June challenge: hold that pose (week 22)

The June challenge is to hold that pose.
Yes.
The Yoga Challenge has returned, but this time I'm aiming for a full month, not just 3 weeks.

The goal: Yoga every day. At least 15 minutes each day.


So, how'd I do this week?

Monday: 15 minutes of yoga

Tuesday: 20 minutes of office yoga

Wednesday: 3.25 mile run...
Um... Yeah. Not yoga, but it was National Running Day. The weather was cool and cloudy. Plus someone needed to pick up the drycleaning... so I "ran" that errand.

Thursday: 20 minutes of office yoga

Friday: Went to bed early. We'll call that savasana

Saturday: 5 mile run...
...which included a biohazard obstacle course when my child hurled ALL OVER ME.
Like... soaked shirt, shorts, and shoes.
Yes, partway through the run I wound up with shoes full of puke, and had to run home like that. Fortunately hubs packed a change of shirt, which I quickly confiscated.
I'll never look at my chartreuse running shirt the same way again...

Sunday: 7 mile walk...
...because sick kid, who desperately needed a nap, refused to take a nap. So I played the last trick I knew: strapped him into the (now freshly cleaned) jogging stroller and walked until he conked out. It took about 6 minutes. Naptime was supposed to be yoga time. It was walk-til-kid-wakes time instead.


For more posts in this series see Fitter in 15.

In search of the 5k PR (week 7 training)

The quest for the sub-24 5k continues...


Last week's plan / actual:

• Monday plan: strength circuit + 4 mile run or 50 min bike + stretching
  Actual: 60 minutes on stationary bike (Grr... PFing foot!) + 2 circuits of the Fitness Blender 100 rep workout (which equates to 50 reps of each exercise) and I stretched.


• Tuesday: 6 x 800 meter intervals
  Actual: 1 mile warmup + 6 x 640 meters (stupid 1/5th mile track!) at 7:30 pace with 1 lap (320 meter) rest interval... The wheels were falling off by my 5th and 6th intervals (slowed to 7:48 pace. Blergh.) so maybe I'm glad the track is short?


• Wednesday: yoga
  Actual: 25 minute Yoga For Runners from YogaDownload.com + 4 mile walk



• Thursday: 5 mile tempo run + core / I postponed my run to meet up with the Helen Back run group for a nighttime 3-miler through downtown Pensacola. Read: I didn't run 5 miles and I didn't run tempo, but it was good to see my running buddies. Oh... and that nagging crunchy feeling is back with a vengence in my right arch.


• Friday: rest day
  Actual: REST


• Saturday: 8 mile run
  Actual: Thunder. Lightning. And foot pain... The last time I felt this pain, I tried to keep going and as a result, I tore my calf muscle. The wheels that fell off during my run on Tuesday stayed off. All weekend... Zero running. Sometimes recovery is more important than mileage.


• Sunday: anything goes
  Actual: 4 mile walk

This week's plan:
It's time to test my training with another 5k. So this week's plan is to rest - both to get ready for the race and give my aching foot a break.

• Monday: strength circuit + 60 minute bike ride + stretching
• Tuesday: 4 mile run
• Wednesday: yoga
• Thursday: 3 mile run
• Friday: rest day
• Saturday: RACE DAY!!!
• Sunday: recovery

Are you working today or do you have a long weekend?

Weekly roundup: Friday potluck

Welcome to another installment of the weekly roundup we all know and love: Friday potluck!
This week we're serving fitness news, funnies, poultry, and adulthood.

Oh... and it's National Margarita Day!
One of my favorite margaritas ever EVER is a grapefruit margarita made as simply as possible: grapefruit juice + tequila + triple sec. Cheers!

Grapefruit margarita

The more you know (about yoga)

I love yoga. I would not, and could not, claim otherwise. However, yoga is an athletic pursuit, just like any other, which means that there are risks to yoga. Muscle strain and... surprisingly... stroke are among the potential hazards.

This does not mean that yogis need to roll up their yoga mats and quit, but it is important that participants have full information, just as it is important for runners to know about the risk of stress fracture, and football players to know about the risk of concussion.

