Respecting your limits is more critical than ever when experiencing Long COVID. (written 11/09/2023)  

We know pacing yourself is important for managing Long COVID and feeling better over time. Specific techniques can support this path. Katie’s seen the benefit first hand, and being disciplined about pacing herself has helped beyond her expectations! But even within this, she doesn’t always get it right. While doing push-ups last week, Katie pushed herself above her limit. Even while she was doing it, a little voice whispered “this may be too much”… 

Every Monday morning, Katie joins Andrea’s exercise class - which focuses on full body strength and condition while including mobility and brain functioning exercises. Katie is the only person in the class experiencing Long COVID. Thanks to “pacing” work over time, she is fully capable of joining the group. She just modifies the intensity level for some exercises to match her ability, especially when Andrea explicitly suggests different grades of intensity. Last week’s class happened to have a push-up pyramid, which involved more push-ups than Katie had done since having COVID. While doing the exercises, Katie felt strong and went for full push-ups rather than the modified version. After the first set, she knew she felt good, but also that it may have been too much. As those with Long COVID know, activity or stimulation that is too intense can increase symptoms and set you back for a day or two, or longer. 

Katie experienced two nights of bad sleep and a return of Long COVID symptoms during the next day… 

We know it’s not easy to hold back when you like to push yourself, but evidence about Long COVID recovery and the experiences of those with Long COVID show that it is necessary to enable recovery. This can be maddening - Long COVID itself is holding you back, keeping you from doing the things you love in the way you love to do them. If you feel OK in the moment, you want to do what you can to “stretch” yourself to get into better shape. But we know Long COVID doesn’t work that way. Ignoring the recovery process, pushing your daily activities, and overexerting can actually set you back. The trick is to find the right balance to make consistent progress.  

Katie has the tools and experience to execute appropriate “pacing”, and when she occasionally overdoes it, those tools let her bounce back faster and feel more control over the process. Knowing your pace and getting into the habit of sticking to it can help accelerate your recovery. 

If you aren’t sure what pace is right for you, we would love to support you with “Finding your Long COVID Recovery Pace.” (NOTE: This program started November 13th, 2023, and is no longer available. Meanwhile, we have a later version of our Pacing program - Pacing Essentials)

Warmly,  
Katie & Andrea

P.S. It’s not easy to hold back when you are used to pushing yourself, but evidence about Long COVID recovery and experience of those with Long COVID shows “pacing” is necessary for recovery.