Bitty Weekend in the Grey Zone

That was a bit of an exhausting weekend. 4 runs, a Pilates class and a trip to the swimming pool with the kids. A nice easy day tomorrow is very apt.

I had to make the most of the brief opportunities to get some mileage in this weekend. It began with running around town dropping kids off at the gym, picking up mail from the post office and getting to my Pilates class. I'm normally pretty disciplined on what I want out of a run but this was all over the place - a bit of a grey zone. Not much use.

I've only ever done a couple of Pilates sessions. Hated them. Couldn't quite get the knack of using my core muscles and breathing at the same time ;-)

This one was a little different using a machine to get you in the right position and engagement of core and hips. I actually found most of it ok. The real embarrassment was when it came to stretching and flexibility. I need to do a bit of work loosening down from the hip flexors.

After surviving that I managed to get out for another quick run. There's a lot of stuff out on the web about the perfect running cadence. The general view is that 180 steps a minute is the most efficient. I downloaded a playlist of music at that beat and set off to see how much more of a wally I could look.

Again it wasn't quite as bad as I expected. Marginally quicker than my normal turnover. I couldn't really tell whether it would make any difference.

We had a late one on Saturday evening and a busy Sunday ahead so there was no way I could fit in a decent run. Instead I had to make do with 2 separate runs. The first was an early run round the Herts 10k route. I fell into the trap of not thinking about what I was to get out of the day and it was another grey zone mix of everything and nothing.

After Church I managed to get a drop from Susan down by Luton Parkway and made my way home from there. Again it was a mix of everything and nothing. Just some more mileage.

The day finished with a trip to the swimming pool. Everyone seemed to enjoy it even though it was freezing.

So a few duff miles in the can. I'll take tomorrow off and regroup. I need to make sure I'm refreshed for the big sessions - reps & tempo and then recovering in between. Next weekend I'll aim for another big run.