Hot yoga!

That was amazing. I was working till really late last night; 10am hot yoga is an excellent start to the day, especially in this cold weather when running outside puts a lot of strain on my lungs. Might try and have a short run later though, or a longer one tomorrow morning....

1.5hr hot yoga

Run/spin

Good double, though the run down here never got as enjoyable as I had imagined it would be: it is a balmy 40 today, but very windy along the river; legs felt like bricks of wood; and carrying a backpack weighing almost 10lb makes everything more arduous.  Nice spin with Joanna. 

1hr run(c. 5.5mi), .75hr spin

Yoga!

That was great - in fact I am sort of convinced that 1hr of restorative yoga was about the best possible complement to the spin class earlier & yesterday's hill run. This teacher does some more active stuff mixed in with the other, so I think I am going to start logging it on the exercise schedule again....

1hr restorative yoga

Spin!

Had intended to do challenging double of unspecified nature (having written off poss TNYA workout due to wheezy lungs after cold running yesterday), but really one class was quite enough! Also need to eat more breakfast before a proper double.

It was a great workout. 15min climb as 3 x 5 (seated, standing, seated), then HIIT at 1:1 ratio starting at :15 and climbing by 15-sec increments to final interval of 2:00.

Have refueled and will go to noon restorative yoga. A student emails to say the scans I made yesterday and posted this morning are missing alternate pages. Haste makes waste; will have to have another stab at it this afternoon...

1hr spin

Glorious winter run!

I was afraid it would be too cold, but Liz told me I would be fine so long as I abandoned my prejudice against hats - indeed she brought me a balaclava to wear! We jogged to the bottom of Harlem Hill and did some repeats - I haven't been running much this past month, so I didn't go too hard, but it was highly worthwhile.

(How could I forget how much I like winter running?!? I have let the temperatures this week mentally daunt me, but now I am reminded - that was 18F and after dark, admittedly not windy, but really it is very comfortable if you are dressed appropriately, and I am lucky to live in a city that does a superb job cleaning most sidewalks and park paths. It is going to be very cold for a good bit of the next stretch, so really I am happy to have reclaimed running in my head as a good activity for this time of year...)

c. :58 total, 3 x 4min hill, 4min recovery + 2min hill, 2min recovery

Hot yoga!

That was extremely satisfying. Didn't make it out the door expeditiously enough for the 10am class, but really perhaps it was more sensible just to spend the morning at home and go to midday class instead. It was "only" 100 degrees - just as well, as I was horrified to see that 3 of the 4 windows have been sealed over with that heat-retaining plastic stuff - significantly reducing the breaths of fresh air you can usually get through the cracks!

I have been craving some winter running, but really I think it is still too cold. My first seminar meeting tomorrow, and some other meetings Friday; after that I can really consider what this semester's work and exercise schedule will look like.

1.5hr hot yoga

AQUABIKE!

Just a brief note as I failed to record any times myself and the results aren't up yet at the race site. Hmmmm, there is nothing like triathlon to put me in a gloriously good mood - especially a triathlon in JANUARY whose swim takes place IN THE SEA, with no wetsuits!

It was a phenomenally windy day. Both swim and bike much harder than last year - the first leg of the triangular swim (2-loop course) was unbelievably hard and slow, though I perked up once I finished the first loop and realized (a) lots of other folks were swimming as slowly as I was and (b) it really was doable, with the other two legs getting a decent assist. I kicked a ton more than I usually would, though, and my legs definitely felt it on the bike. I have not trained properly for this event, but it is very pleasant to think of maintaining year-round fitness sufficient that c. 4hr of strenuous exercise is always within reach.

(Next year I think B. and I might race as a team - I will do swim and bike, he will do the run. In fact it was NOT especially hot today, but really fall semester is always very busy for me, it is not ever going to be realistic to have high enough training volume in November and December that I could do a full half in January - unless, that is, I am on sabbatical....)

1.2mi swim, 56mi VERY VERY WINDY HARD bike!

Spin/run!

