Yoga Week 2

So November is my month of yoga.  I had no way of knowing it would be good practice to spend hours in a room heated to 105 to be prepared for San Antonio's marathon day weather conditions!  Anyway, I tried to take notes after class most days over the last week or so. 

Tuesday, 11-8-11.  Binny.  The little female instructor from Australia is named Binny.  This is now my third class with her as the instructor.  She tends to say the same things in each class, but I think most instructors do.  Definitely the most crowded class I've been to.  About 70 people?  The room was packed.  But oddly, it didn't seem as hot -- I wonder if they lowered the temp figuring that all the people in there would drive the temperature up?  First time going into the bridge position. 

Wed., 11-9-11.  Domenick again.  Now my third class with him.  I had a first-timer directly behind me, so that made me nervous.  Both because I knew he was watching me to see how to do things, and because when I was trying to focus in the mirror on myself to stay steady and hold my balance, I'd see him bouncing around behind me.  He was very inflexible -- reminded me of how I imagine my husband would be.  I think I mentioned that Monday night for the first time I got into this bridge position once (on the second try).  Well, Wed. night I did it again on both tries.  We started off putting our hands on our ankles while we were kneeling, then we lower down onto our elbows and then evetually put our heads on the floor and elbows over our heads.  Wed night I went right into it as he was still trying to figure out if he could reach his ankles.  Then the instructor said to lower down, the new guy saw me, and he just laughed.  If only he knew that I almost laugh at myself -- that it was only my second time ever to make it all the way down.  Another good class.  Didn't seem as hot, but I had to take one extra water break.  But still did the whole class, just had trouble balancing a lot of the time, possibly because I kept noticing that guy in the mirror and his struggles. 

Thurs., 11-10-11, day off.

Fri., 11-11-11, first morning class ever, class 9.  Since I skipped boot camp to give myself a pre-marathon break, I decided to do morning yoga.  I missed it on Thursday.  My spine felt all tight and weird.  Much better post-yoga.  The class was definitely the smallest I've been to, and started at 5:30.  I counted people -- 32.  And way less than most classes, so I'd guess the average evening class size is about 50.  Smaller class meant way more personal attention.  I had kind of thought I was improving, but on even the second posture this morning, I was personally corrected twice by name.  Oops!  I love that -- lots I can do to improve, so it really helps me to hear what I'm doing wrong or what I can do better.  I feel like I'm getting a lot more familiar with the routine.  Especially in the second half of class, I pretty much know the order of all the postures and how close I am to the end.  It felt great, though there weren't any posture breakthroughs for me.  Followed my head and an instructor's directions to take it easy right before the race. Got some unsolicited advice from someone in the class afterward on how I can do better.  I wonder if she might own the studio?  If so, maybe she invented or opened it just so she'd have an excuse to wear itty bitty shorts and show off how flexible she is.  Anyway, kind of irritated me partially because I didn't know what pose she was trying to tell me I was doing wrong, and mostly b/c she was talking to me in the room after class, and I just wanted some quiet time and she seemed kind of loud (and louder still in the locker room after I left the room and she was asking me how long I'd been coming, which classes I usually went to, why mornings were so much better, etc.).  I just wanted quiet.  And I didn't really want to talk.  Just some peace. 

Sat., Sun., off and in San Antonio, going through my 26.2 mile "fun run".