William J. Broad's new book The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards aims to fill in some of those gaps in knowledge - documenting both the risks and the benefits of yoga practice.


Effing PF

Surprise, surprise... Doctors and scientists have no idea what causes plantar fasciitis, but new tests indicate that it is not caused by inflamed tissue. (Does that mean I can stop icing my right foot? Maybe heat would be a better treatment after all?)


Because you know we're all thinking it...

Image source

ABCs of PE

In an attempt to protect physical education classes from budget cuts, and to ensure that every second of the school day is used to prepare children for standardized tests, schools are turning to math and vocabulary instruction during gym class.

Image source

To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about this turn of events...

As a teacher, I know that different students have different learning styles, and perhaps physical learning will illuminate subjects that a classroom lecture might not. On the other hand, as a runner, I know that sometimes the mental "down time" of my workout is the time when my brain makes connections and gathers insights that do not flow when I am engaged in active thought.


Wild Turkey

Turkeys are terrorizing one California town...

The turkey takeover started in November. Perhaps it's payback for Thanksgiving?

Florida Governor poses his daughter for a photo with the Thanksgiving turkey
 before dinner (Thanksgiving 1959). No wonder the turkeys are mad. Source.

Adulthood

This week I did adult things like meet with a lawyer to do the paperwork for a will and power of attorney, surf real estate ads for property, apply for jobs in DC, and... load the dishwasher:

Source: themetapicture.com via Beth on Pinterest

Quote of the week:
(Learning to count while working out)

At the gym doing push ups... "1... 2... 3..."
Attractive person walks by... "97... 98...99."
Unknown

Happy Friday, friends!

Rants & Raves

RANT

$178 for a yoga sweater that doubles as a meditation blanket?

$995 for yoga sweat pants?!

#$%@#$%

I'm so disgusted by the idea of paying a month's rent for a pair of sweatpants that I'm not even sure where to begin this rant...

What I will say is that clearly these people have missed the entire point of yoga... Yoga is a practice of non-attachment. It is about observing your current situation and being ok with things as they are.

Yoga can also be an excellent form of exercise, both physical and mental. But no matter what yoga means to you, what you wear is of little, if any, importance.

From Yoga Journal...

A couple of years ago, when I had just returned to Yoga Journal after six months of traveling to ashrams and holy sites in India, I got a call from a writer for Mirabella magazine who was researching a fashion spread on exercise wear.

"I was wondering" she said, "what is the traditional outfit for doing yoga?"

I thought of the naked yogis I had seen on the banks of the Ganges, their skin smeared with ashes from the cremation pyre to remind themselves of the body's impermanence, their foreheads painted with the insignia of Shiva, the god of destruction. I couldn't resist.

"Well, traditionally, you would carry a trident and cover your body with the ashes of the dead," I told her.

There was a long pause, during which I could practically hear her thinking, "This will never fly with the Beauty Editor." Finally I took pity on her. "But alternatively," I said, "a leotard and tights will work just fine."

Naked, or covered in ashes, or in spandex, or in your pajamas... Whatever you wear, yoga is most certainly not about acquiring material possessions or showing off your wealth.

The silver lining in this story is that very few people were willing to pay $178 for a yoga sweater. So now it's on clearance...

Now on the Clearance rack

RAVE

High school runner Mary Cain finished her SATs then shattered the all-time high school mile record with a pace of 4:32.78 - a pace 6 seconds faster than the previous indoor mile record and more than 2 seconds faster than the outdoor mile record!

Image source

But she wasn't done yet...

For her encore Cain went on to finish third place overall in the 2 mile race, with time (9:38.68) that crushed the prior high school track record by more than 17 seconds.

Coached by Alberto Salazar, it looks like Cain's running future is bright.

I hope she also nailed the SATs...

What are you ranting or raving about this week?

Good. Bad. Weird. Wonderful.

Good: Finished 2 runs today.
My legs are slowly starting to feel less like lead and more like legs!

Bad: I'm home alone in Florida and my San Diego friends are at a holiday party. Without me.
Florida FAIL.

