Category: Health & Fitness

Health & Fitness

Sunday Sunny Sunday

heather

Yes, yes, I know.  It’s a beautiful day outside – why am I inside writing a blog post?  ‘Cause I feel like it, that’s why.  So there.

It really is a beautiful day.  I picked up an apple fritter and bavarian cream-filled long john for Tim and me for breakfast (no judging – it’s a holiday weekend) and some coffee from Starbucks.  We read the paper out on the back patio, and it was perfect – the birds were singing, the sun was shining, Lucent was peeing on my pepper pots.  We retreated back to the house when the sun started to crest the roof-line, and I made some boiled eggs.  We’re going on a bike ride today, so we need something more substantial than coffee and doughnuts.  The eggs were delicious.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet – Tim finally got road bike.  He found it on Craigslist a couple weekends ago.  It’s a Cannondale from the late 90s.  It’s is in amazing shape – looks almost brand new.  We bought it from a bike enthusiast in Bettendorf.  He bought it from someone else, just because it was a good deal.  He already has a dozen bikes, so he decided to sell it.  Since we currently have no working way to transport bicycles, Tim rode it home.  The seller recommended getting a hitch bike rack – said they are inexpensive and secure.  I called the garage next to my office, and they want FOUR HUNDRED dollars to install a hitch – a hitch that only needs to be strong enough to hold two super-light bikes.  I need to check around and see what other places charge.  Tim and I have also discussed getting the Ranger in our garage operational again.  For so many reasons, it would be nice to have a working truck.

Tim really likes the new wheels.  I have to say, though, that he was much easier to keep up with when he was on his Hard Rock, and I was on my Avail.  Now, he can just fly!  It’s good for me, though – makes me work harder.

So, today I look forward to a great day of bicycling, evening out the tan line I accidentally got last weekend (we’re going to a wedding on Saturday, and I don’t want to look two-toned in my dress), maybe doing a little shopping, a little work, and maybe finally getting some Mexicana from Great River.  Hopefully they are open today.

I hope you have an awesome Memorial Day weekend!

Health & Fitness, Product Reviews, Uncategorized

Bike Path Etiquette and Other Randomness

heather

The Teem and I just returned from the jogging on the bike path.  We both had really good runs, but my tranquility was spoilt by my annoyance at the cyclists who kept whizzing by me super fast, without even a grunt to acknowledge that they were speeding up not a foot away from me.  I wasn’t wearing head phones or anything, but I still didn’t hear them until they were right up on me.  If I  would have taken one little step to the left, I would have been creamed.  How hard is it to say, “On your left?”  Dummies.

But, despite the whizzers, it was a still a great morning to be out there.  I’m steadily building up my endurance.  I ran a mile, walked 1/2 a mile and ran a mile back home.  I came home and did this quick little yoga routine to stretch out.  I love this routine – it takes maybe 3 to 5 minutes, but it does a great job of stretching out muscles.  I need to find a new yoga mat, though.  I got a cheap Gaiam mat from Target a couple of years ago, and it’s too thin and makes my feet & hands sweaty.  It’s almost impossible to do downward dog with sweaty hands and feet.  Laura and I did pick up a good mat tip at class on Monday night.  Instead of rolling the entire mat up into a tube, fold it in half first, and then roll it from the folded end.  This ensures you always know what side of the mat touches the floor (and your face), and it also prevents the ends from rolling up once the mat is laid out.

One of my motivators for jogging is a recent purchase of some good workout clothes.  I typically shy away from spending money on nice exercise cloths because, really, who am I trying to impress?  But I have a problem with my running shorts riding up, and I read that if you have a shorter inseam in your shorts, it actually helps.  I thought I would give it a try.  I went to Dicks and spent $90 (of course nothing was on sale) on these items:

Nike Fit Dry Running Shorts

These cost $28.  They are super light and have a convenient inside pocket for keys/tissues.  They have mesh on the sides to keep you cool and a non-restrictive elastic waistband.  They are pretty short, but not too short.  They stay where they are supposed to stay too.

