Covid, Lost Mojo & Lack of Training.

Welcome back or welcome to anyone checking out my website or blog for the 1st time. 

I was looking back the other day and realised it was quite a considerable amount of time since I put out a blog and was thinking sure why not, it may consume about 5 minutes of peoples day. 

So, what's been going on? well the world is mad, Covid has been and remains a pain in the hole really. 

It's is nice to see things getting back to not normal but a "new" normal. 

If you really let yourself think about the last 18 months or so you could actually drive yourself mad. 

It's been draining, sad, tough, annoying, so much negativity out there all linked to this awful disease. Mix the "non believers" into that and it's a mad mad world. 

I am not a non believer and am ok to say I have been fully vaccinated, I also will make the point of each to their own. If you choose not to get vaccinated not a problem with me its your decision, but please refrain from spreading your "theory" about why your not vaccinated, I really don't want to know. 

Covid - 

We got Covid in the house in January of this year and it is nasty, you don't want to get it, if you managed to avoid it up to now, honestly. 

I was lucky, I do believe that fitness helped me get through it. 

But being immune compromised I would be lying if I said I was not shitting it at times during the week when I was bad with it.  It was a worry that it would get worse and I'd end up being hospitalised. 

But thankfully I recovered and got back on my feet in about 2 weeks. 

I have had friends who also got it and ended up in hospital for weeks but here again there was a common trait in their recovery; fitness. 

One friend had lost weight after starting to walk daily during lockdown, this weight loss and fitness kept him from Intensive care when he was in hospital. I am so pleased that he has recovered and is back out walking and getting on with things. 

BUT, the so called long Covid, folks this too is real and perhaps can be argued more devastating to some people than getting the main thing.  Not enough is known about it obviously but it is something. 

I could not believe how much it effected my fitness, it totally destroyed it. 

Before I got Covid I was ticking over, I was arguably the fittest I had been in a good few years. I was training for Portugal all of 2020, which was of course postponed but I did not stop training. Even my running was improving, my times were getting better and it was starting to get to be something I enjoyed doing.

When I felt well enough to go out for a run, I could not make it further than 100 mtrs without stopping and coughing. 

My chest felt awful as did my energy. I persisted (as I do), and I totally struggled to 1km at what felt like 20 mins running. It was awful, then I had to try to run back. I felt better crossing the finish line of the Marathon.

I could not believe how bad it was. I have recovered from many illness, blood clots and hip replacements but this was totally a different feeling. 

Its hard to actually explain it, but my fitness was completely gone and it was something I was not expecting.

I have a lot of times needed to start from scratch but this scared me, this was worse than scratch. 

I also could not just build it up as I would normally do. I had zero energy so needed to give a few days in between before I could try again due to being so knackered.  

And for the 1st few months after it was just 1km, 2km, gradually getting to 3km.. the idea of getting back to a 5k was just that an idea, it was going to be a long road(again).

Each time I'd go out, there was like a ball in my chest which just was sore, my breathing I just could not get back right at all.. I needed to keep stopping just to catch my breath.

This feeling eventually went after about a month to six weeks of trying. 

So as I write this I can say I am close to being back to where I was this time last year. But I do still get day's that I go out for a run and am just not right, my chest still feels a bit bad and my breathing is not the best. 

My times are improving and I am feeling more comfortable when running now. But it's been 10 months to get here. 

I don't really want to go on about Covid too much being honest as it's just consumed life for close to the last two years but it's hard to avoid it really so apologies for my ramblings.

So what else has been going on, well nothing major I did lose total interest in a lot of things. 

I was very lucky as I can work from home and do all of my job from home so I have been working from home since early March 2019. 

It suits me as my kids, Hannah, Jessica and Adam are all grown and in school or college so I have no kids to worry about. A few of my fellow work colleagues have small kids who think it's cool to have Daddy or Mammy at home and don't understand they are there to work. 

I do feel sorry for people in these positions. 

Hannah this September went to Holland on Erasmus for a year, so that is a big change for the house. We are heading over to see her soon and can't wait we do miss her in the house. 

During the summer I had a email argument with Ironman when asking for a refund for Portugal. They just would not give me anything back even though I had lost money on flights and stuff. 

I know a few people in my triathlon club were in the same boat and trying to get refunds but the lovely people at Ironman were very firm in saying you basically hand them your money when entering and if you cannot race.. tough, no matter what is going on in the world.

That was interesting and very very frustrating, I honestly do not understand how they cannot give refunds, especially in the circumstances. 

