Maintaining for winter

With the next event a 10k months away and no spring marathon planned due to the arrival of our second baby in March, my winter training looks to be more about maintaining a good level of all round fitness, than building up mileage.

My ITB niggles have subsided and have been replaced by the start of lower back problems, especially noticeable following my recent intense interval sessions at the track. A little research confirmed I wasn't alone. It seems that a lot of casual longer distance runners suffer the same trouble when doing sessions at mile race pace and quicker. I suppose it's not entirely surprising, when you look at the differing physiques of short and long distance runners.

I've trained my body to accept running at a reasonable pace over distances of 5k and above, without picking up injuries, but introduce some pacier short distance work and I can almost guarantee something will go. Speaking with a physio and reading various articles, it all points to the same cause, my core's too weak. How many times does a runner hear that?

Solution? I've joined a Pilates class! I'd never considered a gym class in the past, aside from weekly runs with the running club, I've done the majority of my training alone and wasn't sure how I'd feel about it. Of course, it was totally fine and, although heavily outnumbered, I wasn't the only man. It was an intense workout, with no real let up throughout the hour...It felt like it was doing me good and I'll keep you posted on whether it actually works.