Yoga challenge week 3

Last week was one of those weeks where life just gets in the way! When I say “rest” what I really meant was doing everything else.

Jordan was really busy with work last week so consequently nothing at home got done unless I did it, so everyday when I came home I had to deal with the “children,” make dinner, go grocery shopping, do laundry/ the dishes and do whatever else needed doing. I know these are all basic things, but it is amazing how little time there seems to be after getting all of that done.

Thank goodness for long weekends!

We had a cookout, and thus company over on Saturday, and given that it was 40 degrees and pouring out, we did not go outside much so I was a bit short of miles.  Sunday was not much better, as it was just as cold and rainy, after a long week. I took a nap, went to see the Great Gatsby and to a French restaurant for dinner with my Mother-in-Law.

Monday was a huge make up day- Jordan, Leo and I checked out Bradley Palmer State Park and did about 5 miles on the trails. Afterwards I spent some time working in the garden, followed by yoga and then Zumba! I apparently had an excessive amount of energy from my previous lazy week. It was also an amazing day out so I just wanted to be outside and doing things all day. 

Yesterday was my birthday, so I treated myself to going to the Dynamic Core Pilates class. It was much needed and much appreciated, though my arms and back are so sore today!  Of course I also celebrated with some wine and cake so I definitely needed the workout and the "me" time.

Almost the End of May and I fear I failed at meeting my May yoga challenge goal, but I think I did a good job and I am happy with the results. The days I did not do yoga I largely just did not have time. I am sure I could have snuck in a half hour here or there but overall I was not in the right mind frame. I was a bit too ambitious with my starting goal. I signed up for the "Do Yoga" 30 day yoga challenge which involves at least 10 minutes of Yoga a day- so THAT I will see if I can do!

Yoga Challenge, week 2!

Yoga 5 times a week may have been an ambitious goal for myself considering my starting point. As much as I love it when I do it, it is hard to dedicate a whole hour to it so I have been doing some of the short sessions such as this morning doing a 40 minute Shoulder opening sequence from Yogadownloads.com

For some reason the beginning of this week I was just so exhausted! Monday and Tuesday I planned on getting up early and doing yoga before work but it just would not happen. I gave platelets again on Monday so I got home late and pretty much went to bed.

I have a Livingsocial deal for this place called Kiki’s pilates in Beverly so I have been doing some classes there such as the barre class and the dyamic core class on Tuesday.

I have also been taking it easy on the yoga (and everything) this week because my joints have been killing me!  I was supposed to have a doctors appointment tomorrow, but it was canceled, but I have a running list of complaints going that I want to get checked out.

May Yoga Challenge

 It is the beginning to a new month so it seems like as good a time as ever to start a new goal. I always find those random monthly challenges on peoples blogs and pinterest half way through the month and say I am going to do one, so here we go.

With my weird/ long work hours and long commute it is very hard to make it to many of the classes I try to get to, so I have been trying to be better about working out on my own. It does not work out, especially with some people (etc) hindering my practice.

I renewed my yogadownloads.com subscription and have a bunch of new classes to try, so I have no excuses.

One dilemma I do see is that I do not want to dedicate all of my workout time to yoga. Yoga is great in so many ways. It is wonderful physically in that it helps to make you stronger and more flexible, and in many variations it gives a good cardio workout.

Mentally it does even more, teaching how to bend and not break, learning how to fall down and get back up, focus on breathing, and clearing the mind.

All that being said, if all I do is yoga, the next time I try to lift weights or go for a run, I am seriously struggling so I do want to keep this even.

My goals for May will be:

• Do yoga at least 30 minutes/ 5 times a week
• Do at least one other type of workout a week
• Continue to walk at least 5 miles a day (per Fitbit!)
• Be less reactive 
• I am a known nagger and I know I tend to fly off the handle over little things at times. I am working on being less reactive to external cues and maintaining a calm demeanor. 

Here is what I have done so far! 

I am not including Sunday-Tuesday as they were still April. I did not technically do any working out on those days, but I was teaching CPR at work, as well as my regular job, so I had a rough, long couple of days to start the week, thus by Wednesday I was all about centering and breathing! 

