38. Finding the time to train

Mile 36 – Nice flat mile, feeling stronger towards the end.

It is hard to fit in all those training runs, especially for younger runners, holding down a job and perhaps looking after children. In the past I squeezed many of my runs in early in the morning, before the sun was up. (This last week provided ideal conditions for that, with the waning moon giving plenty of illumination on the unlit country lanes around here.) When the boys used to go to swimming club, I would drop them off and go for a jog, and try to be back in time to pick them up; or when I was staying away from home with work I would fit a run in somewhere in the day, with my kit bag always in with my luggage. However, sometimes it was just not possible, and I’d have to forgive myself then try again the next day.

I have been doing my best to complete the UCLH rehabilitation exercise programme every day. It takes about an hour, but I’m becoming quicker each day and I find myself less exhausted. The squats, reverse lunges and side lunges provide quite a cardio workout and left me panting a fortnight ago, but I can work through them much more easily now. This week I have managed two sessions on the bike in the garage, each for 40 minutes. However just these two activities, with all the dawdling in between, have filled most of the morning. I need to work on my discipline to complete them without so many distractions.

It has been hard to find gaps in the rain recently, but I have ventured out for some longer walks. My first on Tuesday covered two miles, after which I felt pretty tired.

I walked to the Post Office and, for the first time, forgot to pop on a woolly hat, passing three friends and neighbours along the way who all failed to recognise me with my new hairdo. I’m not surprised, I am still shocked when I catch sight of myself in the mirror, but I’m sure we will all become familiar with it soon enough.

As an indicator of my daily improvement, we went for a four mile walk on Sunday, taking pictures of the veteran cars in the London to Brighton Rally. As you can imagine, there was a lot of stopping to take snaps, but I felt good walking that far. 

I tried out the Action Pan feature on my phone camera, but was a bit disappointed with the results when I looked at them at home. It takes a picture which freezes the action, then selects what it thinks is the subject and applies a motion blur to the background. Very clever, when you consider how quickly it does all that, but the selection is a bit hit and miss. Here it has blurred the front of the car. It lets you choose whether to use the processed image or the original without any blur, and I preferred the originals. I think I would have done better at panning with my DSLR.

—oOo—

Given that my new immune system hasn’t even encountered a cold yet, I’m sure you can see that I need to be careful about mixing with people. This extends to going into shops as well as inviting people into the house, and applies to Sue just as much as to me. It is frustrating, but I am beginning to find my comfort level. I have been into Tesco a couple of times, armed with a mask and steamed up glasses, and I feel pretty safe. If any other customers so much as clear their throats, then I scamper down a different aisle. We met up with friends on the weekend at a garden centre (involving a Full English breakfast on my part), sitting under cover but not indoors, and that again felt okay.

We have a call with the doctor from UCLH this week and a long list of questions about how to return to normal society, but we are not expecting many definitive guidelines. We’ll see.

—oOo—

We were delighted when a friend dropped by with a beautiful bunch of flowers for us, giving me another excuse for some experimental photography on a wet day. Here is a moody abstract, formed of two images of roses blended together in Photoshop.

My mouth must be recovering from the mucositis as I find I enjoy familiar flavours. I am eating well, although the trauma of the hospital stay makes me avoid some things still: I haven’t tried coffee since a sip in the hospital all those weeks ago; I stick to tea, sometimes an Earl Grey. I have changed my toothpaste as my usual one reminds me of the days when that was the only flavour I would taste all day.

I am very slowly putting on some weight, up from 69kg (10st 12lb) to 73kg (11st 6lb) and I thought it a good idea to try on some of those shirts in the wardrobe that I have kept over the years in the hope of slimming down to fit them one day. One had to go – if I can’t do the buttons up now, I’ll never manage it, but if I can stop snacking before too long, I can set a new lower weight target and keep a couple of the others. 

—oOo—

With an election looming, you can expect the chancellor to use the phrase “green shoots of recovery” before too long. Re my hair, it’s not green but there’s a little bit of growth in the middle of the top lip and lower lip. I’m an adolescent again, but without the spots. Shaving doesn’t take long.

—oOo—

The biggest excitement of the week was Tim, Sarah and Bonnie moving to their brand new house in Burgess Hill, so congratulations to them. Given my excuse for not mixing with people, I was exempt from carrying boxes. I hope to make up for it by helping with some shelving – everybody needs a new shelf. My other contribution is dog-sitting for them, which isn’t too much of a strain.

Thanks for reading and take care.