How could I (or most people) have trained for a race during lockdown, we were not allowed more than 5k radius at one stage, swimming pools and gyms closed worldwide. 

They as a company have completely lost me now, they go on about their looking after the athletes, all the emails refer to this and putting their athletes best interest first but they lie, they do not. 

They don't care unless your a star name and get publicity for them. I asked them time and time again how they can claim this yet not give the refund. 

I explained to them how I could not train correctly to partake yet they are willing to allow me partake (at my own risk), and risk injury or worse (and unfortunately, there have been a number of people who have failed to make it off the course recently which is not nice to hear). 

In the end and only about a month ago I decided that I will keep my entry and defer to 2022 more because I don't want them to keep my entry fee for completely nothing.

So 2022 I am going to resume my training with a little more purpose and intent and resurrect this goal of completing the 70.3 with a better time than my 1st effort. So that's where that ended up. 

I have to be honest and say that seeing some of the pro's who were allowed access to training facilities posting pictures on social media really did start to grind on me, in my view (again only my own view), I just viewed these as a bit of bad taste after a while and perhaps bad judgement by some especially when people were very limited due to lockdowns, but hey lockdown did funny things to people. 

So as the title states lost mojo, I think this is something that everyone at some stage felt, and you don't have to be an athlete to experience this. 

With all races postponed and stuff it was a little depressing, my world became work, sitting on my arse, work, drinking and eating and just life was a bore really for a bit.  I can't imagine I was any different to anyone else really. 

At the beginning, I was trying hard to get up and out, and for a while it was a bit new and interesting being able to get up and go for a early run before work and seeing things I'd never normally see as id normally be on the train into work. 

I did do a sponsored 5k a day for a week for Arthritis Ireland. This was something I didn't think I'd be able to do. Especially after Covid and how long it took me to get back to doing 5ks, it was months later. 

Seven 5ks in a row, if you know me I would find it hard to train more than maybe 3 or 4 at a push days and to run even two days in a row is an ask with the state of my ankles. 

I decided to give it a go anyhow and totally surprised myself by doing it and running them all. This gave me a bit of hope actually, I really surprised myself by doing this. 

When the gyms reopened I was back in. 

I now try train five of the seven days in the week, taking Thursday and one of the weekend days as rest days. I am back up early in the morning for spin class at 6.45am Monday, Wednesday and Friday.. I will run on a Tuesday and run again at the weekend, I often try add some distance to the weekend run. 

With Ironman 70.3 next year I will need to rejig my training week to include swimming I actually miss swimming. There is no pool close to me really, and I like to swim early mornings. 

I find if I am swimming with my club at 8pm I am tired from the day, I end up pushing it, then normally I would then have something on the next morning and after a while I get worn out and need to take a week or two rest. 

Training with my Arthritis is tricky I can't keep to a normal programme and I don't really know what I can keep to really. 

This is why for the last 2 months since the gyms opened up again I am doing the 3 days in there and running the Tuesday too, I am just pushing myself that little bit. 

Last week I was knackered, I also knew it was time to get a pint of blood taken out as I was just sore, achy, tired.  Getting the bloods out this week and when it kicks in will get me back on track energy wise for another 2 to 3 months.

So until then I just need to tick over and take it easy, I did spin class this morning and have been tired since all day.. early night for me tonight.  

I also managed one Duathlon a few weeks back, which was a 3k run, 20k bike and 1.5k run. It was run by my Triathlon club and it was just nice to be back out and seeing people I had not seen in months. It also made me think I have a lot of work to do next year if I am to achieve my goal in Portugal. 

The run was actually good for me, a 3km PB (Oh I forgot to mention I was a little hungover doing it, we had friends over the night before and well you know yourself). 

The bike was crap, I got bored doing the laps and also quite uncomfortable too, again something that needs to be addressed next year .. getting out on the bike. I may get a new bike too, but we will see. 

I also didn't want to be holding everyone up, so I cut the bike to about 14k and did a 1k run off the bike, it was only a bit of fun on a Saturday morning. 

So that's it really, nothing spectacular at all. I hope maybe it gives a little insight into how I got on with Covid and lockdown and now we seem to be coming out the other side I will get the chance to catch with people I have not seen in ages and just get on with life again. 

I will try to chart and document my training and progress again and if you have any hints and tips about training or anything please drop me an email or DM as I am always on the lookout for things like that. 

So until the next time, thanks for the read, if you liked it, please pass about on social media. 

Ken.