Return to the Routine

Well, that was the plan anyway.

After four weeks off travelling and recovering from jetlag, I arrived home from work a bit late. I stood in my room for a couple of minutes, half in work gear and half in running gear, wondering if I should just brush of the run, but I eventually went. Again, guilt was the motivating factor. So I took off for my 10km run along the normal course.

I knew I was in trouble when I needed my second wind after 150 metres.

It didn't get much better for the rest of the run. I got stitches in about four places in my belly and felt like stopping many times on the run.

But I got to the end, eventually, taking a laborious 48:30 to get through the 10km. That's about 3 minutes outside of my best time.

It got worse. On Wednesday I was a little stiff, and not in a good way. Quads in particular had ceased up. So I stayed on the safe side and didn't go to the gym. I justified it by saying sometimes I need a day's break between exercise to recover.

Then today I could barely move. I walked like I was using crutches, and getting to the bathroom at work, which involves stairs at the moment due to renovations, was a genuine struggle.

So that time, plus the struggles in the run and afterwards, tells me I've lost a lot of my fitness base.

Given I have just sent out a challenge, this could spell trouble.

In the meantime I'm back up to 89kg. Not entirely unexpected. Cycling for two days on the holiday wasn't exactly keeping up my fitness regime.