Not everything virtual involves a screen...

Returning to 'normal' life...

Phrases like 'the new normal' have been tossed around like there's no tomorrow. I can say firmly, I don't want a virtual lifestyle to become the new normal. Thankfully, is seems that things are starting to return to a hybrid of pre-covid and what we're used to since March 2020. 

There are many things which are great about a virtual environment, such as working from home and cutting 2 hours off a work commute, but I would like to be able to meet friends and family face-to-face once covid is under control and we can begin to return to the lives we had before March 2020.

Virtual fitness

For many people in the UK, gyms, pools, health spas and other leisure activities have been closed since March 2020. I think the last time I stepped into a gym was February 2020. Needless to say - I wasn't going every other night like I wanted.

But lockdown gave me a new focus for my health and fitness. I had been overweight for a while, piling on the pounds working in an office and eating junk. But with covid, I knew this was an opportunity to improve my physical and mental fitness through exercise.  One of the first things I did was sign up to Zwift, the online cycling platform. I did this, partly because my confidence on the road wasn't all there (I hadn't been out on my bike for a while), plus I was living in west-London so thought the chances of being knocked off my bike by a van driver where higher than I would have liked - plus a hospital was the last place I wanted to end up last spring!

I also discovered that the Ironman Group was launching a series of Virtual races, and the Ironman Virtual Club. I didn't do that many virtual races in 2020, but it still gave me something to work towards. In early 2021, I really began to knuckle down and focus on the virtual races. From sprint to olympic and even half-ironman distances, I was there getting in the miles.

It helped me lose weight (down from 99kgs to around 85kgs), which was a bonus as I wanted to be in shape for my upcoming wedding in September. It also helped me smash previously unbroken personal bests, running sub 25 minute 5K races, and sub 55 minute 10K races.