Weird: I bumped into a former student at a group run tonight. Met his mom, too. Good for them for exercising! But weird to meet a student when I'm wearing schlubby old running clothes and my hair is a hot mess. (See "Bad" below.)

Good: Discovered a free yoga class in my neighborhood. Score!

Bad: The humidity is so intense, my house keys collect condensation as soon as I step outside. (Just imagine what's that's doing to my hair. Even ponytails can't survive sauna conditions. Not ideal running weather, either...) Florida fail again!

Weird: On my morning run, there was a pig rooting around in a neighbor's lawn.
Yes.
A pig.
I do not live in, on, or anywhere near a farm.
I still have no idea where the pig came from or where he was going.
The weirdest part: I stopped to stare. Another runner passed and didn't notice at all. (Seriously, dude. How do you not notice a 150 pound PIG on the side of the road??? If a third neighbor hadn't also noticed the little porker, I'd have worried for my sanity.)

Wonderful: Just as I was starting to be really bummed out about sitting at home alone (Hubby's away for work tonight), missing my California friends, this song came on World Cafe:


If I have to be stuck home alone, finding good new music is a consolation prize I'm willing to accept.

What song(s) are on "repeat" on your playlist right now?
Any other good/bad/weird/wonderful events today?

Yoga challenge continues

The 21-day yoga challenge continues.

I am on Day 11.
Halfway.

(Hmm... that intro makes me sound a bit like a castaway on a desert isle... but I digress.)

I think I am supposed to pause here and describe the deep sense of enlightenment I have achieved.

But my mother taught me not to fib.

I love the practice, but any honest person (and any good yoga instructor) would tell you that life doesn't change in 11 days. Life just is.

So what have I learned so far?

I learned that I have a very short attention span. (Maybe I already knew that, but got distracted before I could write it down?) But if I try very hard to focus on my breathing, I can lengthen that attention span a little bit.

I also learned how to do a mean Crow Pose. And these little victories make each class, podcast, or video a highlight of my day. (Maybe that's close enough to enlightment?)

And last, but certainly not least: I found three free yoga-at-home downloads, to share with you! There are a variety of lengths and styles to choose from. To be honest, some were excellent, some less-than-excellent, but they all have strengths and weaknesses:

• David Farmar's audio yoga pod/broadcasts: Far and away Dave's are my favorite. The classes are tough, in a keep-you-focused sort of way. You hold poses for longer than you think possible, and that's the point. (This is good for those of us who are borderline ADHD chronic multi-taskers. Which is why I do yoga. Now what were we talking about?)
  
• Yoga Download: The audio + illustration format is great for poses that require a bit of extra instruction. However, the site requires an email login and only offers 20-minute sessions for free. And you can only listen to those once. All other lengths cost money. Listening twice costs money. And if it's going to cost money, you might as well get an honest-to-goodness in-person teacher who will prod you into perfect alignment. Plus, the class I did incorporated weights into the yoga routine. Weights? Are you kidding me?
  
• Yoga Journal's streaming videos are packed with useful information. The videos associated with the 21-day yoga challenge had no ads or other gimmicks, and were extremely clear in their pose instruction/demonstration. The style is a 2 out of 5 on the "hard" scale, involving mostly gentle stretching. And let me tell you: I am thankful for the kinder/gentler style after a couple of days of Dave's strenuous classes.

If you try any, stop back and let me know what you think!

Sticking with the plan

Yesterday's plan: sprint, yoga, wine. (Sounds like a good Friday, right?)

Friday is speedwork day, and since I have made my peace with the dreadmill, I did my intervals indoors.

Workout: 1 mile warmup 6 x 400 @ 7:30 (with 400 rest interval)

This is not my fastest interval workout ever, but I haven't done a sprint workout since early July. I wanted to use this workout as a check-in on whether or not my speed has suffered from the sweltering summer heat and slogging-pace workouts over the past two months. (For those of you unfamiliar with interval training, read the notation as: six repeats of 400 meters at a 7:30 pace, with 400 meters of rest between each).

