So you think you're pretty fit?

It's now week 5 of non-running, recovery and rehab due to my shin splint injury.

Back at the gym
As well as pool running and swimming, I have rejoined the gym (which I never seemed to have time for when I was running so much!). As part of my membership, I get classes free - whoopie-doo! Or maybe not - when I was a member of this gym before for 2 years I didn't step foot inside a class. It's just not my scene although I know others love it.  With all the endurance running I normally do I consider myself pretty fit but I am embarrassingly uncoordinated which means any type of movement to music is out. But I'm sure I can easily tackle a few of the others - starting with pilates.

This is NOT how I looked!

Pilates is good for your core, right? Having a strong core is essential for running so this class makes perfect sense to me. I could do with some sort of relaxing, chilled activity with time to gather my thoughts. I wait expectantly on the grubby rubber mat I've dug out of the cage in the corner of the room which I have to peel off (why didn't I bring my own mat with my own germs on?) The class soon fills up with experienced pilaters (or is it pilatists?), 90% of which are ladies in 3/4 length lycra, each with a multitude of equipment including sterilised mats. Everyone settles on their own familiar spot and we wait for the class to begin.

I don't know what I expected but I didn't expect music - that kind of wafty, watery music that you are subjected to in a treatment room at a beauty salon. We are instructed to wave our arms from side to side and reach down and up in a graceful, flowing way (runners are not graceful!) I'm thinking maybe I've pitched up in the wrong studio. Perhaps this is Bums, Tums and Thighs or Body Balance or one of those other 'older ladies' type of classes that I would normally avoid like the plague.

But no, the music abruptly stops and we get into the nitty gritty of pilates moves - all performed slowly and methodically with careful instructions. We are taken through The 100 where you balance on your bottom with your legs in a table top position and waft your straightened arms up and down energetically as if you are putting out a fire, Single Leg Circles from a lying down position (quad & ab killer!) and the Criss-cross abs-buster (a combination of a crunch and aero cycling), to name but a few. It's surprisingly exhausting and the concentration in the room is intense - so much so that the lady next to me breaks wind to relieve her own particular tension. Thanks for that.

Several moves later we are stretching and relaxing, rocking from side to side on the mat and it's all over. I've survived and, apart from some complaining from my normally underused tummy muscles, I feel OK and have definitely got something from it. So what's next this week? Something a bit more energetic methinks - Pump FX that's what!

I don't know what the FX stands for but it could well be 'expletive eXcruciating'. These women who not only do this class, but stay behind to do the next one are hard core in my book.

So here's the class description: 'Pump FX is a complete body workout and challenges all of your body's major muscle groups using a barbell which will sculpt, tone and strengthen your entire body - fast!' I could do with a bit of sculpting since I haven't run for 5 weeks so let's go ....

I start off with very light weights - I'm the only one with only one weight at either end of my barbell and it's a different colour and size to everybody else's but hey-ho, best to start off cautious I reckon. Plus, it took me so long to get the weight clipped on securely that I would probably miss a whole track by taking it off and doubling it - well, that's my excuse anyway.

My caution turns out to be wise when, after pumping and squatting for a full 5 minute track of Bonnie Tyler's 'Hero' belting out of the PA we are finally allowed to put the damn thing down. Oh, the relief - but not for long. What follows is a series of squats, chest presses, dead rows, clean and presses, lunges plus an imaginative array of killer arm exercises with various weights both upright and seated, with a very muscular instructor barking unintelligible directions over vibrant and rhythmic dance tunes. I'm not the only one looking at the clock after 30 minutes when we learn that we have 'only 3 tracks to go!'. Obviously all too familiar with the duration and intensity of this workout, a few brave ladies start dismantling their barbells and steppers and quietly leave the room early. But, true to my running ethos of 'never DNF' I stay till the bitter end and relax into the all too brief cool down and stretching.

As I start dismantling my equipment, a lady arrives for the next class and points at my kit: "are you staying or can I use your stepper?' By all means, I say, I'm out of here!

One dimensional fitness
So, with 45 marathons and various ultras under my belt I considered myself pretty fit. But it's clear that I am only fit in one discipline and that's running. Being injured has introduced me to cycling (have fallen off 3 times, but that's another story!), pool running, swimming, core work and strength training which I hope to continue with and which will improve my overall fitness and stamina, making me a stronger runner when I eventually get back on the road.

Can't run? Take the plunge and pool run!

Since I ran the Comrades ultramarathon in South Africa at the end of May (with a shin splint  injury!) I have been taking some well earned rest from running, to let everything heal up and repair.

It has now been nearly 4 weeks. Now, that may not seem very long in the grand scheme of things, but when you are a regular runner and have been training 5 times a week for 6 months for your big A race, that is a long time! It seems like everyone else is running except you and there is always the worry in the back of your mind about losing stamina and fitness.

I've been in this position before - back in 2013 I suffered a stress fracture to my heel bone and had to take 6 weeks out and I can remember what it feels like to be out of the game.

Both then and now I took up up pool running (plus some cycling) to keep myself reasonably fit and, above all, sane. After all, if it's good enough for world class athletes like Khalid Khannouchi, then it's good enough for me.

I can't recommend it enough. Once you get over the strange looks and double takes you inevitably get from other swimmers and get the technique and form right, it really is an excellent way to maintain fitness and cross train safely and effectively - not only when you are injured, but as part of your regular running routine to take the strain off those weary legs. When done properly, it elevates your heart rate and really strengthens your core too :)

I have put some tips together which you may find useful if you are thinking of taking the plunge (excuse the pun!):

• choose deep water (you shouldn't be able to touch the bottom of the pool)
• use a flotation device (I use a Kiefer Acqua Belt, loaned to me by a good friend)
• get the technique right: head centered, lean slightly forward (only 1%), shoulders back, elbows bent at 90 degrees, wrists in a neutral position, don't clench your hands but close them so that the legs do most of the work. The leg action is similar to treading grapes - drive your knee upwards and then down to almost full extension (with feet flat when driving upwards and at a slight angle when driving downwards, but never pointed) and repeat with the other leg. You can drive your arms backwards and forwards, just like when you are running. The foot and leg movement against the resistance of the water mimics the mechanics of running and promotes joint stability and muscle strength. It's surprising how hard it is - you will be out of breath!
• change your routine to keep it interesting. On the first attempt, just concentrate of going up and down slowly, getting the form right. Try 20 minutes. Once you are confident, you can try pool running for longer, adding in intervals (speeding up and slowing down between pool rope markers for instance) and perhaps a long slow pool run once a week (I once did 2 hours, mimicking my weekly long slow run - take lots of patience though!)
• take some music to while away the time. I bought some wireless bluetooth ear phones which I tucked under my swimming hat (your head shouldn't get wet) and put my iPhone in a waterproof case on poolside to listen to music or podcasts. You can buy a waterproof mp3 player but they are pretty expensive.
• vary your workouts - the tempo, the pace and the duration. It helps to make the time go quicker.
• try running with your arms up and out of the water to make it even harder.

Research has been done to suggest that pool running, like any exercise, produces endorphins and can provide the same positive state of mind that running does for us injured folk - that has to be a great plus point.

So what are you waiting for? Don't sit there sulking and feeling sorry for yourself because you are injured and on the sidelines. Get in the water and start running!

Pool running has both physical and psychological benefits so just give it a go. Before you know where you are, you will be overtaking those silver haired slow lane swimmers :)