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.

Weekly Training Recap

Tuesday I ran to and from barre. I ran hard to class and took it easy on the way home. Both ways were hilly.

I had a tough barre class at the studio. I haven't been to barre in two or three weeks and my muscles felt it. Uff da.

Wednesday I magically convinced Kyle to join me for National running day. Shocker.

Thursdays morning I woke up early for a power vinyasa class. Nice and sweaty and awesome. 

Friday afternoon I hit another barre class. I thought this graphic summed things up perfectly. :P

Sunday I ran long and went 7 miles. It was crazy humid out but it made me so happy to be running long.

Weekly Training Recap

I promised myself I would get out of bed for the last week of ashtanga yoga. So 4:45am I was up and at em for class. It was so cold out that by the time I got back after class, I snuggled up with Kyle and Ollie in the covers and fell back asleep until 9am. Can every day be like this?

Wednesday I woke up early for class again and I already miss my early morning ashtanga crew!

After work on Wednesday I hit the running group for a tempo run. I almost went sub 9 for a 5k. Whoop.

Friday I had the day off so I attended ALLOFTHECLASSES. Starting with a shake and flow class at noon.

And then I was back to the studio a few short hours later for an awesome power vinyasa class.

Saturday I considered running after work until Ollie made it very clear that she wanted to snuggle with her mama. I listened.

Sunday I woke up early for a super stellar power vinyasa yoga class.

 I had every intention of running right after, but somehow that ended up being 6 hours later. Oops. I did manage to run my longest run since the marathon in Bemidji (what?!?!) and at a great pace for me.

Yoga Teacher Training Weekend Four

Friday night kicked off for yoga teacher training with my first experience with a mandala class. I got some new fun tank tops, so I was excited to sport those for the weekend as well. My happy place... lolz.

For those unfamiliar with mandala (like me) here's a more detailed description of what the class entailed. It was very spiritual and moving and reminded me a lot of various Native American events that I have experienced. Always striving to celebrate and heal the earth.

After the flow we went back to the studio to learn more from Erin. Erin has a yoga studio in Sioux City and went through the same teacher training that we did three years ago. To see what an awesome instructor she is in that short of time is awe inspiring. She recently completed her journeyed through the Inkan Medicine Wheel with the Four Wind's Society and became a full Mesa carrier in the Q'uero tradition. If you're like me and have no clue what all of that means, it was a very fascinating evening! We learned about her experience and the things she is passionate about and also spent some time using a special kind of sustainable wood to clear each other (similar to smudging). I didn't want to shower after because it had such a beautiful scent!

Saturday I woke up to my favorite running weather. Cool, rainy, still. Most folks were thrilled the weather was dreary, since we've had some truly sunny and gorgeous weekends where we've been "stuck" inside the studio for training. But for me, all I wanted to do was go run for a couple of hours.

sigh.

Luckily, I was treated to an awesome yoga flow to start the day, and really spoke to this runner girl: Awaken the Psoas!

This class was led by Melanie who is from Omaha with the teacher training trainers. She is an anatomy guru and was here to cover that section of our lectures. The class was awesome, but really hard for me, because my psoas are incredible TIGHT. I left the class feeling a lot looser than normal, and wished that I could have taken notes on the flow to do daily!

Then we settled in for anatomy. This was one of the sections I was most excited to learn about, and Melanie did not disappoint. I love learning from people that are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about what they're discussing. I learned so much from her.

I also got hit on by this creep.

After class, Ollie enjoyed some mom and pug time. I laid on the couch and within moments she was parked in this spot.

Sunday started with an hour long flow and then we discussed the ethics of yoga and the business side of yoga with the yoga studio owner. It was really interesting and made me realize that I don't ever want to own a studio. :P (Or a business in general for that matter, man, what a lot of work! I'll stick to my library.)

We also discussed our areas of passion with the group. My list is ever evolving and I'm fully aware that I'd need eleven lifetimes to accomplish it all. 

During the lecture portion, Becca constructed this amazing yogi recliner and I had to snap a picture to document it (and to remember it for future training weeks. What a smart chica.

The latter half of the day was spent practice teaching in small groups and then teaching the larger group. The more we practice, the more I feel like I could actual teach yoga (it's the darnest thing, I tell you). I really excited to see where this journey could take me.

Yoga Teacher Training Weekend One

On March 13th, I began my first night of yoga teacher training. A group of 20+ women met at my favorite yoga studio at 5:30pm for a great end of the week power vinyasa class. The instructor is the owner of Lotus House of Yoga studio of Lincoln and Omaha, and she's amazing. It was the first class I've taken from MC Sweet, and it won't be the last (spoiler alert: two more throughout the weekend!).

After we got our sweat on, we sat in a giant yogi circle and shared information about ourselves and delved into some historical information about yoga's origins. While being a self-proclaimed nerd, I must confess: I hate history. But MC is such a great teacher and storyteller that I was super engaged and enamored.

When training was over at 9pm, I hurried off to pick up some dinner as I rushed straight from an 8:30-5pm work shift, straight to teacher training and was s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g.  Mental note: pack snacks! A beer was the perfect assistant to winding down for the night before we started again the next morning!