This is just the beginning of half marathon training, and I felt strong through all six intervals. In fact, I think I could have pushed a little harder. (My toes grazed the top of the treadmill a few times. Oops!) But I tried to keep in mind the sage advice from Claire over at Will Run For Beer:

"develop a plan and stick to it"

And I have a plan. So I stuck to it. (And yes, I had visions of the Will Run For Beer blog post in my head as I considered pushing just a little harder on my last sprints... But as I'm learning in the yoga challenge, sometimes what you don't do is as important as what you do.)

And since yoga has also taught me that all things in life should be in balance, my kick-butt workout in the morning required an equivalent level of debauchery in the evening. So Hubby and I made a plan to go to BBQ Heaven for their weekly wine tasting and an order of the world's most amazing smoked potato salad.

What? Yoga teachers doesn't encourage gorging on red wine + potato salad after a hard day's work? Maybe the teachers should try it sometime... It seemed like a great balance to me!

Sticking with that plan was easy.

What do you have planned for the weekend?

Cheers!

21 day yoga challenge

I've run myself into a bit of a rut.

For the past two months I've kept up a 6 day/week workout schedule. But I can't remember the last time I did a truly challenging sprint workout or lifted weights 'til I had that "good hurt" muscle soreness the next day... (I could blame the rut on working two jobs, but really that's a cop-out. I dug myself into this rut. I'll have to dig myself out.)

Time for a change!

To start, I picked a November half marathon and updated my training schedule accordingly. (Nothing gets me motivated for weekend long runs like an impending race deadline!)

But that's still pretty normal for me.

So I decided to do yoga. Every single day. For three weeks straight.

My criteria were simple -- the change needed to be something dramatic but low-cost (read: no $$$ investment in a brand new kayak or pricey gym membership). Bonus points if I could work the change into an already crammed schedule (read: at-home workouts get double-extra bonus points).

And just as I was looking for a way to shake up my routine, I heard about the 21-day yoga challenge.

Funny how things work out sometimes.

I had been going to a once-a-week yoga class until June. My shoulders were getting a level of muscle definition that usually only occurs south of my hips. Then my teacher moved away, and I fell completely off that wagon.

What better way to get out of a rut than to hop on the next wagon?

So I'm on Day 5 of yoga every day for three weeks straight. (Minimum requirement = 15 minutes a day, but most days should be 45 - 90 minutes.)

I am already sore in muscles I forgot I had, but it's a pleasant ache that reminds me I'm making my body stronger.


What's the craziest (or most effective) thing you've ever done to bust out of a rut or shake up your workout routine?


Have you ever done a "challenge," yoga or otherwise?


Photo (of rut) courtesy of The U.S. National Archives, plus some editing magic by yours truly. Photo (of shoulder stand) courtesy of yours truly.

Yoga for free (seriously)

Thanks to Girl in the Pink, I just tried a free yoga podcast from Dave Farmar.

I've been practicing yoga for years... with more or less regularity. I am a firm believer that yoga makes my running better. (My IT band issues went away when I added low lunge and pigeon pose to my routine!) But I tend to be a practice-at-home girl, because, really, how many of us can afford to go several times a week at $10-20 per class?

Do you practice yoga regularly?

For most of this year I was lucky enough to have a free class available to me once a week. (Score!) But the teacher moved out of town in June, so I have been in a bit of a yoga slump. I tried other teachers, but haven't yet found one that "fits."

That is... until GITP posted about the podcasts.

There are a couple of wonderful things about Dave's yoga "classes"

1. They're 100 percent free.
   
2. There are dozens of classes of 60, 75, or 90 minutes each that are labeled beginner, intermediate, and "all levels," so you have a wide range of options.
   
3. You can download to iTunes OR stream live (follow the liberated syndication link).
   
4. There are no gimmicks. No place to enter your email address and get bombarded with spam. I heard no ads. I am not getting paid to rave about the podcasts. As best I can tell, Dave is just one really generous yoga instructor.
   
5. Did I mention FREE?
   

To try the yoga downloads yourself, visit: http://www.davefarmar.com/podcasts.php

If you try, stop back and let me know what you thought!