Nike Dri-fit Running Shirt

This shirt is also is super light and breathable.  It has a nice unrestrictive fit, but still has an attractive cut – it’s not boxy at all.  The cool mint color doesn’t attract the heat of the sun like my black gear. Plus it perfectly matches my running shoes.  When I wear it, I actually look put together.  I love this shirt, but I think it’s too pricey at $30.

My final purchase was a running skirt.  Yes, that’s a right.  A running skirt.  I’ve been eying them ever since last summer, but when I tried to buy one at Dick’s last year, they were all out of black larges.  Dicks is ALWAYS  out of  the most sensible colors and sizes.  Which is why I bought these three things immediately without waiting for a sale.  If I waited, I would be stuck with a S or XL in fuchsia.

The skirt is a Reebok Play Dry Medium skirt.  The closest one I can find is here.  Mine is all black  mesh, with grey, very light shorts sewn in to it.  That is one thing that frustrates me about Reebok.  It’s really hard to find the EXACT thing you want online.   If you find a Reebok item you like in the store, buy it, because you will never be able to find it again.

The skirt was $25.  I’ve run in it 3 times, and it works great.  I had Tim run behind me to make sure the shirt doesn’t kick up in the back and show too much junk and stuff.  He says it stays where it’s supposed to.  It’s very light, modest, and fashionable.  I think I could even wear it for casual clothes.  Maybe.  If I start wearing skirts.

If this new gear keeps me motivated to keep jogging, it will be well worth the $90 investment.

I was wondering if I would be able to get myself to exercise today at all.  Yesterday Tim and I embarked on a massive house-cleaning exercise.  We were having company over at 6, so we started up around 10AM.  I worked on the bathroom first.  We often light candles and matches in our bathroom, and all the soot and match residue has been steadily accumulating and mixing with the moisture of the shower for the past 6 years on our white bathroom walls and ceiling.  We have made a couple of half-hearted attempts to clean up the black stains/mildew, which only resulted in worsening the appearance of the bathroom.  Instead of uniformly grimy walls, we had swaths of lighter grimy walls, set off by darker, grimy walls.  So yesterday I drug the ladder up from the basement, mixed some TSP substitute with bleach and set to.  It was a hot, sweaty, frustrating job (the ladder is almost bigger than our bathroom), but it was worth it.  Our walls are 95% white again. I couldn’t get the stains completely off some areas.  Our only solution is to repaint the walls.  But it looks way better than it used to:

That corner in the upper left used to be disgusting.

I am super sore, though, this morning, from contortioning my body into awkward positions and from bracing it against the ladder steps.  My back is rather jacked up, but running didn’t bother it at all.

Tim also removed the door separating our kitchen from the basement stairs.  We leave this door open always anyway, so Lucent can get to the litter box in the basement.  The only purpose the door served was to annoy me – when the door is open, it partially blocks the basement stairs.  I always run into it while carrying things up and down the stairs.  Last weekend, while I was negotiating around the door with basket full of laundry, I stubbed my toe on the steps and tripped up into the kitchen.  Not only did my toe hurt like a mother, but I was also super embarrassed ’cause I tripped.  While I was cleaning the bathroom, Tim surprised me and removed the door.  I am amazed by how much more open the back entry-way looks now.  Once we paint the basement stairwell and the closet that used to be hidden by the open door, it will look awesome.

All-in-all we had a very productive Saturday.  Our friends came over at 6, we ate Tim’s delicious (and healthy) chicken tortilla soup, guacamole, and macho nachos, and then played a rousing game of Settlers of Catan.  I was totally in the running to win (despite being repeatedly attacked and robbed by Teem), when our friend stole my Largest Army victory points, flipped over her secrete Discovery cards and stole the show.  It was still fun, despite losing.

Our guests brought delicious treats for dessert – turtles made of pretzels, Rolos, and pecans.  They were super tasty and cute.  I say “were” because all of mine are now eaten.  We have 3 left, and I’ve reserved them for Tim.


