Final session for the year

I had a super-enjoyable work stint at Cafe del Sol and then came home for a private session with Ashley to work through some of these hip/core therapy exercises that I liked so much in class the other day. Double yoga day - bodes well for 2019! Not a resolutionist, but I guess I have a goal to keep things simpler than is my natural tendency - running and yoga are a great combination, though I would like to start swimming again at some point. When I'm back in June I need to find a yoga studio in NYC that's easy to get to and that I like as much as Bliss Yoga Cayman and Yoga Garden Rive Gauche. Happy new year!

Hot yoga!

2 x 15 min walk to 6am hot yoga - the best time of day for it, because they haven't had a chance to get the room to full heat! Very nice way to start the (non-run) day. Have a 12:30 private session with the teacher from the BRT class on Saturday so that I can write down some of these things and integrate them into my daily PT.

Sunday!

60 early and easy as 1:1 jog-walk; then 75-minute flow + meditation yoga. It was a great class, though still pretty darn hot (I chose it because I was so zonked out yesterday afternoon after doing two seriously sweaty exercise sessions in the am - but I still must have sweated a litre, body heat plus high ambient heat and humidity (84F, 74% humidity).

Saturday!

Early: 75 mins as 2:1 jog-walk

Then 1hr hot yoga (compressed Bikram) mid-morning. This is good....

Monday-Friday catch-up

In fact I can give myself a big pat on the back as I did everything I meant to and did not skip and make excuses!

Mon.: 1hr as 1:1 jog-walk along the Schuylkill near my mother's house - was again feeling very smug at having booked a 3:20pm flight so that I really would have time to run in the am without being anxious or skimping on spending time with my mother either. Did PT all the days unless otherwise specified, albeit sometimes just the 9-minute absolute minimum set

Tues.: treadmill #1, 36 mins, with 1 x 12min + 2 x 6min jog with walking recovery (Brent tipped me off to new second basement fitness room that is MUCH COOLER than the ground-floor one, which is heated literally to 85F...)

Wed.: treadmill #2, much harder to make myself do, I really don't like it, so I broke it up to make it more manageable: 40 mins total, 4 x 6min work with odds as jog and evens as incline walk

Thurs.: long travel day - I did manage to do the absolutely crucial exercises while watching TV with Brent before bed - normally I don't watch TV and they are not easy to do while reading a book, but I can do the anteversion-retroversion (cat-cow on back), hamstring stretches, piriformis stretches and a couple others that way, that's good!

Fri.: up and at 'em! It helped that I was in bed and asleep EARLY and had a good long sleep of 10hr or so, so that when 5:30am came and it was time to get up, I felt mentally unready but that it was not physiologically unreasonable. 1hr as 1:1 jog-walk (that first step outside coming from winter to here is so gorgeous - moon and stars, because there is much less light pollution here, and birds making funny calls and the warm tropical smell). And 1hr brt yoga which was AMAZING - there was a middle part I have to try and reconstruct, I would love to add it to my daily routine....

Very happy to have survived holiday travel mostly unscathed and be back in a regular routine!

Fri.-Sat.

Did the crucial 9 mins of PT pre-travel Friday, this is a good rule - I do think it makes a difference to how my sciatica feels the next day.

Saturday: very nice 1hr as 1:1 at my mother's house, plus PT afterwards (Jose: I HALP.) To NJ in another couple hrs, happily for me we have hotel rooms, makes everything easier. Date with Joanna to run tomorrow in Rutherford!

Wed.-Thurs.

Wed.: 1hr as 2:1 jog walk, very nice. Had hoped to do evening yoga, but my R achilles was a bit dead/sore and I thought it would pretty certainly be smarter NOT to go and spend a lot of time standing on one leg (my only option was a full Bikram class).

Thurs.: :40 as 1:1, also nice. Dreading travel complexities, but really a week from today I'll be with Brent in Cayman, just need to make it through the next seven days and all is easy again! Worked like crazy at the office and by dint of cutting a few corners on big important job #1 and leaving smalll job #2 to do in Cayman (no biggie, though it would have been nice of course to do it before I left...), I did make it in the nick of time to Dominique's 7pm hot yin yang yoga. Which was very good and very hot.

