The Unexpected Link Between the Olympics and Long Covid Management

The Olympics started this weekend, the event professional athletes train for with dedication and precision. Many have followed a structured four-year plan to help them peak and perform at their best during the short period of The Games. While some athletes have a number of important competitions lined up, others may only have one chance to pull it all together.

I have competed in four Olympics. The very best race I had was the very first one, when I won one of my two gold medals. But what does this experience have to do with Long Covid?

Preparation for performance takes much longer than the performance itself, and even when social media can help show the broader story about all the training that happens over a long period of time, much of the action is still invisible. Competing at the highest level obviously requires years of training, on top of this every activity through your day also counts and have impact. Training sessions are split up so they can be done with quality and in quantity.

People who experience Long Covid also perform daily: working, doing chores or having social interactions. They need to be intentional about their activity and balance rest and performance. They have to be very strategic about their use of energy – just like an Olympic athlete.

Everyone understands the need to rest and use recovery tools when it comes to athletic performance, and everyone needs to pace to a certain degree. People with Long Covid and ME/CFS can see themself as athletes who prepare to be able to perform.

After a big competition, life moves on, and the next training sessions or competitions are scheduled. So, what you do after the performance is important. No matter the outcome, making sure you have a proper cool down routine after an event is a critical part of the preparation for the next one. The same is true for people with Long Covid or ME/CFS; they also need to “cool down” to help recover from the activity they just did, and to manage symptoms and be more ready for the next day. Sometimes, athletes are tempted to skip or cut short those little things.

While the training is standard and expected, it is often those little things that make the difference. In sports, a difference of 0.1 seconds is often the difference between winning or not. If an athlete can achieve better motor control by adding a seemingly small or silly exercise to their program, it can be the difference between going home with a medal or not.

Like an athlete who structures their day for quality training sessions to be able to compete at their best when it counts the most, a person with a post-viral condition benefits from structuring their day to let them prioritize the things they want to focus on. They can also adjust the structure based on their current energy level and ability. It’s all about doing little things regularly to support your day-to-day performance and meet your longer-term goals. In fact the athletes who do the little things well and have a better foundation can sustain a higher level of performance. Athletes who skip foundation work may or may not make it far up the leaderboard, but if they make it to the top, they will not be there for long.

People with Long Covid and ME/CFS want sustained performance and ability, and don’t want to back slide. That’s why it is okay to give the process time. Athletes don’t see a huge gain after each single training session, but with the right training approach look for incremental improvement over months and years.

It is totally understandable that people impacted by a post-viral condition want to find a switch to turn off the symptoms right away. Giving yourself time to make the recovery journey isn’t always the most welcome prospect. But this journey can be made easier if you know you are taking the right steps to help your trajectory, and accelerate your progress. The ability to accelerate that path depends on what happens during the time you give yourself to heal. Simply waiting doesn’t make any athlete a better athlete, and doesn’t help anyone with Long Covid symptoms to feel better.

Of course, we can not fully compare training for the Olympics with a Long Covid recovery routine. Still, there are more similarities than we would think at first. Both need preparation, intention and commitment to small things that help your body work as well as it can.

Athletes have competitions to peak for, like the Olympics, but pacing is an ongoing process throughout their competitive career. People who experience Long Covid aren’t necessarily working to peak at a given time, they want to feel better and then keep feeling good long into life.

There is a pathway to physical improvement. It is simple but, similar to athletes in training, it takes time and deliberate actions. The actions have to support the goal, and they have to allow you to build starting with your current ability. An athlete who has better recovery ability can push harder and longer, and have stamina to do both a morning and afternoon training session. From an athlete's perspective, and as someone working with people experiencing post-viral conditions, it is always important to adjust expectations to your personal situation and do as much as your recovery tolerance allows. Having a longer term, sustainable approach to activity, is more effective than pushing your body when it isn’t ready, and experiencing crashes.

What the athlete needs to succeed is full-hearted commitment to the training process. We often call this ‘motivation’ - a desire to participate in their sport, training and meet their goals. Someone with Long Covid also has strong incentive and motivation to manage symptoms - to help them feel better in the near term and help reduce the longer term health risks associated with the condition. They feel frustrated that they don’t have the energy to do all of the things they want to do and are searching for ways to manage symptoms. The motivation to feel better can lead them to use more energy than their ability to recover allowance, and they experience Post Exertional Malaise or a “crash”. This process is similar to athletes who want to train harder than their foundation allows, and end up overtraining and not getting the benefit from the time they invest.

Therefore, pacing is as important for athletes looking to manage their peak performance, as it is for people with post-viral conditions. I competed until the age of 36. I can also honestly say that my understanding of pacing grew over time and really landed with me when I was 26, which was after I won Olympic gold. Pacing was one of the tools that helped me sustain top-level performances and consistency for a decade. I had a strong foundation from my younger years, and pacing allowed me to maintain and build on it through the end of my career. I still benefit from it today. A solid foundation can carry us along for a long time, and helps our body to be flexible and resilient when unexpected challenges arise. However, where people face post-viral conditions, or other issues that impact their foundation and resilience, pacing becomes a critical tool to both manage energy and start to build back a solid foundation. 

Having a structured approach to pacing, with daily activities that are backed by science and personal experience, supports improvement. Combined with the importance of balancing effort at the right level with the fitting amount of rest and restful activities leads to high quality actions that are impactful even in a lower quantity, which needs to be adjusted to personal needs, possibilities and goals.

It is important to be patient and take things one step at time. Knowing those steps make a difference in the long-term can help make it exciting to follow an approach and give it the time it needs to take root. Celebrating every small step forward knowing that the next step win will follow, when the foundation builds layer by layer.

I could go on, but instead simply encourage you to consider applying these principles to your own recovery journey, because that’s what it is - a journey. That also means each step gets you closer to your goal, and you can take it one step at a time.

To sum it up, both Olympic athletes and people with post-viral conditions like Long Covid need to remember:

• Start where you are at the moment. It doesn’t help to compare yourself to someone who has a different foundation or level of resilience
• With activity, quality beats quantity
• It takes time to get to “peak performance” so it is important to get their in a way that is sustainable, so you can keep building your ability 
• Getting better and feeling better requires a good daily routine and habits that let you reserve energy for the things that help you meet your goals
• Lasting results build up over time, be patient and embrace the journey 

We hope this helps you enjoy watching the Olympic competitions with a different lens. We also hope this provides insight to help you think about Long Covid and post-viral recovery and symptom management.

For more insights and tips on managing Long Covid symptoms and gaining functionality please subscribe to our weekly newsletter. We love hearing from you so please reach out if you want to share reflections on your own recovery journey.

Warmly,
Andrea

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