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.