Where Oh Where Has My Flexibility Gone?

Last night I had a dream about over-sleeping on Saturday and missing the triathlon. In the dream, it was Drew's fault because it was raining and he didn't want to have to stand out in the rain all morning, so he didn't wake me up. He promised me (in real life) that we wouldn't over-sleep, so I think we'll be all set for the race.

Today I had been hoping to go workout with either Laura or Drew, but work kept both of them from being able to do anything this morning. When I woke up this morning, I realized that was probably for the best because I was quite sore from yesterday's Terrier run. At first I couldn't figure out why my rear-end would be sore from running, since that has never happened before. And then I remembered the lunges. And the back-lunges. And the squats. I think all three of those things did me in. I decided that I would take the day off and let my normally unused muscles rest a little bit.

I found a restorative yoga class to go to tonight. I thought that it might be helpful to just do some restful stretching. The class I went to was actually called Yin + Restorative. Apparently the Yin part is for sore joints and the Restorative is for sore muscles. I definitely had the latter. I went to the Exhale yoga studio and had the same teacher, Marcy, that I had the last time I went for a regular class. I was thinking that teaching restorative yoga must be the most boring thing in the world. There are several people all lying around almost falling asleep and you just have to sit there for 3 minutes while they hold each pose.

All the poses that we did that involved anything to do with your hamstrings were practically impossible for me. There was one where we were sitting up with our legs spread apart. We then were supposed to fold over onto a bolster and rest in that position. I could barely lean forward my hamstrings were so tight and had to prop my bolster up with blocks in order to be comfortable. Forget about folding all the way over! The girl in front of me in class was ridiculously flexible. I was quite jealous. I think tonight was a good reminder that I really should try to stretch even more than I normally do and to try to get more yoga in as 'forced stretching'.

More Cardio Biking

Although the weather actually would have been okay this morning, I didn't bring my bike to Drew's last night, so I was headed back to the gym for some more indoor workouts. I would just like to mention that I thought the rain was supposed to happen in April, not May! I'm ready for it to be done and over with, although it looks like it's going to be hanging around for the rest of the week.

We got up a little bit later than I think we were expecting to, but that was due to some alarm malfunction (read: it wasn't set correctly) on Drew's part. I'm not really complaining, but my workout was a little bit shorter than I had been planning on last night.

We hit the weight room first and since my legs are pretty much out of commission since I can't bear weight on my heel, we did arm stuff today.

This was the workout that I did:

Seated bent-arm lat pull-down: 3 sets, 15 reps each at 50 pounds
Standing straight-arm pull down: 3 sets, 15 reps each at 30 pounds
Seated row: 1 set, 15 reps at 50 pounds (this was taken over by a personal trainer and her client, which is why I didn't get to finish)
Back extensions: 3 sets, 15 reps each
Curls: 3 sets, 10 reps each at 30 pounds

We then headed downstairs to the cardio area where I got back on the cardio bike. I didn't have a whole lot of time if I also wanted to get to work at the proper time, so I just did 20 minutes on the bike. I did the random hill setting on level 10 again and in my 20 minutes, I went 7.25 miles (21.75 MPH average).

I finished up with some crunches and stretches. I will say that I thought the crunches were easier (not easy!) than they have been in the past, so maybe all of this pilates core work is starting to have some small effect on me.

I Bought New Goggles

Tonight on my way to yoga I stopped at Sports Authority and tried on almost every pair of goggles that they had there that looked like they would fit my face better. I think I found a pair that will work out - although tomorrow morning will be the test in the water (as well as a test of the water as the pool re-opens tomorrow).

This morning Drew slept in, so I did too and opted not to do the optional strength workout at the gym today. Instead, I went to Yoga after work at Yoga Effects. This was the same class I went to two weeks ago where I wasn't that happy with the class (the room was cold and I didn't love the class). Today we had the same teacher (Sam) and she was much better today and the room was a really comfortable temperature. I also felt a lot better doing yoga today than I did last Thursday. My legs were able to hold the poses - although to be fair we didn't do nearly as many warrior poses as we did last week. I also felt like I was back to my pre-triathlon training flexibility, which was nice.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to go running (on the treadmill) and then meet Laura for a swim. She did give me four words to remember when I think that the NYC Tri is better or cooler than other triathlons: mouthfuls of Hudson River.

Feeling Tired

I went to yoga last night at Yoga Effects. The class was okay, but the studio was really cold the entire time, so that wasn't ideal for me. I used one of the yoga passes from the yoga book and I would definitely go back there again and give it another try.

Today I went to the gym with Drew. My workout was running and strength. I did a 5 minute warm up on the stationary bike (went 1.25 miles in 5:05 on level 6). Then I did the same strength workout I've been doing for the past few times at the gym - leg presses, calf presses, bench presses, lat pull down, and seated row. I would have done the hamstring raises as well, but both machines were occupied and I didn't really want to wait around forever. Then I went down to the treadmills for a run. I have been feeling a little stuffy the past few days, so I didn't push myself as hard as I could have on the run. My actual workout was a 20 minute run/walk session (running for 15 seconds and walking for 45 after a warm-up). So, instead I walked for 5 minutes and then alternated running and walking in .25 mile increments. I did a total of 2.5 miles in 32 minutes. Probably not my best workout, but at least I made it to the gym this morning, which is much better than nothing at all.

30 Right Foot Strides

I did make it to yoga last night, although the teacher that I was hoping for (Cari) was sick and another teacher (Rachel) was teaching instead. The class was still good, just not what I had been expecting. Thinking about it last night, it seems like Mondays might be good days to reserve for yoga after work since they're supposed to be the day off from cardio. I'll still do the strength workouts, but it'd be nice to work some yoga in too.

Today's workout was running and optional strength. Since Drew was meeting Billy at the gym at 6, I got up and went with him at the same time. I did the optional strength workout, which was the same workout as Monday (leg press, calf raises, chest press, seated row, lat pull down and crunches). I also did hamstring exercises as well. I forgot until just this very moment (when I was looking at the book) that I was also supposed to ride the stationary bike for 5 minutes before to warm up and 5 minutes after to cool down. Oh well.
After the lifting, I went and did the run for today. It was supposed to be a 20 minute "strides" workout, but I did 30 minutes, so hopefully that makes up for the missed biking. The first 10 minutes I alternated running and walking for a minute each. Then for the next 10 minutes, I alternated walking and sprinting. The sprints were supposed to be for 20 seconds each and the book says that you were supposed to get at least 29 right foot falls in those 20 seconds. Each time I counted I was getting 30, so just right at the cut-off, but I'm thinking I can only get better and at least I wasn't under the proper number. I did the sprints at 9.5 and 0% incline since it said that you should be flat or slightly downhill. I'm thinking that this workout would be a good one for the reservoir when the weather is a bit warmer. I finished this off with a 5 minute jog and a 5 minute walk. The total distance was 2.6 miles.
After that, I went and did my crunches that were part of the strength workout and did some stretching. And now it's off to the shower!