So goes another weekend, way too fast.  I wanted to plant some vincas in my pots today, but I went to Green Thumbers at 11, and the parking lot was packed to the hilt.  I didn’t feel like pushing an unweildy cart through narrow lanes of flowers, clogged with the after-church crowd, so I drove through the parking lot and came on home.  Maybe I’ll sweet talk Tim into picking up some flats of vincas and impatiens for me during the more sane week-day hours.  At least I pulled out all the pots from the garage (gingerly tapping each pot to scare out any mice or other creatures who had taken up residence over the winter) and rinsed them out with our mice-eaten hose.  Get me some dirt and some flowers, and I’m good to go.

Hope you had a great weekend, too!

Health & Fitness

Treats, Precious?

heather

I’ve read lots of articles about what NOT to Tweet or Facebook about (google “What not to tweet,” and you’ll see).  I agree with some of what those articles say – why anyone would update their status on Facebook to say, “On a conference call” is beyond me, but I’ve seen it done.  One thing I don’t agree with, however, is these authors’ railing against food updates.  I, for one, am super interested in what people eat.  I enjoy reading status updates/tweets about what people are cooking and/or eating.  I enjoy sharing what Tim and I are cooking/eating as well.  To get to the root of the matter, it’s probably my way of reducing my level of guilt about eating bad food.  And by bad food, I mean food that is bad for me, not food that tastes bad.  Although, I have shared that as well.  People in my social network are generally very supportive of bad food choices (probably because it makes them feel less guilty about their own bad food choices).  Maybe I am the anomaly, and other people don’t care at all what is going into my craw.  But, they do have the option of not reading my post, right?  So, I will continue to update the world on my eating habits.

For example, I think this is interesting.  I ate Mexican food not once, but twice yesterday.  And I ate it the day before as well.  This situation was not really of my own engineering.  On Thursday, I got invited out to lunch, and the invitor wanted Mexican, so Mexican we ate.  We ate at La Guadalajara, which is a passable joint in the town in which I work.  I tried their chicken torta (for anyone who doesn’t know, that’s a Mexican sandwich that’s built using a huge bun. It’s slathered with refried beans, grilled chicken, jalapenos, cheese, onions, avocado, and Oh yes, mayonnaise).  I wanted to compare their torta to the gold standard – El Olmito’s.  I tell you more about that later.  La Guadalajara’s torta was good, but not awesome.

On Friday, one of my old friends and former workmates made the 45 minute drive to have lunch with Laura and me.  We just had to take him to El Olmito, so he could try the famed sandwich for himself.  Plus, Laura is preggers and overworked, and the only treatment for that is a big, fat El Olmito torta. So, I had to eat Mexican yet again.  But, man, was it delicious.  El Olmito tortas are a thing of legend.  They use all the same ingredients as La Guadalajara, but it is just so much better.  They also have two types of hot sauce/salsa – red and green, that put the sandwich over the top.  It was delicious.  Everyone thought so.

Tim had to work last night, so I walked to meet him at Brady Street Stadium.  We wanted to eat at a place within walking distance, so our options were limited.  We just ate at Filling Station last week, so we went to Los Agaves.  The food was fine, not awesome.  I don’t think that any food that comes out 5.6 minutes after you order it can blow your mind.  We wish there was a more authentic Mexican restaurant in the Quad Cities.  The closest we’ve ever found is La Primavera, which, like El Olmito, is a little restaurant in the back of a Mexican grocery store.  I haven’t eaten there for years, ever since I stopped working in downtown Moline.  I’ve heard their tortas are super good, too, though.

So, it’s Saturday.  I probably shouldn’t eat Mexican again, unless I plan on exercising for 4 hours today.  Maybe we’ll grill out.  It’s looking like a beautiful day, so that would be perfect.  First of all, however, I need to make some breakfast.  We have delicious refrigerated english muffins that are just waiting to be toasted, drizzled with olive oil and topped with smoked salmon and poached eggs sprinkled with sea salt.  Delicious.

