What I've Been Up To

Oh heeeeeyyyy.  How are you?  What have you been up to lately?  Sorry I've been so MIA.  Just not much to report around these parts.  So just to catch you up, here's the Cliff Notes version of what's going on (which is nothing!):

I did, miraculously, actually bake a few things for Thanksgiving this year.  I made pretzel brownies and s'mores bars thanks to Michelle's great ideas.  Like usual, and unsurprising, I f-ed it up though.  I know I know, you're far from shocked.  The in-laws have a fancy oven and unknowingly I used the "convection" oven setting, which apparently cooks things faster.  Buuuutttt I didn't alter the cooking times.  Story of my life.

So the brownies were kind of overcooked.  The s'mores bars were still awesome though, I highly recommend them.  What's not to like?  Butter?  Good.  Chocolate?  Gooood.  Marshmallows?  Goooooood.

Let's see, what else?  We saw Skyfall and Breaking Dawn Part II.  I fell asleep during Skyfall and thought Breaking Dawn was just as bad as all the other books / movies.  But we all know I'm not a reliable recommender. 

 

I went to yoga.  A LOT.  I bought a Groupon for hot yoga and decided it was my new method of fixing my hamstring.  Although I really liked it, and could feel it doing lots of great things for my body, I actually think it was making my hamstring WORSE.  All that direct stretching of it.  So my new method is to avoid putting any stress on my hamstring whatsoever.  I NEVER try to touch my toes.  I'll let you know how it works out.


I ran some races.  You already know all about those though.  Though I haven't "raced" any of them thanks to my bum hamstring, in the last 4 weekends I've done THREE races.  That's ridiculous!  The Mustache Dache, the Seattle Half, and now the Christmas Rush 10k.  Whew. 

I saw this amazing sunrise last week when I was headed to work.  I told you, I don't have that much to report!

We actually completed a home improvement project.  Our weekends used to be filled with these but we haven't done one in a LONG TIME now so I was proud we did anything.  This awkward space was in our bedroom and we finally added some shelves.  I kind of wish we'd done 4 shelves instead of 3 but those are NEVER coming out of there.

I read Reached, Wild, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. 

Reached was the 3rd book in the Matched trilogy (more young adult dystopia fiction, the story of my year), and NEVER start a trilogy before all three are published.  I could not for the life of me remember what the previous ones were about. 

Wild was VERY interesting and I HIGHLY recommend it.  Very hilarious the true troubles Cheryl gets herself into when she hikes the Pacific Crest Trail without EVER training, wearing hiking boots before, or ever putting on her backpack.  Kind of like Eat Pray Love but better.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower was okay.  I look forward to seeing Hermione in the movie. 

     

And last but not least, Cooper is still precious.  I know you won't find that surprising at all.

And how's Runcember going for you?  I've been struggling, I won't lie.  Last week was crazy busy for me with something work-related every night, and I was just so exhausted that convincing myself to walk even a mile was tough.  I hope this week is better.

We have some people who are just straight up DOMINATING though.  Seriously, Robyn did 50+ miles in just the first week!  Don't forget to enter your mileage!

So what's new with you???

Who Am I? A Flexible Person, That's Who.

I've been to THREE yoga classes this week.  THREE.  Count them, it's ridiculous and definitely a new record.  Who in the world do I think I am?  A flexible person, apparently.

It started on Sunday, when I ran 7 miles and then went to (regular) yoga after.  That's 1 of only 2 runs during November ladies and gents.  In October I ran 101 miles.  Halfway through November and I've ran 13.  Stellar.  But that's the point, I'm resting (for the most part). 

Then I saw a Groupon for 20 Hot Yoga classes for $20.  And so we are now onto Method #1,053,487 of fixing my hamstring.  My chiro sessions have come to a halt as they're not exactly free.  20 hours of yoga is way cheaper than 20 hours of chiro.

Also, hot yoga is really freaking hot.  In case you weren't aware.

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In other news, Saturday is the Mustache Dache!  80% chance of rain and upper 40's coupled with my slow running and it only being a 5k will likely result in me being VERY cold.  But it will be a blogger festival that involves wearing mustaches and brunch, so it sounds like a GRAND time to me!  I can't wait!

Will you be there?  Do you do hot yoga? 

Being Smart Is Risky Business

So in case you haven't been paying attention to my blog posts, tweets, or Facebook posts, my glute has been hurting since Ragnar.  For you mathematicians out there, that's a whopping 3 weeks: quite a while.  It's still up in the air whether it's my piriformis or not but it seems likely.  That sneaky piriformis came out of nowhere. 

That piriformis is as sneaky as the evil cat

So on Monday I rested. 

And on Tuesday I ran - 7 miles in 1:06 to be exact.  It was okay.

And on Wednesday I biked but felt pretty blah energy-wise - 12.6 miles in 52 minutes (14.5 mph). 

And then on Thursday I was about to head out for a run, when running suddenly seemed like a terrible idea.  I've been caught in this conflict of being in the middle of training for Hood to Coast / a triathlon / a trail race / possibly CIM and did NOT want to stop training.  After all - I ran nearly 31 miles last week and was on a roll!  I wanted to keep going and get faster to not let my speedy Hood to Coast teammates down!

