Starting Again

Back in September 2017, I competed in my first Sprint Triathlon, just two weeks after my first-ever 100-mile bike ride. I was training most days of the week, sometimes even twice a day. Swimming, cycling, running and gym work. It was probably the fittest I’d ever been and also the most time I’d spent outdoors. For the next two years I continued to train and race, focused on cutting seconds off each discipline, getting faster and stronger. Weekends were consumed by big rides and long runs. Then during the pre-season for 2020, Covid spread, lockdowns followed and I never got around to booking any races for that year. I was left with nothing to train for and no reason to look ahead.

Throughout the lockdown and the two years we lost to the pandemic, I continued to be active and retained most of my fitness. I ran 2 marathons and my first ultra-marathon, and I abandoned the heated pools and took up open-water swimming. Yet, I was being active for the sake of something to do. I wasn’t training for any of these events, I was just getting through them. I didn’t care if a marathon took me all day, because I had all day to spare. If I wanted to sit on a bench in the park eating an ice cream at mile 22 then so be it, the time on my watch be damned. My motivations shifted during those couple of years. I wasn’t exercising for training anymore, but instead to spend time outdoors. As much of it as I could.

When we came out of the pandemic, however, I lost all that free time and with it most of the time I was spending outdoors. The work diary began to fill up again and even when I did have an hour free here and there, I filled it with other hobbies which got me outside, like photography and film making. Over the past 18 months, I have barely run more than a couple of times a month. The bike has been left gathering dust and the wetsuit has only made a couple of appearances when the weather was nice in the summer. In short, I’d gotten very unfit, and my lack of fitness was starting to affect the time I spent outdoors as it demotivated me to travel further than a couple of miles from my house or car.

The worst thing is I watched this happen and thought it was what I wanted. I didn’t care about racing any more, but instead just wanted to slow down and spend more time appreciating nature. I didn’t care if 2 hours of being outside with my camera meant I only walked a mile. I’d rather that than force myself to train twice a day again, concentrating more on the numbers on my watch than what was going on around me. Inevitably though, as I became even less active, I was spending even less time bothering to go outdoors altogether. A long, cold winter was spent keeping comfortable indoors, with the odd photo walk thrown in at the weekend if the weather wasn’t too bad. I gave the weather too much influence over my outdoor activities. The rain never stopped me from cycling or running because I knew I would get through it and be back dry again soon. That wasn’t the case with my camera though, and inevitably I lost a lot of outdoor days.

Whilst I still enjoy those new hobbies, I’ve started to miss my old fit and active self. Long bike rides and runs were mini adventures I got to have throughout the week. They might have been rushed, but at least they were outside, discovering new places with each one. My legs slowly carrying me further afield each time. I didn’t mind getting lost back then, because it usually only meant getting a few extra miles in. I managed to discover so many new places and was consistently motivated to keep doing so.

After coming to the realisation that I was slowly drifting into my thirties incapable of walking up a flight of stairs without getting out of breath, I’ve finally decided it’s now time to start training again. I’ve booked a half marathon and a triathlon for later this year which is what I’ll be designing my training around. I’m not bothered about the times I get in those races, but I do at least want to feel like I am capable of completing them, rather than just getting through it. I want to feel like I am capable of going for a long run to discover new places again. I don’t want to second guess whether I am fit enough to take on a challenge or an adventure when it presents itself to me. Over the next few months, I’ll slowly be working back up to, hopefully, having a nice base layer of fitness so I can get back to enjoying my old outdoor hobbies again.