For anyone reading this who doesn’t know me, I want to clarify that I am not super fat.

You’ll note I categorized this post under “Health and Fitness.”  That is solely done to irritate someone – you know who are.

Health & Fitness

Ut oh

heather

Today is such a beautiful day that Tim and I decided to exercise outside instead of at the gym.  Tim ran for a solid 2 miles, and I ran about 1.75 miles – not bad at all for our first outdoor run of the Spring!  Admittedly, my first run of the season is always good.  I think it takes my body by surprise, and ignorance is bliss.  After the first run, my body remembers how bad I feel the day AFTER that first run, and it doesn’t treat me as well during my successive attempts.

Once we got home, I really wanted to take full advantage of the good weather, plus I was already in my workout gear, so I pulled my awesome new bike up from the basement and set to filling up the tires.  I have Presta valves on my tires, and our standard pump didn’t work on them, so last year we got a mini pump.  I think the mini pump is intended just for emergency fillings, however.  Pumping a completely flat tire with a tiny pump is exhausting (especially after a 2 mile run), and it’s hard to work the angles.  I was pumping at an angle (man, that doesn’t sound good), and when I pulled the pump off the valve, the tip of the valve was bent.  Tim tried to straighten it out, and in the process the tip of the valve broke clean off.

Needless to say, I was devastated, “Oh no!!!!”  I literally felt like crying.  Instead I threw up my hands, shook my head, lamented how the world hates me and went and raked 1/2 of the front yard.  I realize my reaction was not in keeping with the inconsequentiality of the situation, but that was how I felt.  While I was busy taking my anger and frustration out on the front lawn, Tim calmly pulled the tire off the bike, pulled the tube out of the tire, bought a new tube, installed it, and presented me with a completely fixed bike about 40 minutes later.  He is generally pretty patient with my outsized reactions to annoying situations.

I tried to work myself out of my inexplicable bad mood as I cycled around the bike path.  I did a pretty good job until I encountered those stupid people who have no bike-path etiquette – the cyclists who INSIST on riding side-by-side on a 6 ft wide path, the parent walking down the exact middle of the path with their stroller, the oblivious wanderers, etc.  Overall, though, the ride did help me get into a better mood.  The sky is blue, the grass is green, everything is budding and beautiful, I don’t live in Juarez, life is good.

It’s only 2:30 PM, so we have a good portion of the day left.   Might do a little shopping (I really want (don’t NEED) a new Hobo wallet), maybe get a drink at the Great River beer garden, maybe start a new painting.  I’m getting 8 of Benny’s excellent landscape photographs printed out, so I’ll have plenty of templates.  Maybe I’ll start on this guy:

I need to do another house painting before I forget Tom’s lessons, but I have to get some good pictures first – ones with good light and shadows.

I’m afraid I’m going to be miserable tomorrow once my overly active today settles into my 33-year-old bones – I’m already nursing blisters and a sunburn from raking.  I best get as much done today as I can.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Health & Fitness

A commentary on workout clothes

heather

I went for a walk after work tonight.  I really didn’t want to.  I had a headache that had been plaguing me all afternoon (damn you SharePoint training in a super hot room!), and I was h u n g r y.  However, I got home a little early ’cause of being in training, and the weather was warm, and I didn’t work out this morning (still massively struggling with getting back into my routine), so I decided I best get some exorcise.  I slapped on my go-to workout outfit – black Nike T and black Champion knee pants.  Note I say “knee pants,” not “capris.”  There is a huge difference.  At least to me. I am very prejudiced against capri pants in any form – workout or otherwise.  I know people love them, but there is something about a pant leg stopping right at the largest part of my calf that I just don’t think looks good.

I guess that’s my first rant against workout clothes – too many capris.