Saturday morning started with a power vinyasa flow class open to any yogis in town, and we packed the studio FULL. It was one of the hardest classes I've taken, but it was awesome. The class was focused on the sun, and it was great to enjoy it (=suffer through it? jk) while the sun was streaming through the windows on us. 

After class we broke down a couple of basic poses--plank, downward facing down, and half lift, and we all realized that we're doing everything wrong. WELCOME TO YOGA TEACHER TRAINING, GUYS! It just goes to show that that's why it's called a practice--always room for improvement!

Saturday afternoon was more background information as well as some introduction to sanskrit. Eeps!

Sunday we started with a one hour power vinyasa flow class, and my co-worker Emily got to attend along side of me. The class was milder than Saturday's but we focused on moving very slowly during different poses and also did some intense core work right off of the bat so my abs were screaming for daaaaays.

Once we got back in the studio for training, MC asked us to grab spirit animal cards and share them with the group. I drew the stag card and was stoked because...'arry Pottah.... duh. 

I joked that I hoped there was a pug card, and that surely if there were one, I would've drawn it. And then I jokingly searching pug spirit animal information online after class and came up with this information: 

If Pug is your Animal Totem;

You are attentive to your close family members, have a great deal of charm and are very playful by nature. You enjoy quiet solitude but are also very sociable. You are very clever with problem solving, embrace change quickly and wholeheartedly, and accept things easily for what they are. You have a keen and happy go lucky attitude toward life in general and are an animated story teller. Often you will have friends on the edge of their seat with your tales.

Uh..... spot on? Holy heck.

One of the most profound moments of the weekend was when MC spoke to us about anxiety and depression. She stated that if you have issues with anxiety (hello, hi, I'm Jeri, I worry about how much I worry....) you are likely spending too much time focusing on the future, and if you have issues with depression, you are devoting too much energy focusing on the past. And one of the ways to ease either or both of these sensations is to focus on the present. 

This seems like the most simple explanation I've ever heard, but it was so profound my brain practically splattered on the walls of the yoga studio right then and there.

When I had done my introduction on Friday night, I stated that one of my goals as a person was to be more in the moment, and present, so once MC shared this information, I knew I had to pick up a new mantra band.... be present.

The weekend was amazing, and eye opening, and potentially life changing as silly as that may sound based on the minimal recap. But I'm so thankful I decided to make the leap to do this!

Namaste.

Weekly Training Recap

The weather last week was freaking gorgeous. My co-worker wanted me to meet her for Barre class on Tuesday, and I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and run. So why not run to barre? Derp. Nice hilly run to and from class.

Thursday night I went to yoga sculpt to get my sweat on. It was hard, as always.

Friday was day one of yoga teacher training, and we spent the first hour doing a power vinyasa flow class.

Saturday was day two of yoga teacher training, and we started with a huge class of awesomeness. It was one of the most challenging classes of yoga I've ever taken. It was an awesome way to start the day.

Sunday morning was an 8 limbs flow series led by the amazing MC Sweet. If I could attend a class of hers everyday for the rest of my life, I would be thrilled.

Weekly Training Recap

Awesome Monday morning  flow.

Tuesday morning I got up for 5:30am power vinyasa. I felt like absolute crap and was somewhat convinced that I was getting the flu. Blech.

Thursday night I went to yoga sculpt and there were only two people in the class. That made it so much harder. Oh my. We did ten pushups before every chaturanga. Woof. It hurt to text later in the night.

Saturday morning power vinyasa flow. It was good and tough and fueled by free delicious lattes for the gym's 1 year anniversary.

Sunday was a super hard power vinyasa class. So many lunges, so much plank word. Uff da.

Weekly Training Recap

Monday I slept in like a true champion, missing my favorite gentle vinyasa class.

Tuesday I went to Barre in the middle of the day, because I worked a random split shift at the library. I love that my muscles can shake and quake for 60 minutes and I can head back to work without showering. Considering I'm a sweat monster, this is amazing.

Wednesday it was gorgeous out, so I headed to my favorite running store for a group run. This marked my first run in 8 weeks. Whoa. That's the longest break from running I've had since 2008. :| It was a gorgeous night for running, and we ran data free and it drove me nuts. My garmin is being an a-hole and I'm less than pleased considering I bought it in April and it has less than 500 miles ran on it. Grrrrr. I'd estimate we ran somewhere in the area of 2.5-3 miles.

 

Saturday I went to the yoga studio for power vinyasa yoga. It was a great flow. I was able to hold side crow the longest ever. We even got to play with some handstands. I stuck around for yoga sculpt after, and when some of the yogis told me I was crazy, I told them that power vinyasa is fun play time and sculpt is the workout. Since I had some time in between classes, I worked on side crow more and was able to extend my legs out on one of the sides. I was pumped.

Sculpt was hard but awesome. I'm definitely going to try to fit classes in to my weekly schedule 2-3x/week.

Sunday I had big plans to go to power vinyasa and a barre bootcamp class, but blizzard conditions had me staying how on my couch. I even contemplated walking the mile to the studio but Kyle told me I couldn't because it was -15 out. Lame.

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.