Over the last year or so I've spent a lot of time running. Before that I hated running and avoided it and had a fairly sedentary life. I would just go on long hikes a few times a year and be in pain for a few days after.
Now I'm active I find that little things massively change how I feel. Before I could eat whatever I want and I would feel the same. Now I have higher expectations of my body I feel the detriment when I eat crap food. It's a handy positive feedback loop.
I skipped my long run last week as I went on a very lazy holiday abroad. I don't normally notice any reduction when I skip a long run. Whilst on my lazy holiday I was surprised how quickly I felt really weak. With no expectation in the day, getting up was hard, I felt tired, doing a few press-ups were suddenly very challenging. So I went on a couple of runs as I didn't like how the lazy experience made me feel. Runs felt hard but ok.
Any, back to the UK, went for my usual long run on Sunday, found it quite tough, and I still feel pain in my legs two days later. This never normally happens, not even if i skip a long run.
The only difference is a lazy week.
It's almost as if by not having any expectation my body has decided to waste away a bit quicker than it normally would. Is this a thing? I would have expected to feel stronger as I finally gave myself a proper opportunity to heal and adapt.
It's made me wonder that if i could actually afford a lazy life of luxury it would probably kill me.
Is my experience likely an anomaly or do we actually need a bit of stress in our life to stay functional? Or am I just weird? Can't discount that.