That was actually a really lovely exercise session. B. dropped me for 8am spin; I just had one class left on my punch card, and also I didn't want to tire out legs before tomorrow's ride, so I didn't stay for the double. Jogged home. NB jogging home on a cooler day is much faster and more pleasant than walking home on a hot one! (It is not a scenic walk.)

I feel slightly remiss at having had such a FAIL on the week's exercise goals - but in retrospect it was an unrealistic plan. Several things would have had to be different in order to have executed it properly: I would have had to forgo most of the hot yoga; I would have had to use willpower getting up early, willpower I really needed to get work done (and since I am going home Monday and will immediately revert to 8:30/9am rising time, it did not seem worth the effort); I would have had to have stronger motivation in the form of a significant approaching race. The yoga really is the nicest and easiest thing for me to do here - the studio is fantastic, it's in easy walking distance and classes run mid-morning and midday as well as early morning and evening, neither of which is truly suited to my clock.

I will not go to noon hot yoga I think; I need to pack stuff up and get organized for tomorrow! We will stay tonight at the Reef; pasta dinner for athletes this evening, and it makes sense to stay on-site for an early start. B. will volunteer on the swim course; next year we might do the whole thing as a relay, I will swim and bike and B. will do the run....

:52 spin, :26 easy jog (2.2mi I think), 1:18 total

Hot yoga!

Teacher was bemoaning the fact that temperature only reached 101F, but really it is much better for me at 101 than 105F!

1.25hr hot yoga

Hot yoga

Heat felt overwhelming in last stretch of class - I think it was high humidity rather than heat as such. I wish I had a whole month of daily yoga - I am going to try and do it a lot when I am back in NYC too, but there are of course a lot of other competing claims on my time!

1.25hr hot yoga

Sea swim!

That was glorious. I was too embedded in my book index today to do the projected spin workout, but B. kindly drove us over to Sunset House an hour before his triathlon volunteer meeting was due to start (open-water swimming needs to happen while it's still light outside!) and I had a glorious 2K swim in the sea.

:52 swim

Hot yoga!

The 1hr class has become strangely manageable. When I get back to NYC, the 90-minute session will be a rude awakening!

1hr hot yoga

GORGEOUS long ride...

I had to overcome mild dread, inevitably, to get out the door - I think I have not ridden a bicycle since my Ironman ride in September! But it was absolutely lovely right away, as I knew it would be. Riding here in January is glorious, and after last summer's long riding a 3hr ride sort of seems like nothing to think twice about (I was ready to stop by the end, though).

Had excellent company from Hurley's to Frank Sound - a cyclist with beautiful etiquette, several miles per hour faster than me and not minding giving me a pull. I went on to the East End gas station (disconcertingly they have all changed since I was last here from Texaco to Rubis), stopped for a drink and turned around - I knew it would make my ride come in a bit short, as I was at 1:25 and the ride home is considerably quicker due to prevailing winds, but I didn't want to overdo it.

It is so gorgeous out there - you are riding next to the sea for good long stretches, I am not an enthusiastic photographer so you will just have to take it on faith that it is about as beautiful as you can imagine, very little traffic, less humid than in the summer, not too hot (I mean, it is still fairly hot, but manageable!)....

My riding has considerably improved over the year of riding I did from September 2012 to September 2013. In particular I had a session with Joanna this summer that made a couple things click. I am really getting better efficiency on my pedal stroke (heel down, engaging calf strength on upward bit of rotation), and I also had a blinding insight re: core - I must have heard a million times the words "engage your core strength to protect your lower back" in spin class, but it was only when Joanna uttered the magic words "pelvic tilt" during our coaching session in Prospect Park that I suddenly understood what previously had been words and dim concept only - I know that very well from yoga and Pilates, and it gave me a much clearer sense of the position you actually want to have in the hips. The upper part of my riding posture remains ludicrous, my brain just wants me to ride in a very upright position even on a road bike, so that is the big thing to work on in 2014 (that and accustoming myself to the tri bike).

