Saturday and I wake after a reasonable nights sleep to find my partner already preparing to go out in to the deep frost. I check my socials and my messages and then with a burst of will power I get up and get into my training kit. Breakfast is a giant buttery crumpet and hot water accompanied by my morning meds. After a short procrastination I head for the garage and the rowing machine. It’s 0 degrees, freezing in other words, I do not think I have ever trained in such cold conditions, at least not since I first joined the cancer club. I use a training App to monitor my exercise activity and general fitness called Zepp and today I want to tip over the 200 PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence) points. This is an App that monitors and calculates all sorts of things and claims that those people who keep their PAI above 100 live longer by about five years, based on a Norwegian University of Science and Technology study that has been going on for 35 years and based on a sample size of 230,000 adults. It is called the HUNT study and is lead by Professor Ulrik Wisloff at the faculty of Health and Medicine Sciences.

My only concession to the cold is long socks, apart from that I am wrapped up in my usual read track suit with my ear buds in to listen to radio to keep me going during the session. I set the session for 45 minutes and set off in the freezing cold. Despite some entertaining radio this is a hard session and it feels like I am having to pull harder than usual just to keep going, perhaps the cold weather is affecting the rower, I do not know so just get on with it. As I get towards the end of the session I can feel myself loosing energy quickly and have to make an effort to get to the end of the session. When I check the monitor I find I have managed 8+kilometres, which is a surprise given how my body feels.

I get out of the garage quickly and into the warm of the house pleased my session is over. I grab a red bull and record my session in my journal. My partner is still at the hairdressers so I clear the kitchen and then hoover round the house to try and make sure the rest of the day can be lazy for everyone. Just as I finish my partner returns and goes off to shop for food at our favourite garden centre. In her absence I watch the first half of a football match and then shower at half time before watching the rest of the game. I have very few if any meaningful spoons left to spend this day so I take to drafting the blog whilst listening to Radio 3’s Mindful Mix. It is still only mid afternoon and the light is beginning to fade so it must be getting close to the time for a slab of Panettone and some writing and reflection time.

The evening rocks round, my team Brentford loose in the third round of the cup to a lower division team, so not a good result at all. There is an evening meal and a TV football match after which more of Blindspot before I take my night meds and go to bed hoping for a good nights sleep before my intended rest day of a Sunday. I might even get to go and feed the duck tomorrow.