Finding my inner knee

Today's Juneathon post is all about Pilates. I went to a different class than my usual Tuesday one, although this will become my new permanent class in 5 weeks' time. I always feel awkward at the Wednesday class, even though I'm more advanced than the people who go to it. I make myself try harder so I don't need the instructor to correct me during exercises. And I usually forget to breathe as a result.

We did exercises with the Pilates ring tonight: leg squeezes and arm raises and stretches. I like the ring thing, although I'm always a bit nervous it's going to snap on me (because of my mighty thigh strength). We also tried to locate our inner knee muscles, working these should strengthen our knees and straighten the knee cap (I am known for my dodgy knees so I paid a lot of attention at this point). We located them while sat down and then attempted to fire them while stood up. This exercise should apparently also entail gluteal muscles, so we had to stand there holding our arses to check they were working too. I was trying not to laugh, so I couldn't do this at all.

After Pilates I walked home, put my kids to bed, then went back out for a fast 5K as practice for a race in a few weeks. The aim was to hit 7:30 min/mile but I failed at that and only managed 7:50 average. My husband (who is now an expert at running 5K, or so you'd think) told me my pacing was hideous and I should try to stay consistent throughout the run rather than slowing on the hills. (I think I forgot what I was doing about halfway round because I slowed right down to 11 min/mile.) I've been told now, consistency is the key! I'll try again next week.

A Challenge: Beat The Husband

My husband started running in January, just a mile or so at first, and now he's running 5 km. I'm very pleased he's enjoying running, but he's annoying the hell out of me because he's so damn fast. He won't take any advice about varying his runs and doing a longer slower paced run, and he won't wear my Garmin so he can accurately see what pace he's running. He's just irritating!

Tonight he was home late from work (so I missed run club). He went straight out for his "fast long loop" run, as he calls it, 3 miles in 22 minutes tonight. I'm impressed he has the energy to run straight away after a day working in (and commuting to and from) London, but he finds it best. Anyway, he got back from his run and challenged me to run the same distance in the same time after my Pilates class. Well, I do like a challenge.

I decided to break in my new Adidas Supernovas, since it's about time I started using them. I was feeling a bit sick at the end of Pilates, lots of getting up and down in the class had made me feel dizzy, plus I'd eaten before I went. But I set off on my first mile anyway. The shoes are so light, I was stumbling at first because I wasn't used to how they landed (they feel narrower than my old pairs), and I was able to lift my knees much higher to run, which unbalanced me too.

First mile completed in 7:54, not bad. The second mile started down Hitchin Road, which is downhill. I was flying at this point, despite not really being able to see properly. My jacket was flapping around and I had sweat dripping down my face. Lovely. But I hit Valerian Way at pace, and raced past some chap with his headphones in, who made a startled "hmmmph" noise as I passed him. Second mile in 7:18, which is my fastest mile for about a year! I was running out of steam and road at this point, so only managed another half mile (7:15 pace).

2.5 miles in 18:49 is pretty good for me. Extrapolate it to 3 miles and I'm only 30 seconds behind my husband. HR averaged around the high 150s (although it was at 165+ for the last 1.5 miles), which shows I might have been able to give more, but nausea, dizziness, and sweat-blindness didn't really help. Love the shoes though, I reckon it's down to them!

(PS, no knee pain!)