My second rant is about grey sweats.  I understand why people wear grey sweats.  They probably don’t attract the massive amounts of heat that my ninja outfits attracts.  Plus, sweats are supposed to be grey, right?  WRONG!  For some reason, the shade of grey found in most workout clothes always seems to be tinged with yellow.  It’s as if the clothes are already soaked in a sweaty concoction.  It grosses me out for some reason.  One of my strengths (according to this book) is an intense appreciation of beauty.  I need lots of beauty in my life to be truly happy.  So, you see, I’m not being shallow by dissing peoples’ sportswear, I’m just “playing to my strengths.”

I saw the most priceless outfit on the bike path today.  It was worn by a very fuzzy gentleman in his late 50s or so.  He was on a bicycle.  His legs were robed in cranberry colored shorts (long shorts, fortunately), and his exceedingly hairy back and arms were tucked into a baby pink A-shirt.  A pink shirt and cranberry shorts!  It was awesome.

Despite the unappetizing sports gear on display this afternoon, it was an extremely good walk.  I was one of the few people walking on the path; almost everyone else was jogging.  It was very motivational.  I subscribe to the Runner’s World blog for beginners in my Google Reader feed, and they had this encouraging post about how to train for a 1/2 marathon.  Evidently it’s possible for an average human being to run 13 miles (after some training)!  I still am unable to run 3 miles without stopping, but someday, I just might try to do a half marathon.  I’m afraid it’s a slippery slope, however.  One day it’s a 1/2 marathon and the next day, I’m vomiting my guts out after running continuously for 2 hours and my skin looks like a pear that’s been left in a dresser drawer for 3 months.

Anyway, back to my original point, I’m very glad I got myself out for a walk today.  My headache went away, and I have tons of energy.  Look at me, it’s 9:11PM, and I’m still up!!

Health & Fitness

Ugh, Why do they do that to themselves?!

heather

Whenever I see a runner, toiling under the burden of transporting his carcass around on his two skinny, white legs, face red with exertion, sweat dripping off his chin, I wonder, “WHY is he doing that to himself?!”  Well, I kind of found the answer in this post on Runner’s World about why people run marathons.  This line, especially, I found interesting:

Therefore, the marathon is an event that requires a unique blend of physical, mental, and even spiritual training, which is very unusual in today’s world.

I have been getting the itch lately to start running outside again.  The weather is warming up, and it’s still fairly light when I get home.  Maybe if I started running after work, I could lay off the 4:30AM workouts a couple of mornings a week.  That would very, very nice.  Maybe one day, when I break the 2.5 mile mark, I’ll start working towards a marathon.

Here is picture of Tim and me after the Quad City Marathon 5K last year.  I felt like crap as I crossed the finish line, but I was A-OK 10 minutes afterwards.  We got some coffee from Red Band and some donuts from Donuts and More.  It was a beautiful morning.

Health & Fitness, Movies, Uncategorized

Yoga my head into the ground

heather

I had a very positive day yesterday.  I started off on the right foot by drinking two cups of delicious fresh ground 8 O’Clock Columbian roast, one cup of twiggy Traditional Medicinals Dandelion Root tea and by eating rolled oats with cinnamon, raisins and ground flax.  I was bursting with healthy energy, so I headed to the gym and did 35 minutes on the treadmill, working up a shirt-drenching sweat.  Tim put all sorts of excellent hip-hop and electronic music on my eyepod that kept my energy flowing – stuff like this awesome song with the best bass beat ever:

I always play my iPod on random, and a few Kid Cudi tracks came up, and maybe even some Robyn?  Anyway, it was a mix made to train my body and soul.  After the treadmill action, I headed out to Ultimate Fitness to catch the 11:15 yoga class.

Sara had us do all the usual poses – mountain (where you get in touch with the earth), tree (where you try vainly to balance on one foot whilst keeping the rest of your body on one plane), cobra, downward dog, etc. She tried some intermediate moves too; she had us do boat, or at least I tried to do boat. You do this pose by sitting on your mat, with your legs stretched directly in front of you. You scooch your hips back, so that you are sitting on your sit bones and not rolling back on your butt. You place your hands behind your back for stability and then lift both legs off the ground. It sounds so easy, but it’s insanely hard for me. I can only lift one leg at a time, and I can’t even keep the one leg off the ground for more than 10 – 20 seconds. Sara makes it look as if it’s the easiest thing in the world. It’s just insane.

