Time and strategy to get back "to form" after illness?

I'm struggling. Went to Mexico almost 3 weeks for a cousin's wedding. Got something. Had a fever the first 5 days, and other GI issues for a total of 10 days. Out of the water a bit over 2 weeks. Lost 9 pounds. It was pretty brutal. I think I actually missed the coffee more than beer or wine! Anyway, finally started recovering last Wednesday, and by Friday I was able to eat a normal meal. I'm still down a little weight, don't know how much is dehydration and how much is muscle/fat mass. Anyway, tried to do a workout yesterday. It was pretty tough. Hackett set, added 5 seconds to each rep (50's). Was able to slog through it, but my stroke count was WAY up, 15-16 and I'm usually 11-12 for this set. Tried again this morning, with strokes in IM order. Ugh. Free was better, but as soon as I did a 50 of fly, it killed me. Cut the set short because I was just plain exhausted. And my fly anyway was horrendous (back and *** were okay). So has anyone dealt with a prolonged virus or other sickness like the flu or whatever that had you down and out for a long period of time? How did you get back into things? There is a new Masters program near me I may go check out (will still be primarily solo swimming), but I don't really want to go until I'm somewhat back in shape. Should I stop doing intervals, and just do some longer, slower paced swims? Should I give it more time? Should I try to do what I did Monday, keep the same distance, but add some extra rest time between reps? Anything diet-wise? I've been just trying to eat a lot in general to get my weight back. Yesterday I added a good deal more protein. Think I may do that, again today.
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  • Thank you. I follow the prior coach's workouts on the Basic Training page, which are similar to USRPT. So I've modified that, basically increasing interval to account for slower speed. Took your input this morning, and found it to be helpful. Was a "choice stroke" today, which I generally pick to be fly. Fly is challenging for me at a reduced effort while maintaining good form, especially in a compromised state of conditioning, but just doing 25's was manageable (50's on Tuesday killed me). Following my interval, my HR was getting up around 170+ as I got into the last part of the main set, but letting it drop down to the 120-130 range rather than just following the interval made all the difference in the world. Thanks! So glad it helped.
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  • Thank you. I follow the prior coach's workouts on the Basic Training page, which are similar to USRPT. So I've modified that, basically increasing interval to account for slower speed. Took your input this morning, and found it to be helpful. Was a "choice stroke" today, which I generally pick to be fly. Fly is challenging for me at a reduced effort while maintaining good form, especially in a compromised state of conditioning, but just doing 25's was manageable (50's on Tuesday killed me). Following my interval, my HR was getting up around 170+ as I got into the last part of the main set, but letting it drop down to the 120-130 range rather than just following the interval made all the difference in the world. Thanks! So glad it helped.
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