When I was scuba diving every weekend I would often feel tired in the afternoon, after I got home. It’s due to the huge change in pressure, from 40m down in the lake to 300+m above sea level around the Léman. Yesterday I went for a ride, and today I went for a ride again. I feel fatigue. I feel tired and in need of time to recover.
I believe that it’s due to the Autumn conditions.
When I left home this morning the sun had not risen yet so my legs, and other parts were cold. I could feel that more layers might have been welcome. That’s because cycling in Autumn is about moving from a hot apartment to a cold dawn air temperature, before meeting with a group and cycling up a mountain, getting hot, and then heading back down into valleys hidden from the sun.
For years I have hated the shift from Summer weather to Autumn because as the days get shorter, and the weather gets colder, so summer sports come to an end. As summer sports come to an end, so the seasons of solitude begin. Autumn and Winter are lonely. The paradox is that I felt this way even when I was scuba diving every Sunday, and climbing every Thursday.
Tomorrow I could go for a run with one group in Nyon or a bike ride with two groups.
This morning I toyed with the idea of wearing a proper winter cycling top. Instead I settled for a thermal layer, the usual top, sleeves, and a wind blocker. These weren’t enough for me to feel warm.
10°c The temperature has dropped. it was 10°c this morning and I was cold when I set off and I seriously considered turning back for another layer but thought that if I did, then when it gets really cold, I won’t have anything warmer to wear on bike rides.
This morning I set the alarm to wake me at five but I didn’t get up. I felt tired and decided I need sleep more than a bike ride. I don’t know whether I am affected by the seasonal change, or whether I am still tired from this weekend. Waking at 4am wasn’t that hard on Friday, but after cycling hard on Saturday, and hard on Sunday I need time to recover.
One of the strangest things, in my observation of other people, is that they dress as if it was warm when it was cold. They dress in shorts and t-shirts to walk in the mountains in spring. That’s quite absurd, given how the mountains, in April tend to be cold.
Others dress in shorts and a t-shirt to go running when it is barely above freezing and I find this behaviour absurd too.
Yesterday I expected the walk to be physical. I expected it to be around 21 kilometres. I also saw that it was meant to snow overnight. It got me to question whether it made sense to do the hike. I went anyway. In the end I walked 35 thousand steps according to at least one device. That’s a lot of walking, especially in snow that was up to 30 centimetres deep at moment.
Tomorrow I could go for a drive and then walk on snow shoes to get to the top of a peak I have wanted to go up for a while. What slows down my desire to do this is the possible need to wear snowshoes. In theory they’re fine but ordinarily I find snowshoeing quite hard compared to just walking in snow. The advantage of this walk is that if it was cold and people have already walked the route, then the snow is compacted and walking in hiking shoes will be fine.
Today I could have been coughing and spluttering on the train like someone did last week, except that I would have worn a mask. Yesterday I had a fever and when I was sitting at the desk in the morning I felt awful so I went for a siesta that lasted for one hour and ten minutes. When I woke I felt much better but I still skipped my daily walk as I wanted to leave my energy resouces for my body to fight the virus.
On Sunday, less than a week ago I was on a train. I could hear someone coughing, and coughing. She sat in the seats a set of seats in front of the group of people I was with. I could hear the bronchial cough and I considered masking but didn’t and now I regret it.
Over the last two days I have had a sore throat and last night I didn’t sleep much so I chose to listen to podcasts with my eyes closed.