I'm always amazed how after just a few weeks my fitness levels go way down.

It's well annoying, innit? You don't get that with muscle building — take a couple of weeks or so off of that and you may even come back stronger. But fitness? It's bloody relentless how you need to keep on top of it.

I’m always amazed how after just a few weeks my fitness levels go way down

What I find really strange is that my fitness goes away fast, yet my low resting HR doesn't. Even with a couple of years of inactivity, my RHR was barely above what it was when I was super fit, even though otherwise I'd lost all of my fitness

Hopefully that injury bug stays away! I tried to get into running but kept getting set back by shin splints. So incredibly frustrating when I was otherwise thoroughly enjoying running.

Congrats! Take it slow, cross-train to reduce the load, keep up those stretches, and you’ll get there in the end.