Now need to do laundry, start packing, generally get my head around the fact of tomorrow's early departure...

Hot hatha 90

And yes, end of day yoga. Did not feel inspired, sweated buckets, but am glad I did it.

Mon.-Tues.

Mon.: 1hr as 1:1
Tues.: :40 as 1:1 (slight down week before travel)

Will go to 5pm hot yoga. (Yesterday it didn't make sense as I had to be in respectable clothes at the Institute for an 8pm concert)

Fri.-Sun.

Fri.: 40 easy as 1:1
Sat.: 90 easy as 1:1
Sun.: 90 min hot yin yang yoga

Trying to restrain urge to manage mild anxieties re: holidays and impending travels by doing TOO MUCH EXERCISE.

Wed.-Thurs.

Yesterday was just walking and stretching. Today was kinda perfect - great talk last night and workshop today at the Institute, plus a really (anomalously!) delicious lunch beforehand. 75 mins in the am as 2:1 jog-walk and a very good 90 minutes hot yin yang class with Dominique just now as well. I think I figured out my optimal yoga schedule, though I won't be able to have it till January:

Monday: 6:45-8:15 back therapy yoga with Delphine
Tuesday: 5-6:30 hot hatha with Robin
Wednesday: off day
Thursday: 7-8:30 hot yin yang with Dominique
Friday: off day
Saturday: either 3-4:30 hot hatha with Robin or 7-8 Bikram in 60 mins
Sunday: 3-4:30 hot yin yang with Dominique

My housecleaner has been coming on Wednesday at 4 which in conjunction with frequent 7pm Wednesday events at the Institute has meant it doesn't make sense to try for yoga, but her schedule has changed and she's actually handed me off to her sister, who is the concierge in the building - this means that I can drop the extra key with her in the morning (or early afternoon as the case may be!) and then she can leave it for me in the apartment when she's done, it may actually be a bit more convenient.... really tomorrow I don't have anything in the evening and could do 5pm Bikram, but I still slightly avoid the full 90-minute Bikram class, too hot for too long....

Tuesday!

On a very late schedule, but that 75 as 2:1 easy-moderate was REALLY NICE! Still a little awkwardness (I think of it as "ghost sciatica") along back of R leg, but everything else very good, very normal-feeling.

Monday

1hr as 1:1, there was actually some sun, that was nice! About to do PT, hoping to do back therapy yoga later.

Happy yoga!

Finally got a good long night of sleep, didn't get myself to earlier yoga (I always have slight aversion to doing a full 90-minute Bikram class, other hot variants are more appealing), did PT and some ball release therapy for lower back and piriformis (which I think I should add as often as I can) and then went to Dominique's excellent 90-minute "hot yin yang yoga" at 3pm. I forgot how good it is, and how different from the hot hatha....

Saturday

1hr as 1:1, physically fine but a little unsettling due to precautions in advance of potential gilet jaune demonstration - the Jardin du Luxembourgh was closed and I had to jog my loops on the sidewalk around it, not optimal. Very few civilian vehicles on the street, mostly police/fire/ambulance, though the shops in my neighborhood are for the most part open. Will do PT once I have showered, and hoping to get to 7pm yoga later.

Friday!

75 mins as 2:1 with some moderate mixed in with easy intensity! Looking forward to this one all week. Will do PT once I have put away breakfast things and am intending to go to 5pm hot yoga. (Jet lag had me up till 3, I only woke up just before 11 and it took me another hour to get out of the house for my run - thus 2pm breakfast...)

(Postscript: no yoga, 75 mins run plus 20 mins PT is enough, I will have a longer stretch at the office and go straight from there to dinner with an old friend who's in Paris briefly....)

Mid-week catchup

Hmmm, I wrote a title and then left the post empty, better catch up properly now! Overly busy week, one more evening out tomorrow and then I intend to hermitify myself...

