I think my lurgy was actually extreme work fatigue (bearing in mind I haven’t seen anyone apart from p20 for weeks and weeks!). Friday afternoon I spent in bed and Saturday I basically watched TV all day (which is v unlike me!). Combined with being banished to the attic waiting for a COVID test result I think I just totally stopped. Have to say I do fortunately feel a lot better today. And though I hate I’ve missed two days of the challenge, as I am so worried about getting long COVID, it probably did me good. Really hope you get better soon. I’m also taking vitamin D tablets - don’t know if that helped.
Glad your feeling better.I had been wondering if worry and stress had set of my asthma a bit.My area has been in variations of hard lockdown since March.Its getting very depressing and I have noticed a number of my mates have low level illnesses.I suppose the time of the year doesn't help either.Might try a Vitamin D supplement as well as my Multi-vits.Sadly,my local cafe has closed down again,which means I,m eating more rubbish!MUST GET A GRIP.MUST GET A GRIP.
Scotroutes you seem to be properly going for it still. I more or less repeated yesterdays indoor light exercise session this evening with a similar duration - 50 minutes, consisting of isometrics like planks normal/side/reverse. Reverse planks on fists are fun (even on soft carpet). Attempted a max bodyweight row effort, disappointed with 14, failed on 15th to get chest to bar. MonkeyC - get as much sleep as possible & stick to low intensity exercise.
Thanks sirr,I will try.I,m also amazed at scotroutes fitness despite having covid.I don't know how he does it.
Be kind to yourself Monkey. This year is crazy odd and the stress and anxiety it is causing so many people shouldn’t be discounted. I am very very fortunate that i had some anxiety counselling last year as mine can spiral out of control and result in real physical symptoms. As a result this year I haven’t been too bad but there have certainly been days where I feel odd and it’s almost certainly stress. Keep walking, it’s really good to help anxiety but doesn’t put your body under too much load.
With vitamin D, it is possible to overdose. For most people, a high quality tablet with 1000 IU taken daily is enough. Maybe challenge yourself to cook something healthy a couple of times a week - BBC food is a good place to start.
Good luck and take care - we aren’t all super human (or retired) like Scotroutes ;-P
Met with a friend last night for a socially distanced run. So nice being outside with someone else, someone to push you a bit.
9 miles later and I was dripping with sweat and grinning from ear to ear.
Perfect Monday night run.
Seem to have managed to **** my knee this weekend, not quite sure how but now it hurts to stand up if I've been sitting for any length of time. I'm guessing it's the chronic tendonitis I've had for the past 20 years, must have flared up after Sunday's run. So yesterday and presumably the next few days' exercise will be limited to walking...
My back is truly goosed, I think a muscle in my hip / butt is spasmed and it's radiating up my back. Walking is fine, so there's that. Trying to locate the pressure point sitting / lying on a ball seemed to help short term last night but back to agony this morning.
I wonder if we should all just stick to walking!😁
I had quite a nice week walking and bouldering! I feel better for it but need to regain a bit of structure. Heading out for a pedal this afternoon is going to be really grim.
In good/bad news the Strathpuffer is cancelled so I don't have to spend late November and December doing hill reps, intervals, all that shite that suggests I'm taking riding a child's toy for fun too seriously.
Moment of inspiration for me today...2 hour full school meeting (which includes about 150 staff and is epic!), so I joined on Teams on my phone via my headphones and walked over the hill out the back of my house for the entire thing 🙂 (with a flask of coffee!)
Eek! Definitely not superhuman. It has taken me a long time to get over my illness, which was way back at the beginning of April. I know it's not a great measure but I was looking at my (Garmin-generated) VO2 Max earlier. Last summer, it was 48 (cycling), 46 (running). In spring that had dropped to 38/38. I'm currently at 43/44. My efforts are slower than I'd like but I just pace things as I feel.
Anyway - another 40km easy MTBing today round a very wet Abernethy forest with my ex-boss. With a BIG change in weather on the way I'll have to think about the next few days and plan accordingly.
Loch swimming in September and I was getting ice cream headaches if I put m head under. I need to get an insulated cap!