Wednesday May 1^st:

Yogadownloads.com - Dharma Flow

I like to do the classes at least twice before I review them so that I can get a better opinion of them, since sometimes I dislike classes purely because I am not in the mood for them, so I have very few reviews on yogadownloads.com. 

I found this class to be very engaging and intense. It was definitely at least intermediate level, but had some great modifications. The arm balancing sequence did go a bit fast.

Thursday May 2^nd:

Yogadownloads.com- Gentle Hatha Yoga 1

This was my first Hatha yoga class. I was always under the perception the Hatha yoga was "easy." Since I was sore and exhausted from a long week. I wanted something gentle and relaxing. Albeit, it was relaxing, this class was not easy and hardly gentle! It was definitely different from the vinyasa yoga I usually do, as it was much slower paced. However, it was much deeper. All of the poses were held for several breathes. This particular class also included quite a few challenging poses. Again, there were many modifications available so they were all attainable in some fashion but I think it was just such as awakening to what I always pictured Hatha yoga to be! 

Friday May 3^rd:

Friday I was wearing a shirt that was particularly unflattering to my midsection and I went home feeling lardy. I decided I needed more of a cardio/toning workout, so I did Jillian Michaels, Ripped in 30 (week 4 workout). I am pretty sure she must be one of the most cursed women in America. She is fabulous and effective, but while she is telling you what to do, several bad names tend to come out of my mouth. I love these workouts, they are quick and definitely effective. I do get annoyed that she tends to give modifications for everything except for the things I can't do! I have a bad left knee that tends to crack and give out on a regular basis, so anything that involves a lot of leg impact or jumping is a struggle. During on of her moves that i just could not do she said "This does not get a modification! Anyone can do it!" Not to be super PC, but there are always things that some people cannot do, and stating otherwise can certainly damper ones spirits. 

Saturday May 4^th:

Yogadownloads.com - Rockin Bhakti: Complete Practice  - This was a great, well paced, challenging class. It was a great combination of hip opening, stretching, balancing and some arm balances. 

Sunday May 5^th:

Yogadownloads.com Solar Flow #1 Power Vinyasa Yoga  Once we returned to Gloucester, Jordan had to leave for a photoshoot, so I was home alone on a gorgeous day. It was colder than I might have like it, but it was so sunny and pretty out, I had to be outside. This was my first real attempt at doing yoga outdoors! At first I set my yoga mat up in the grass, but I think our grass is too long and I kept sinking into much so I tried skipping the mat and just doing it on the grass, but then I kept winding up in divots. I eventually moved to the cement near our pool on the mat where I could still get a great view of nature, the grass and the ocean in the distance, but I was on some firmer ground. As with the others, this class had a great flow with some challenging postures. I find all of the classes are manageable with modifications, but I like hearing and *trying* some of the tougher apex poses to at least know what I am working up to. 

One of the apex poses in this series was hurdler pose which I had never come across in any of my classes.  I can safetly say, mine looked very far from the picture below- but now at least I know what I am aiming for!  It was so nice to do yoga outside. I am looking forward to more practices in the sun! 

Hurdler pose

I had ordered a Zumba video through a google deal back in March, and I was getting very impatient for its arrival. Finally it came on Saturday! I was relatively tired after my yoga class, and walking the dog, but I really wanted to test out the video, so I did part of the introduction video. I skipped the very basic intro video since I do have some Zumba experience and didn't feel like going through the step by step approach. The one I tested out was called "Zumba Activate" A 45 minute video with basic moves to music. I only made it through about  ~30 minutes, mostly because Jordan kept coming out of his office and laughing at me, but so far I like it! The moves were easy enough to follow, but still enough motion to get a sweat going. Unfortunately despite my best attempts my hips do not move with a quarter of as much Latin flare as the instructors! 

