Yoga Week

This morning I went back to bed instead of working out.

Which means it might seem like an odd day to begin my fitness blog. But in fact it's such a *rare* sort of day that it makes it a very good day for reflection. Y'see, rest days don't come easily to me. I have my fitness routine and I don't like to upset it. It takes a lot for me to sit still when I could be running, dancing, working out, walking, hooping. Going back to bed for an extra hour of sleep (when I woke up feeling far too tired for a Monday) was, I think, my way of looking after myself - prioritising my energy over my desire for an endorphin rush.

I need some rest at the moment. At the start of March I ran my first half marathon of the year, in 1 hour 45 minutes, and I don't feel like I've properly recovered from it. When I run I am lacking stamina and my quads ache after about 5 minutes. On my 10-miler last week I took 4 walking breaks - I didn't take a walking break on any of my long runs all winter, and here I am taking FOUR!  So I need to rest - but I HATE missing my running endorphins.

So I reckon I need a yoga week - no running, no working out, no weights, just some stretching (albeit challenging stretching, that would be fine - I need *some* endorphins, no?!)

So I am well chuffed that this arrived in the post today:

Can't you just see how chuffed I am?! I think Bob Harper's great. I love Pure Burn and Cardio Conditioning from the same series - especially the Pure Burn. I'll ping out of bed tomorrow morning for this, and won't pause to think that I'm not going for my usual Tuesday morning interval training session.

Review to follow!

I did go to my pilates class today - at Portobello Leisure Centre, normally with the lovely Jane Jamieson. I started going to her less than a year ago when I got a spasm in my hip flexor and decided some pilates would be good medicine to stop it happening again. She is very attentive, gives lots of one-to-one attention in class to those who need it, and helps me tailor the class to my own needs - strengthening the area around my hip flexors. It's a really nice class, all ladies, and I don't think any of them would be too offended if I said that I was the youngest there!

Well, today's class wasn't taken by Jane, it was Paula. A totally different style of teaching - much more talking, about twice as many exercises as we're used to, using squidgy balls and stretchy straps. I enjoyed it, even if it was a bit too fast for me - we seemed to fly through the exercises without *really* getting a feel for any of them - but we'll see how I feel tomorrow to find out how hard I really worked! It's the last chance I'll get to go to pilates for a few weeks as the school holidays start next week, so I hope it gave my core a good workout.

See you later - post Bob-Yoga!