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!

Weekly Training Recap

On Tuesday I did a quick tempo run to and from barreamped.

Tuesday's barre class was small and was tough as usual. I have no clue how I ran faster on the way home than on the way to the studio. Must've been that power I gained from the booty work.

Wednesday I managed to get out of bed for 5:30am Ashtanga yoga. I'm going to miss working on the primary series when this session is over!

Wednesday night I was messing around and showing Kyle a flow series, and ended up pulling a rib out of place. I did this at the beginning of yoga teacher training, and it had FINALLY healed, but one chaturanga later, I was back to where I started. I had to take Thursday, Friday and Saturday off to rest it.

Sunday morning I went to an awesome power vinyasa class. There were some uncomfortable moments in class, and I skipped chaturangas, but overall it felt great to be back on the mat.

Weekly Training Recap

I set myself up for a good week on Sunday night when I crawled into bed at 9:30pm. 4:45am alarm, here I come! It worked, because I rolled out of bed no problem. I had my best ashtanga practice yet as I'm finally seeing some openness and increased flexibility in my hips and it's allowing me to get further in certain poses. 

Before bed on Sunday I sent off a text to Megan to see if she'd be interested in joining me for a run at 6:30am when we were both done with our yoga classes. She said yes and I met up with her for an easy three miles. I'm starting a new training program this week for a 10k in mid June. I haven't ran since the beginning of March so I have a bit of work to do. 

Wednesday I worked a weird to me schedule and was able to attend Andrea's BarreAmped class. She's a beast and I always leave her classes feeling stronger.

Thursday I had big plans to go to yoga sculpt, but I over-indulged on my last lunch before the 28 day TransFORMation/Whole30 thing kicked in, and my stomach was NOT feeling it.

I also had big plans to go to ashtanga Friday morning and meet Megan for a run after, but my stomach continued to be mad at me. Luckily by late morning I was able to get in my miles. 4 miles is my long run distance these days, guys. 

Since I had the day off, I was also able to attend my favorite power vinyasa yoga class (thus ensuring I had to shower 2x on Friday aka the WORST).

Saturday I had to work so I took a rest day.

Sunday I went to power vinyasa yoga again. Since it was day 3 of the 28 Day TransFORMation, I thought this graphic was really appropriate. Mmmm ice cream.

Weekly Training Recap

Tuesday night Emily and I hit up our weekly barre class after work. I realized it had been two weeks since I had gone. Oops.

Wednesday morning I woke up at 4:45am to go to ashtanga. I'm really starting to see some progress in my flexibility. Wahoo.

Friday I went to a lunch time shake and flow class. 30 minutes of barre followed by 30 minutes of yoga. I normally don't sweat in barre classes, but I sure did during this one. I was psyched when the yoga portion started.

Friday night I joined Megan and her group of yoga teacher trainers for a free class that one of the trainees put on. It was awesome, and even more awesome that I got to practice with Megan again! For the first time in.... forever.

Sunday morning I hit up a power vinyasa class before work with Emily, and two of my teacher trainer friends were practicing as well. Whoop. It was a super fun class that took us through many crow variations. I held my strongest side crow ever! 

Sunday after work I went back to the studio to get my booty kicked at barre. I love seeing muscles that I've never had before!

Weekly Training Recap

Tuesday I joined Emily at barre for our somewhat usual class. It was a lot of fun and I'm finally starting to feel strong in the plank series. #progress

Wednesday morning started at 4:45 for me with my first class of the ashtanga series I signed up for. We went through the primary series with some abbreviations for time, and it was an awesome way to start my day. Let's just say this frenchie is way better at this asana than I am.

Wednesday night I hit barre again and it almost killed me. Back to back days PLUS a class taught by Andrea on day 2 will kill most, I think. Woof.

Thursday I skipped my usual sculpt class to let my body rest up for weekend 3 of yoga teacher training, and to enjoy a beer and some cheese balls with Kyle at happy hour. #priorities Or just lazy, not sure which.

Friday morning started off with another crack at the primary series of Ashtanga. It is painful to get up that early, but once we start class, there's no where else I'd rather be at 5:30am than on the mat. 

Friday after work was my first experience with kundalini yoga. If you've never tried it, find a class! It's so different and awesome. I'll share more in my yoga teacher training weekend recap. Way cool.

Saturday we started our yoga teacher training with a power flow based on the five elements. 

Later in the day we did a yin yoga practice as well.

Sunday I spent hours doing and teaching yoga. Seriously. I think there was maybe 90 minutes of non yoga during the day, including lunch. Thank god for vacation and rest days!

Ashtanga Yoga Series

A couple of weekends ago, during yoga teacher training, I got to experience my first attempt at ashtanga yoga (or astanga yoga, I'm still not sure which spelling I'll land on), and it was fun and challenging. One of the instructors at the studio I go to recently started a Monday night class, but since I work Monday evenings, I can't attend. Womp.

Luckily for me, she recently announced a 6 week Ashtanga series at a dance studio really close to my apartment. Unluckily for me, these classes aren't included in my monthly yoga studio membership. Womp. The classes are at 5:30am, and while that's earlier than I like to wake up, I find that if I do it consistently, it's much easier than just a random day or two each week of 4:45am wake up calls. There are classes at the studio on Tuesday and Thursday at 5:30am that I could attend to make my bedtimes/early wake up more consistent during the week!

I'm excited and terrified to get my ashtanga on!

If you're in the area and want to sign up, there's still time; classes start Wednesday and there are drop in rates if you can't commit to the full time. Shoot me a message and I'll get you details!*

Has anyone else practiced ashtanga regularly? I'm excited to give it a go. #alltheyogaplz

*Disclosure: I'm not receiving any compensation for promoting these classes and will be paying the full fee as normal. I just want to promote the classes because the world would be a better place if more people found bliss on their yoga mats!