After the blip..

Your back to your old self and back to the fitness, hurrah!! The question now is how do you start again after this little blip? You were doing so well, crushing all your sessions, progress and results were becoming a fortnightly habit but now it's all gone a little quiet after the short illness (or injury).

I am in that boat now, I have got over the illness but I am now finding that my sessions are slower, my heart rate isn’t playing ball at all either. Both of these reasons are soul destroying to an athlete, they can become demotivated and lose confidence in their abilities. To overcome this you have to have the mental strength to rise above your insecurities. It's just the same situation my clients find themselves in when they've had their blip, but the difference is they have me to will them on and explain that the fitness will come back.

The first steps to getting back on the treadmill (excuse the pun) are to keep it simple, and not put so much pressure on yourself. That I am afraid to say is my failing, patience is a virtue that I am seriously lacking in on most levels in my life! Most of my patience is used for my children so there’s not much left for my fitness sessions! Take today for instance, my session was a long low rate row with a low % of my heartrate cap. It started off ok but then my heart rate started getting too high, then my paces started getting slower as I was trying to rein in my hr so most of the way through it I spent frustrated and only let go of these feelings with 10 mins to go, once I did that my hr fell and the pace got quicker - you see most of it is all about patience, control and discipline.

The moral to this story is for the first week of getting back to exercising just enjoy moving again. Your fitness will return in the coming weeks and you may even surprise yourself with PBs on your journey. Don’t go off too quick and over-exert yourself, as you may find yourself back nursing another blip due to pushing your body far too quickly. I also have to remember to take my own advice on the above!!