Catch Up

I'm behind on almost two weeks worth of workouts!

After my last post about my second swim lesson, I headed South for a few days of vacation. I packed my running gear, intending to at least run around the French Quarter or maybe find a yoga class to drop in on. I should have known better. They only came in handy on my last day when my hangover demanded clean, comfy clothes for the flight home.

Last Tuesday, March 5th, I took the day off of work. This allowed me to go to the 5:30 Aerial Silks class, where I worked on cleaning up my Angel Drop. I felt significantly improved by the end of class. (Although drops are still just not my favorite thing.)

Immediately after Silks class, I headed to my last scheduled Ashtanga class. I was so super sweaty by the end. (Yoga is one and half hours, so added to my one hour of silks, I was beat.)

Wednesday night I had tickets to see a band I like, so no physical exertion that day.

Thursday was Aerial Flow. First Thursday of the months means a new routine! I only saw half of it, but I already love it. I took a video of the instructor demonstrating and watched it a couple of times throughout the week to keep it fresh in my head. Unfortunately, I missed going last night because I am sick.

Saturday at noon I went to a drop-in class of Ashtanga Modified Primary. (This was how we were to complete our 10th class of the series.) This class was still accessible, but definitely went more in depth than my beginner's classes. There were hand stands and head stands in addition to the shoulder stand. But I really liked the mixed levels and the instructor was able to offer other modifications to make a pose work. There was also several more vinyasa movements in the series, so I got very sweaty.

I went directly from yoga to the gym to get in some swimming practice. There are three lanes at the pool and only one was being used. I committed myself to a half an hour. As soon as I got in, the other person got out and no one else entered the area until right before my half hour was up. I didn't feel like I was improving much, but I'm sure that it did actually help.

Sunday I slept in and then went to the gym for more swimming in the afternoon. All three lanes were in use when I arrived, so I decided to do something else and keep checking back until a lane was free. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my phone and headphones at home since I had expected to only be in the water. I just ran on a treadmill for about 10 minutes, which was boring with nothing to listen to or watch, and checked on the pool again. A lane was free, so I changed into my suit and grabbed it while it was open. I spent another half hour there and definitely could feel improvement. Not great, but I can feel the progress.

Monday night was Aerial Silks class. I practiced the dreaded Star Drop, gaining an awful burn in the crease of my thigh and pelvis. I also practiced a few of the harder moves from the Flow routine.

Throughout the days of my return from vacation I had started to feel more and more tired. I wondered if I was not resting enough since I had been out doing something every night since I got back. Tuesday I was sick and I suspect it's onset is what was really making me so fatigued. I took gym clothes with me in the morning so that I could stop at the gym after work, but I could tell I was sick in the afternoon and decided to rest. I cancelled my Wednesday swim lesson and haven't done anything since.

I am starting to feel better, so pending my snot inventory tomorrow morning, I am hoping to go to a spinning class and spend another half hour swimming (with a plan to repeat again on Sunday with a possible addition of a yoga class). I'm eager to dive into my triathlon training in earnest.

Swim Lesson #2

I went to my second swim lesson last night. I had hoped to get the pool at the gym with my friend before Wednesday, but schedules did not align. It'll be two weeks before I go back and now I have my own gym membership, so I'll be getting some practice time in before my next lesson.

We worked on breathing with my face in the water again. I felt a little closer, but definitely not there. In addition to breathing work, I got some pointers on technique for my arms that definitely helped me glide. I also got to use fins, which were great until they made my feet cramp up.

I felt like I did worse this week than my first attempt with the backstroke.

There's so much coordination involved. As soon as I focus on breathing, my arms don't pull right, my body doesn't twist. There's just so much going on. I'm really looking forward to a lot of practice next week.

Ashtanga Yoga - Week 8

Ashtanga this week didn't add anything new, but we did run through everything. This ran us over about 15 minutes. My standing poses felt all over the place. Some of them felt really improved, while others felt worse than ever before.

My shoulder stand definitely felt improved. I was able to get my feet way over my head.

It is interesting that I have always thought of yoga in terms of stretching out, but Ashtanga is so much more about flow that I get a completely different benefit. If I'm sore from Aerial the day before, Ashtanga doesn't help it.

I think that next week is the last week on the schedule... but it was supposed to be a ten week series. Hopefully there is one more week after this.

I also officially joined the gym today, so I will be there as soon as I get back from vacation.

Monday night Aerial class

I keep getting so behind on my posts!

