I didn't have to wear a leotard

Yesterday was back on track.

I know why the previous couple of days had been difficult and unsuccessful so I'm happy to just put them behind me - I'm not worried that they're indicative of some more deep seated issue.

That's good as I had a gnawing doubt that perhaps taking pressure off myself in terms of weight and timescales was just a way of making failure more palatable. Not so. It was just 'life' and as soon as the problem was over I was able to get back on track. That's not something that has always been the case when obsessing over weight and rate of progress when a couple of 'off days' meant a fear of getting back on the scales and led to prolonging any stress induced blips by simply changing the cause of the stress.

Yesterday gave a belated first run of the week: 5 miles from home, downhill on the way out and uphill on the way back. It was a run carried out with no particular aim or plan other than a wish to run at an easy 8:00 to 8:30 pace. First mile was well on track at 7:56 but after that I had a couple of difficult miles in the September sunshine that I'd put down once again to poor hydration (something I need to address as routine as its previously been a strength of mine). I slowed down and the sun went in and gradually things began to feel easier leading to a pleasing last uphill mile at 8:12 and an on track average of 8:21. The last mile was especially good simply because it felt 'right' - smooth and efficient. I probably ought to do a bit of hill training over the autumn.

Yesterday was also a landmark for me: my first ever attendance at a gym class. I've always shied away from these. I've got good balance but struggle to copy 'moves' very quickly and I'm self conscious of that fact, probably compounding it. However, the physio suggested Pilates might be good for me so I attended a beginner's class yesterday and got on OK.

There were only 6 of us and the instructor went round each of us pointing out faults and aside from my feet rising off the floor as I lay back (difficult to explain) nothing was said to me so I assume that meant I was OK. I suspect that might be the case as I have learned to engage and hold the core muscles and much of the posture is identical to that suggested in Chi running (in fact...more on that in a later entry I think) so I had some experience of that too.

Even that first session was taxing enough for me to think 2-3 sessions a week could well be a real benefit, particularly as my ability to keep up with core exercises at home still proves pretty variable at best.