From a fitness point of view, this year has been a total mess – or, better said, an almost complete lack of fitness. I tried to rest as much as possible, since having a stressfull job plus uni plus trying to have a social life left me completely drained and overly burned out. But fatigue is a thing of perverseness, and manifested itself in a multitude of ways, including knee pain that rendered me unable to follow my usual training regimen (following more of one Insanity week became a science fiction plan), not to mention competing in my favourite races of the year, Prima Evadare MTB marathon and Red Bull Wings for Life World Run. Nonetheless, I kept going to the gym twice a week, a thing I have been doing religiously for five years already, and which has allowed me to preserve at least a fraction of my previous athletic abilities.
And then, I went to Satorini, a place of soul-breaking beauty, and a place of stairs. A lot of stairs. All of them, probably. Not the comfortable-to-climb kind of stairs, but the high-as-my-shin kind. And I climbed those freakin’ stairs for 9-10 kilometres daily. Given my state, I shouldn’t had to be able to do it. It should have hurt badly. And yet it didn’t.
Mental recovery has its worth, and it really does wonders. Because yeah, it’s quite nice to be able once again to go full gas on a workout, as it happened in the good ol’ days. This is where Steve Edwards’ blog comes into place: the guy is a climber, hiker, fitness research-obsessed who documents his journey. To the question, “Do you really need a recovery week?“, I’d say hell yes. Especially a mental one. It makes one hell of a diference.
As for Santorini, I have lots of pictures, and I have to reveal the films. And I have to really get back from there. No idea whatsoever on when will this happen.
simplicity is beauty 