But then I really thought, and it seemed like a little rest could happen now or never.  And if a few days off could help my glute go away, it would be worth backing off my training now rather than later, and much better now then hurting through all 3 of my Hood to Coast legs.  Resting is risky, and so is not resting.  What a balancing act.  It's so hard to know when to push through it and when to rest. 

I just want to feel good at Hood to Coast just like Ragnar.

So, there's my reasoning.  So on Thursday I VERY smartly did 50 minutes of yoga instead of running.  And people, my hamstrings are TIGHT.  That can't be good for my glute.  Yoga MUST be a priority if I want to keep running healthy.

And on Friday I swam.

And on Saturday I did a ton of yard work.

And on Sunday I rested. 

And there you have it.  5 days solid without running.  At first I felt really positively about my glute.  But now I kind of feel it again.  But I shall run tomorrow and report back.  And until then, I'll just keep hoping that my risky resting paid off. 

Rar.  Cooper's not sneaky like the piriformis / evil cat.

Have you walked the fine line between pushing through little injuries?  What happened to you?  What advice do you have for my glute? 

Chanting is Just Not My Thing

Finally - the post you've all been waiting for!  First of all, I must preface this post by apologizing to all yogi's and lovers of this style of yoga.  I am in no way trying to make fun of you or be intolerant.  I can fully understand that some people might like this kind of thing, but it was just not for me.  I also might have hated it less liked it more if I had known what to expect ahead of time (and not expected this to be my workout). 

Okay, glad I got that political-correctness out of the way.

Lisa recently joined a new yoga studio via a Groupon and Jordanne and I decided to hop on board with the 7 classes for $7 newbie deal.  I went to a standard 60 minute Hatha class with Lisa on Monday and it was very similar to other hot yoga classes I've been to before (aka an amazing workout), maybe with just a tad bit more "third eye" talk than I'm used to / like.

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So Sunday book club brunch was on the agenda, and since I like to "earn" my brunch with exercise beforehand, Jordanne and I decided to go to the only class before brunch, a 9:30am "Kundalini" yoga class.  Neither of us had any clue what this was, but figured that no matter what, we'd get a good workout in.

WRONG.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it: "Kundalini yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual discipline for developing strength, awareness, character, and consciousness. Practitioners call Kundalini yoga the yoga of awareness because it focuses primarily on practices that expand sensory awareness and intuition in order to raise individual consciousness and merge it with the Infinite consciousness of God Brahman. Considered an advanced form of yoga and meditation, its purpose is to cultivate the creative spiritual potential of a human to uphold values, speak truth, and focus on the compassion and consciousness needed to serve and heal others."  Uh, yeaahhh.  Maybe I should have read this before I went. 

Our first clue that this class might not be for us should have been that despite being a prime time slot, there were 3 other people there.  To give you context, there were about 30 people waiting to come into the regular Hatha class following this one.

The second clue should have been that the instructor (as well as the only other student who'd taken this class before) were sitting on bear rugs.  BEAR RUGS.

I lied, apparently it can also be a leopard rug.  source

The third clue should have been that the instructor was wearing "white flowing linen garments" and "a white headress" (as one should wear, I learned this after googling Kundalini yoga).

See?  A bear rug and white headdresses.  I'm not making this stuff up people. source

After these clues, I still laughed and figure it'd be a new and interesting experience, but again, at least we'd get a good workout in.

WRONG.

I probably burnt 50 calories in this whole 75 minute class of CHANTING.  We did not stand once the whole entire time.  We "rested" for over half the class.  At one point, we got with a partner and DISCUSSED trust and communication.  We ended the class by SINGING.  We chanted some string of words in another language over 100 times.  The chanting and exercises (like shrugging your shoulders) would go on and on and on and on and ON, having no idea when (if ever) we would ever be able to stop.

Shoulder Shrugs = Harder than you'd think. source

We had to do everything WITH OUR EYES CLOSED.  How you're supposed to know what you're supposed to be doing with your eyes closed, I have no idea.

The whole entire thing was seriously TORTUROUS.  I was dying to leave THE. ENTIRE. TIME.  If there had been more than 5 people there and I could have left inconspicuously (and we weren't literally locked in, this is how hot yoga studios do it in case you weren't aware), I would have.  But I was trapped.

This is one of the exercises we did.  It doesn't look hard, until you do it for 10 minutes without stopping and without any idea of when you're EVER going to be able to stop.  source

We sat cross-legged 90% of the entire class.  I don't know if this is because I'm a runner or because I'm the least flexible person on earth (or a combination), but my hips were SCREAMING.  The workout for me was the torture of my hips being cross-legged for over an hour straight.  The other 10% of class we spent sitting on our heels, during which my ankles were crying.

We did this 26 times.  That was the ONLY thing I liked about the class: I liked that the number they used for exercise repeats was marathon-related (I'm sure not on purpose). source

Are you getting the picture here?  This tweet pretty much sums it up:

I would seriously not go back to that class if you paid me.  Okay, maybe I would if you paid me a lot.  

Do you like yoga?  Have you ever tried KUNDALINI YOGA?  What did you think?  Have I totally offended some of you?  I didn't mean to.