Monday May 6^th:

I have an appointment to give platelets this afternoon, so I knew if I was going to get some yoga in I should do it before work. That being said, I already get up at 5 am, so the idea of getting up much earlier to do yoga did not seem to appealing, so I met myself half way and did 

Yogadownloads.com - Sun Salutation Workshop   This was a 30 minute workshop, so it was some yoga, but nothing too extreme. Overall, today will mostly be a rest day. My body is sore from all of my downward dogging!  The workshop was good, it broke down all of the elements of the sun salutation and really made me focus on what my body should be doing during all of them and ensured proper alignment. I have gone through that general flow so many times, but it is very easy to do it wrong especially when I get focused on keeping up with the class. Since I am so sore, it was a nice treat to stay in the postures longer than usual. 

Doing yoga first thing in the morning also made me realize how tight my hamstrings really get! I always knew they were tight but it was so weird having gone from the day before being able to touch my hands to the floor to 12 hours later barely being able to get them to my shins. It looks like some morning stretching may need to be in my future. 

I haven't given platelets/ blood since March. I tried to give the first week of April but my iron was low. Then I got sick (which may have been why my iron was low.) Once I was feeling better, the Boston Marathon bombing happened and there was overwhelming support of people giving blood! I was unable to get an appointment! Which, all things considered, is a pretty good problem to have.  The people of Boston really came together and gave whatever they could after this tragedy. Thankfully almost everyone is out of the hospital now, though many have a very long road of recovery. I hope some of the people who became first time blood donors and platelet donors keep up their awesome work! 

New Years “resolutions”

I admit – I started writing this post before new years and somehow never finished.

I realize the last time I blogged about “New Years” was the start of 2010! Reading it, I am really happy I wrote that post. It was a great summary of a year as well as my goals for the coming year. Looking back at my post nearest to New Years this year, I realize I was really depressed and remember not wanting to blog because everything I started to write came out negative and whiny. But I think either way it is important to regroup, recap and reinvest myself in life and thinking about what I want.

A look back at 2012

Work Stuff:

• Started working at Newton Wellesley as a Clinical Inpatient Dietitian
• Did Maternity leave at Massachusetts General Hospital as a Research Dietitian.
• Got offered and accepted a permanent job at MGH as a Research dietitian.
• Got my very own NIH research protocols! (Up to 9 now!)

Personal Stuff:

• I was a Bridesmaid in my good friend Melissa’s wedding (the first wedding I have been in since I was a flower girl around age 5!) 

• Melissa got pregnant- making her my first friend close friend MY age to becoming a mom! (I have lots of friends with kids, but they all seem older and it still seemed out of the realm of possibility even though I guess I am getting to be a real live adult now.)

• Got married myself to one of my best friends.

• Got a new name!
• Maintained my optimism for the most part.
• Made it through most major holidays without my typical self destructive melt downs.
• Despite being a lot further away from most of my friends – I think I managed to maintain a lot of good friendships- though there is always room for improvement and love seeing everyone!

Physical:

• Tried hot yoga (and hated it!)
• Tried crossfit (and loved it!)
• Ran my first 5K (Zombie Run for Our Lives) 
• Did the 10,000 push up challenge (100 push ups every day for 100 days before the wedding.)
• Did lots of other yoga
• Started working out with my hubby :) 

Looking back on my 2010 “resolutions”

· Learn how to accept a compliment – I have definitely gotten better at this.

· Work on being healthy, mentally and physically. – Still working on it. While I may have more adipose tissue, and I am not sure about my cholesterol etc, I would say I definitely feel better, and I am treating myself a lot better than I used to.

· Live in the moment, but make decisions that I will be comfortable with and proud of looking back.  – So far so good. If anything I may have found I do better when I plan a bit more!

· Continue to work on financial stability, while paying off undergrad loans.  -  I still feel like I have no money- but I did successfully graduate grad school with no debt, and I only have <$1000 left on my undergrad loans. I do now have a car payment, however, but little by little, chipping away!

· Prioritize. And make sure I am living accordingly. – An ongoing battle!

Goals for 2013:

·         Be happy

·         Be healthy (physically and mentally)

·         Be financially responsible

o       Finish paying off my school loans  

o       Pay off at least 1/3 of my car loan

o       Continue saving for the future/ an emergency

·         Keep learning

o       Listen to NPR or the news at least every work day.

