Of
course, ‘c’ also being for ‘corona virus’ or ‘covid-19’. How can I not write a
blog post on this topic? It is so all-pervasive and all-consuming at the
moment, it demands that I weigh in with my tuppenceworth. But not forgetting
this is a triathlon / running / training blog, so I will of course be putting a
sporting slant on the topic.
We have
all had to make sacrifices since Corona Virus hit our shores back in February.
I am sure I wasn’t alone in tuning into the news over a month ago, when the
problem remained isolated to China, thinking, ‘Poor things. Thank goodness that
isn’t here.’ Naïve ‘NIMBY’ style thinking indeed. It is now here with a bang
and every single person is affected by it to some degree. I should highlight
that for me, that degree is relatively mild. Yes, it’s a pain in the arse
having to choose between a daily run or cycle or being able to take my baby out
in his buggy to get him his nap. Yes, I miss seeing my parents and having their
support with looking after Sylvester. Yes, I miss my barista-crafted flat white
and natter with my friends at a local café. Yes, I miss being able to shop
where I want, when I want and without restriction on the items I place in my
trolley. Yes, I miss being able to drive somewhere lovely to go buggy running,
such as Haldon Forest or Exmouth sea front. Yes, I miss taking Sylvester to his
groups and classes and socialising with other Mums. Yes, I miss being able to
break up the long days by planning difference activities throughout the week.
And yes, a week in and I am already feeling just a tad jaded at repeatedly
feigning fresh enthusiasm for reconstructing my 13 month old’s tower of
stacking cups for him to promptly go and destroy again for the 22nd
time that morning. But, in truth, these are all minor inconveniences compared
to what some people are suffering at the hands of this awful disease.
It goes
without saying that the recent restrictions on freedom of movement and social
distancing laws play havoc with your training regime. In fact, it is pretty
much a triathlete’s nightmare scenario: we already struggle to train three
separate disciplines when we have the freedom to do so whenever and wherever we
want. The closure of gyms and pools means no swimming, unless you are fortunate
enough to live within walking distance of the sea. Only one form of exercise a
day means no brick sessions: it’s bike or run, run or bike; not both. I have
seen people uploading 7 hour long bike rides on Strava, but to me that is
somewhat taking the piss. You are meant to exercise from home; a seven hour
ride, whilst starting out from home, could take you as far as 60 miles from
your house. I don’t think that is what the government intend people to do with
their one daily outing. I personally think that anything over 90 minutes is not
in the spirit of what the measures are designed to achieve. It’s about doing
just enough to boost your physical and mental health; not about using the
unexpected time off work as an opportunity to put in longer training hours.
Yes, staying at home is boring, but the motto is ‘stay at home to save lives’.
For me
personally, the biggest impact has not been on my freedom to exercise but on my
son’s nap routines. He only does short nap cycles (30 mins max), so still
ideally needs three naps a day. He is notoriously bad at napping unless in
motion. The ‘one outing per day rule’ has therefore hit him hard! If I want to
run, that would either mean Sylvester not getting a proper nap or Matt
sacrificing his run to take him out. So we have been alternating; one day I run
and Matt walks Sylvester, the next day I go on my Wattbike inside and then I
can do the buggy walk. However…. We have just ordered a treadmill, which is
arriving next week, so soon we will be able to run inside. We both hate
treadmills but have to admit that the freedom to run daily, without
restriction, is tempting at the moment… and much needed to counteract all the extra baking and boredom snacking that has been happening! At least I have been able to put some
much needed weight back on I suppose! Another few months of quarantine and I’ll
be back to my pre-pregnancy weight!
Easter tiffin, made for a 'virtual' coffee morning with my tri club buddies on Zoom tomorrow: even in a crisis, coffee and cake catch up must continue!
So my
goals have changed. Indeed, I currently have no goals. Last weekend I was due
to have a weekend in Cardiff with my Mum and race the Cardiff Bay 10k. This has
now been rescheduled until November but I am reluctant to get focused and train
for it as part of me thinks that there may be no mass participation events
allowed for the remainder of 2020…. The World Duathlon Championships in
Amsterdam in September look extremely doubtful. Instead, I am using this time to
build some steady base miles and to enjoy my one daily outing as escapism, so I
have mainly been running off road: much more pleasant and also much quieter,
away from other people. We are lucky that we live in the country and there are
so many options for stunning off road running routes within a mile of our
house. Another bonus of all this is how clean the air quality is at the moment
due to the decreased road and air traffic. To keep the focus and the fitness
up, I have been doing Strava fartlek sessions, where I pick a couple of
segments to target each run and go for it! A bit of fun and it just reminds my
legs that they have another gear aside from the 8m/m plod pace.
Before
all of this ‘kicked off’, we had been fitting in a lot of new parkrun events, including Salisbury (where I ran a post-pregnancy parkrun PB, a.k.a. a quadruple 'P' of 19:30) and Bolberry Down (where I set a new female course record). I also managed to squeeze in one race in on 1st
March: the Exmouth Ocean Brave 10k. It was a multi-terrain run that went out
along the cliff tops and came back along a 3 mile stretch of sandy beach, into
a headwind the whole way. That was tough! Amazingly I managed to finish as first
lady and second overall! The prize was a voucher for £30 to spend in Ocean,
Exmouth, on any meal and drinks off the menu… which will now obviously have to
wait. Hopefully the restrictions of eating out will have lifted in time for our
wedding anniversary in July and I can “treat” my husband to our first meal /
evening out since our son was born! It’s a shame as when the clocks changed we
intended to get back to going to our running club and my tri club once a week.
Nevermind, it will make us all the more appreciative of these things once the
restrictions are eventually lifted.
Bolberry Down parkrun: a stunning course on the cliff tops in the South Hams
3 mile long beach section into stiff headwind at Exmouth Ocean Brave 10k
Finish line! First lady and second overall.
My son shows off my trophy!
