SAD really

I’m beginning to think that there’s really something to Seasonal Affected Disorder. It’s something I’ve usually poo-poo’d, when I’ve thought about it at all, but lately it’s been becoming more and more difficult to drag myself out of the house to get any kind of exercise, whether it be on land or water. Planning an excursion usually goes quite well, (he talks a good game) but when it comes down to it, it doesn’t take very much to put me off and leave it for another day.

This morning f’rinstance I’d planned to resume paddling with a short trip up the usual bit of canal. Having missed the last couple of club Hare & Hounds the idea being that I’d like to return to it without making a complete fool of myself. The last outing was in the canoe in December and quite a pleasant paddle it was too, but right now I’m not even sure I could stay the right way up in a kayak. It with the Festive season getting in the way that didn’t help and it didn’t take much to convince myself that I could afford to miss a couple of paddles. The net result is no paddling for over a month and only a couple of half-hearted ParkRun appearances.

This morning I’m looking at thick, grey overcast from which is issuing a persistent drizzle, and everything is wet, wet, wet. It really does not make me want to get out in it. And it’s been that way for a while. I can’t even plead injury as I am making the effort to get out on the Saturday morning ParkRuns. As it’s about the only jogging I’m doing at the moment it’s hardly surprising that all the ones I’ve done are just under the 30 minute bracket, although each one improves by a few seconds on the previous one.

At the moment I’m investigating the vagaries of a heart rate monitor and I’ve used it on the last two ParkRuns. For the moment I’ve set it to a field of 70% to 80% of Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) as the low and high limits to train to. In fact when I’ve used it it has consistently read at around 95% and I’ve had to slow up considerably to get it down into the field.

Mostly I’ve bought it to use in paddling. Generally speaking I don’t get out of breath while paddling and since I started using the metronome I’ve realised that the training intensity I’m in isn’t actually doing very much for me. Hence the HR monitor. Next time I’m out in a boat I might be able to tell if it’s of any use.