Relaxation

I knew that I wouldn't keep up with doing yoga and such every day, but I think that I'm doing a relatively good job.  This week has required a lot of adjusting since I'm back in classes, so it's not so easy to organize my time.  But I did get a chance to do two workouts and they have been quite useful.  When I stretch after running, there is no question that I am getting more flexible.

Today I tried a yin yoga DVD that I got from the library.  The practitioner was Simon Low and it was great.  There was one pose that I absolutely could not manage, but the rest went quite well.  One pose incorporated into the workout was pigeon, which really stretched muscles that needed some work.  It's nothing like the Sesame Street song sung by Bert, if you're curious.

The best part of the yin yoga DVD (apart from the actual workout) was when the instructor offered an alternative banana pose at one point.  There is just something funny about hearing the word 'banana' in a British accent.

I may go to hot yoga with a friend next week (hey, why not?) and normal yoga should be starting up soon.  It will be nice to have more of an organized routine...actually, that could be said about a lot of things right now!

New schedule

With the new schedule, Mondays are now free.  I chose this schedule because it works well with my teaching schedule: I need to be at school, teaching, MWF.  All other days I run.  Good combination!  What makes it even better is that this year I am not teaching at some godawful torture hour (7:30am all of last year), so my MWF are not automatically write-offs.  But it's good to have those days for doing things like weights.  Just like today!

That makes two weeks in a row, which I think equals the number of times I did weights for much of the summer.  Yay!  And this time I remembered to stretch properly afterward, so hopefully less stiff tomorrow for my run.

I've tried two of the new relaxation DVDs.  The Qigong one is okay, there are some useful exercises in them.  The other one is a mediation one with a bit of yoga thrown in.  This isn't terrible, but I'm not used to meditating (and would rather do more yoga).  Maybe I can learn from this experience?  I haven't tried the third DVD yet, plus I have a DVD on hold at my local library of Yin Yoga, since I liked it so much.  But the selection is nice now.  Maybe I'll even revisit PM Tai Chi at some point.

Batting 1.000 in the relaxation department

Last night, I came awfully close to not doing any kind of tai chi/yoga/anything at night.  This was, in part, because I just didn't feel like it and, in part, because yet another night of the same PM Tai Chi DVD was just not exciting.  Then, I had a brilliant idea.  In fact, this may rank as one of my best of the month (possibly tied with nabbing my friend's CSA share).  I have a Roku, which allows me to stream content directly from Netflix to my TV.  What if they had a yoga workout?  And by gum, they did.

Plus, it's a pretty good night workout with lots of nice stretching and good instructions -- the instructor is Sarah Ivanhoe.  This workout is called Candlelight Yoga, which is kind of funny because the studio in the video has candles, yet the mood lighting is somewhat hampered by the fact that there are also lots of really bright lights.  However, I liked the workout.  It was not too tricky and there were even modifications offered if you were really yoga-impaired.  The poses were not overly strenuous and some felt quite good.  Plus, it wasn't PM Tai Chi because sometimes variety can be good.

I am hoping that my new yoga DVDs show up soon.  Then I will have an embarrassment of PM workout riches.

Weights

I finally got to the gym today to do weights.  I say 'finally' because I looked at the paper where I write down my weights information and apparently I have done weights twice in the past two months.  This was, in part, due to traveling and the fact that it can be hard to find a place to do weights when you are an international jet-setter like me.   Or rather, when you are an international jet-setter who frequently crashes at friends' places because your budget does not match your jet-setting tastes.

The other part is that I tried to do weights last week at my hotel and it completely backfired.  My hotel claimed that it had a complete gym, but I beg to differ.  The website states that there is a 'Universal Weight Machine,' but I'm not quite sure what that means.  There was no machine for working out legs or really any good way of setting up so that you could do that.  Trust me, I tried and was convinced that I was going to give myself some remarkably dumb injury.  They did have free weights, but that was about the extent of it.

