A Change is as Good as a Rest

I'd been wondering all week just what I should be doing at the weekend. Should I take it easy, rest, recover, cross-train? I have to acknowledge that, despite having a really encouraging start to my training, I'm still pretty unfit at best, so the idea of a two-day lay off was very tempting indeed. In the end I decide to rest and cross-train. On Saturday I was still up at 5am, but I did a few chores and spent some time with my family (when they eventually emerged), and had a lovely lazy day.

This morning I decided that I did want to work out but I didn't want to do my weekly training walk. So out came the bicycle for it's first airing in many months. I know that there are certain protocols about road-worthiness etc. but I must confess to being slightly ignorant of what they are. There was air in the tyres and an open road before me. I couldn't resist.

I think, with hindsight, it was perhaps a little ambitious of me to try and cycle 9 miles on my first time out in a while, but I had a point in my head that I wanted to make and, actually, it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. It was still difficult - and it will probably hurt tomorrow - but it wasn't beyond me. As someone who has struggled with his weight for most of his adult life I can state with some certainty that I tend to think most things are beyond my capabilities. I've held myself back for so long because I couldn't believe that it was even worth trying, let alone consider the possibility of succeeding. So I think that achy thighs and a slightly sore bottom are a price worth paying for the positive feedback that only comes through achieving things that I thought were beyond me. And perhaps, next time, I'll be less afraid to try and more willing to take a risk.

Back to the walking tomorrow.