Jogging can take a running jump

[Janik]

OK, so most amateur sporting activity is slowing coming back - some of it from a week ago, others from next Monday. What are you looking forward to getting back into... and what still seems too risky for the moment?

Squash is the main one for me, expect it is definitely in the latter category (too risky still). And I'm not expecting that to be back on Monday week without serious restrictions anyway - guidance from the governing body is due out this week. It will be a bit of a wait yet on that one.

[caja-dglh]

I am really keen for the Uni across the road to reopen its running track so I can quit travelling to do treadmill stuff (I can't hack structured workouts on the road). I would have been excited about normal crossfit / boot camp stuff but having moved I lost my crew and I am not sure that is the direction I want to go in.

I am nervous that the Spartan Ultra in Vermont won't happen this year. I am relatively convinced that Death Race won't, which might not suck *so* bad as I am not where I would like to be. Go Ruck stuff is coming back so I might try to find one of those that works. My limitation is more my family - I am not sure they would be keen on me disappearing to do the Bragg double-heavy and then basically being unable to move for a week.

I would have thought given the small numbers involved squash might get back pretty soon.

[Janik]

Small numbers but with a much larger risk of infection from that one individual. It's hard to imagine a worse combination than spending 30+ minutes breathing hard in close proximity to someone in an indoor space where for sporting reasons you actively don't want air currents.
England Squash did come up with a socially distanced version of the game back in the autumn. My reaction to that was one of bemusement.

[San Bernardhinault]

I'm like Caja in that I moved, so am no longer with my old, great, endurance strength gym and the crowd who were there. It was crossfit based but more controlled and structured and less directly competitive than crossfit, and more designed for building strength for endurance events so you didn't injure yourself. It was very niche, and the crowd who were there were pretty, erm, West Coast in outlook. They worked out hard, ran 100 miles, got drunk doing yoga, weren't obsessively focused. I don't think I'd find that in many places. That was really the only indoor sport I did. I have no desire to go into a gym environment until covid is completely done, but even then I'll struggle to enjoy it as much as the last place so it may be that I'm never going back. Which is bad for my cycling, running, hiking and everything else, of course, but motivation is a problem.

[Sporting]

The reopening of the gyms here has pleased us greatly. I know the risks, but I go at 6 in the morning when there are only about 6 or 7 of us inside. I find the machines motivate me much more than my own willpower were I to go running outside , which in any case impacts more on my aging joints..

[jameswba]

I miss swimming terribly, and not only because it's one activity that eases arthritis. The pools closed last October here, after 4 months open, but there's no realistic prospect of them reopening for quite some time yet. Polar Bear (cold weather outdoor swimming) clubs are a bit of a thing in Slovakia, but I'm not into that, or swimming in lakes/rivers generally.

The swimming-pool here is a fantastic facility ; it's Olympic-sized and, in normal circumstances, open to the public from 0600-2100 unless there's a championships on. This makes its closure all the more frustrating.

[Levin]

I'm still waiting for my bike to arrive so it'll be running for a little longer for me. I keep getting a hankering to play cricket but I'm not sure I can face it, and I've not played in 23 years.

[Levin]

I can in fact face it. or at least a net session truncated by rain. I'm not sure what to make of it really. I only bowled half a dozen balls or so, all were of a length and none would have been called wide (with a generous umpire). I felt slow though and my wrist hurts more than I was expecting.

I don't know about the club itself, I might try getting in touch with more, further away. Firstly, the nets have very limited space. I don't know how I'd get confidence enough to play if I can't practice with a full run up. Secondly, they weren't the most welcoming group, I just turned up and got started. Which, I guess, has it's benefits.

[Janik]

I had my first game of cricket since 2019 on Monday, 2020 and 2021 having been completely wiped out by issues. When I got there I found I had been promoted to opening the batting, indicative of a serious absence of quality batsman from our work team for this (friendly) match. I then misunderstood the umpires description of the bowlers action (I'm claiming mental ring-rust on that!), took completely the wrong guard, didn't back out when the bowler started coming up at a different angle from what I was prepared for, pushed down the appropriate line for the guard I had taken... and nicked the first ball of the summer chest high to slip. Who didn't drop it (bastard).[/facepalm]

I was the 'keeper in our innings because both the better 'keepers than me were AWOL. One dolly caught, one tricky but takeable chance put down, one close to impossible chance (under-edge) not taken, a run out muffed up totally on the grounds of not believing the batsman could possibly be that slow (the guy I saw standing still in the crease out of the corner of my eye turned out to be the Umpire!), and a stumping half-chance not converted (had to take a shy as I wasn't standing up to a medium pacer - missed them).

We lost by 6 wickets in the end, in the 17th over of their (20/20) innings.

Not a very auspicious return, all told. But it was good to be back out in the evening sun again.