/30: I spent the entire day on a home improvement project, so I did not do a dedicated workout.
- Tuesday 12/01: I tried running for the first time. I went very slowly, but ended up running a 5k. I felt pretty good and only had some coughing early on in the run.
- Wednesday 12/02: I went to a park by myself to get some touches on the ball. This was the first time I’d touched a ball since getting sick. I felt pretty good, but definitely could tell it had been a while.
I feel basically normal at this point. I don’t have any remaining symptoms except for a slight loss of smell and some occasional coughing with mucus. I do think there’s still mucus in my lungs that will take a bit to clear out and may present some problems for my asthma as I return to play. So far, this is my experience with the COVID-19 virus as an athlete. Please let me know if you have any questions!