I was recently wearing a neoprene cap and a latex one on top of that. It's also a good idea to get bigger goggles - the kind that cover more of your face. Pull the latex cap over the top and that helps keep the forehead warm(er). TBH, when it's about dipping rather than swimming, all the locals just wear a woolly bonnet over the neoprene cap and keep their heads out of the water.
Two hour hike seeing a mate home.Curry and chips were our energy gels of choice.It seems incredibly mild out.
Was meant to be a bike sesh today but yesterdays gym has left my legs trashed. Will pick it up tomorrow hopefully. Went a walk instead.
I wonder if we should all just stick to walking!
I’ve never been a runner, I haven’t ridden for some years now, a cycling knee injury has led to osteoarthritis and the risk of further damage from coming off again has caused loss of confidence; however my job, which involves moving vehicles around, also means I can walk up to seven miles a day, more usually four or five, so I think I get enough exercise during an average week.
Two reasons I worked up a sweat today, screwing screws into floorboards with a non motorized screwdriver. Honestly how does that make me sweat? 2nd, nearly finished a large bag of M&S habanero chilli tortillas. Earlier this evening, after dinner, scoffed 4 hazelnut & chocolate cookies on way over to house shortly moving into and the a full snickers duo 5 minutes after arriving. Oh this is the exercise thread. Closest I got to exercise today was a ultra slow walk down to the beach with the nearly four year old and the nearly two year old. Some shoulder rides & carrying to speed things up. The big one gave up riding his balance bike on the way home so put the little one on it who refuses to sit on the saddle so essentially just walks with the bike between his legs and holding handlebars. He'd wanted me to carry him at every opportunity until that point but refused to be carry once on the balance bike. So slow 😉 I don't consider it counted as exercise, it was something, but not really exercise. So 2 days missed now.
Well this is a real pain in the butt (pun intended). I've been in agony overnight, every movement hurts, finding the least painful position takes a lot of moving. And then eventually I fall asleep... and move.
This was all going so well and I'm frustrated to be reduced to walking. Off to the pharmacy this morning to get some knock-out co-codamol, physio booked for Monday.
scotroutes
Full Member
With a BIG change in weather on the way I’ll have to think about the next few days and plan accordingly
I'm hoping that splitboarding will be making up some of my exercise routine very soon 😀
After a week of mostly walking to try and let my legs recover I'm back on the bike. Looking back, I found walking a bit more painful in odd ways. I never walk anywhere, I always ride my bike to get to the shops, travel around town, anything.
60/100 - Rode to town and went on a walk along the Water of Leith. I really love my silly town bike.
61/100 - I'd hoped to cross the 4000 mile for the year mark on my MTB but forgot how close I was to it so actually did it on the day before this but plugged on with a decent Pentlands ride in the slop and rain with a friend. It was very slidey!
62/100 - First real gravel ride back and it felt a bit painful and slow but then I reminded myself that it's winter, the ground is boggy and horrible and even the harder paths are covered in leaf mulch.
63/100 - I didn't have time for much yesterday as we had my wife's citizenship ceremony (after 13 years in the UK! A real relief, even if it was a bit anticlimactic - they're done over Zoom and your family can't join the call so it was all done with in 3 minutes!). Squeezed in a speedy 12 miles or so and photographed two fast blue vehicles-
64/100 - A short 10 mile railway line trundle to hide from the 40mph winds again.
I wonder if we should all just stick to walking!
To be fair I think the last full rest week I had was in August 2019... and even that I'm not sure about. Probably overdue a twinge or two. And we're in lockdown here until next Monday (at the earliest), so an "ideal" time for it as I can't train with my mates anyway.
Have to say I’m finding it harder now it’s dark when I leave for work and when I get home. Taking the dogs up the woods was my self imposed minimum requirement. Now that it’s too dark I’m having to walk the dogs on the street then run or ride. Maybe I can lower my minimum to walking in general.
I’m having tired days but overall feel ok.
Will probably run tonight then ride sloppy local trails tomorrow night. Regret cleaning my bike yesterday now!
Why not just ride on the road or gravel paths?