·         Try new things (maybe do 1 new thing a month?? Hmm I will have to think more about this!)

I have taken so many counseling classes that I know my goals should be specific and manageable, but for now, I am going to leave it at that!

What are your thoughts on resolutions and the New Year? 

Weekly Wrap Up 10/14 - 10/20

 Review of Octobers goals: 

• No alcoholic beverages during the weekdays = Not so successful, but not terrible. Sunday I went out with my mother in law and some of her friends and had a glass of wine. Tuesday was Supper club and had two glasses of wine. Thursday I had 2 Shipyard Pumpkin beer with Jordan and Friday was a couple of glasses of wine with Jordan with dinner... so yea, definitely failed at drinking on day a week, but I did not really go in excess any days so I am ok-ish with it. 

• Eat more mindfully: better than last week! 
• I did a pretty good job eating the small, frequent meals. 
• I have been eating breakfast- or at least drinking smoothies, which seems to be a good start to the day. 
• Candy has still be an issue... Halloween candy is everywhere and I love candy... but I have not bought any so I only have a little treat every now and again. 

• Working out at least 4 days a week:
• Yep- I kicked this weeks butt! I worked out 6 days this week, some days more than once. I will tell you though, I am so sore. 



• Walking at least 4 miles. 
• This gets fuzzy... but I think I accomplished this. Again, I wasn't mapping everything, and I hadn't been counting what I ran during WODs which was sometimes 2 or so miles. Its also a lot harder on the days I work at Newton Wellesley, since I walk around the hospital a lot, but I drive to and from work and do minimal walking outside. I decided to order a fitbit one- and excited to see how much I actually move throughout the day - not just outside! I also hope it helps with my sleep issues. It doesn't come out until next week - but excited to give it a try! Hopefully it is worth it. 


Unrelated, but Leo looks evil in this picture... 





And a sweety 





And cute... 





So, on to a new week! 

Starting the week out right!

Sunday started off slow and rainy, and so my walking buddy would not budge from bed.


I swear I take the same picture every morning. When I get up Leo moves from our bed to the couch and shivers until I wrap him up. I think I will need to start using different blankets to differentiate the pictures!

 Jordan had a late night shot, and didn’t get home until 4 am, so he was of no entertainment to me either.
Since I had just recapped my week and I was not too impressed with my accomplishments I was set on being productive!
I did a thorough cleaning of the house and 2 loads of laundry. How do we produce so much filth in so little time??
I decided to do an at home Crossfit workout, and was inspired by Tina’s Pug WOD. I completed it in about 12 minutes. - as she said "short and sweet like a pug!"

  I first broke it up into sets of 20 of each exercise, but the push ups became too much so I did sets of 10 between the other 2 exercises.   I really want to do a Boston Terrier WOD for Leo now! But I was trying to incorporate in things Leo loves which include:

• Tug of war
• Running
• jumping
• dog yoga

so I am thinking some running, maybe tuck jumps, and if I had a rope a rope pull...
 any suggestions on an equivelant to do at home??
Well stay tuned for an upcoming Terrier WOD!

After the WOD the sleepy boys finally decided to get out of bed.

Jordan was agreeable to doing a little yoga with me, so I used one of my handy dandy Yogadownload.com sessions.  We did the 60 minute "Anusara Inspired Flow" - though as usual Jordan only lasted 20 minutes- but some yoga is better than no yoga!

I was happy he joined me, I do so much better when I have some one doing it with me.

How was the start to your week?

Weekly Wrap Up 10/07-10/13

Yesterday I was planning on going to Crossfit for the Community WOD but it seemed kind of silly to drive so far on my day off just to go workout, when technically I can workout anywhere. 

Instead I started my day going for a walk/jog (wog) with Leo. It was freezing! Literally- there was ice on the ground. I thought it was going to be a short jaunt since at first Leo wouldn't even move from the doorway because he was shivering so much (even with his sweatshirt on).  With a bit of encouragement he started to run with me to warm up. 

I let him lead the way and we wound up going on a 4 mile wog. Likely partially due to movement, and the very sunny skies - the walk warmed up quite a bit! 