Tues.: jet lag hit hard, plus haircut appointment was ill-timed (it is always ill-timed!); ALMOST didn't get out, but memory of how bad I felt about not having done my statutory walk on Sunday made me drag myself up and out. 70 as 1:1 jog-walk, plodding and not that fun, but I got it done (and felt more human by around the 40-minute mark).

Wed.: 60 as 1:1 jog-walk, very nice. (All these days I do PT if I don't say!)

Thurs: non-run day, normal walking + evening 1hr yoga therapy for back class. Will go to a hot class tomorrow, otherwise I will lose my hard-gained heat acclimation...

Monday

Took a zero for Sunday, regrettably; the first for a long time and I really don't want it to happen again soon! Today was good. 1hr as 1:1, very nice and gray morning, spent the day at the office catching up on various misc. stuff, hung around there till it was time for 6:45 back therapy yoga as I was pretty sure that if I went home, I wasn't making it back out. Lots of evening plans this week which rather thwarts my desire to be all run/yoga/write all the time....

Saturday!

:55 easy and early as 1:1 jog-walk (slightly miscalculated turnaround, was shooting for an hour), met up with Brent for 15 mins at Cafe del Sol, then 1hr BRT yoga at Bliss. This is a great combo - hard to imagine a better class for runners, it's exactly what I most need. Now to get organized for departure....

Friday!

80 as 1:1 early, very nice (I have to get a photo of the lights on palm trees in front of the Ritz!); then an hour of ball release therapy (BRT) yoga at Bliss, it was really good and extremely apt to my needs.

Wednesday, Thursday

Wednesday: 1hr early as 1:1, had my eye on a 2pm yoga class but we weren't back from taking lunch to Coach Jerry in time, that's fine.
Thursday: :55 walk (non-run day), 1hr hot yoga, session #6 (final one) with Errol at 3. I am determined to max out on yoga this week, figured out what class I can go to tomorrow and am even thinking about doing a 7am class Saturday (after an hour of running) before getting ready to go to the airport....

Tuesday

am: woke up WAY too early, did PT pre-run, then 1hr as 1:1 jog-walk.
pm: 3pm session (#4) with Errol.

Tomorrow is the dreaded cleaner day, I will run early and probably leave it at that....

Monday

Good day.

am: 2 x 15 min. walk to and from 1hr hot yoga (very nice class). PT at home after protein shake and shower.
pm: session #4 with Errol.

And MOST of the edits to book part one typed - I had hoped to get to the end of the section, but the page I left off at before going to the gym is particularly covered with illegible marginal scribble, and I will do a better job if I leave it for the morning!

amazing yoga!

1.25hr flow-meditation that was SUPERB, just what I needed (didn't want to wait for noon hot, 9:30 is a good time to go to a class) - we spent first fifteen minutes using lacrosse balls to release hip flexors and QL! I loved it - must see if I can get to another class along those lines this week....

Sunday!

40 minutes as 1:1 jog-walk (it was a slight down week), very nice, now at the cafe with Brent and will do PT when I get home. I think I will do mid-morning yoga, there's no hot class but if I do 9:30 flow-meditation I can go with Brent for his first stint at the office (there is then a brief mid-afternoon visit to put in orders for tomorrow). Day one of spa week #2!

Saturday and summary

75 as 1:1, extremely nice.

Had an amazing (and painful!) deep-tissue massage yesterday - it relieved the R shoulder-blade pains I've been having immensely, and I slept on my left side to try and let it settle down some more. Best night of sleep I've had in ages, only woke up once to pee (usually when I am turning back and forth to find a comfortable situation, it wakes me up just enough to realize I do need to pee, so it might be four or five times in the night). Think I must try having a month or maybe even two where I don't sleep on my right side at all - I also am not supposed to sleep on my stomach, it's complicated since I can't fall asleep on my back!

