Of Running and Gym Memberships

It's been a few weeks since my last post and a few weeks since I finished my 200 hour yoga teaching program. I played with the idea of going back to Bikram, but since I have a gym membership I feel a little strange paying for gym and yoga.

The gym membership was not all my doing, and thus I haven't been going regularly (read: at all). Since I've been bestowed with it in March, I've gone maybe 5 times. That's starting to change. I actually stepped foot in the gym the other day. Hot temperatures and a need to lift weights or do something besides run finally won out.

Well, actually getting on my scale after a month of eating and drinking late and without thinking is what really made me start working out.

I'm no longer inclined to believe that I have to go back to my old formula of 1400 calorie days and 30 mile weeks. I mean, I certainly can but it's not really what I want. It sucks, it's not fun, and that caloric intake doesn't allow for anything extra.

I need to come up with a solid diet and running plan, but for now I'm looking at marathons and half marathons in the fall to see what I want to do. 26.2 is still on my list and I think I may be able to do that in the next year.

Today is the Last Day.

No, really. It actually is.

After months of predicting that I was close to finishing and feeling like I might have been able to finish in May, I am actually done as of my last class tonight at 6pm. Last night was my last night of assisting. Last night should have been my last night, except that last week my plan to go to class was derailed by work.

Finishing this couldn't come at a better time. That's not true. It could have come earlier, but finishing now is good enough. I started a new job 2 weeks ago in a new city. The new gig is part work from home and otherwise a few miles into the office. Old job was in an adjacent city and that's where my yoga studio was. This is all to say that my reasons for driving to the suburbs will be almost over in a few more hours.

It is weird being done. I haven't decided if I'm actually going to teach or not. I've been running irregularly and working out more irregularly. It's sort of a mixed bag. I am looking forward to going back to Bikram though. Mostly I am just glad to be done.

Weekend Race Recap (I Didn't Die)

Sometimes you have to be realistic. This weekend was one of those time. When picking up my racing bib and goodies on Friday, I realized that my knee was not going to last the 10k I was going to ask it to do. The organizers were kind enough to switch me to the 5k and off I went, feeling less stressed out about my run after a very stressful two weeks at work.

Saturday morning came and I convinced my mother into running the 5k with me. She's done a few half marathons and is an active runner, so I knew should would keep me from walking. That she did. The out and back semi-trail 5k was not so bad. A few smaller hills, but for the most part doable. On the way back in though, my knee began to hurt and I was instantly grateful that I had dropped down to the 5k distance. She finished a few seconds before me and I saw 33:58 as I ran through. This was almost 5 minutes faster than my last 5k (2009, 38:17) and I was happy with the time considering my knee pain.

I did end up hiking/running on sunday (5.1 miles in 1:40:00) and my knee was pretty much in pain the entire jogging portion of the 5.1 miles. All in all, I could have finished the 10k, but I was happier having knocked out 10miles this week in addition to 3 yoga classes.

I'm looking at a summer half marathon now before I commit to a full fall marathon. Slow steps and more PRs for me.

This is a bad idea (but I'm going to do it anyway)

You know what is a bad idea? Running on knee pain.

You know what you shouldn't do? Run a 10k on knee pain that's mitigated by Tylenol when your longest run is 3 miles and you realize it's actually a cross country track.

So. Let's talk about my options for Saturday's 10k cross country race:

1. Try to get into the 5k and be reasonable

2. DNF (do not finish)

3. Take tylenol, suck it up, finish, hope for the best.

Clearly the most reasonable option is #3.

Yes yes yes. Number three 3.

For the record, this is a really bad decision.

Gentle Class and Phoning it in.

Oh, right. Yoga.

In five (yes f.i.v.e.) more weeks I will be done. Countdown is official. I did end up going to the early gentle yoga class last night. Mostly because it fits with my schedule and is with one of my two teachers from the teacher training. Usually I have a hard time talking myself into that class, but with my considerable amount of knee-wtf I've had this week I went.

Confession: I think it might have helped.

What I realized yesterday is that my knee pain was probably in direct relationship to a dance class I took Saturday. Too much unsupported, low squatting and hip movement was probably not the nicest thing to do to my knees. Thus my knee pain is not from running and it should be fine. For now, I have to keep everything moving. Thus: gentle yoga.

Oddly I think this class was one of the better classes I've taken this year in terms of me actually feeling it. For the first time in hatha I felt the same internal heat that I do in bikram. Which means that I think I've been phoning it in to yoga classes for the last year.

I am lazy and I still like running better anyway.

Knee Pain. What is This.

Last night I went out for a 2 miler, intending to just jam in a few miles before starting dinner. Yesterday was a pretty fantastic failure of a day. Not even kidding. By the time I got home and the boy pushed me out of the house to run, I was frustrated. Alas, my run did not help that.

Half mile into my two miles I felt something that can only be described as "Ow. What the eff?".

I've never had a problem with knee pain really. A little bit of tenderness once in a while, but I haven't had that in years. Back pain? Well that is a whole other story. That I would have expected and accepted as "it is what it is."

A half mile though into this short run I felt defeated. After a frustrating day the last thing I really wanted to deal with was a crappy run. Let alone a crappy run because of pain that is making me reconsider that 10k I am clearly unprepared for. I don't really know what to do at this juncture. I was up at 5am this morning, but I didn't get out of bed. However it's a start.

I think my plan of attack is to run tonight, but to stretch out my the back of my knee and IT band really good before hitting the pavement. I might even go to the gym so that if knee pain starts it is not a total loss. I feel like my only real option is running and then RICE so that I can bullshit my way through a 10k next saturday.

Hopefully it'll work out better then when I bullshitted my way through a half marathon on a back injury.

A Year Ago...

It has been a year and I’m still not done.

A year ago I got an email from a yoga studio about a teacher training series they were doing. Looking for a way out of the house and a distraction from my ridiculously dysfunctional relationship (that had been that way for months) I signed up. I didn’t really have the money, but they let me do payments. I was on my way to becoming a certified yoga teacher.

A year ago this was perfect for me. I was pretty unhappy and getting myself out of the house 7 days a week between work and this was great. Perfect solution. Until life changed. Two months into the program I finally killed the relationship and then found someone who I wanted to spend time with. A lot of time. So much time that I started not going to teacher training and am now still working on hours.

A year later I am almost done. I say “almost” because it’s another 6 weeks or so. Maybe 8. Eventually I will be done, and I will most likely take a long break from yoga.