I think it was back when I was training for Six Inch in 2014 there was a yoga studio using some retail space downstairs from work, and they offered a Yoga for Runners class at around lunchtime. I booked in for it because I had a niggly hamstring that I couldn’t quite properly stretch, so I thought it was worth a shot, whilst also being relatively cheap.

The class was successful in releasing my niggles but frustrating. I was part entertained by the graceful flow that the yoga teacher had; she easily moved from one pose to the next, whilst I looked like a mid-sized JCB telehandler trying to imitate her movements. At the same time it all felt a bit mortifying; her flow was graceful, but fast, and I’d feel about 3 steps behind with each pose. Also the hippy chat shit me. So I never went back.

Around the end of May I randomly got some spam from Runner’s World magazine. I haven’t subscribed in years, so I was surprised to get any emails from them, and almost immediately deleted it. I saw something like Become a faster and stronger runner in the subject line and held off from deleting; opening it up expecting a teaser about an article in the next issue. I realised that they were selling a DVD called Yoga for Runners. It was a two disc DVD, it had a few routines on it, including a beginners routine and was only $19.95, which included shipping, so I cracked out my “wasteful spending” credit card (aka the Stupid Fund for Stupid Things), and bought a copy.

It turned up about a week after I fucked my left ankle, so I took the plastic off it, chucked it on my laptop and had a quick watch whilst flopped on the couch with my foot in the air. The presenter, Rebecca Pacheco refrained from most of the hippy chat, which was a big plus, and appeared to factor in all abilities. When I realised that generally she would try and take you from the easier technique through to the harder version (the reverse of the yoga class teacher) I felt like I hadn’t wasted $20. And best of all, I could pause and rewind as needed.

I’m sort of following a training plan for Six Inch, and it has a flexibility part to it which I think I need at the moment more than anything. Tonight I felt like I’d regained enough balance to give the beginners routine on the DVD a shot, and it went OK. I managed to follow along relatively well, only having to rewind once. I can’t sit on my heels any more (I can barely get the tops of my feet to touch the floor at all), but I didn’t fall over. I did notice that it’s going to take some serious effort to get me to be able to successfully hold even the beginners tree pose.

Work is part sponsoring six weeks of lunchtime yoga and pilates classes. I’ve signed up for Tuesday pilates, so with that plus the beginner’s yoga routine, I hope I can get back that ankle flexibility and balance that I used to enjoy.