Recovering from the Winter

As the weather begins to warm up, I slowly start moving again and discover just how much fitness I lost during the long hibernation. Each year, I'm amazed at the speed with which things slip and the slowness with which they come back.
I know that part of it is age. When I was in my 20's and early 30's, the recovery periods was hardly a blip. I'd notice some soreness for a week, maybe two, and then I'd be right back in the groove. Any extra padding would just melt off once the sun started shining and temperatures hit the 60's.
Now, as 40 lurks just around the corner, it is a real recovery period. The soreness hurts and it promises to last for a month (or two). The only groove I'm likely to slip into any time soon is the one on the couch. The extra padding has built fortifications and is fighting the eviction notices.
It has taken three weeks of regular sessions on the bike trainer to get back to the point where I can last the 30 minutes recommended by the doctor. Moving furniture around resulted in an immobilizing neck kink that lasted for days. In an effort to loose weight, I'm actually forced to suffer through non-fat, sugar free lattes. I'm feeling afraid to put the Q-boat in the water for fear that I won't be able to make it go - at least not very far.
I shouldn't be too surprised by any of this. Plenty of people warned me that this is what happens to people as they age. I listened and understood. Yet, I always believed that they were talking about when you were really old. I certainly didn't, and hopefully won't for much longer, feel like I was older. 40 isn't old. Maybe 50 is old....
So now I must work at recovering from a few months of winter slumber. Hopefully, I will remember this next winter and not slumber for a few months. The indulgence in morose winter doldrums is just not worth non-fat, sugar free lattes, the hours on the bike trainer, or the pain.
I'm looking forward to regaining a semblance of fitness in the next few weeks. Then I can start working on learning some more of those freaky Greenland rolls and putting some miles under the Q-boat's keel.