In the end, the jog was not anywhere as intense as crossfit would have been, and I kept telling myself I was going to do at least a little workout at home.. but it never happened, so maybe it would have been worth it to drive to Salem! / I need to find a way to motivate myself to workout from home. 

Review of my goals:

• No alcoholic beverages during the weekdays = success. No drinking since Sunday the 7^th (Monday was a holiday). I had one beer (Shipyard Pumpkin Ale) with Jordan on Friday night.
• Eat more mindfully: This week was a bit of a struggle.
• I have been reading “The Paleo Solution” which I thought would give me god motivation to eat healthier, but it has thus far had the opposite effect of making me angry and eating worse than usual.
• With Halloween approaching, candy and treats are running rampant! I cannot enter a office without a candy dish. I have shown more restraint than usual, but I do have a huge sweet tooth. On Friday we had a work party and I gave in and had a cookie AND a piece of cake.
• Scheduling has not led to the most mindful eating. There have been some days where the only time I really have to eat I have not been hungry- so I just eat because I have a chance.

• Working out at least 4 days a
• I only got in 3 ‘formal’ workouts but I did go hiking and went on a 4 mile jog so I will still consider it mostly successful.

• Walking at least 4 miles.
• I haven’t been using the mapmyrun app on my phone as much because it kills my phones battery. I am on a quest for some kind of pedometer/ distance calculator that actually works but isn’t too expensive.

Any suggestions??  

While looking for a free clipart for crossfit I came across this image, which completely embodies how I feel while attempting any jump rope workout! 

How was your week??

Hot Core Yoga Take 2!

As promised- I did it again! I reattempted HotCore Yoga after a terrible experience the first time.

It was significantly better! I managed to stay in the room for about the first 80 minutes of the 90 minute class and I actually did all of the poses for that time. The last 10 minutes were kind of a wash but much better than last time. Once we did the camel position I started getting really nauseas.

I think just knowing what to expect was a huge mental saver. Knowing that this WAS in fact close to Bikram yoga and not just a crazy guy in a basement making us do weird breathing really put my mind at ease.

Also just knowing the general progression that

* Each pose would be repeated twice
* A half time would be announced
* The beginning of class was standing and the end was mostly on the mat

All of those things made me push myself a lot harder since I had more of a general sense of hat was to come. I admit, in most exercise type classes I tend to take it easy the first class because you never know what is to come and it sucks giving an all out effort in the first 5 minutes and then not being able to keep up for the rest of the class! At the same time that has bitten me in the butt when the class does not actually become much harder and then ending the class without feeling like I got all that much of a work out.
Do you ever have that problem or do you always push yourself from the get go?

One of my biggest issues with the class was the aftermath- I had to g et up to pee 6 times last night because of all of the water I drank during class!  At least you can't say I didn't hydrate!

I still definetly do not like it as much as most other yoga I have tried because

• I feel like I am just sweating but not actually getting as much of a workout and a stretch. thus far the teacher mostly just does the poses with us and does not go around and correct form and sometimes I cannot even tell what I am supposed to be doing.
• If they dod the same thing every time, I can see this getting boring. (though at the same time I see the advantage of always being  able to see how far you come, and get a bit deeper into each pose).
• I miss inversions!

Again-- all that being said- this was only the second class and after the first class I absolutely hated it, not after the 2nd class I thought it was Ok. We shall see how I feel by class 10! Maybe I will be a convert after all.  
How do you feel about most types of exericse/ yoga, do you know right away if you like it, or does it take a while to develop a love/ addiction to it?

I tried to make Leo do some yoga with me at home, but he wasn't feeling it. 

Hot Core Yoga

Check out the gorgeous sunrise I caught yesterday! I see two dogs chasing each other in the clouds...

Yesterday I tried out Hot yoga for the first time. It was not officially “Bikram” but from my friend that does Bikram, the poses and series seemed similar – and it was definitely HOT! I have done yoga at several places, and have done styles including: vinyasa, power, ananda, anusara, forrest, hatha, ashtanga, and pilates fusions. I am no yoga expert, but I would consider myself at least semi-knowledgeable about the general practices.