Mon., 11-14-11.  The goal they give you at the beginning is 10 classes in 10 days, and if you can't do that, 10 classes in 14 days.  Well, this was class number 10 and day number 14.  Mission accomplished.  Domenic was the instructor again.  I told him before class that I wasn't sure it was a good idea to be there as I was only about 30 hours post-marathon (and having trouble walking).  He said it was a good idea and it would help a lot.  During the class, he actually asked who all had run the half or full over the weekend and I was the only person (in a class of probably 60) to raise my hand.  He said they'd had several earlier in the day, and even a couple the night before who had already flown back.  Well, in terms of movement, maybe my worst class ever, or maybe just even with my second class.  My legs ached.  I tried very hard to take it easy, but there are so many poses it seems where you keep your back upright and kind of squat down, like into a seated position.  Here I'm in agony trying to sit down on my bed.  My process of sitting is actually more like knowing whatever (bed, chair, toilet) is under me and then just falling.  No chance I could sit in an invisible chair in yoga because my falling technique would have landed me on the floor.  I wasn't close to the bridge or tons of other postures where I thought I'd made the tiniest bit of progress.  But it did feel good and my legs were maybe a bit looser.  But then class ended and I had to get to my car.  Yoga studio on the second floor of a strip mall, no elevator in sight.  I made it down the first half of the stairs to the landing, with very slow progress, asking people who came behind me to just pass me.  I got to the landing and wondered if maybe I could just camp there for a couple days until my legs felt better, then go down the rest of the stairs on Thursday or something.  A guy walked past me and asked if I'd run the marathon, and I said yes.  He offered me his shoulders to help down the stairs.  Faced with the prospect of spending 48 hours on the landing waiting for my legs to loosen up, I accepted.  He grabbed my mat, bag and water bottle and got in front of me.  I grabbed his shoulders, practically put all of my weight on him and followed him down.  I couldn't help the cursing that happened -- my legs hurt, but I think he counts now as maybe the kindest soul I've ever met.  My husband will take me down the stairs like that all the time after a race (we live in a 3 story, and I have overly sensitive quads), but you know, he's stuck with me forever and will have to wait 3 hours for me to go down the stairs alone, have to worry about my falling, and listen to my endless b!tching, so it's kind of smart for him to offer me his shoulders (nice, appreciated, I get it, but still kind of like a duty in some ways).  This guy, however, had truly no reason to help me but he did anyway.  Maybe yoga is becoming one of my favorite things in the world.

Tues., 11-15, day off.  Walked in the morning, as I already posted, and went to a running friend's party at night.  Part of me wished I'd been able to go to yoga.

Wed., 11-16, class 11. 

Funny thing is, Bella left a comment on my last yoga report about how one of the benefits of doing posts recapping classes is that I'd be able to identify instructors I liked or didn't like.  In my mind, I thought, hmm, all the instructors kind of seem the same, I mean, I like all of them just fine, I'll probably just keep going whenever it fits in my schedule and whoever teaches, teaches.

Again, back to Wed.  New-to-me instructor.  5:30 a.m. class (still not quite ready to go back to boot camp, quads feeling better, but another day away is probably good).  Surprise, instructor is Ms. Unsolicited Advice from last week's morning class!  Way too loud, too much talking, esp. for a morning class.  And since I don't completely know what I'm doing, I still listen to instructions pretty closely, and she mixed up her right and left and some other words a few times.  Very confusing.  Smallish class, again about 30-35 people.  She wanted everyone to move forward the way she liked us.  She said to be patient and know that all her corrections came from love.  This was also the first time I ate right before a class (not much dinner at the party last night, starving in the morning, and also just generally used to making myself eat something before working out).  So was it the granola bar or the "loving" corrections that kind of made me want to puke?  Hmm...  She did say I did well in one, and she gave me some very good corrections several other times (not as irritating as I feared), but definitely not an instructor I'd be seeking out to have again.  Fortunately, planning to start back to my full morning routine on Thurs -- running and boot camp!  Anyway, some of my flexibility is getting back to where it was before the race.  I made it back into the bridge (woo!), managed to do lots of the "seated on invisible chair" poses, etc.  Legs are definitely getting back to normal. 

Today, Thurs., 11-17-11.  Day off.  Yoga does not fit into my Thursday schedule.  Instead I ran easy at the track today.  Legs felt fine, but I am smarter than to attempt any actual speed so soon after 26.2.  So I jogged in lane 7 at the track and waited until my weekday buds were done with their mile repeats, then we all cooled down together.  Yoga blitz starts tomorrow, and I will hopefully go every day Fri - Wed, off on Thanksgiving (race!), then another blitz through the end of the month -- but the last few days might be derailed by some evening work obligations and a visit from my baby brother.