I went to an aerial class Monday night. The girl who does lyra was there, along with several newer people. There were two new people who paired up on one set of silks. Then there was a group of three who paired up using both the corde lisse and a set of silks. One of the group of three is a very young girl, probably around 7 or 8. Usually I am very annoyed my children in the aerial studio (I know, I'm horrible) but this one is okay. One of the other people in the group is her sister, so it's very cute to see them learning together. Aerial does seem to attract really lovely people.

A few weeks ago, while working on the Butterfly and Star Drops, we all got a little bit of silk burn. One girl got it so bad that it looked more like a cut than a burn. So we decided we should try leotards. I bought one off of Amazon and it fit kind of okay. Anything that's a one piece is very hard for me because I am exceptionally tall but not very wide and have almost no chest. This means that I get a large for length, then deal with bunching at the back or sides where there is too much fabric. My outfit ended up consisting of a sports bra, leotard, capri yoga pants, and a t-shirt. I was dying from the heat by the end of the class. I suppose that I could do without the t-shirt (there's another girl who does this) but it seems a little weird. The leotard also gave me a wedgie the whole time.

The good thing about having so many newer people is that I had one set of silks all to myself. Since I had the leotard, I practiced the Butterfly Drop, but avoided the Star Drop. I have been taking iron supplements almost everyday so that I won't bruise as badly, but I am still dreading it. I know that I need to practice it to get better, but I really don't want to be black and blue, especially for swim lessons.

I also tried Scorpio again and mostly ended up tangled. I was going too slow, so instead of ending up in my knees, the silks ended up across my calves. I also worked on hip keys, since it's a basic thing that I still struggle with. I did much better with these than expected.

I'm heading to New Orleans for a short vacation and was hoping to find an aerial studio there. Shockingly, there were none listed on Yelp. My interest was piqued by Aerial Yoga, but there are no classes during the time that I'm there.

Aerial Flow - February Routine

I finally made it to the Aerial Flow class for the February routine! I missed the first two weeks, so even though I had a headache, I made sure I got to class on Thursday. 

The other two girls in class where nursing shoulder injuries, so we were all a little disabled for the evening. Since they had both been to the first week and learned the first part of the routine, we started with the second part.

It was a stylized Russian climb into an Iron T. Then we got into two foot locks and went into a split. From the split, we did three barrel rolls. This was perfect, because they are all moves that I can do with relative ease, so I was able to focus on how to flow into them and between them. I was also grateful that there was no inverting because of my headache. I am also taking special care to point my toes and work on my splits. 

Sadly, I will not be able to make it to the final February flow class next Thursday. The next best thing I can do is to look forward the new routine in March, when I should be able to make it to every class.

First Outdoor Run of 2013

Yesterday was actually pretty nice out compared to our recent weather. There was sun, no wind, and minimal wetness outside. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and go for an outdoor run. (We have an elliptical in our basement that I use for cardio in the winter months, but it's really not the same at all.)

I have a nice little 2 mile route that I enjoy through my neighborhood, so I decided that it would be a perfect warm up for the season. I felt okay with breathing (although I tried to keep my mouth closed as much as possible since the air was so dry) and with endurance. I definitely could have kept going, although my ankles felt a little sore towards the end.

The bad part was my pace. So. Slow. (I do start my timer in the house before I actually leave since I use an app on the phone, which is on an armband. So there's maybe about an extra 30 seconds on there.)

Today my ankle soreness is definitely still there and I might have some very minor shin splints. I decided to allow myself to take the day off to rest my legs. I'll have to get used to the impact of the concrete all over again, but I feel good about getting back into a breathing and distance routine. Distance will also be a new kind of goal for me, as I have never been much of a distance runner, but I think it's something that I will be working on as I triathlon train.

Ashtanga Yoga - Week 7

Tuesday was week 7 of Ashtanga class. We added in sitting postures this week, after our sun salutations and standing postures. This comes at the perfect time: shortly after the standing poses that require balancing on one leg.

Many of these sitting postures felt much like the kind of stretching that I do after running.

Source

We did also do some additional work going back to chaturanga, into the Warrior poses, and back to sitting as well, but I didn't see those positions shown in any easily accessible diagrams.

I enjoyed moving through these poses. The more we learn of the primary series, the more I see how comprehensive it really is.

We also worked on the shoulder stand again this week. I got into it much easier this time. (I have practiced a few times at home throughout the week.)

I'm heading to New Orleans next weekend and have been looking around for either an aerial or yoga studio near my hotel. So far, no aerial studios at all (although there is a burlesque troupe that does aerial in their performances, so they must be learning somewhere....) and a few yoga options, but none so far that I have seen that are specifically offering Ashtanga classes. Still looking, though.