I have been wanting to try Bikram/ Hot yoga for a while, but I know I generally do not deal very well with extreme heat/ I have been known to pass out, so I kept putting off trying it.


There was recently a Livingsocial/ Amazon Deal for “Hotcore” in Beverly, which is where I take the train from, so I figured I would give it a try.

My initial thoughts: It was awful!  (I told the teacher so at the end and everything when he asked me how I liked it...)


• My own fault/ the train running late’s fault – I made it just in time- so I did not get to talk to the teacher before hand/ sign in/ sign any kind of a waiver or emergency contact info, so I was really afraid I would pass out without anyone knowing who I was or what to do with me!

• The place was in the basement of some house, and the teacher seemed a bit bizarre. He was in a speedo and the beginning of class involved a lot of swaying.

• The beginning of class also involved some very weird breathing exercise, but upon discussion with my friend who does Bikram- this is normal. There are even videos on youtube!

• There were no clocks in the room – which I pretty typical for a yoga studio in my experience, but since it was my first class and I had no idea what to expect the class felt like it was forever and I thought I was going to die.

• I never knew I could sweat so much (which is what everyone I know who tries it says). I did not try nearly as hard as I usually do in a yoga class- and a lot of the poses I normally can do, I could not do because I was just trying to not pass out or throw up.


All that being said—I am definitely planning on going again. Now that I have heard that a lot of what I thought was “weird” is typical, makes me feel a lot better. Also, everyone else in the class seemed pretty normal and did not appear to be dying, so that makes me think that I too will be able to adapt. I look forward to giving you the update on how I progress!

Closing thoughts: Can’t wait to try it again and go in with a bit more of an idea of what to expect and drink WAY more water before hand.

What I am not looking forward to is tonight’s Crossfit WOD:


Strength: Bench Press 5x3 @ 80%

WOD: "Nicole"
20 Minute AMRAP (As many reps as possible)
400m Run
Max Pull Ups

I HATE running and I HATE pull ups… (Ok.. I actually go through phases with running, sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it… but with pull ups?! Geez Louise!)


As an update: I have not drank alcohol for the past 2 days (I sound a bit like an alcoholic, but I am proud) and I turned down delicious looking cookies and cake the past 2 days a work. I have also been pretty good about only eating when hungry and trying to not over indulge.

As for my activity goals: I think I have been getting about 4 miles a day in. I use Mapmyrun.com for tracking walking outside, but it doesn’t work inside, so I have been trying to get more walks in outside.

I have not felt comfortable taking pictures/ I am not sure I am allowed to take pictures at Crossfit or Yoga- so in lieu of that, here are some updates on the babies:

Ghreylin has a new love affair with a green towel in the bathroom. He can often be found sneaking into the bathroom and dancing underneath said towel.

 While he is not woo-ing the towel, he is generally keeping out of trouble. He was up bright and early with me this morning just hanging out.

 

Leo, on the other hand, remains to not be a morning dog. He got out of bed with me and then quickly snuggled in between the pillows and blankets on the couch.

And with that- I bid you adieu!

Goal setting for October

Last night I went to crossfit at Ironspider Crossfit in Salem. We did:

Strength:
Deadlifts: 115# 5 sets of 3 reps
Skill:
Handstand wall walk ups
WOD:
5 rounds of:
15 hand release push ups
10 kettlebell swings (20#)
5 back squats (45#)
Time: 12:27 minutes
Tonight my plan is to try out hot yoga for the first time… I am not sure if it is actually Bikram or not- but we shall see! I am hoping I will make it- it is variable if I will make it based on which train I can get on after work and if it actually runs on time.
In a quest to be more healthy I am setting a few goals.
Nutrition:

• Only drink alcoholic beverages 1 time a week (bye, bye wine with dinner…)

• Practice more mindful eating. Think, “Am I hungry?”
Activity:

• Goal to walk at least 4 miles a day

• Work out at least 4 days a week.

Do you have any goals you are working on? What keeps you motivated?

This weeks planned activities include:
Crossfit Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and Yoga on Tuesday.