I believe that next to the psychological work I have described in earlier blog posts, a key element in my ME/CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) recovery has been the structured cycling training I have been doing for the last 11 months. I started with a 15 minute session in September last year and have increased volume and intensity together with a professional coach to a daily training schedule of 13 hours on the bike per week by now. 

It goes entirely against popular opinion which says that sports does not help but rather makes the symptoms worse. Popular opinion also says that there is no cure and no therapy for ME/CFS so I guess popular opinion seems to be pretty wrong. For those unfamiliar, ME/CFS is a debilitating condition characterized by an extreme body response (headaches, weakness, sweating, feeling sick and more) that doesn't improve with rest and often worsens after physical or mental exertion.

Yesterday, I recorded a new all-time low Resting Heart Rate (RHR) of 41. RHR is one of the best metrics to track overall fitness. If you have never heard of RHR, let’s say average adults typically have a RHR between 60 and 100. The RHR of Tadej Pogacar, the best cyclist in the world, is in the lower 30s. I’m simplifying the topic here a bit and if you want to read more about RHR, feel free to ask the AI agent of your choice. But in essence it’s correct to say that my current fitness is way above average and it’s much closer to a Tour de France rider than to the average human.

My 30-day-average RHR is at 47 - yesterday's 41 was so low because it’s the reading from the night after a rest day with no training or any other major strain. Besides that, my cycling FTP is now at around 395 watts. A world-class FTP starts at around 440 watts (at 80kg). There’s no doubt that my physical performance potential has not been permanently limited in any way by ME/CFS. 

It took eight (!) months of (almost) daily training to get the RHR to finally trend down. It has been sitting between 54 and 57 when I started training myself out of the illness and stayed there until May. I don’t know the reason why it didn’t move for eight months and now explodes (in a good way). I would have expected it to trend parallel to my fitness level which has certainly improved every month.

The saying goes that doing the same but expecting the result to change is madness. Another popular opinion that’s not exactly true.