Summing up the week (running from Sunday through Saturday as I leave on Saturday a week from today)

5 run (check)
3 session with Errol (check)
3 yoga (one short, but the massage sort of substituted and I won't do yoga today because the whole shoulder-blade area got such a pummeling yesterday that it feels like I got pounded with a meat tenderizer - letting it settle will be more valuable than an extra yoga, and I will go tomorrow and Monday, so really that's fine)

SPA WEEK #1 under my belt!

Hot yoga!

I did today's run yesterday so that I could go to 6am hot yoga on my non-run day (Thursday only has a power class that is not suitable for someone with an injured back who likes yoga to proceed at a non-rushed pace!). 2 x 15min walk, 1hr hot yoga - this too is a very good way to start the day, though when I drag myself out of bed at 5:30 it honestly seems like a much better idea to go back to bed....

Wed.-Thurs.

Probably forgot to log yesterday because it was the dreaded "cleaner day," and all morning things were a scramble!

Anyway:

Wed.: 1hr as 1:1, PT
Thurs.: 1hr as 1:1, PT; and session #3 with Errol. Lots of doing things on Bosu balls to activate stabilizing muscles....

Session #2

Highly satisfactory, not least because E's assessment suggests that I can start doing "real" strength workouts again rather than ones that are primarily rehabilitative in design! It is very satisfying to realize that I have continued to make progress since I stopped seeing him when I left Cayman at the end of August. Commitment to daily PT + yoga = both important....

Tuesday

am: 40 as 1:1 jog-walk + PT post-shower
pm: session #2 with Errol

Session #1

Very good hour with Errol at the gym. I think I have continued to get better since the end of the summer - it is noticeable that though it's not something I've been working on specifically, the rotational back and torso stuff is all happening much more easily and comfortably than it was in late August. This is good!

Goal for week: 5 runs, 3 sessions with Errol, 4+ yoga

Monday!

It is EARLY, but the upside is that the room hasn't had a chance to get up to full heat (it's still pretty darn hot, but for me there's a big difference between 100-101 - optimal - and the full 105! Not least because I am sure the humidity really means the temperature should be a bit lower than in the original Bikram settings. Nominally it's 105F and 40% humidity, but I don't think that in climes more humid than that they are really using dehumidifiers systematically...)

Haven't heard back from Errol but hoping to have an afternoon session with him at World Gym as well.

Sunday run-yoga

Good day! Didn't get up quite as early as I should have (needed the full night of sleep more I think), but did my 1hr as 1:1 (pretty nice, hot but not overwhelmingly so), PT a little while thereafter, and just got back from 1hr hot yoga. I think Paris hot hatha has given me acceptable baseline heat acclimation.

catch-up

Thursday evening did the yoga therapy for back class, very nice indeed. Got up early enough Friday to do compressed essential PT before 20 hrs of travel; all went smoothly. Jet lag works advantageously in this direction and I have done my hour as 1:1, will do PT once I have finished the protein smoothie that Brent brought me back from Cafe del Sol!

Thursday

1hr as 1:1, very nice. Travel day tomorrow!

Wednesday

I am on a ridiculously late schedule, looking forward to getting a reset in Cayman! Anyway 75 as 2:1, beautiful sunny day, trouble area was sore overnight and rather achy as I moved but not horribly so. (Too much sitting on Monday, and no yoga since Saturday afternoon = bad combination.)
Have eaten and showered, PT momentarily.

Catch-up

Sunday: 45 as 1:1, PT
Monday: no run, good bit of walking, PT
Tuesday: 1hr as 1:1, had to go out immediately after that but am home now and will do PT shortly

Fri-Sat

Friday: non-run day, just did PT and walked to and from the Enlightenment conference.

Saturday: very good run earlier, 90 minutes as 2:1 (yay!), and did get to afternoon yoga as well: about 70 minutes of hot. It felt VERY hot (it's raining, humidity was close to 100%, and the room was full of people - maybe the spot I was in gets less air too) but I am getting some acclimation, so it was still just about bearable.

