over the hump

Although I haven’t gone to the class yet, I’m already giving myself a mental pat on the back. My goal was to do 5 consecutive days of yoga and I did it. Tomorrow I will probably take the day off from yoga – it’s a running and Power Hour day. I’m not certain if I’m ready to take on all three of those in one day.


Yesterday was probably the hardest day. I felt pretty worn out and I hadn’t slept well. I napped until around 2PM and dragged myself out of bed to go run. It just happened to be my longer mileage day as well. I was supposed to run 5 miles. I barely made it to 3. Part of the problem was the gym. I opted to run on the treadmill, which I hate to begin with, because I didn’t have enough time to run outside and still make it to the gym in SF for the 5PM yoga class. If only I’d slept the night before, run in the morning and gone to the 11AM yoga class. Oh well, it was no use beating myself up about something I had no control over. Done is done. It was the longest 3 miles of my life. I was so bored. I couldn’t get in the zone. I actually had to walk some of it! I can only shake my head now. Afterwards I found no respite in the yoga class. The instructor had a squeaky voice and she talked too much and too fast. It was the least Zen yoga class I’d ever taken. I know that some people need a faster pace to keep them focused, but we were doing 3-4 poses per breath at times. That’s totally not how yoga is meant to be practiced. Movement follows the breath. You don’t move in spite of the breath! Also, the floor of the studio was so dirty that I felt like I was covered with a gritty film by the end of class. Speaking of which, after tonight’s class I am throwing my mat in the washing machine.

Instead of running to the kickboxing class before yoga tonight (I’ve already had a half hour of circuit and an hour of Zumba today), I’m going to reserve that cardio for tomorrow morning and try to get those two additional miles that I missed yesterday. Perhaps I could do an extra one tomorrow and one Thursday. We’ll see how I feel in the morning.

So, Yoga day #5. I’ve been super sore, more than with any of the other training. Yoga works so many muscles and you get very intimate with your weaknesses. I’ve always loved that part of it. You get to know your physical self extremely well with a yoga practice. I am considering developing a home practice as well. Perhaps I can take those two days off from the studio classes and use them at home instead. I’d like to work on my head and handstands, backbends and arm balances. You know, all the stuff they can’t spend a lot of time on at the studio. I’m not very good at those things yet, so I there’s a lot of opportunity for progress.

I’ve also been thinking about attending classes for a martial art. I’ve said this numerous times before. It intimidates me. The whole idea of fighting and having physical contact with strangers disturbs me.