Crow!

It's totally amazing to me what regular weekly attendance at Kula has done for my yoga practice. In fact I wouldn't have even said I had a practice prior to January of this year. Sure I'd attend a class here and there, sometimes at my gym (weak sauce), every once in awhile at the Bikram studio in my hood and sometimes in our building's gym where a yoga instructor from a local studio provides complimentary classes every Wednesday. I knew the poses by name and what I should be doing, I knew how to breathe through my nose only (contradictory to what happens while running), I knew all about lengthening the sides of my neck, breathing into my right lung, etc. but I didn't regularly do any of it. And with yoga, like many other things in life, you improve the more you practice. Yoga is a lifetime's worth of learning, honing, improving and deepening one's practice. And so last night when I got up into crow pose and held there for many more breaths than EVER before, I knew I actually had a practice and it sure did feel good!


maybe I can get Jason to snap a picture of me in crow - whatcha say J? :)

And another big bonus, yoga makes my running work a lot better too. The ongoing pain as my left leg continues to try and succeed from the rest of my body is oh so much more deal-able with yoga in my life.

Back in the #1 slot

...of the Big 12! Big win by Kansas last night and lots of fun ...well, fun when they were winning, with Jason and his pops.

So my plan without a plan yielded 4 miles and 60 mins. of spinning yesterday. I split the run up into 2 pre class and 2 post, all at tempo pace or faster with a 1/4 mile warm-up each leg. Pace was pretty easy to achieve and hold so that's good.

I made it to the pool this morning for 30 mins. and 1584 yds worth of laps. Lots of long sprint sets of crawl followed by a short recoveries doing breast stroke. I felt solid and smooth in the water and the H2O temp wasn't completely frigid - bonus! Nothing more scheduled for today as we're meeting up with the restaurant club peeps for Fat Tuesday vittles at Redhead. The menu looks quite tasty but the one thing hands down that everyone will undoubtedly try --- bacon peanut brittle.


Bacon glorious bacon!!!

:-)

Uncle JJ thinks I shouldn't be chewing on this but Maria says it's OK

Tinkering about

So last week was just about a total wash in terms of my training. I got hit HARD ...nix that, run the hell over by the funk bus and felt I really needed to pull back and assess what was going on. I've been lacking the drive I normally feel whilst building up my training as well as some boredom that I mentioned last week. Part of it has to do with my continued leg issues. I'm making progress, I feel I am on the right course but there's still pain on most runs. Nothing to stop me and certainly nothing alarming but it's there and it's really wearing on me. I miss those days when I suit up for a run after work and knock out 8-10 miles seemingly without effort. When I enjoy the sunset along the Hudson and don't feel as if I'm going to get blown outta my Asics. And thus certainly another part of this all is the lingering winter. We experience a couple days of spring like conditions and then get slapped in the face with stinging winds and crappy wintry mix. I want me some stable conditions and I want me some more daylight! Argh.

So what did I do last week? Uh not much. My pool is in a state of flux with various mechanical issues so no swimming. I did get to yoga which probably saved my sanity and really reinforced that I needed to pull back. Note to self: always make yoga a priority. Add to that a great session of strength training and my first group run with The Reservoir Dogs and the week wasn't a complete loss.

But still, here we are back on Monday and I'm not sure how to proceed. It kinda sucks. I want to trust my leg a bit more but I don't want to cause further time away from serious training. I want to run harder, faster, more but I want to feel the purpose I normally do.

And so I'll take it day by day for this week. Tonight I'll get a short but strong tempo run done with some strides ...something to get my confidence back up and the blood flowing. Will follow that up with spin class, which always helps my mood. I'm also revisiting the F.I.R.S.T.
training plans and may integrate those with the Pfitz plan I'm using at present. Something a little different, something that might make this a bit more interesting.

On a non-running tip, Jason and I will are taking his dad out tonight to cheer on Kansas against recently defeated Oklahoma - perhaps all my running needs is some Sherron Collins, beers and a big Rock Chalk victory!?!?!?

Seeking a stronger focus

Last week was a recovery week in the plan and although I hit the mileage right on, I felt rather listless and maybe even a little bored. Perhaps it's that I've been thinking more about different kinds of training plans or perhaps it's that I'd love to get myself a coach or at least participate more in a local running group? Whatever the case, I feel some change is in the air.

Monday: ran 6 miles, spinning for 60 mins
Tuesday: swam 30 mins (1512 yds), ran 5 miles
Wednesday: rest day (although I had both a PT appt and a massage)
Thursday: ran 6 miles
Friday: swam 30 mins (1512 yds)
Saturday: ran 10.5 miles (with 2-3 miles @tempo mid-run)
Sunday: cooked family brunch with my helper (pictured below with my apron as a dress)

Scheduled mileage: 26
Actual mileage: 27.5

Rounding out the week with Sunday Family Dinner

Last week saw no action at the pool, the water temps had been a little too cold for my taste for the two weeks previous to last week so when I called to reserve a lane and they referred to the water as "brisk" I knew that couldn't be good. By the weekend the staff there had assured me they've got it back to normal so I'll test it out tomorrow. I also missed out on my regular spin class last Monday due to having a tempo run that same day and me not planning well.

All in all, not a horrific week. And also the first week where I varied my pace quite a bit to fit the plan.

Monday - ran 6 miles (4@ tempo pace)
Tuesday - ran 4.3 miles (EZ)
Wednesday - ran 8 miles @8:30 pace
Thursday - ran 4 miles (EZ), strength training for 45 mins
Friday - rest
Saturday - ran 6 miles (5 x Hippo Park hill repeats), 90 mins of yoga
Sunday - ran 10.5 miles

Scheduled mileage: 40
Actual mileage: 38.8

Yesterday ending up being a pretty packed day. I slept in a bit, got my run in and then headed up to Matt & Kelly's for the return of Sunday Family Dinners. Kelly made a super tasty tortilla soup, we enjoyed some Chimay & Brooklyn Local 1 and rounded it out with fresh blueberries and strawberries over angel food cake. The night ended with an impromptu visit to Stand Up NY, a local spot on the UWS where Jason, Matt, Joey and I caught Judah Friedlander's act. You will know him as Frank from 30 Rock. Very funny!

Yet another food obsession

This time it's cedar wrapped salmon. We're fortunate to live in a place where you can get just about anything you want but unfortunate to live in a building without outdoor access that allows a legal grill. And thus we're limited to grilling indoors in a very limited fashion, either on the ole George Foreman, atop the stove on a grill pan or taking things to the oven that might otherwise cook up on an outdoor grill. Undoubtedly you've seen or tasted salmon cooked on a cedar plank but momma, you need to try cedar wraps too - you will not be sorry! I've been picking up pieces of salmon with a little red onion and butternut squash slices to cook up in the wraps for just about 15 mins or so. It's a very simple, extremely tasty meal. We get ours from Whole Foods but you can buy the wraps here and tailor the meal to your liking. Enjoy!