At last, after weeks of illness and grumbling, I have started my winter training… with two laps of Richmond Park on a freezing Sunday afternoon.
Not for me the pleasures of Southern European warmness and training camps. No, I am a Northern European hardman and, as such, freezing fog and bleak grey skies are what I shall feast on this winter as I try to build up a base level of fitness.
Halfway through my first lap of the Park, having gone up the slope toward Richmond Gate a bit hard, the thought crossed my mind that three weeks isn’t awfullly long to get so unfit. It lodged in my mind for the rest of the lap as I struggled to get my heart rate down and not over-exert myself.
I’m really prone to chest infections and I find in the cold weather that I can end up with burning throat and lung sensations very easily. And those are exactly what usually lead to me getting ill in some way.
Lucky I bumped into Freysen who was going round the other way and we did a second lap at a steadier pace having a nice chat and passing the time rather than grimly trying to get round as quickly as possible so that we could go home.
You might have noticed the blog’s look has changed a bit, which has taken longer than planned, mostly because I’m a cack-handed geek who doesn’t do geek. Still not quite finished tidying up after myself either – need a new banner.