Fortunately, she closed with savasana, the corpse pose. In this pose, you lay on your back, with your legs flat to on the ground, knees and feet pointed upward. Sara walks your mind through your whole body, relaxing each muscle as your thought touches it. Once you’ve relaxed everything, from the skin between your toes to your inner ears, you focus on your breathing. You imagine your breath coming into your body like waves coming on to the beach. With each exhalation, the wave retreats, taking with it some of bad things residing in your body. I was telling Tim today, that yoga is the kind of thing that works well for those who believe in it and probably not at all for those who don’t. I guess I’m a believer because it always makes me feel better when I go, at least until the day after. I might have pushed myself too far yesterday, because today I am pretty much sore EVERY WHERE. But, I still feel positive about it because I can feel myself standing straighter, and I feel much more tuned in to my body. It feels less like a mysterious package surrounding my brain and more a part of me.

After yoga Tim and I went to Major Art and Hobby where I got my Prang watercolors and brushes and erasers and rulers for my Architectural Drawing class that starts on the 16th. Major Art and Hobby always seems very poorly stocked to me. Maybe it’s my Americanized custom of always seeing plenty of everything. But, despite appearances, they had everything I needed, sans cold press watercolor paper and a masonite drawing board. The paper will come in this week, and I found the board at Hobby Lobby – it looks exactly like the drawing boards we used in high school. I can’t wait to slap some paper on that board, tack it down with masking tape and have at it.  My drawing desire was re-awakened Saturday morning when I drew up simple plans for a tea box the Bennzy Boos is going to make for us. I forgot how relaxing it can be to draw rulered lines with a pencil on paper with a nice tooth. Ahh… the little things in life.

After Major Art & Hobby, Tim and I hit up Great River, had a couple of pints, headed to Evergreen for a T-square (they were closed), and picked up some wings at BWW for supper. I tried the mango Habanero sauce, per a friend’s recommendation. It is pretty sticky but very delicious. It took about an hour for my lips to return to their normal color. We watched Zombieland while eating supper. It was actually a pretty unsettling movie to watch while eating chicken wings. As I was ripping chicken flesh off the bones – orange, sticky sauce all over my face and hands – on the television, human beings were ripping entrails out of fellow human beings, while projectile vomiting black mucusy syrupy disgustingness. Besides the aforementioned graphicness, the movie was actually pretty funny in many parts. The Bill Murray scenes alone make the movie worth watching. Woody Harrelson was my favorite character – nice and insane. I didn’t like the girls in the movie – the idea that they could snooker those two guys so completely multiple times seemed t0o far-fetched to me.  I think it’s definitely worth watching, but it’s no Shaun of the Dead, not by a long-shot.

Today has been a very mild day so far, which is what I needed after all the exercise and exciting art supply shopping yesterday. Tim and I are sitting here in the computer room; he’s tagging pictures and being very patient with me as I try to get WordPress to do what I want it to do. Yep, the Teemz is good people.

So, it’s back to work tomorrow. Another weekend come and gone in a flash. I can’t wait until Robots take over the world and start treating us like beloved pets. They will give us jobs, so we don’t completely lose purpose in life, but we’ll only have to work 3 days a week, and the rest of the time we can pursue hobbies and play awesome iPod games created by our cool Robot leaders. I can’t wait for the future.  Please note, Google, that I capitalize Robots to show respect.

Health & Fitness

Hurl Some Positive Vibes Next Time You See a Runner

heather

I’m not crazy enough (yet) to run in the winter, or really in any weather that’s poorly.  I am continuously amazed by those dedicated/crazy souls who venture out when it’s 10 degrees below zero, windy and icy.  I wish them the best, as long as they make themselves visible enough that I don’t accidentally kill them with my car.