An unbalanced but in sum excellent training week. Total hours: 12:43 (double spin, long ride, 5 hot yoga, 1 flow yoga, 1 hot yoga posture clinic). I could feel legs were tired today from yesterday's double spin.

Goal for coming week (I do have quite a few work tasks I need to knock out too, so this might be slightly modified depending on where work is): 3 swims (Monday evening and Friday morning master's workouts, race swim on Sunday); 3 1hr spin workouts; race bike 56mi next Sunday; as much yoga as I like; a bit of running.

2:45, 47.9mi (17.3mph), avg HR 141 (high zone 2), max HR 157

Hot yoga posture clinic

Partly it was that I already had some hours of hot sweaty exercise already today, but I almost think this standing series posture clinic was harder than a regular class - certainly I sweated a huge amount more than usual!

1.5hr posture clinic

Double spin!

Very happy to have lungs back to something resembling normal functioning. Double spin at Revolutions - it was good. Hoping to ride outdoors tomorrow - will be the first time I've ridden an actual bike since my Ironman ride in September!...

1:48 spin

Hot!

Class noticeably easier after (a) five days in a row and (b) a glorious long sleep - I slept all the way till after 9am, having realized last night that I would be unwise, given lungs still repairing, to get up at 5:30 and subject myself to swimming pool chemicals from 6 to 7am. Tomorrow I will do double spin in the morning and a midday hot yoga posture clinic (they're doing standing series tomorrow and mat series Sunday, this should be good); will ride outside for 3hr Sunday morning, weather permitting.

1.25hr hot yoga

Hot yoga

The one-hour class is significantly more merciful than the full-on thing - especially in the fact that it completely omits the posture I find the hardest, standing head-to-knee pose (standing bow also challenging, but it starts to come more easily after a few days, whereas I really just feel that lack of hamstring flexibility makes even getting a hold on my foot with knee completely bent extremely challenging, let alone trying to straighten the leg out!). (This is the proper full sequence.)

1hr hot yoga

Flow-hot double!

Did an hour of work on the index for my book, then went to flow & hot yoga classes. The flow is a very good warmup for the hot - also, I think I found a slightly cooler spot in the classroom.

(Still got pesky bronchial ailment, it is frustrating!)

1hr flow
1.25h hot

The tax on forgetfulness

I got a ride with B. to Cafe del Sol to do a bit of work before class, and only realized as I eavesdropped with 10% of the brain on a pair of women at the next table that I had left my yoga stuff at home! The tax on forgetfulness was $5CI - $1 for a bottle of water, $4 for mat and towel rental.

1hr hot yoga

Hot yoga!

My lungs are still pretty full of junk, and I felt queasy at various points during class (it is much hotter in the studio here than at the one I go to in NYC), but it felt pretty amazing to be back exercising again. I have been a little grumpy due to exercise deprivation. Got a new shirt at the boutique at the studio - I did an exceptionally poor job of packing this time round, including not putting a single short-sleeved exercise shirt into my bag, so it was a fairly essential acquisition (I have a t-shirt here from a Stroke and Stride, but it has the hazard of many unisex event shirts - huge shoulders and arms, but very tight across the chest and strangulating around the neck).

(I signed up for the 30-day challenge, but since I'm only here through Jan. 20 and need to do some tri stuff as well while I'm here, I'm not sure it's quite going to happen. I do want to do a 30-day challenge at Bikram Yoga Harlem once I'm back in NY....)

1.25hr hot yoga (woo-hoo!)

A lick and a promise

It will be churlish of me to remain grumpy in such a beautiful spot! It is taking a long time to rid my lungs of this wretched ailment, but I am optimistic that tomorrow I can go to hot yoga (it is the start of the 30-day challenge at Bliss - I am only here for two weeks, I don't know that it really will be either feasible or desirable to complete thirty classes given that I want to log some SBR hours too, but I'm thinking about giving it a pop anyway). For today, I just took a quick dip in the sea - "a lick and a promise" (an expression found in many children's books - now I am going to go and see if I can track down proper etymology).

c. 10min swimming in the sea