Well ... nearly

I’m nearly feeling well again – hoorah! The long, lingering cough/cold/sinus infection seems to finally be on the way out. I’m still feeling a bit rough at night, but I’m enjoying the lovely daytime weather and, thankfully, the rest of the family seem to have recovered as well.

I’m sure recovery was in part hastened by fresh mountain air last week – we spent a week skiing in the Three Valleys (La Tania in France). Well, skiing, drinking and eating cheese! This year it only took me a couple of hours to find my ski legs and I’m pleased to say that the children did even better. In particular twin two (Ravi) finally decided that he enjoyed skiing – it was great to see him bombing down the slopes in a barely controlled snowplough with a huge grin on his face! The last day was our ‘family day’ (no lessons for the kids or my wife) and we skied together all day through trees, over little jumps and around the funpark, which was a kind of fairly tame skier-cross circuit. I learned my lesson from last year too, so I had all my pockets stuffed full with mini-Lion Bars and Werthers Originals for the lifts!

Despite the tiredness from the transfer home and a week-long alcohol and cheese binge I still managed to jump on the turbo the same day – 240W for an hour, and the same the next day, just to get the fitness levels back (skiing seems to help develop leg strength but not particularly cardio fitness). Yesterday was a post-work park interval day – the pain in doing my first interval session in two weeks was offset by the stunning park setting and lovely warm evening weather. Richmond Park is fantastic come 7pm, when the traffic levels drop right down and all you can hear are the sounds of your own laboured breathing and the thumping of your heart! Even the surface seems alright now after months of dodgy loose gravel and flecks of tar. I believe the surface is due to be redone at the end of May, so hopefully the contractors will manage to do the job properly this time, use ‘rounder’ chippings that won’t cause punctures and attempt to at least bed the surface in properly.

I found a couple of road races to enter as well (SERRL) and aim to start racing again at the end of April/beginning of May. Still time to get back to fitness then!