Thursday

late am (I have given in to natural night-owl tendencies): 1hr as 1:1, beautiful
and 1hr back therapy yoga in the evening

Good day!

Sleeping on this natural schedule clearly is good for me, I was in a very happy mood as I wanted home from yoga yesterday and felt great today too when I (finally) woke/got up. (Also happy I think that I will see Brent in another week and a half!) 75 minutes as TWO-one jog-walk!!!!!! Plus PT after food and shower.

Hot yoga!

It was great. (Some of the teachers really don't make the room as hot as others do!)

1.5 hr hot hatha

Mon.-Tues.

Mon.: non-run day, did PT after I got up and Delphine's wonderful "yoga therapie: dos" class in the evening. Gotta get to that one whenever I can - the Monday is particularly good because it's an hour and a half, plenty of time for meditation and a long savasana at the end! (Thursday only has an hour.)

Tues.: 40 as 1:1 (slight down week), plus PT at home. At the office now (it's about 1:15) and will go to 5pm hot hatha 90 en route home. I am on a very late schedule, but I have to admit that though it makes me feel guilty, it is perfectly compatible with the external and other elements of my schedule: in fact I have three Institute evening commitments in the next week (7pm talk tomorrow followed by socializing, 8pm Saturday dinner, 7:30 for 8:15 Monday night fancy dinner), and given that I don't really like or need to spend more than about three hours (max four) each day at the office, getting in around 1 is kind of perfect.

Sunday

1hr as 1:1, slightly compressed PT.

Long run!

Looks like I never posted this one earlier. 110 mins as 1:1, back still rather sore/trouble area lit up, but not horribly so. Did PT afterwards and nothing felt gruesome, and evening yoga was fine. I think the hills in Barcelona probably were the trigger - that then I was sleeping in the wrong positions, and airport sitting on travel day stiffened everything up too - anyway, will continue to do PT religiously and be careful about everything else too!

Hot yoga!

Finally made it to the 1hr Bikram class they offer in a couple slots during the week, it's not usually convenient but I hope I can get to this one again. An hour of heat is less unreasonable for me than 90 minutes! I enjoyed it - interesting to see how they do it quite differently than the 1hr version at Bliss in Cayman. (Basically only one repetition of each pose here, whereas at Bliss they have edited it in a more complex way, keeping double sets of some of the poses but making the length shorter for many of them - they tweak it periodically in an attempt to perfect - I think really the 1hr hot hatha, in the hands of my favorite teachers as they do it here, is even better, it is a more liberal reimagining of the Bikram sequence.) ANYWAY that gives me 4 x yoga this week (I don't think I'll go tomorrow), plus five runs (including tomorrow's) - I think that's pretty good.

Hot yoga!

Worked at home in the morning, then went to the 1pm 1hr hot yoga class. Very good - I think my back is gradually normalizing. That gives me 3 classes for this week so far (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) - that meets my minimum - did I say I want November to be YOGA MONTH? But four or five is better, so let's see if I can't get to at least one over the weekend as well....

Yoga therapy for back!

It was really lovely, I have to figure out how to tweak my schedule so that I can get to at least one of these classes each week (it's Monday and Thursday evening, sometimes I have a conflict). It seems to have loosened things up a bit too, which is good - it is mysterious but back was more sore last night and today than it has been for ages.

Wed-Thurs

Wed.: 1hr as 1:1 jog-walk, grocery shop immediately post run (not a great idea! cold stiff hungry walk home with overloaded bags...), then PT post-breakfast and shower.

Back very sore last night (I think I have been sleeping in impermissible positions), bad night of sleep, got up VERY late - but felt more positive as soon as I was out the door and jogging towards the park. It's a holiday here, Reid Hall is closed, knowing I wouldn't go to the office didn't help me get up in a timely manner. 75 as 1:1, not bad (yes, back is still sore, but I notice it more - and it is actually worse - when I am lying down than when I am upright and moving), breakfast-shower-PT now done too. Just did stretch components, not strength, as there is little point to the latter when everything's so lit up already.

