Tuesday 5 February 2008

Pilates 'n' Parlauf

As if by magic, the pain in my hip has vanished. Just a wee bit stiff when I sat about too long, but generally felt as fit as a fiddle.
For some extra stretching I went to the pilates class at lunchtime. As previously posted: it's free with my gym membership, it's at lunchtime and it's pouring with rain outside. Whilst getting changed, I realised that half the battle when going to the gym is getting out of the changing rooms without needing therapy or having a burning desire to claw my eyes out. Seriously, have people never heard of modesty? You'd think it would be the skinny-got-something-to-parade type who would pose about. But it's really the ones who really don't care who bare all. And it's really not nice. Now I know in a guy's world, it's the law to avert the eyes and NEVER look, but woman make no secret of the fact that they're checking for flaws. Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. Not that I've got anything to shout about after the sights I saw today. Just for the record, the pilates class was good.

Hip all good too, so it was off to training. Even though I knew in advance that it was reps round the very interesting and scenic winter warm-up (please feel the sarcasm here) I was still big enough to brave it. Parlauf on the cards. This involves runners being paired according to ability. The route is circular. Runners start back-to-back. One runs fast, the other jogs. When they meet at the other side, they turn and swap sessions. I was paired with new guy John, the most deceptive looking man in the world. He's about 7ft tall, built like a Kenyan, wears all the gear and then runs slower than me. Before I start another in-depth discuss with myself and my laptop, I'll tell you about the run. Basically running back and forward, round and round for 30 minutes. Average pace (including speed and recovery) was 8:36. Next time I'll set my Garmin for reps. Doh! Hip still good.

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