Aramco Houston Half Marathon Training Week 5 and 6

I started my week as usual at a gentle vinyasa class on Monday morning at the studio. We focused on triangle and I learned a ton, per usual. The instructor is so awesome, i wish I could copy/paste her yogi knowledge into my brain!

Tuesday I convinced my co-worker to come with me to my first (and her first) ever barre class. My friend Jenn is obsessed, and promised it'd give me the much needed glute work I'm seeking. She was right. It was hard, but a good hard? I really liked it, and I'm thankful Emily came with me, so I wouldn't be too chicken to go alone. Also, the pic below makes me LOLZ every time I look at it.

I meant to go to a touch class Thanksgiving morning, but my bed just sounded magical. And before I went to bed I noticed there was a waitlist and I figured I shouldn't go if I was just on the fence about going if something else REALLY wanted to go. Or something like that.

Friday I had off for working Saturday and started my day at the yoga studio at 7am to scoop up some great sales. I came back later that morning for a Shake and Flow class: 30 minutes of barre and a 30 minute yoga flow. Awesome.

And later that day, I headed downtown to race a 5k. No wonder my legs were pooped at 2.35 miles. I forgot I put them through this class. Derp.

I went to the Tuesday night barre class yet again, and I swear we spent 60 minutes doing glute work. Mine actually locks up during certain moves which is just extra special, but it has to help my running right? Or at the very least make my booty look amazing in tights. Def one of the two though I think.

I went to another barre class Thursday morning before work and it was the hardest one yet. I normally don't sweat during barre, but that wasn't the case today. The instructor did things with her legs that I can't even fathom my body doing. Impressive. And challenging, like whoa.

Saturday morning I got to attend my first yoga class in FOREVER. I had a crazy weird work week, so I couldn't go to any of my normal classes and for a creature of habit, I HATED IT. I did a power vinyasa class and it was tough and awesome. And sweaty.

Sunday morning I attended another power vinyasa class where we played around with more dancer pose and mermaid pose which was tons of fun. And a bazillion chaturangas. Woof.

And then Sunday evening I returned to a packed house for restorative yoga. I could tell I hadn't gone to restorative for awhile because everything was so incredible tight. Woof.

I had big plans to get my long run in between the two yoga classes, as the forecast was for mid 40s! Except then it was freezing rain and 35 mph wind gusts and a real feel of 19. Meh.

Aramco Houston Half Marathon Training Weeks 3 and 4

Monday morning started the way I prefer, with gentle vinyasa yoga. This is my favorite class each week, because the instructor is amazing and I learn so much. She goes through many common vinyasa poses and preaches form corrections and common errors throughout. I always learning something new, and I love that.

Tuesday I had the day off due to Veteran's Day so I treated myself to an ass kicking Power Vinyasa class. I won the sweatiest yogi award, per usual.

I had a really rough week stress wise, so despite my best efforts, I did nothing Wednesday through Saturday. My sleep schedule was all messed up, and I've been having some serious stomach issues, probably due to stress. Blech.

I jumped on the treadmill for a run on Sunday and made it one mile before I called it quits.

I went to a restorative yoga class later in the evening, and that worked to hit my reset button a little bit.

Monday morning I went to my beloved gentle vinyasa class and learned a lot about twists. It was amazing.

Tuesday I opted to forgo Power Vinyasa to work on my NaNoWriMo novel. I got caught up on my word count, but I missed going to class. 

Wednesday night Kyle magically got a night off from work, so a date night was far more important than working out, obvs. 

Thursday and Friday were super cold and no classes fit my schedule so I was lazy.

But Saturday, yay Saturday! After much convincing I got Kyle to come with me to a power vinyasa yoga class and he did awesome. I told him he couldn't look at any other fab yogi booties, and I'm sure he listened. :P

Later in the day I headed downtown for the 605 Running Co. group Beer run. It was a blast and go figure, I ended up winning a gift card for the store after I had purchased two new shirts before the group run. I guess I'll have to wait for some new Oiselle stuff to come in to splurge. :)

So despite this saying weeks 3 and 4 of half marathon training, clearly I'm still focusing more on strengthening and stretching muscles that have caused me to have injury issues. I am feeling stronger and able to maintain good form for longer, but I feel like my endurance is starting to suffer. Hopefully it won't take too long to get back on track!

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.

Aramco Houston Half Marathon Training Week 1

Well, as anticipated, yoga sculpt destroyed my will to live. And also my legs. And butt. I spent Monday and Tuesday limping around. And popping ibuprofen. 

I had planned to take an additional rest day on Wednesday but it was such a nice day I had to meet up for the group run. I had enough time to do a quick foam rolling session and that helped a bit. The group was planning to run 3 miles so I just stuck with the slowest in the group and went with a tempo-ish pace. On the way back, the last duo in the group decided to cut some mileage off the 3 miles, so then I really had to pick up the pace because I wasn't sure how to get back and wanted to catch someone to follow. Eeps! Surprisingly, my legs felt even better after the run than they did before. And I got to pick up my run club race tank. Whoop! #teamgreen

Thursday I toyed around with doing my long run for the way since I had the day off for the weekend, and also going to the group trail run. My running friend said that the group trail run is usually at an 8:40 pace, so I decided that would be a recipe for brokenness based on the previous day's speedy-ish run. After foam rolling my legs, the long run was also out. Then I saw that Elf was on tv, so I did a 3 mile recovery run on the treadmill in my apartment. And 5 minutes in both of the overhead lights blew out, and the overhead fans powered down. Luckily the treadmill, box fan, and tv (with Elf) weren't effected. Random.

Friday after work, Kyle and I enjoyed a much needed date night, which trumped any sort of workout. Oops. Saturday I worked all day and it was the NaNoWriMo kick off, so I was itching to get home and write write write as soon as I was off work! The 40+mph winds did nothing to dissuade me from this task.Sunday I had planned to do my long run (10 miles) when I realized that my time would be better spent strengthening. Smart runner Jerbear is awarded 1 gold star. After thinking about it, I realized that the month of November would be better spent taking strengthening yoga classes and keeping my runs in the 3-4 mile range with long runs topping out at 5-7. I know my form starts to fail as my legs get tired, so I'm hoping that the long runs are short enough I can actually focus on my form, and that with some concentrated strengthening, I'll be tacking on miles to the long run distance once December rolls around.So I hit up yoga sculpt. And got my booty handed to me. It was waaaaay hot. At least twice as many people as last week, and the temperature reflected that. Woof.