I ran across this blog post on Runners World about the things shouted at those crazy runners.  There are some pretty funny comments on the post – runners get lots of cat calls and whistles and lots of spit and expletives thrown their way (my tri-athlete friend gets cigarettes thrown at him when he runs – gotta love Muscatine), but they also get lots of encouragement hurled at them as well.  There is nothing more encouraging than a positive word from someone when you are pushing yourself to do something that feels horrible but is good for you!

Health & Fitness

I so tired

heather

I think I may have overdone it.  I went to the gym at 4:30AM yesterday morning and did leg weights, 15 minutes on the Precor, and 15 minutes on the treadmill.  Then last night I went to a Yoga Fit class.  It was a HARD class.  Who knew that stretching could make you feel so horrible the next day.  Then, this morning, at 4:30AM I went to the gym and did 50 minutes of cardio (alternating walking 5 minutes and running 5 minutes).  By 3PM today I was feeling pretty checked out.  Maybe if I get into the habit of doing this weekly, though, I’ll get used to it, and I’ll be able to fully contribute at my job all the way until 5PM.

Despite my increased level of activity, I haven’t lost any weight.  I was up to 150 this Fall, and I’ve moderated now at 147, which is the weight I’ve been for ages.  I have a hard time dipping below that threshold though.  Just when I start to feel thin and vibrant, I’m sidelined by PMS.  All my clothes feel tight, and I feel gross.  That lasts for like for 10 days, so 1/3 of the month.  Totally unfair.

On a bright note, I read today that having a big bum, hips, and thighs is “healthy.”  Yes, it’s true.  I read it right here.  I have lots of  “slower burning hip fat” which is a good thing, according to Dr Konstantinos Manolopoulos.  So, what I’m taking away from this article is that my body is totally fine the way it is – all 147 pounds of it.  I’m still going to work out though.  It does really make me happier.  It makes me feel superior to non-exercisers too, which is nice.  Yes, I’m a bad person – a bad person with good fat.

Health & Fitness

Hatha Yoga

heather

I am off to an excellent start today.  I woke up, ate oatmeal for breakfast (mixed quick oats with a  banana, raisins, ground flax and cinnamon), went to the gym and did upper body weights and 40 minutes on the Precor, then went to hatha yoga at Ultimate Fitness.

My friend Laura and I have done yogalates a few times (a mix of yoga and pilates).  I didn’t anticipate hatha yoga being that much different, but it really was.  The instructor for this class was a lot more instructive.  Her directions for the poses were very descriptive and precise.  It made me feel more comfortable that I was actually doing the pose correctly.  She was really good at walking your mind through your body, too.  She would say, “Feel the energy start at your toes, move through your arches, your ankles are relaxing, etc.”  With each new instruction, I felt that part of my body do as it was told.  It was so interesting, albeit a little spooky.  This yoga definitely focused on the mind-body connection more than the yogalates.  I like both types – this yoga helped me feel more centered and in tune with myself, but the yogalates worked my muscles (especially the abs) more.

I really enjoy doing yoga, but for some reason it’s super hard for me to actually get myself to the class.  The only reason I made it there today was because I met Laura and another friend there.  I am still mystified by how difficult it is to make myself do something that I really enjoy.  I blame inertia – a body at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.  Laura and Melissa are going to be my outside force.  We’re supposed to meet for class again next Saturday.

Two things about the class that I didn’t like, however, was 1.  It was SUPER cold in the room.  Granted, it’s only 8 degrees outside, but coldness goes with yoga like restraint with David Hasselhoff.  2.  This guy walks into the class, and chuckles as he sees how crowded it is.  “I love this time of year” he says with an air of disdainful superiority – New Years resolution wannabees was his attitude toward us.  He obviously doesn’t understand the true spirit of yoga (do no harm) or he would have kept his loud mouth shut.  I know this guy from my old job – he is an arrogant, obnoxious blowhard, so I shouldn’t have been surprised at his comment.

Anyway, despite the cold and the dash of obnoxiousness, I still really enjoyed the class. I’m already looking forward to going back next week.