Low energy levels, not enough sleep again, not had an early night for a few weeks. Run out of coffee and face masks so couldn't even go to shop to get some. 3 rides, 1st, snakebite puncture 28 minute ride by the time I got home. Hadn't bothered to take pump or plugs with me to fix. Ride 2: Headwind. Felt hard work. Poor mood, HR stayed low unenthused. 7.8 miles, 50 minutes. Ride 3: Tailwind. 7.8 miles, 40 minutes. Enjoyed it this time, mood improved.
What classes as a commute? Is riding to a house we're decorating before moving into classed as a commute? I could see a case for it to be, but I don't ride there repeatedly, and I've hardly commuted this year due to furlough so really quite out of form for it. I'm taking it anyway!
Another half hour with Abi tonight, doing some yoga aimed at lower back pain.
I only have an enduro bike so the gravel or toad thing is going to be painful! Local is only a 5 minute pedal to the woods so it makes sense to ride the stuff I enjoy. Can’t think of much worse than riding on the ride in fairness!
So last Saturday I failed!!!
Had to get son a new coat then we got locked out of the house! - had to send 4 year old twins through the cat flap to get us in, the had to finish some painting, was 10pm by the time I sat down and I totally forgot
I'm still going tho
Been using Home Workout app off Google play for days I can't get on the bike (which I totally recommend, really useful)
Ran a steady 4 miles last night, night ride tonight. Will have short run tomorrow then something longer on the weekend. Been really enjoying a longer weekend run the last few weeks
What classes as a commute? Is riding to a house we’re decorating before moving into classed as a commute? I could see a case for it to be, but I don’t ride there repeatedly, and I’ve hardly commuted this year due to furlough so really quite out of form for it. I’m taking it anyway!
Personally I'd class a ride as a commute if you're purposefully avoiding getting sweaty, possibly doing it in work clothes, and it's a routine part of your day rather than some extra exercise.
If you're riding to a house to decorate it (and are going to get mucky anyway presumably) why not add in some sprints to make it a bit more fun / exercise like? Do at least 10 minutes warm up, then try and fit in 8x(15 seconds hard / 45 seconds recovery). If you're doing it on road you'll need to be a bit more flexible, if there's a traffic light coming up for example you might need to extend or reduce the intervals.
And my knee's still hurting, but does seem to be getting better. I've been doing 2x30min walks a day, not what I'd normally class as exercise but given the circumstances I'm counting it 🙂
I'm still chugging away with over an hour of walking per day plus 3-4 weight sessions per week. I guess that's advantage of having a furry motivators/alarm clock and a garage gym.
Riding isn't happening at the moment for some reason, struggling to be arsed to be honest.
Fat loss won't be happening due to the 2.4KG of Reese's Peanut Butter cups that arrived last week.
Personally I’d class a ride as a commute if you’re purposefully avoiding getting sweaty
Works for me. I did the same trip to the house yesterday as well, but took slightly longer routes 10.3 miles instead. Two routes, and completely different riding approaches, but worked out at exactly same mileage and elevation. First ride while in the urban setting stopped at various spots to ride along a low wall or hop up a ledge before heading off road. Second ride, tailwind & time limited so took what is quite rare for me, a more or less direct route home without playing around or deviating off route for off-road riding.
Today I'm yet to exercise. I'm definitely not feeling so motivated for this challenge now. There's temptation to sack it off, but writing this out is helping...
A wee group of us out last night for a very muddy, wet and cold (frost on the cars) ride before stopping at the Old Bridge Inn for some essential rehydration.
A wee walk today, exploring another potential track. I was out for 90 minutes, which was just about perfect. This is exactly the sort of walk I'd not normally have bothered with, but for this challenge.
Think we're in the motivation nadir stage. Did a flat tarmac run on Thursday, ran fast (for me) and my knee has been gippy since, 25 road miles in the pissing rain today oddly quite enjoyed it once out. Could be a soggy 10k run tomorrow, if the old knee holds out, meh.
It’s been walking, Pilates and garage gym for me this week. I haven’t been on the bike for two weeks due to work and recovering from whatever I had that needed a COVID test 🙁 But I am feeling a lot better and less run down - will get out this weekend if the weather allows, otherwise turbo in front of the rugby this afternoon! Need to do something - though my core is stronger of late (good thing - I’m not getting any back pain!), think my cardio fitness is a bit rubbish atm.
