Comments on: Running with an Elevated Heart Rate After COVID

By: MHC48

MHC48 — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 17:44:00 +0000

Thanks for this article and the research you did. One month after what was a pretty mild bout of Covid my heart rate while running is still 15-20 BPM higher than before. No pain or difficulty while running (except for obviously having lost conditioning) but I’m 74 and was concerned. This puts me somewhat more at ease, but I will continue to monitor and consult with my dr. if I experience anything else or it doesn’t begin trending down. I’m wondering though, does this suggest that when I do recover more I can consider running at a higher BPM than I used to?

By: Liza

Liza — Fri, 25 Nov 2022 19:37:39 +0000

I have had the same experience. The only thing is that I never tested positive for COVID. I ran the Berlin Marathon at the end of September and then was supposed to run NYC ( I ended up deferring). I felt crappy two weeks before Berlin, but I never tested positive and I felt better within two days of running Berlin. Halfway through the race, my heart rate spiked and was between 185-200 bpm for the last two hours (I had been running my usual long run pace to start @160 bpm but slowed down significantly when my heart rate spiked and finished). Afterwards, I took some time off and then started trying to train for NYC and I never felt “normal” again. I thought it was overdoing it from the marathon, but my heart rate was consistently higher than usual even when I was running over a minute slower than my usual super easy pace. Now it’s been 8 weeks, and I have taken a lot of time off but I keep trying to run 3-5 miles and it’s too much. I tried to run a 5k last weekend (7 weeks after Berlin and most likely my recovery from COVID?) and I was so slow and my heart rate was 194bpm avg. I’m going to try to dial it back and see if I can get back to normal by following your suggestion of just walking and doing a mile or two very slow with lots of recovery in between. I have been to the doctor multiple times and they have no idea what’s going on and now I have an appointment with a cardiologist, so hopefully I can get a hold of what is happening between seeing the cardiologist and just taking it slow.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 01:12:10 +0000

In reply to Stephanie. Great article and should help getting people back to running. I got COVID first time in the first week of Jan, symptoms lasted for 15 days. Doctor recommended 3 days of rest for each day of Covid, got a heart echo and lung x-ray done, everything was normal, started running after a month and barely made it to a mile, I skipped the 3m half and the Austin marathon, I was back to my usual pace by the end of March. Completed the Chicago Marathon and on returning back got COVID again!! Symptoms were milder and lasted a week. This time I started running in a week, after a month my pace is still off by about 90 sec l, am guessing it will take another month to get back to normal. The only good thing that came out of Covid was I quit smoking and healthier diet!!

By: Nikki

Nikki — Sun, 20 Nov 2022 03:06:25 +0000

Thank you for this! It’s so reassuring to hear from other athletes about their experiences. Family doctors just don’t have the knowledge on how to guide people back into this type of exercise I find, so it can be scary. Having to convince a medical professional that a high 50s resting heart rate is extremely abnormal for my body is hard! I’m one of the people that still has chest pain and extremely high heart rate several weeks after covid, but with all tests coming back fine my doctor had no real advice on if I am okay to ramp up to my normal mileage or not.

By: Shari Harris-Dunning

Shari Harris-Dunning — Sat, 19 Nov 2022 21:58:16 +0000

In reply to Whitney. Question - how elevated of a HR during exercise is okay and normal (if no other symptoms)? I'm probably at least 15-20 bpm above normal during running at this point.

By: Shari Harris-Dunning

Shari Harris-Dunning — Sat, 19 Nov 2022 21:41:13 +0000

Thank you for this. I am a very fit 61-year old female. I’ve been getting into running; started with MAF and was doing fabulously and adding in longer runs and hill interval training (getting up to 5 mi runs and ave pace of sub 9:00 min/miles keeping my HR in a good zone). Got COVID mid October while in Portugal. Fairly mild case (did have low grade fever for 2 days) and was able to keep active (walking) throughout COVID. Came home and started back with MAF and had to walk 75% of it. Took a week off and concentrated on brisk walking, using MAF-10. Today was the first day I tried to do a “long” or consistent run. 1-mile @ 11min/mi. Ave HR was 131 with a high of 152. This is more like my pre-COVID 9min/mile HR. While I was running, it felt okay and my HR recovered okay. Not sure if I should go back to walking? walk/run/walk/run using MAF formula or run 12-15 min 3x/week at a slow rate that feels okay and not worry about HR. I have put a note in to my PCP — otherwise I feel okay . Would love some suggestions about how to proceed!