Getting back to it
My heart rate is up, well up and beyond anywhere it has been in the last couple of months. I’m sweating and starting to feel sticky under the three layers I opted for to ward against the cool January air. My legs are starting to shout. It feels like that slob I have become is clinging to my back, preventing me from getting to the top of Wansfell Pike.
This is the return of that all too familiar sensation. Clearly far from the most challenging hill walk I have before this, or will ever, complete. Today it felt like my Everest.
Experience told me this would be the case; that first ‘session’ back is the worst. Like a bear rising from a winter hibernation slumber, the body is having some stress applied and the dust is starting to burn off. Although I probably carried an odour far worse than a refused radiator at this point!
Clambering up Wansfell from Ambleside I was under no illusion my 12 - 18 month hiatus from consistent training was going to return like an angry Jedi. Angry yes, application of force, yes, silky smooth action - far from it. I was more Baby Yoda at this point.
Cresting the top I was however ‘back on it’. The cereal bar and shot of flask coffee may as well have been part of a tasting menu they tasted so good. My ego was, admittedly, slightly dented at the sweaty incapable of conversation state I had become. But the brain had adjusted to my current level of fitness. I no knew where I was at.
The rest of the hike was measured and relaxed and by the time we had returned to Ambleside I could keep up more of a conversation with my brother, Harry, and had the legs to get another three miles in (pub lunch + pint a suitable carrot).
During the following two days I only felt myself getting stronger and over the three days we clocked up 2,000m+ in elevation gain and 41km of hiking. No need to blink again, I fully appreciate this doesn’t get the seasoned endurance athlete exercised!
‘All we have to do is decide what to do with the time given to us’ - Gandalf the Grey
Accepting the compromises of life has been the daily mantra during the last couple of years. With so much going on with work and house renovations with the odd niggle here and there I have found myself working with what I have.
Not one for natural patience this has been a challenge. That sensation though - the burn during and the aching afterwards - is so sweet, so familiar. I’m not setting any PB’s in the near future but as the ‘rest of life’ starts to settle down I do have some plans to look ahead and forward to (more on this in another personal blog).
For now though, getting back to it feels great - I feel better for it. I love the discipline of training. I’m a ‘continuous improver’ (see point on patience!) and get huge rewards from feeling like I’m moving forwards. I like making plans, but get the real satisfaction out of executing them to the best of my ability. Getting back to it gives me all of this in heaps.
Looking ahead I only have four parameters to work to:
1) Consistency.
2) Personal growth is both physical and mental. Be good at both.
3) Patience.
4) Fun first.
If I can keep to these I’m sure that ego-bashing sweaty suffering up Wansfell Pike in January 2024 will be consigned to a Star Wars and Lord of the Rings referencing blog only!
