About a year ago, I got a great Groupon deal for 2 months unlimited classes at a local Bikram Yoga studio (
Funky Door Yoga). I thought this would be a great way to get in shape for the wedding. Well, it's now December and I've been married 5 months and I recently got a reminder email to use my Groupon before it expired.
After putting this off for about a year - I was kind of dreading / nervous about trying out "hot yoga" - but I didn't want that $40 to go to waste. I've tried a few Yoga classes at my gym over the years (not recommended), and I was never able to get into it. But I told myself - you just need to go to 2 classes and the deal will have paid for itself.
Fast forward 1 week - I've been to 4 classes and I'm in love! Bikram Yoga is nothing like regular yoga,
in my opinion. Sure I find myself twisted up like a pretzel every so often (see pose #4), but it's quite a different experience from the crappy yoga at the gym.
Lights on - the teacher has a mic and gives detailed instructions on every move - and it's 100 degrees in the room. The class is 90 minutes long and is composed of 26 poses. It's best to wear as little as possible in the class - because you will get sweaty! And no need to be self conscious - no one is looking at you - they are all focused on themselves...for reals.
Pose #13 is one of my favorites - especially after falling over like a fool attempting to do #12.
Needless to say, I am going to take serious advantage of my 2 months of unlimited classes. Obviously I can't go every day - but 3-4 times a week should suffice. I'm so happy school is over until mid/late January - that clears up 2 extra nights a week - and there are late evening classes so I can go after work. Kind of bummed that I'll be missing out next week when we're in Arizona for Christmas. I already have days picked out for my post holiday sweat.
Have you tried Bikram yoga - or a regular yoga studio? What do you like most?
In other news, I hit day 17 of my runstreak today! The beginning of the week was a little rough, I was getting pretty tired, but I find that the yoga has really helped loosen me up and my runs later in the week were pretty good.
It's been a while (about 6-7 weeks) since I've done any longer distance runs (anything over 4 miles), but I'm thinking about signing up for the
Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon on February 3rd - which is right around the corner - so I had to officially kick off training. Yesterday I knocked out a 10K (close enough, 6.14 miles). The run started out good - but I was slowing down a little after about 3.5 miles - but then found myself on some holiday race route being chased by a few dozen runners in Santa suites. This was good motivation to pick up my pace. I wanted to make it to 7 miles, but decided not to overdue it and finish strong.
I was super happy with my finish time - about 55 minutes - giving me a pace of 9:03/mile. This is phenomenal - my finish time for the US Half Marathon left me with a pace of 10:00+/mile. If I can keep this new pace during training the next few weeks - I might be able to PR, which would be a great start to the new year.
Tough Mudder training has been on hold for the most part over the past 2 weeks. My brother-in-law had a guest in town and then was sick this weekend. And I'm sure the holidays will mess up the next weekend or two. Don't get me wrong - I have done something active every day for the last 17 days - sometimes doubling up with 2 workouts in one day - but none have been super focused on strength building for the TM. Although, last weekend, I was able to do my first unassisted chin up. It was awesome! I felt like a badass. And I know you're probably thinking, seriously, she's getting excited over one chin up?! Really, don't knock it until you've tried it...it's hard. Hoping by Tough Mudder day, I'll be able to do several - otherwise, someone is pushing me up and over the wall.
I think that's all for now. I know I've been slacking on the posts lately, going to try and pick that up. Having next week off should be a good motivator.
