Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Running in Hermine and Heated Yoga and Yoga for Runners

I took yesterday off from running, though I probably got in about a tenth of a mile at camp.  After camp I got to eat my favorite breakfast indulgence -- a dutch baby from Original House of Pancakes.  Yum!  This kind of goes directly against my husband's suggestion of eating clean for the entire month before the marathon to avoid gaining any weight, but oh well.  I don't think I could do that for an entire month anyway, especially since I still have 1-2 days of birthday chocolate from Adam to finish. 

But since yesterday was similar to what I imagine my life would be like as a housewife, I went to not one but TWO yoga classes during the day.  After my post-camp breakfast, I did some things around the house and worked a bit -- just reading depos, so nothing intense.  Then I went to a class called Yoga for Runners.  There were some very experienced people there, but I think I did okay for a beginner.  It was fun and it felt like I did some good stretching.  Some of the things were too difficult or painful because of my plantar's (like going from standing with feet together to jumping into feet 3-4 feet apart), but I'd just do a small jump and then step my feet out. 

After Yoga for Runners, I went home and took on an unseen cleaning project -- organizing some of our filing.  I was looking for two things specifically, an invoice from our screen doors we had installed about 7 years ago (since one was lost during our recent condo work), and some paperwork related to a car we used to own.  I found both of those things and got a bunch of other paperwork stuff organized. 

Then it was time for yoga class no. 2 -- Bikram Yoga.  It's a 90 minute class in a room that's heated to 105, I wonder if they air condition it to 105 in the summer when it's hotter than that here?!  I had done Bikram before, but it was more than 5 years ago and the last time I went was a train-wreck -- let's just say it's not a good idea to do heated yoga when hung over.  Not only did I apparently reek of vodka, I got sick and have been too embarassed to go back.  Well, I finally did yesterday afternoon and it was wonderful.  Again, I was limited a bit by my plantars -- there were a couple things that involved holding onto your heel and it was just too painful, but I modified okay.  I again, think I did alright for a beginner.  There were also a couple stretches that I didn't try because I was too worried about getting injured and I know my muscles are too tight right now -- and I don't want to mess with it less than a month before race day.  So there was one pose where you stand on one leg and basically kick the other leg straight out -- no chance I was doing that, so I just stood on one leg and held my other.  The sweat was pouring off me, but I got used to it pretty quickly.  It was just like being back in mid- August!

This morning's run was interesting because Hermine, a tropical storm is in the process of arriving.  It was in the mid- to upper-70s when we started running and humidity was about 100% as it drizzled a bit before we started running and was raining steadily but not too heavily when we finished.  We went just over 9 easy and I didn't think I'd be able to keep up, but I did.  Several of my weekday buddies did their first triathlons yesterday.  It was just a sprint, which means swimming 300m (took about 6-8 mins for most of them), then biking 15 miles (about 45-55 minutes), and then running a 5k (paces varied a lot, some averaged 6:50s, a few averaged just over 7:30s).  Everyone was happy and proud to have finished, and everyone finished in under 1:30 total, so it seemed like quite respectable times (though I of course have no clue and probably couldn't do one unless I had about 6 hours), so it was fun to hear all about it this morning.  Sounds like most of them are hooked and will be doing another one in May.  It's not something I could ever see myself doing since I really hate swimming and haven't biked in so many years, but never say never, right?  But one goal at a time, right now I need to look at BQ.  Preferably before I'm in my 60s. 

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