Two years. So much has happened in that time and yet it feels like yesterday. I really must do better at this blogging lark. So where do I start? I guess where I left off is as good a place as any.
At that time I was finishing up cycle 2 of Joe Wicks’ 90 Day Plan, whilst still trying to get back my pre-Covid fitness. I moved onto and completed cycle 3 as well as the Graduate Plan, started to find my old levels of fitness, and introduced a spot of mountain biking into the mix. Despite the various lockdowns and associated restrictions I managed to get out there as much as the rules permitted although all my races fell victim to the Pandemic.
How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flown. How did it get so late so soon?
Dr Seuss
As 2021 arrived and the various restrictions started to ease, I made plans to do a couple of marathons and an ultra at the end of the year. In February I pulled my adductor muscle doing HIIT and (with the benefit of hindsight) this persistent niggle and me not listening to my body by coming back too hard too soon is what ultimately led me to sustaining more severe injury in the form of a slipped disc later in the year. Coupled with long Covid and finding out that it’s randomly left me with a dairy intolerance, I’m going to say it wasn’t the greatest of years on the health front. Throw a new job into the mix for good measure and it was a rather full on time to say the least!
The slipped disc and the forced break from exercise was an absolute kicker. I learned a heck of a lot about myself during that time and I may write more about it one day; all that you need to know for now is that I was benched from August through to January 2022 and the pain was hideous, but we won’t go there.
That brings us then to 2022. A slow but steady return to running with one race already under my belt (the Hampshire Hoppit trail half marathon), London marathon in October, and Portsmouth coastal marathon (maybe ultra) in December. It’s taken an age to rebuild my fitness but we’re getting there slowly but surely…well we were, until Covid made an unwelcome repeat visit last week.
So I guess I’ve kind of gone full circle. Covid led me to starting this blog and with some isolation time on my hands it’s now leading me to continue it. Maybe this time I can actually keep it up. The odds don’t look good but we shall see…