Also, the rowing machine was broken, but that's a whole other topic.  I have a love/hate relationship with rowing machines.  My gym here does not have one, so I don't often get to rekindle my love/hate relationship with one and I was looking forward to it the minute I lay eyes on it.  Then I sat down and there was no power.  Boooooooooooooooo.  Big hate, but for once I don't blame the machine.

Anyway, like most runners, I have pretty good leg strength but basically no upper body strength (that, and I have virtually no flexibility whatsoever).  Years and years ago -- like, over 10 years ago -- I spent a summer going pretty regularly to the gym and doing weights, then I got bored out of my mind and quit.  The last time I really did weights was probably early 2007; after that I just switched to running.  Now I am aware that runners should still do weight training, especially since Runner's World makes it a point of reminding their readership of this fact at least once per issue.  I'm also aware that doing weights helps my posture, metabolism, prevents osteoporosis, and God only knows what else.  But I don't know.  I feel like I never kicked that 'It's pretty boring' feeling from all those years ago.

I was better when World Cup was on.  It was simple to get motivated to go to the gym and as an added bonus, keep track of soccer. 

Another training decision that I made recently: more yoga/tai chi.  Being at home all day (which I often am since I work from home) can make a person very listless.  So I am going to try and do yoga or tai chi every day if possible.  However, I know that probably I won't actually accomplish this goal, so I'm going to aim for every day and see what actually winds up happening.  I have a 'PM Tai Chi' workout (there is also an AM, but I am more interested in the PM for now) and yesterday ordered three yoga DVDs from Gaiam.  It was the 'Live Balanced' collection and none of them looks too strenuous.  One is even Qigong, so maybe I will turn into a Jedi!

I'm not really big on the 'Yoga as Cardio' idea myself.  Titles that have 'Power' and 'Yoga' together are just not my deal.  I tried that P90X Yoga and did not care for it, mostly because I was pretty sure I was going to die within the first 1/2 hour.  Or pass out.  Plus I was dog-sitting and the dogs were looking at me funny.  And it was hot.  One of the dogs even licked me while I was trying to hold poses.  No good at all.

Incidentally, Gaiam is having a sale, in case you want to stock up yourself.  Once actual yoga resumes, I will just add the classes to the schedule.

...from reading this blog entry, you can probably see that today was not so exciting.  But it sure did wander all over the place, now didn't it?

Yin yoga

Yesterday I decided to take the opportunity and attend a yoga class.  Boston may be a running town, but it is also a generally fit town and there are no lack of yoga options -- particularly around Central/Harvard Squares, which is near where I am staying.  I decided to check out Karma Yoga because they had a class called yin yoga that looked interesting.  The description on the website was as follows: "Through the elegant combination of appropriate asana and gentle timing, Yin Yoga deeply stretches and nourishes the joints of the body, helping to generate much greater flexibility and core-level relaxation."  Basically, you hold uncomplicated stretches for a long time, so it was a nice class to take.  One of the challenges I find of just dropping in on a class like this is that you can be behind the students who have been attending for a while.  With a focus on holding the poses instead of the poses themselves, you don't have that problem.

I was doing yoga in Tampa, trying to go twice a week.  Mine is bare-bones yoga taught at the city's recreation facility.  The price can't be beat ($6.25 a class), although you have to bring your own mat.  Our teacher there is very nice and doesn't insist on doing annoying things like playing 'relaxation music.'  There is only one problem: when the teacher goes out of town -- as she did for the month of August -- then there is no yoga.  What is fun about being in a place like Boston are the wide number of options.  I liked the yin yoga so much that I've requested a DVD about from the library at home.  It was challenging but not taxing.

Like a lot of runners, I have basically no flexibility.  Hopefully, by doing yoga I can help prevent an injury and provide some relief to tired muscles.  When I went running today, I didn't notice any problems, which is always a good sign.