Sioux Falls Half Marathon Recovery Week

I kicked off my Sioux Falls Half Marathon recovery about ten hours after the race by going to restorative yoga with Susan.

Wednesday night I taught a vin/yin yoga class at the running store. And I participated because man I needed some yin to help my muscles along. I opted out of the group run beforehand, so instead I just tortured my legs with the store's awesome stick/roller thingy.

Thursday I went to my first ashtanga class since last spring when I had 3 classes a week. Man did I miss it! And man did I forget the order of the poses. This was a HARD class to be taking while I was still recovering from the half. Uff.

 

Friday I joined up with Megan to take a vinyasa class in the morning. It was in the cool studio but I still looked like I had jumped in the lake when 60 minutes had passed.

And Friday night we had a group run at the store. Saucony dropped off a bunch of their shoes to test out on our run, they left us a bunch of swag, and they bought us some beer to motivate us to come run on a Friday night. #smart

 

Saturday morning I had grand intentions of going to ashtanga yoga before work, but Kyle had a rehearsal dinner the night before and didn't get home until late, which meant that I fell asleep super late. This was probably a good thing given how late we were up Saturday night. Uff!

Sunday Megan and I went to more ashtanga! I actually got through the whole series during this session. Whoop! Now to begin to memorize. Eeps!

Sioux Falls Half Marathon Training Week 4

Tuesday morning I went to a crazy early power vinyasa class and then assisted another one immediately after.

Wednesday night I went to a special essential oils restorative class. Magic. Pure magic.

Thursday I went to my last (or so I joke, kind of) 5:30am yoga class, as it was my last one for YTT requirements. It's a great class so let's be honest, I'll be back. But not for a couple of weeks.

At lunch I assisted my last class! And then at 5:30pm I went to a power class at another studio which filled my final requirement for classes to take!! And it also allowed me to go way over my goal of water consumed in a day. What a sweaty mess.

Sunday I bought Kyle his early birthday/wedding/Xmas present and we went for a short ride. So fun. But so damn windy.

And then I finished off the week with another restorative class. Ahh.

Weekly Training Recap

Monday morning I was up at 5:30am to observe an ashtanga yoga class for my yoga teacher training.  From there I went and assisted my first gentle vinyasa class. I was terrified to assist, but it went great! One down, 9 to go!

Tuesday morning I was up bright and early for a power vinyasa class. It was hard, and I still had a lot of residual soreness from an intense last weekend of teacher training.

Tuesday night I hit the barre for a class. I REALLY did NOT want to work out twice on Tuesday. Like, at all, but I get a reimbursement from work on my yoga membership if I attend the studio a certain amount of times each month, and with all the observations I did instead of taking classes the last two weeks, I was coming up one short! Phew, work out down, and some money back in my pocket!

 

Wednesday morning, I was again up at insane o'clock to observe my final yoga class for teacher training requirements. Whoop! I only had to work 3 hours since I was scheduled to work on Sunday, so I was able to get in a power vinyasa class at 5:45pm that I've never taken before. It was a similar flow to Tuesday morning's, and my body was finally feeling better, so I could actually give some decent effort.

 

I was a sweaty mess, so I went home and showered before the pinnacle yoga class of my week: restorative with essential oils and reiki. Don't you feel healed just by reading the class title? It was magical and heavenly and when it was done, I wanted someone to just roll me to my apartment and put me to bed.

 

 Thursday morning was spent doing another power vinyasa yoga class at 5:30am. I rarely get to take classes from the studio owner, because her classes never align with my work schedule, so it was a treat to get my sweaty butt handed to me early in the morning. :)

 

Friday I had the day off so I went to a new yoga studio for a morning vinyasa class. It was part yin part vin, and exactly what my body was needing.

I had big plans to do 6-8 miles after yoga, but I felt really off and cut it to two miles. Considering I spent the majority of the weekend on excessive amounts of allergy meds and sleeping, my body was prepping to take me down with a sinus infection for the holiday weekend.

Yoga Teacher Training Weekend Three

Our third weekend of yoga teacher training kicked off on Friday night at a slightly earlier time. Naturally I got an email mid-afternoon that my engagement ring was ready to be picked up after 15 days off of my finger. I somehow managed to book it to the jeweler and get to the studio, get changed, and sneak in with a minute to spare.

When we arrived to class in the dance studio, the space was set up for the dance recital later that night. And it was the most amazing space for our yoga practice! It was my first time practicing kundalini yoga with Carole Westerman from Lotus House of Yoga.

Per 3HO.org:

Kundalini Yoga is called the Yoga of Awareness. It is a dynamic, powerful tool that is designed to give you an experience of your soul.

