Yoga Headstand

A few I felt like

Today's run made me surprisingly sore and stiff! Yoga was just the ticket. Here are a few pictures from my little session. More often than not these days when I set out to do some yoga, I don't necessarily follow a plan, I just start with some sun salutations then follow what I feel like my body needs and wants to do for that day. Sometimes easier poses feel hard and sometimes I surprise myself with some harder poses that I can't usually stick.

Standing Split L (Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana)

Standing Split L

My crow is coming along. In the progression of crow, it helps (me) to place the knees to the outside of the elbows. As I progress in the pose, I find that I can now raise my gaze forward as opposed to down on my mat, and as I do that, my arms are lengthening out more. Next I will work on squeezing my knees more into my armpits, so that my legs run parallel to my arms.

Crow (Bakasana)

Staff Pose (Dandasana)

Upward Plank (Purvottanasana) This pose is great for tightening the butt! Then what I do is lift one leg with my toe pointed and continue to alternate until I can't stand it anymore!

Headstand (Sirasana)

Four Miles

Today was 4 miles as I face the fact that the La Jolla Half Marathon (2 of 3 of the Triple Crown Series) is only 18 days away. Let's just say 3 weeks so I feel better, ok? Well it went ok. I'm feeling pretty out of shape and unmotivated for no apparent reason. I mean the weather is perfect, and even cooler this week. Basically I want to train to finish, and I'd love to PR (post-surgery PR that is).

Spring Break Recap

It's April! Our family just got back from a great Spring Break trip to Arizona. We enjoyed some spring training baseball and explored the Grand Canyon. It was good times! While there, I went on two shorter runs, a challenging hike and a 22-mile bike ride. I would have liked to do more but it was the whole family together and even though it is vacation, Moms have a lot to do! Here are a few pictures

How I spent the 95-degree day...under an umbrella with a margarita!

An unforgettable bike ride

I also finished up the 30-day yoga challenge I was following on Instagram. What a great way to challenge yourself and try new poses. I will definitely do another one soon, but for April, I'm giving my followers a break from yoga poses every day.

One of my favorites from the month.

 

My husband and I rarely run together. We hike and bike together more often. He is not a fan of running, but today he told me he actually enjoyed the run, since we had each other for company. I am usually a solo runner, but I have to admit, I really enjoyed it too!

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Some run scenery:

At the Grand Canyon, we did some awesome biking along the miles and miles of paved bike trails. It's a great way to get around the park by the way, I highly recommend it.

I could not wait to get up early and sneak in a run (and a peak at the Canyon). Four miles at 7,000 feet was nothing to snark at. It was tough! When I wasn't taking walk breaks, I was sucking wind and freezing my tail off since I wasn't anticipating 40-degree weather plus frigid wind-chill. Somehow it was all worth it for the experience.

Am I really here? Surreal!

We also explored the inside of the canyon via the popular Bright Angel trail. We took our kids so we only went 1 1/2 miles down into the canyon since the way back up is twice as hard

I did a shocking lack of yoga on this trip. I brought my mat and everything but didn't really bring it out. I would have been sad if I hadn't walked out with some kind of yoga pose in front of the canyon though.

My boys biking the rim.

A challenging POTD & Night Inversion Love

Tonight was some "yoga in real life". Not the airbrushed, sugar-coated yoga that is out there. This was real yoga! It was the raw-can't-quite-get-it-right-but-giving-it-my-best yoga :)

 

Today's POTD was eight-angle pose and I knew going into it that I might not be able to do it. I found a tutorial on YouTube so I could make sure to go into the pose correctly. Turns out it starts out with Elephant's Trunk Pose, which I have wanted to try as well.

 

When I have seen this pose, I guess I thought that the knee was literally wrapped over the shoulder but that is not necessary. And here I managed to hold it a bit! I will keep working on this one to build arm and core strength for other poses.

 

Elephant's Trunk L Eka Hasta Bhujasana

When I was setting up for full eight angle pose

Try, try again!

I didn't quite get eight angle pose. I still need to get fully off the ground and get my legs nice and straight but I was pleased with what I can do for now! It was more than I thought.

Eight Angle Pose L (heel anchor) Astavakrasana

Eight Angle Pose R

 And I did some inversions just because :)

 

I started with a good ol' headstand but I couldn't get a descent picture

 

This takes a ton of core stabilization and is harder than it looks!

Eventually I will get this into a fully inverted split!

Finally! A Great Run!

Today's post is not about yoga! What ?!? :)

Today's run finally felt great! My last few runs have been after working on my feet all day and I have had to trudge through them! I shaved around a minute-per-mile off by running in the AM. Huge difference! Besides the fact that I enjoyed it much, much more.

9:06 per mile makes a girl happy :)

My favorite products! My Contigo water bottle (purchased in a 3-pack from Costco), My Ninja blender I got for Christmas, Coppertone Sport sunblock (spray for body, lotion for face), Yogi Detox tea, Everyday Nuun tablets (purchased on Amazon.com) and Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Lip Moisturizer with SPF 15 (because if I accidentally get it in my mouth, it doesn't have a weird taste-no taste at all actually).

Yoga Shoulder Stand Flow

Shoulder Stand --->Plow Pose--->Staff Pose--->Namaste