Global Sport Stories

I find it relatively easy to accept that I’m not going to surf or run a half marathon or ski every week. Of course I would love to do all these things, but life takes over, and sometimes you find yourself having a quieter week doing what you can.

I’ve written enough throughout previous blogs surrounding appreciating the personal value and benefits I get from exercise, and I don’t want to repeat myself. I will simply say that, although busy with work and other commitments, I subconsciously planned my week to ensure that I remained active as and when I could – helping to keep my body and mind healthy.

That being said, Monday was purely for recovery. Despite my legs feeling refreshingly un-achy after Sunday’s half marathon, I had a long day at work where I was going to be on my feet the whole time. I therefore viewed this as active recovery enough and personally I think it shows personal growth due to the fact that I wasn’t trying to fit some probably counterproductive exercise into my tight schedule.

I therefore saved myself until the next day, where I was back in the swimming pool for the first time in 2025. Crazy considering a new year’s resolution of mine is to swim an unbroken kilometre…

The swim, prior to work, was a light session of two blocks of 10 lengths. Nothing crazy but enough to get the heart pumping whilst not loading any strain on my body to provide an almost extra day of rest on top of Monday.

After a little two kilometre run with Molly on Wednesday, I found myself once more tight for time on Thursday, this was no bad thing however. Not wishing/able to commit to a long run, I took myself to the green patch at the end of my road for about 15 minutes of interval sprints. Similarly to swimming the day before, did I end the session feeling empty and as if I had worked at my absolute maximum? No. But the sprints ensured I continued to add variety to my training and continued to build my body’s tolerance at running in more stressful scenarios. 

I kicked things up a notch in the pool on Friday. 40 lengths, equating to one kilometre with two periods of rest. One block of ten lengths, then into the sauna. Another block of 10. Sauna. A final block of twenty. Twenty lengths could well represent the longest I have swam without stopping ever, and although tough, it felt good and the new years resolution of the kilometre swim felt more within touching distance than it has before. 

Now I am a big advocate for the endorphins swimming supplies you with, however, much to my disgruntlement these endorphins quickly evaporated from my body as some lovely, considerate gentleman decided to pinch two pairs of my goggles and my swimming cap! I of course can not guarantee that this is 100% the case, but I’m going to say I’m a good 99.9% sure it unfortunately is. Left unsupervised for no more than two minutes in the changing rooms, that was all it took for some opportunist to take off with my belongings. It obviously is by no means the end of the world, but it did leave me with a rather sour taste of humanity for the that afternoon – something of which I am not looking for when visiting the pool.

Alas, to round off the week, I opted for a 5k run of Town Moor on the Saturday morning before work. I wanted to put some more kilometres into my legs this week, however, I was anxious not to cause myself too many aches and pains in the coming days due to my return to five a side being on the cards. I am happy, as I am very much at the point where 5k’s are feeling more than comfortable and am confident that my legs will be fresh and ready to go for football on Monday.

Is it a bit sad how much I am preparing for a match of five a side? Maybe. But it will be the first time I’ve played football in a semi competitive setting for a considerable amount of months, so I know I will be like a child on Christmas morning come Monday!

And there you have it. Despite being billed as a quieter week, I continued to vary my running exercises and distances, alongside two swimming sessions. The pesky thieves of Jesmond may have momentarily dampened my spirits but I am definitely still coming away from this week spurred on by how productive even a ‘quieter’ week can feel.