There’s No Going Back

Looking back to 2020, the amount of information on COVID-19 has only increased, and it hasn’t always been easy to follow. How do you process what you hear? How do you determine what you can do or not do? An important thing to remember, especially when it comes to your fitness, is that there’s no going back. We have to work with how things are now. 

Your gym closed which was your main outlet. We’re now in 2021 and you’ve probably adjusted to the new normal, but you may still have questions. The biggest might be, how do you resume your exercise program and are there any risks you should be aware of?

According to Dr. Brooke E. Nichols, an Infectious Disease Epidemiologist in her paper “Return To Racing,” she shares information to support returning to racing.

“The risk of outdoor transmission has been estimated to nearly 20 times lower risk than indoors and occurs so infrequently than outdoor transmission (particularly when social distancing or using masks) and is rarely described in medical literature.”

“The risk of transmission at outdoor gatherings is dependent on things such as: The amount of time spent in close contact with others; the number of people at the gatherings, and therefore the ability to socially distance; and the use of face masks.”

I spoke with some athletes who share how they made adjustments since the beginning of the pandemic.

Think about pre-COVID and how you adjusted to perform during and how you are performing now. In the mix were thoughts of getting the vaccine and wearing a mask. How did that come into play? What do you do now?

Joe Lugiano of North Carolina

“I did not have much adjustment to my training except to try to keep a distance from other runners. I did not wear a mask while outside when away from people. I felt it important to wear a mask when I was going into a building where masks were required, and I wasn’t sure about the vaccination status of other people. Here in North Carolina, they shut down our State Parks for a while but left greenways open. Umstead State Park has wide multi-use trails but narrower hiking trails, while the greenways are only about one lane wide.  I found dirt/gravel roads to do my long runs on until the State Park was opened again. My 100-mile race last year was canceled by the State, but I was able to find shorter races in other states that were being conducted.  I did not participate in any virtual races.

Here we are in mid-August 2021. The daily news continues to be consumed with the latest Covid numbers as they are rising.  New strains are continuing to be brought up. They are continuing to entice people to get vaccinated with $100 gift cards when simply the fear of losing your life should bring people to get vaccinated. We go out to our favorite restaurants and find them getting crowded again. We go to church and wear masks as directed by our staff to protect those who are unvaccinated or have compromised immune systems. We travel on occasion. 

From the beginning, we did not stay inside but know people who did for months on end.  We could see their mental outlook change as time went on. We missed funerals and weddings that were limited to numbers.

I think we were able to lead somewhat normal personal lives even though we tried to protect ourselves when out shopping. Of course, public events and socializing of any scale were severely curtailed.  

I was active in other ways with people who I knew shared the same care for themselves and others. I had my work crew in the park repairing buildings, I had a work crew at church doing building projects, I had a trail crew that helped maintain 21 miles of hiking trails. We kept in touch through e-mails and zoom meetings. The physical part of this work represented my gym work.  

While maintaining a regimen of training runs, I didn’t feel the need to be challenged with virtual runs. My races are well set from year to year, and my training is consistent. I probably only run one-third as much as I used to in a year, but at 78+, I’m happy with that.”

Alisa Harvey of Virginia

“At the beginning of COVID, I ran down my neighborhood streets without a mask. Virginia did not mandate masks while exercising. In addition, I ran in the mornings. I did see others walking or jogging around my local track. I spotted a woman wearing a mask at 6 a.m. while walking around a completely empty track. I never could understand why she felt the need to mask while outside alone. To each his own.

I mostly stayed away from outdoor track workouts until late 2020. It was not hard to stay safe since the tracks were virtually empty when I got there. In the Fall of 2020, I ran my first and only virtual race. I ran the Potomac River Running Virtual Navy Mile. One morning in October, I headed to a local high school track, where I ran a timed mile with my training buddies. I put my race number on just to get me into the spirit. I ran 5:36! I was thrilled. It was my fastest mile in a couple of years.

I finally got my COVID vaccine in April of 2021. I was a happy woman. I felt as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I just don’t understand what this vaccine hesitancy nonsense is all about. I drove to Woodbridge, Virginia, for both vaccines. I was there with hundreds of other people anxiously awaiting their shots.  

Since my vaccine, I have run one road race: the Freedom 5K on the 4th of July. I had a satisfying 1st-place finish in 19:26! Now, I am back wearing my mask at work. I also wear my mask in stores again. This Delta variant of the COVID virus is nothing that I want to play with.  I enjoy my breathing and my life.”

 Karl Kunz residing in Thailand 

“Pre-COVID, I was 73 and training three hours a day which included three days of running per week. Typically, one of those running days was a long run (2.5 hours) and another one of those running days was a road race of 10-21-42 km. I was racing 35-40 races per year. My wife, 77, was racing with me every weekend, sticking to the 5K.

In March 2020, COVID arrived, so we sheltered at home, stopped training, and races were canceled. After a few months we resumed training and soon returned to race fitness. We were able to enter 18 races in late 2020. In January 2021, however, the big COVID wave arrived. We still train every day as we did pre-COVID, but races are gone again. Most people—even now 1.5 years later—wears masks but no need to mask up while running, of course. I am now 75 and in decent shape but no races on the horizon. We may never race again so I occasionally organize time trials with a few running buddies, no problem.

Cindy Conant of Maryland 

“I learned that I have a ‘need for speed.’ I like to physically push myself, but it doesn’t have to be an official race. So, I started organizing time trial 5Ks with my running friends in the neighborhood. Occasionally we did the ‘double’ which was two 5Ks with a jog in between. We stuck to the roads where we could maintain a good distance.  

Our most inventive 5K was the prediction run where we had a three-foot-high trophy of a woman running as the prize for the runner who came closest to their predicted time.  No watches allowed. The ‘lady trophy’ was at the finish line with a timer hanging from her wrist. The first runner called out everyone else’s times and we compared the predictions that we wrote down before with the actual times.   

People would wave or yell to us as we ran our time trials!

I also started running some with my 11-year-old neighbor. His father got very sick early on, and we all watched one night as he walked to the ambulance with oxygen while his wife, son, and daughter stood in the doorway. All the neighbors helped, buying groceries, mowing the lawn, whatever we could do. I played chess via Zoom with their son (I lost almost every day!). When they were no longer quarantined, the son and I started running on opposite sides of the road to maintain a safe distance. He is now vaccinated, and we run together. His father was in ICU for 17 days, and we were all outside to say hi when he came home. He still has some breathing issues, but he is much better. 

Since I had a lot of time on my hands and couldn’t work from home, I started volunteering first with food deliveries and more recently with setting up vaccine clinics. I am trying to reach more reluctant populations and make them as comfortable as possible with the thought that once some folks decide to get the vaccine, their friends and loved ones might follow suit 

I was ecstatic when I could run the first couple of races and when I returned to the track and others started to trickle back.” 

Craig Greene of Virginia   

“COVID and my injury have been a challenge. I miss going to the gym and it is not easy running with a mask. I am enjoying running outdoors more since COVID. I look forward more now to running at 5 a.m. every day. Being alone on the road with my thoughts is great. Due to my injury and COVID, I have created a gym in my house and the church I attend. The church is next door to our house. I work out in the church, and it is peaceful; afterward I do my morning prayers. However, I was able to work out in the gym at the Jackson Clinic for my physical therapy for my injury. I am looking forward to seeing my running friends at races again and to compete. By not having any races due to COVID, I have time to get healthy before racing again in 2021-2022. I hope to see you soon.”