We have just installed a power rack in the garage this week, plus I’m trying out the Fit4Riding programme - so my muscles hurt if nothing else 😛
Think we’re in the motivation nadir stage.
Yep. Day 100 still seems like a long way off. I'm guessing that few of us have done 30 days consecutive exercise before so getting to this point has been a major achievement anyway!
The thing is, this final stretch is really why this challenge was started. It seems dark and cold and horrible, but it's taught me over the past 4 years of doing it that it's never bad when you're out. You always feel better for it.
And if you keep going now, you'll find it easier to get out in January and February. That means you'll feel great come spring when the weather changes.
Yeah the hardest part is always getting out the door! I do feel tired this week but it’s been a busy week with working so I would feel tired anyway. The idea of carrying this on past 100 days has already entered my head. I take the dogs out daily regardless though so always walk an hour minimum.
Did an hour and a half up the hill with the dogs this morning and am going for a ride in an hour. Couple of new trails been built by a handful of people. Looks like time to test if it all links up!
I haven’t long got back from walking the dogs, just having some breakfast and then out on the road bike until lunchtime. It’s blowing a gale and with a noticeable drop in temperature but after 10 minutes all that will be out of my mind and i know for the rest of the day I will be happier. The one thing I learned from doing this last year is that I’m a much nicer person if I exercise every day. As a result, the family encourage me to get out which makes it that little bit easier. Well done to everyone still going and get well soon to those struggling with health.
Day 67. 2/3rds !!
Had a wee roadtrip to Learnie Red Rocks. My first time there. We stuck to Blue which was fun and pretty dry for much of it's length. Another 3 hrs in the bag.
I,m back!(Ok I,ve never really been away).Just did an hour and a half at my local outdoor gym,with only friendly potheads for company.Towards the end I was just starting to cough.Hopefully the chest infection won't come back.Thursday managed a 90 minute hike along the Tees,which was much quieter than the previous lockdown.Like ashat might try and get out on my bike tomorrow.
I can't wait until next weekend as hopefully the mountain bike will be fixed back up and rolling again, the dropper post is off to tft this week and the bushings gave out on sundays ride but the Germans have put a new set in the post for my local hero bike shop to sort at the end of the week.
Until then I'm slogging on the road on my single speed commuter, today was grim in the rain, but another day where my imaginary competitors for whatever race I possibly enter sit inside keeping warm 🙂
Local was very slidy today, crashed full speed into a tree on a steep section. Got a right knee double the size of the left now! Wanted to get a big run in tomorrow. Tempted to see how it feels in the morning
Nearly chucked it in today, wanted to get a 10k run in but curtain poles, elderly neighbors flat pack furniture, taking the kids to the park and shopping meant it was dark before I could get out. Set off but a wobbly knee from running "fast" on tarmac on Thursday meant cutting it short to 5k but running on soft ground helped, knee feels better for it, at the minute. MTB tomorrow, if I can curtail the sauce it'll be a first thing kick off...although got given a very cheeky little red for putting up the flat pack......
Started indoor exercise last night at 22:10. Over eager on chin ups, 2nd set didn't get to 7, 3rd set didn't get to 6. Was doing better a several weeks back, but was unable to remain consistent in regularity (elbows playing up). I am better able however to be more explosive in push ups and bodyweight rows. Think explosiveness definitely a good thing to strength train for with regard to hopping about on the bike.
Today, two more rides to house and back. First was nothing special. Returning home I scoped out future commute option #1: direct. Kept HR around 130. Followed an old blocked off road that will be fun to play around on the future commutes home in daylight due to plenty of scattered rubble mounds which look like jumps or small technical challenges to get up and over. Following on from that took one of my regular off road commutes home and really enjoyed it, was really rough on the rigid MTB at one section due to deep gloopy ruts having set solid.
Lovely chilly ride this morning. 3 PBs on climbs, and I thought I was slow today! Funny how you improve without really being aware doing this 🙂