In Kundalini Yoga we harness the mental, physical, and nervous energies of the body and put them under the domain of the will, which is the instrument of the soul. This technology precisely and consciously combines breath, mudra, eye-focus, mantra, body locks, and postures to balance the glandular system, strengthen the nervous system, expand lung capacity, and purifiy the blood. It brings balance to the body, mind, and soul.

We did a lot of breath of fire in the practice, which is incredibly difficult for me. A lot of the movements seemed really basic, but were incredibly hard. Many of the movements and breath work made me feel ridiculous, but a lot of the practice was done with our eyes closed, so it was nbd. If you ever have the opportunity to try kundalini, definitely do, but go into it with an open mind!

After our practice, we headed back to the studio to learn about prenatal yoga. It made me realize how little I know about pregnancy! It was a great eye opener and I left with many dos and don'ts as well as many modifications for the future preggos that attend my classes!

Saturday we started the day with a flow based on the five elements. It was awesome and hard and a great way to kick off the day of class. Saturday's classroom focus was Ayurveda. For those unfamiliar with ayurveda, it can be defined as: The ancient Hindu science of health and medicine, based on maintaining balance among the five elements earth, air, fire, water, and ether.

Hence the morning's flow inspiration, eh? :) Carole is a smart yogi.

We each took a quiz to determine our ayurvedic constitutions and learned a ton of things throughout the day to be mindful of, careful of, etc. etc. based on our results. As part of our class curriculum, we were required to purchase Ayurveda: The Science of Self Healing: A Practical Guide. I haven't made my way through it completely, but it's a pretty fascinating read so far, and would be a great place to start if you're interested.
 Also, the tests we took are here and here.

My dosha results are strongly pitta with some equal parts of vada and kappa.

To end the day, we did a yin yoga practice which I had never experienced before (a weekend of many firsts if you're also noticing the trend!). We learned that yin yoga is the yin to vinyasa yoga's yang (see what I did there?). We also learned the difference between restorative and yin yoga, as they are commonly used interchangably. Per our lecture, restorative yoga focuses on relaxation of the muscles and body, utilizing props to aid in the process. Where as yin yoga is concerend with stretching and joint health and working on the fascia and connected tissue. The analogy Carole used that resonated with me is that "Yin yoga is similar to braces aligning teeth." Very cool.

Sunday we started the day by doing an amazing restorative class. I was incredibly sore, so it was much needed and much appreciated. It also reminded me that I need to get back to restorative classes more frequently! They've taken the back seat since I haven't been destroying my legs by running all the time.

I could've stayed in this forever. Optimal levels of comfy.

After the practice, we split into duos to practice our assists during restorative positions. Heaven.

Then we split into groups to work on our portion of the master flow series that we were to teach to the group. We practiced our section, over and over and over with different students taking the lead on teaching and eventually took a break for lunch. After lunch, we had a new group with each individual knowing a different section of the flow and we practiced and practiced and practiced. By the end of the day, we split into two full groups and each of us took a turn instructing the full class during a 90 minute flow. I was certain my arms would fall off if I was required to do another chaturanga.





When we were all done, Carole treated us to a 25 minute nidra yoga session. It is said that 20 minutes of nidra yoga makes the body feel like you've taken a two hour nap, so I was all in with a late flight to Vegas just a few short hours away! It was really interesting, and I definitely fell asleep during it, as did many others. I must say, I was up until 4:30am that night, so maybe there's some truth to it!

Aramco Houston Half Marathon Training Week 2

I started off the week the right way but attending a gentle vinyasa class. It was awesome and the instructor explained all of the poses super in depth, which was great. My left hip flexor has been incredibly tight lately (in all honestly it's probably always tight, but I'm noticing it more with all the yoga I'm doing) so I was pretty happy when it was loosened up after the class. Five minutes in pigeon pose will do that for you.

I went out to run a few quick miles before having to shower and head to work. I ran a 10:00 first mile and then had major stomach problems so I cut the run short and ended up walking it in.

Wednesday I rushed to 605 Running Co. after work to meet up for the weekly group run. It was so dark on the bike trails, and we were guided by the light of the almost full moon, and luckily a dude with a headlamp. I actually got to run with people this week, so it was a little slower due to talking and also the super dark trail.

From there, I rushed to the yoga studio for 60 minutes of restorative yoga. My bliss. 

Saturday I went to power vinyasa and had a blast. A lot of great flows, and a lot of arm balances that I'm not yet prepared for, but love to watch and attempt to absorb some of the technique. I was a puddle of sweat afterward. Wowsers.

Sunday I had big plans to go to yoga sculpt followed by a restorative class, but my stomach had other ideas. I've had a lot of allergy issues with my stomach lately. If anyone knows where my reset button is, feel free to let me know so I can use it!

So I guess these gorg new crops and awesome yoga mat will have to wait for a new day to be played with. Sniffle.