Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Some Evening Yoga

Tonight I needed something. I could have easily collapsed in the recliner and submitted to reruns of Modern Family, but instead I fed the kids and got them headed to showers and turned on my app for a bit of yoga. Here are a few poses I managed to get a picture of:

chaturanga-sculpt those arms!

Halfway Lift

Forward Fold

Exalted Warrior-R

Exalted Warrior-L 

Single Leg Forward Fold (Pyramid)-L

Single Leg Forward Fold (Pyramid)-R

Sugarcane Pose

Sugarcane Pose

Gotta love Downward Facing Dog

Humble Warrior-R

Humble Warrior-L

Boat Pose
I am so pleased with how far my Pigeon and Pigeon-related poses have come. A few years ago I had a real love/hate relationship with this pose because I loved the hamstring stretch but it was so hard and I was always so stiff!! Today I folded into the pose effortlessly and it felt very natural.
Pigeon L

Mermaid-L (both arms engaged!)

Pigeon-R

Mermaid-R (both arms engaged again!)

Camel

Bound Side Angle Warrior-L

Bound Side Angle Warrior R
Have a good night my friends! Wishing you all a restful, peaceful night.

Run Update

It's been a busy week! Well pretty much all of my weeks are busy so what's new? I have had a blessed week though...here are a few highlights:

Running @ Pacific Beach. I had not one, but two opportunities to enjoy this beach this week! The temperatures are perfect beach weather! The first day was my day off-one I had been looking forward to for a while! I had absolutely nothing on my schedule that day so I packed a running bag and threw on the cutest running clothes I have and met my friend for smoothies, chit chat, walking the beach and browsing surf shops. I must admit I really don't have time for friends, and it was so great to meet up! After she left, I went on a run, did some yoga and laid on the beach. It was heaven!

Warrior III

Headstand

Running path and view

I walked out onto the pier, a very cool place!

And shhhh...don't tell anyone but those are actually my underwear! It seemed everyone I saw was wearing mismatched tops and bottoms and I really like my sports bra so I just went for it. No one knew! Also I must say I wear LOTS of sunblock!


Just 2 days later I got lucky and was back again! This day I had to work the evening shift, so I packed a bag again and enjoyed a few hours at the beach prior to changing and going to work. I went for a run, did some yoga and laid on the beach again. It was awesome! I kind of missed watching my kiddos play though.

Ever since I got sick and got really into yoga I feel like my motivation for hardcore running has waned. I mentioned a bit of that in my last post. I've been going on 3-6 milers as I can but my last run was 4 days ago...the longest I have gone without running in a while-not counting being sick. But I'll get back out there soon. I still plan on getting my 13.1 in for February!

Monday, February 16, 2015

Finding Balance

I am a middle child, perhaps that is why I find myself constantly craving a sense of balance in all things (except my faith...that is a constant). So I am reevaluating my goals for the year and deciding how many running events I will do after all. I registered for a half for March and April which I will run, and I will run AFC in August to earn my Triple Crown. But even though it would be super cool to run a half every month, it is also kind of a bummer to take a weekend every month and devote it to a run. Right now I am working a ton, something that I desperately need to find balance in. As a new nurse, gaining experience is important. Not to mention we are paying off lots of bills and reaching financial goals which is great! But that means I have very little time off.  Today I was randomly looking up local events and seeing what I might be able to do with my kids in the coming weeks (on my rare days off), and the ones I saw that I wanted to take them to are on race days! It is so irritating! I know I can't do it all- I know that. But it does not stop me from trying. Then I get frustrated, mad at myself for not being more realistic, and I step back and reevaluate. That is where I am now. I might run a half marathon every month. But I might not. I might decide that I would rather have weekend adventures through May rather than get up at 5am to run 13-1 miles. It has to be something you really want to do. It won't be a great accomplishment if you end up dreading it throughout the process. Anyway, I am just working it out. It's not that I haven't been running or that I'm in a slump, it's just that there is more to life than running and I want to experience it :)

Friday, February 6, 2015

Yoga Does a Sick Body Good

More yoga! While I'm not feeling super awesome, somehow yoga makes me feel so much better!
 
Side Angle Pose
 
 Bird of Paradise! A recently successful pose! I was actually surprised with how easily I was able to get into this pose and then bring my foot to the sky
Don't mind my face here...I have a 10 second delay to stick the pose before my camera goes off...

Child's Pose...everyone's favorite

 Crescent Lunge with Twist


 '
Dolphin Pose

 Working on Lotus...I have a long way to go before my knees flatten out

 Gorrilla-Love this one
 And last but not least...Happy Baby Pose, another relaxing pose

Sick Day

Wed night I was kind of sore. I had ran 4.2 miles and done a ton of backbreaking weeding in the front yard. I figured I was just tired and needed a nap. But even after my nap my muscles were just aching. I took some Aleve and assumed I just needed some rest after all of the activity. Then Thursday came. I trudged through the morning getting everyone off to school and myself off to work, not really thinking about how I felt until I was well into the whirlwind of activity at work. Somewhere around 11am it hit me-I did not feel good. I felt awful in fact. So I took some aspirin then later Tylenol and when I still felt crappy I left work an hour early. After that I pulled out all the leftovers and made sure everyone was settled, took a bath and climbed into bed, still super achy. I was sick.

So today is my day off. It sucks to spend your day off sick but it also sucks to have to call in sick for multiple days. So far I called in sick for tomorrow but we'll see about Sunday.

Bummer is that this means I will be missing the Mermaid Half Marathon on Saturday morning. The shirts and finishers medals are so cute I'm bummed! But my body would kill me if I tried to get out and run 13.1 miles while feeling this bad. So I'm going to let it go. I am going to try to run a virtual half marathon later in the month when I am feeling healthy enough. I don't want to quit on my goal of a half every month this soon!

One thing I can do while sick is yoga.  I took some Aleve and Ibuprofen and did some yoga and started to feel better. I'm not sure why but yoga just makes me feel good.

Yoga is awesome. It challenges me so much. When I first started taking a yoga class a few years ago I remember how great it felt to get into Dancer Pose or Tree Pose. I also remember how hard it was to twist my arms into Eagle Pose and how surprised I was when I could not do everything. But it is a process and the process is pretty cool itself. It's great to see a progression. Best of all it all feels good, exhilarating.

Camel Pose-one of my favorite back-bend exercises
Working on Mermaid Pose. I am still learning how to do these poses. The second picture is a better example since I am in more of a backbend. My back and hips are not very flexible yet and I'm not comfortable enough yet to release my anchor arm off of the ground.


Eagle, R

Eagle, L

Wide-Legged Forward Bend...for some reason my clasped hands always want to go to "imaginary gun"
Baby Grasshopper is a new pose that I saw on someone's Instagram feed and thought I would try it (I do that a lot and usually end up putting the pose on my "Ones to Work On" List). This one is a challenge but I can do it! Next is to work on grabbing toward my heel rather than my toes.
Baby Grasshopper, L

Baby Grasshopper, R

Iron Mountain (Ellie Lane Trail) Hike

Monday was one of those rare days my husband and I had a whole 1/2 of a day off together! Neither of us wanted to work around the house so we went hiking instead. It worked out perfectly too because I have felt a bit of plantar fasciitis creeping in on my L foot. Hiking would be a great cross-training activity to strengthen the muscles around my foot.


A bit of yoga for good measure. I love outdoor yoga photos

See why I love yoga? To me this picture is beautiful.

My handsome guy. I love that he is as adventurous (or moreso) than I am.