"I didn't know it would be so bad"

[swanscot]

No, I don't mean running. (Nor do I mean not running) (Nor the weather!)

I'm currently not running due to an injury, and due to the hard frost last week I didn't dare go out on my bike, so have been limited to short walks. But today the sun was shining, it was a positively balmy 1°C and I felt the need to get on my bike for a wee birl about the countryside.

I took a circuitous route to the neighbouring village and while there called in at the gift shop. I ignored the wonderful smells coming from the coffee shop and picked up a couple of stocking fillers. As I was paying for these I got chatting to the shop assistant and she asked if I'd cycled far (I suppose the mud-splattered hi-viz jacket and two buffs was a give-away!). I mentioned how I was resting from running and she asked how far I usually run. Then as I'm leaving she adds as a parting shot: "I didn't know it would be so bad". I didn't know what she meant, so I asked her and she explained "I didn't know my body would become so bad without exercise".

This lady was a bit older than me, and maybe had started to suffer with whatever ailments she has when she was still relatively young, but her comment made me sad for her and others like her. And it made me realise how lucky we runners are. We DO know how our bodies need exercise to keep fit and healthy and we are able to do something about it before we suffer from various health conditions that prevent, or discourage, us from doing so.

Thinking about such matters on the cycle home gave me an wee extra push to help me get back up the hill to home.

The above photo is from today's cycle. It was lovely sunshine when I left home, but I soon came across the swirling fog. Never mind, I still managed to cycle 25km.

[psarapsych Graduate]

Hello Swanscot, what a beautiful post :-). What i think is wonderful (despite having the time to do it) is your ability to swap to a serious work out in other sports. I would love to learn to bike properly but all I've got is a cheap bike, plenty of gears but a sports shop cheap special offer so it's not going to take me on wonderful bike rides like my old Raleigh.

Anyway, how wonderful to enjoy that beautiful scenery on a misty moisty morning :-).

How sad about the lady you met... Yes, even though we are in dry dock (on the running front at least) we are so lucky to know that we can keep ourselves healthy and fit. I'm glad you posted that though, out really struck a chord with me because of my parents' disability due to arthritis - osteo and rheumatoid.

Thinking about you and biking, perhaps i should make friends with my poor bike and do a sort of c25k with it when the weather starts improving. In the meantime i do have an indoor bike but my pathetic excuse is that i want to be outdoors!

How are your physio exercises coming along? Hope your legs are starting to get stronger.

By the way, have you always been into cycling, hiking? I've always loved mountain hiking; could trek for days :-).

Keep well Swanscot, Sara

[swanscot Graduate in reply to psarapsych]

Yes. I've loved cycling since I got my very first bike as a child! I've never been one for doing 100 miles road trips or anything like that, but up until 10 years ago I'd very, very occasionally do a longer trip (up to 50 miles) on a mixture of road and tracks, linking several Highland glens.

I've hiked/ hillwalked all my adult life. My hubby is a hillwalker too and we both love love being out in our Scottish hills. He is not quite as fit as I am, and he love taking photos of our hillwalks, so we tend to be very slow. Eg the last big hill day we did, took us 10 hours for a route that the guide books suggest is 5 - 7 hours! But that was ok in the middle of summer! Although we both love winter hillwalking, it's not so easy to tackle the big hills now with the short winter days. However we still hope to get some days out there this winter where we can go crunching across the frozen snow in our crampons with ice axes swinging!

[swanscot Graduate in reply to swanscot]

I've spoken about my injury/recovery here: couchto5k.healthunlocked.co...