Hate To Exercise

“And my heart felt like a lump of lead,…..” Lorna Doone, R.D. Blackmore

Monday

Clearly splitting the cycling session on Sunday into 2 was a wise idea. Despite doing few kilometres extra than the previous week, I felt virtually no pain in any of my extremities on the next day, or even the day after. So much so, that I’ve not had the desire to document any of the non-events of the week. There is one thing, however I wanted to mention. Something came up which momentarily put my training jeopardy, and put any thoughts of training out of my head for a couple of weeks.

Shortly before Christmas – and already after my cycling trip was booked – I started to experience great amount of chest pain. As chronic sufferer of costochondritis, initially I put the pain down to that condition. However, something about it started to feel different. Couple of weeks and a visit to a GP later, I was staring down the barrel of a gun and facing screening tests for possible breast cancer.

Needless to say it was a very depressing and traumatic few weeks, as anyone who has gone through this can testify. Even though the doctors tell you, there are many reasons why, as women, we may have lumps and bumps in our boobs, lets face it – going through such checks gets your head going to the worst possible outcomes. I tried, over the days as I waited for the test, to not focus on the negative; repeating to myself, it’s probably nothing. Everything will be ok, etc, etc, etc. In between that, I was also planning my own funeral party, and trying to figure out how I would tell my friends and family.

In all of that, however, there was one other thought, that kept popping into my head time and time again: will I be able to cycle and how soon, if the thing in my boob turns out to be something that needs taking out. Being a major surgery or just something that needs lancing.

In a strange twist of fate, whilst I’ve not yet fully embraced the new healthy, training life-style, and cycling has not yet become part of my daily life – it’s been a refreshing thought, that my mind turned towards cycling at such terrible time and worried whether or not I’ll be able to do it.

Long story short, however, no funeral party required. The test came back clear. Barrel of the gun, firmly pointed in another direction, wherever that is; and the pain and associated lumps turned out to be part of the pre-existing costochondritis condition. Though I’ve never had one this bad, causing such symptoms.

Trauma over, time to prep for next cycling session this Sunday. Only 2 more Sundays to go, before I’m due to add a cycling session during the week. Oooh, I’m not looking forward to that. And I need to catch up with posting my diaries.

But the emotional hit of the events meant that cycling was far from my thoughts, so I couldn’t even be bothered to make any notes during the week. Besides, splitting the last training into 2, mean that there is nothing interesting to report. My bum don’t hurt. My arms don’t hurt. My legs don’t hurt. Only my head hurts – but that’s just from stupidity and worrying too much.

Days left: 367
Weight 90.1 kgs
Distance travelled: 35.5 kms
Total distance travelled: 67.9 kms
Stupidity Level: High beyond description

“I was obliged to let it lie where it was as a memorandum to teach me to be wiser“, The Life And Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, D. Defoe

By Saturday – practically a full week after the initial training session I felt that my body has almost completely recovered from last week’s cycling session. There was still some residual bottom pain, but that’s about it.

Surprisingly when I woke up on Sunday morning, at a very early for me time of 8am, and actually rose out of bed by 8:15, I was quite prepared to go cycling. Determined as per the plan formulated earlier in the week to do another 32kms – split over 2 sessions. Even more surprisingly, I was out of the house by 9am and by 9:10 on a bike and heading towards Hyde Park. I’ve reset the Ride Tracker to count off each kilometre traversed (not 2 like last week), and off I went. I knew I had to do at least 16kms in the morning, although by 8km I felt that more would be required if I was to meet the goal, because already the idea of getting on the bike again at the end of the day begun to be daunting. Luckily around 3/4 of a way through the session I received a phone call form a friend – which helped me to traverse another 4kms without feeling the physical or psychological pain, as I was concentrating on the conversation, avoiding human obstacle in my path, and not on the distance I had yet to travel.

21.4kms later I was done in. Nowhere near as exhausted as last week. Hot shower, massive lunch and souffle pudding later I was faced with a prospect of having to get on a bike again. There is a considerable difference between getting on a bike for a journey to a specific destination, which takes 5kms or 10kms, the way I used to travel from work, versus the idea of doing kilometres around a park, for no other reason than to clock-up kilometres on a counter – a very different matter. It took me three loops around St Jame’s park (Sandra, it’s the way we walked back to your hotel) to clock up just over 6kms. That’s depressing. This whole cycling thing is getting boring already and I’m not even a month in. I’m hoping that in February, when I add a short cycling session during a week to the routine, things will become easier. It’s like the Exodus Cycling Fitness plan says – make it part of your life. The thing is I have so many excuses not to – all these other things I’m supposed to be doing. This requires me to completely re-order my life, make exercise part of my life, when it never has been, at least not in these doses.

Thus with each kilometre travelled I had to remind myself why I’m doing this, and that I can give it up after the holiday. It didn’t help that my Bluetooth headset broke in the afternoon and refused to connect to the phone, so I had no way to listen to music – a distraction in and of itself.

But I managed it. Not only the remaining 11kms to hit previous target, but a little more. I suppose I don’t have to hit 70kms just yet, providing I can get to a point where I can get to at least 30, several days in a row. Don’t I? Hmm – maybe I’m just trying to find excuses for myself again – not good. I think at least once during this entire training year, I should ensure that I have a day hitting 70kms. Just to see if I can do it – not in one go, obviously. Perhaps in 4 x 90 minute stints? That’s for later.

Days to trip left: 368
Weight 90.1 kgs
Distance travelled: 35.5 kms
Total distance travelled: 67.9 kms
Stupidity Level: Not so bad

Session 2 – aftermath – Lump

Monday

Session 2 – Wiser