No Exercise for a Week

That has to be a record for me, no exercise for a whole week! OK, it probably isn’t a record as I’ve been injured or ill in the past and haven’t been able to exercise and I guess this was the same. I had a bit of a sore back last Saturday and it was worse after my cyclocross race on the Sunday. I therefore decided to take it easy.

Rest is Good.

It’s a good time for a bit of a rest anyway as I’ve had a busy year of races. I’ve had Quadrathlons from late Spring all through the summer, interspersed with events such as GritFest and Pivot 24/12. The day after the last Quadrathlon race saw the start of cyclocross season which is a race almost every Sunday throughout October, November and December. This weekend saw cyclocross visiting Abergavenny for the Welsh National Championships. I usually do this but as it didn’t count to the trophy series points this year and I’ve been spending far too much money driving around Wales and entering all of these events I decided to give it a miss. That means there’s only one cyclocross race left this season in a couple of weeks time and that now is therefore a good time for some rest and recovery before starting some training in the New year.

Not that I’ve really done much of anything in the form of structured training this year. I’ve been doing lots, but it has all been pretty much whatever I feel like rather than actual workout and training plans. Structure is all well and good and certainly leads to good results but sometimes it’s better to just enjoy it and do what you feel like doing. It seemed to work out though as I had some good results in races this year. [‘ll write a round-up of my race performances after the final Cyclocross race.]

So, with a sore back and no races at the weekend I had nothing planned.

A Lazy Week

A Lazy Week

Admittedly I did go for a sea swim on Monday morning and swam in the pool on Wednesday but it was all very easy. I did have a mountain bike ride planned for Saturday as well. Simon couldn’t make the ride, the weather wasn’t great and by then I was well into a redecoration of the hall, so I didn’t go either. It’s amazing how much time you have when you’re not doing any exercise – so much time that I’ve managed to redecorate the hall, sort out some Christmas shopping, watch some Christmas films and I’ve even bought a 6 foot inflatable elf – maybe it’s best that I stick to swimming, biking, running, kayaking etc!

Giant Elf

Giant ElfI did go windsurfing on Sunday as well which I guess is exercise. It was certainly quite a workout with some big waves out the back. I’m pleased to report that although both the decorating and the windsurfing did make my back hurt a little it was nothing too bad and it seems to be OK now.

Back to it

I guess I’d better get back to some training now then. One more cyclocross race and the rest of December just ‘playing’ first and then some proper Base training for January and February I think. I’ve set Anna and Morgan a challenge for Advent as well. Before opening their advent calendars each day they have to do a short round of exercises.

Starting on day one with 10 squats, 10 lunges, 10 press-ups and 10 sit ups. Day two was 11 of each exercise, day 3 was 12 of each exercise and so on throughout advent adding one extra rep to each exercise throughout December. I’m doing it with them of course but Morgan seems to be wimping out already… Maybe we’ll have to enforce a rule of no XBox until they are done.

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.