It’s September, which means my half marathon is at the end of the month. Yikes! I need to get serious.
Monday: 4 miles with my running group. I wish I had the pace information, but my running app malfunctioned. I could have sworn it was 9 minutes/mile. I liked that talking while running was a bit of a challenge.
Tuesday: 75-minute vinyasa yoga class. The main class sequence began in downward-facing dog. An inhale brought us to step forward, exhale fold. Inhale to mountain with arms up, exhale to a slight back bend. Inhale to arms overhead, exhale fold. Inhale rise halfway, exhale into chaturanga. Inhale upward-facing dog, exhale downward-facing dog. Inhale right leg lifts, exhale knee to chest, exhale step foot between hands, inhale to warrior 2, pause for exhale. Inhale straighten legs and arms to touch overhead, exhale warrior 2. Inhale to shift forward, exhale into side angle, inhale reverse warrior, exhale cartwheeling the hands down into chaturanga. Upward-facing dog, exhale to downward-facing dog. (Repeat with left side.) I liked that we did this once together, then on our own. We also had some play time to explore crow. I skipped that in order to practice forearm stand, because I am not a fan of crow. I did try it a couple of times though and transitioned into headstand. I admired the teacher’s melodic voice and enthusiasm. The sound system wasn’t working, so the only sounds were her voice and our breath, plus the occasional train car. It was the perfect way to end a Tuesday evening.
Wednesday: 2 miles. I was immensely frustrated at the amount of work I had to do, but I made it out the door on my lunch break.
Thursday: 1 mile and 75 minutes of yoga at the studio.
Friday: No exercise.
Saturday: This day was a lazy day for the most part. I just had no desire to go out in the rain. I did 40 minutes of yoga using Yoga International’s Chaturanga-Free Vinyasa class. The class caters to people who want to avoid putting a lot of weight on their hands for a practice. The instructor offers some movements in the beginning that reminded me of what a ballerina might do. It was refreshing to see some different movements being suggested. I added some crunches, forearm stand (twice) and handstand practice (twice). During a wide-legged forward fold, I put my head on the mat and attempted to use my core to lift my legs, something I am usually not able to do easily. I surprised myself in being able to, so much so that I got scared and fell out of it. My elbow had slight pain for a couple of minutes after that. This is why it’s good to have someone spot you or to use the wall, but falling might help erase of the fear.
Sunday: 6.3 miles. I had planned to run 9 miles, but I struggled with pain in my hip again. I intentionally planned training to have an extra week in case I missed a long run, so I’m not worried about running fewer miles than planned. I plan to do 9 or 10 next Sunday, then 12 the following week.
Reflections
My mileage was pretty much the same as last week, and it’s low. I should ramp it up in the following two weeks. I feel like if I wanted to I could run a half-marathon tomorrow, but I can’t say it’d be my best time. I still haven’t made it to a strength training class I want to try, either. I really need to get it together.
Marette Flora is the founder of Floradise blog and personalized gift shop. Marette is a passionate storyteller and creator. She attended the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication.
She is passionate about creating helpful and meaningful things.