As a challenge I’m going to run, bike or swim every day in January.

Day Seven

For the last three years I’ve been working towards a long distance triathlon in the summer. Challenge Roth in 2019 and Celtman in 2020 and 2021. I’d normally start the year by following a rough training guide from Tuesday to Sunday with a rest day on Monday. I’d always have one day off a week. So, as this is day seven, this should be my rest day – and I think my body thought so too. I woke up tired, I had no motivation to do anything and my original plan to swim in the morning was scuppered by a heavy snow shower overnight which made driving dangerous until the roads were clear. Instead, I avoid doing anything until work was done and then jumped on the bike for a second day of riding. Tomorrow, hopefully, my brain will think I’m back at day one and will just assume I had a rest day today. Where’s Derren Brown when you need him to brainwash you?

How was it? Found the easiest training plan on Zwift and then the best that can be said is that I did it.

As a challenge I’m going to run, bike or swim every day in January.

Day Six

If yesterday was an example of how to fit the challenge around working in the office, today was an example of how to fit it in around working from home. I have a bike set up behind to my computer and, when running short on time, it’s great to be able to use my lunch to go straight from ‘office’ to ‘gym’ just by turning around. Today was my daughter’s first birthday so as well as work there’s a party to have and sweets to eat so the challenge had to take place before I ate too much of the party cake!

How was it? I like to use the training programmes in Zwift to provide a bit of structure. My favourites are the ones which have short fast bursts followed by long easy stretches. The fast sections don’t seem too bad when you immediately have an easy section after it.

As a challenge I’m going to run, bike or swim every day in January.

Day Five

Back to work today and a chance to swim before going to the office. One good thing about lockdown is that when I do need to go to the office I know it’s easy to get parking nearby as the city centre is empty, which also makes it easy to drive to a swimming pool first and then start work as there’s no traffic either. On pre-lockdown days I would never drive as it would take longer to get to the office than it would to jump on the train. Lockdown has been a big help for swimming – well, except for the 12 months when the pools were closed. But, apart from that…

How was it? I’ve been swimming 2 – 3 times a week for the last month and today felt like a breakthrough as I wasn’t lap counting to try and hit a target, just enjoying the swim while I aimed to hit 1k.

As a challenge I’m going to run, bike or swim every day in January.

Day Four

I haven’t changed any settings but, when I start an activity on my Garmin watch, it suggests a training run. Today, it suggested 7 x 10 second sprints over 44 minutes. Given I’ve got 31 days I thought I might as introduce an element of surprise to the challenge and I do whatever my watch tells my to do. So, seven 10 second sprints it was. Three minutes of running then beep, beep, sprint. Normally, I only spring in Glasgow when I realise I’ve run down the wrong alley.

How was it? One of those nights where it’s cold enough that it’s impossible to sweat but not cold enough to have to worry about patches of ice on the pavement. I love running in these conditions so it felt easy to be out today.

As a challenge I’m going to run, bike or swim every day in January.

Day Three

If it’s not on Strava, it didn’t happen. So, when I forgot my watch I had to make very sure of the number of laps I was swimming so I could update Strava when I finished. The tricky bit is that the pool I was swimming in was 21 metres and not 25m, which makes it trickier to work out laps when every five laps is 104m and not 100m.

Top tip for the rest of the month – remember watch. Or get better at maths.

How was it? An almost empty pool with only one other person swimming. An otherwise easy and relaxing swim.

As a challenge I’m going to run, bike or swim every day in January.

Day Two

D’oh! I realised today that this isn’t day two, it’s actually day seven as I’d also ran, cycled or swam the last five days of December too. If you’re thinking of starting a challenge then don’t do what I’ve done and start it without thinking of having a break first. I bet Edmund Hillary wasn’t halfway up K2 when he decided to tackle Everest the next day.

How was it? The hardest part of cycling in January is the weather. Most days feels like part of a musical: miserable. But, when you get a good day, it’s great to get out even if it’s just in the city. No heavy legs today but I was more ambling and rambling than racing around.

As a challenge I’m going to run, bike or swim every day in January. I’ve tried Marcothon, the December challenge to run 5k each day, but quickly decided my legs were not up for running daily. So, instead, I’m going to multi-sport it and challenge myself to spend run, cycle or swim each day this month.

I tried to think of a cool name for the challenge. Tri-anuary? But that would just link it to a specific month rather than something which can be done anytime. So, instead I’ve called it the 31 day challenge, which means it can be completed anytime except obviously February, April, June, September and November. Maybe I should have just called it the one month challenge to be more inclusive?

Day One

How was it? Tired heavy legs after a large meal last night. Really didn’t want to run but went out because it was warm, sunny and remarkably un-January like.

When you’re inside do you really want to be reminded about it? For me, the best programme of the year was ‘Long Way Up’ on Apple TV. A nostalgic revival of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s previous trips around the work but this time a challenge to cycle from the tip of South America to Los Angeles. To watch it now was to be reminded not just of their previous trips but also what it was like to just travel for the sake of travelling, something we can’t do anymore without re-creating the opening of Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’.

But if you had to be reminded about the pandemic then the three best programme were Bo Burnhan’s ‘Inside’, an epic musical, nervous breakdown, or possible piss-take, set inside a single room. The not at all pandemic related ‘The Terror’ about two boats trapped in the ice as something that may or may not be supernatural stalks the ice. But while ‘The Terror’ may not be directly about the pandemic it did show what happens if you’re stuck indoors for two years. And BBC3’s ‘Pls Like’, which saw series 3 struggle to film a mock documentary in the middle of lockdown while pretending to be serious while also being deeply silly.

Honourable mentions:

Continuing the nostalgia theme: the so far excellent return of serial killer Dexter Morgan in Dexter: New Blood and season 2 of ‘Justified’. For new stuff I watched Loki and Wandavision (but not Falcon & The Winter Soldier); and the obvious candidates of Succession, Mare of Eastown and Ted Lasso.

The best film of the year is an easy one: Dune. After 18 months of watching films at home, there was no better experience than going back to a cinema and watching a film that required the biggest screen and the loudest speakers. The only experience like it was when I went two months without eating any chocolate before running the Edinburgh marathon and then scoffed an entire chocolate muffin on the finish line. I’ve never had heroin but Im pretty sure it doesn’t destroy your mind, body and soul like your first taste of a muffin after two months of abstinence and 26 miles of running.

Dune was a bit like that. The fact it is also a great (though flawed) film was just a bonus. I just wanted to be back in the cinema again.

My highest recommendation for Dune though is that I really wanted to know more about how it was made and managed to find some cracking behind the scenes videos to find out more. Check out:

Honourable mentions

A film I wish I had seen at the cinema was my most surprising film of 2021: Amazon Prime exclusive ‘The Aeronaughts’. A film I dismissed when watching the trailer but couldn’t have been more wrong as it turned out to be vertigo inducing and thrilling as Gravity but in a balloon.

With more films being released to streaming rather than the cinema there was also some other gems in ‘Love & Monsters’ , ‘Don’t Tell Anyone’, ‘Stowaway’, ‘Fear Street’, ‘We Care A Lot’, ‘Prospect’, ‘The Green Knight’ and ‘The Dig’.

But nothing compares to actually going to the Cinema and I only hope that 2022 will see more opportunities to go back and that I won’t have to wait until Dune 2 is out in 2023 before returning.