Nov 24 - 27
1) Quite unlike the last blogpost where nothing much was happening, there have been a few exciting things happening these past few days. Obviously, the main reason I'm writing this post is because our psychiatry exams are over! Exams are never not stressful, so I was really glad to be the first batch of students to be called for examination. There were six stations, each with an examiner and a real patient. We had 15 minutes to clerk, followed by 20 minutes of presentation and discussion. Before I knew it, the bell had rung, indicating that time was up, and that I had to leave immediately. And just like that, Group B is done with psychiatry. That means we can look forward to starting our new rotation (family medicine) next Monday.
2) Since coming back from the UK, I have been steadily gaining weight and developing really bad eating habits. It doesn't help that Malaysia has good food, and that my mum cooks really delicious food. On top of that, I have been neglecting my exercise, especially in light of the lockdown restrictions. It was my dad who encouraged me to change all this. I made a promise to myself that I would start exercising more frequently and being more active when I was in Penang. And of course, what better way to motivate myself than by enrolling in a virtual run. I enrolled in two - the Vitality London 10,000 and the Greater Manchester Marathon 2020. Both of these runs were held virtually due to the pandemic, so I could run it from home.
3) Using my fitness app that tracks distances via GPS, I began the arduous task of slowly regaining some of that stamina. Of course, it was a delicate task to balance my study time and my recreational time, especially as I could not afford to exert too much or risk being tired for the rest of the day. So baby steps it was. A huge advantage of the virtual run was that I could submit multiple runs and they would take the total mileage covered. This was especially important for the Manchester Marathon, as there was little chance I would be able to actually cover the full 42.2km in one go! So I split the distance into four runs - 10.5km each; I found this much more manageable.
4) Long story short, I managed to complete both virtual races and submitted my runs online. Coincidentally, I received both finisher packs yesterday. Essentially, they represent the fruits of my hard-won labour - the race medal, finisher's tee, and some trinkets. Spurred on by my achievements, I went out for a longer than usual jog today. Most of my "baby-step" evening runs have been 15-20 min at a slow pace, so as not to tire myself. Today, I pushed really hard and completed a 5km in under 30 min. It was my first decent 5km run in at least two years. In London, during the Great King's Run, I had previously tried and failed to achieve this milestone, managing 5km in 31.5 min instead.
5) Suffice to say, I was feeling pretty chuffed with myself after this run. Hence this blogpost today. It is an incredible experience to feel fit again after so long, and I intend to maintain this level of fitness even as my study load increases. Anyway, that is it for this edition of my blog. Thanks very much for tuning in, and have a great day. Cheers!
