I haven’t posted anything since 2020 (until yesterday’s updated Races Under a Tenner 2024) – what gives? Did I suddenly fall out of love with running?
No. I was still running in 2020, but working on site through COVID lockdown and an assortment of other perfect storm scenarios meant I had time off work for stress in the summer of 2021, left my job with burnout after more than ten years in December of that year, and moved to a new type of work, a new industry and all that goes with that.
In 2022 I had COVID twice, and the second time I was soon after diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency and post-viral fatigue – essentially, Long COVID (Post-COVID if you’re medical but I shall continue with the colloquialism from here!). I spent 18 months trying to manage my work to allow me to rest – working from home a lot, having short naps on the sofa with the cat as needed, and limiting my activity when I felt tired (which was a lot).
The work juggling wasn’t working for sustaining improvements, and in many ways my fatigue became more sensitive because I was losing fitness too. It felt like a perpetuating cycle where all my energy went into work as that’s what I felt a personal responsibility to attend to, and I compromised my own needs on a daily basis. The rest I was getting was enough only to allow me to work again.
I’d known a few people who’d had Long COVID more in the midst of the pandemic. They’d had a few months off work, completed gentle phased returns and duty modifications as needed and were, to an external perspective at least, back to enjoying their lives. I have now been off work since November 2023 in the hopes of the same outcome.
For me at least, there are two types of fatigue: physical (affects my ability to do chores, exercise, activities), and mental/social (affects my ability to do work, engage with people, concentrate while driving). So far the time off work has allowed me to rest and then very slowly start to build up my physical fitness and resilience. I am grateful the Long COVID at least has not left me with any respiratory problems not linked purely to a lack of fitness! I started with short (very slow) walks around my neighbourhood (possibly while playing Pokémon GO! – don’t judge me) and then started to look at taking up a Couch to 5k program. I’ve tried this before with the NHS app and I never made it past week 2!
I had a look at the offerings available on the Garmin Connect software and they had three programs, one of which was by Jeff Galloway – the master of Run-Walk-Run, which sounded much more my speed! I’m currently 17 weeks in to a 23 week program which only shows me a week in the future at a time, and I’ve hardly missed a workout except for the five weeks where I had the flu in late Jan and Feb! I have however been able to pick it up again and am looking forward to attending the Trail Outlaws Washington race at the end of April. They’ve just started a 5k trail series in line with their established 10k one, of which I have attended many races over the years, intended for introducing runners to trail racing and allowing returning people like me who need something a bit shorter (I doubt it will be more gentle!) to get them back in the groove again after injury or illness.
The mental fatigue is slower to recover, partly due to my inability to stop my brain whirring around with hypotheticals if not given anything else to do and partly due to my undertaking a remote learning post-graduate university course at the same time I went off work. I was successful in applying for a sponsorship stipend for it (before I knew I was going off work) which increased my feeling of obligation to do it as well as wanting the qualification for myself and my somewhat battered professional self-esteem. I’ve learned some coping mechanisms so it doesn’t become overwhelming and they’re definitely helping. I’ve improved enough to start looking at this site again!
My social battery is still somewhat short: about 2 hours in low pressure situations (meeting a friend for a chat and lunch or similar) and I will spend the afternoon asleep with the cat. She, at least, is loving me being at home and available for snoozes at any time. Otherwise, don’t talk to me while I’m cooking, don’t put music on or expect a conversation while I’m driving, don’t send me to the supermarket without a list. I used to feel like I could keep many plates up at once, but now I struggle to focus on more than one thing at a time without getting overwhelmed and frustrated. I’m trying to be patient and tell myself you can’t do anything well while juggling anyway, but it’s hard when things like making dinner with one thing in the oven, one on the hob and a salad are a chore if tired!
A phone conversation with the Long COVID physio when I had the flu made me feel I had permission to do low-level fitness activities as they would help quiet my brain and give me mental rest. I’ve been working through Jessica Valant’s Beginner Pilates Playlist on Youtube – they’re between 5 and 20 minutes long and I do them on non-C25k days. Between these, the C25k sessions (which often involve a lot of walking!), and starting to eat a more conscientious and less snacky way I am starting to make progress on toning up and losing the four stone I gained through inactivity, stress-eating and eating to compromise for lack of rest over the last 2-3 years.
I’m seeing the Long COVID physio tomorrow as my first in-person assessment with the clinic, and out of that I hope will come some strategies to allow me to return to work in some form or another in the to-be-determined future. In the meantime, we keep Jeffing, stretching and walking while making sure we balance the mental stuff. We’ll get somewhere.
ONWARDS!
Blue Runnings 
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