I should be able to make it to "yoga therapie: dos" later! (That's "dos" for back, not "dos and don'ts"...)

Hot yoga!

It was great - 90 minutes hot hatha, hot but not too hot. I took the stuff with me to the office and went to 5pm yoga en route home, I think that's the way it has to be - once I'm at home, it is almost impossible to get myself to go back out again....

Tuesday

Monday: PT and walking, didn't make it back out to yoga (partly a fueling issue)
Tuesday: 70 as 1:1 jog-walk, 40F and rainy (i.e. what it will be almost every day from now to April!). R leg rather stiff, too much airport sitting, and hip increasingly achy as the hour progressed....

Sunday

1hr as 1:1, cold and rainy and not that fun, but remedied by hot shower, hotel breakfast and PT. Writing from home in Paris again this evening - long day of travel....

Saturday

1hr as 1:1, nice route (hilly! have used muscles I don't usually - I think my back might be ready for me to start doing hills again, at least on a 1:1 regimen), breakfast and shower and then PT at hotel room. Pleasant day - English-language bookstore is extremely nice and even with well-chosen history section, but nothing on Spanish history, so I was disappointed; took a nap in the afternoon as it was very rainy and I'd already got kinda wet walking around to bookstore etc.; then did venture back out to the archeology museum, which was highly worthwhile (I decided that if I am only going to do one proper museum, that should be the one). Slightly disappointing tapas en route home, now planning on having quiet early night in hotel room. Have slightly misplanned, my flight isn't till almost 3 (I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to run in the morning here before checking out) but it's also clocks-back night, so really I will have TOO much time in the day - that's OK - will prob just head to airport in any case after checking out at 11. Eager to be home and dig in on book work (and request 20 books on Spanish history from the library!)....

Friday

Thursday: just PT and then my nice day of guest lectures at the university - students were great, very good occasion for having a Barcelona trip!

Friday: set out in exploratory mode, decided partway through I might as well do my long one, it was pretty great - had not realized how close I am to main touristical area in the Park Montjuic. More elevation change than I usually have these days, my back and leg are a bit sore. 100 minutes as 1:1, essential PT done too, will hope to get in a second stretch station later. Now I just need 1hr on each of the 2 remaining days, not bad to get the longer one done with....

Wednesday!

Up in the night for a while, slept late as a consequence, late doing run = you get the idea. Now waiting for interminable wash in European-style machine (I shouldn't complain, it's a good machine, but there is no way around a 2hr wash cycle!) so that I am not packing an already sweaty set of running clothes for my trip. Still undecided as to whether I will walk over to the office to pick up library books, though I suppose it's actually kinda a good use of the wait time - maybe pack everything else and then see how the time looks....

75 mins as 1:1 jog-walk, very nice, then full PT (skimped last couple days because of yoga).

Perfect hot yoga!

It is the same hot hatha 90 as yesterday, only a different teacher (and different conditions for my body too - yesterday was 11am on an empty stomach, today was 5pm after sensible breakfast and lunch) who does not take such a punitive attitude towards heat! It was perfect! Very glad I went back today, it's usually a mistake not to go back soon after a horrible class (it's the get back on the horse principle). I will run 75 mins in the morning tomorrow, stop by the office just for an hour or two and then need to leave for the airport (undecided as to whether from home or office, various factors intrude including the very very slow wash cycle in European machines! intend to run 3 times in Barcelona and need at least 2 full clean sets of run clothes I think, even if it means packing them when they are still quite damp!). Don't see how I can really fit in yoga without overdoing it and also creating laundry problems...

1.5hr hot hatha at exactly the right warm temperature!

Tuesday

1hr as 1:1, really nice, weather is perfect here at this time of year. Forgot to do PT, that's bad! Thinking I am going to have another go at today's hot hatha 90 class, which Delphine teaches at 5 - hopefully it will not be as overwhelming as yesterday's....

Hot hot yoga

Ugh, that was too much - I see I haven't done a hot class since Oct. 9, I obviously lost all my heat acclimation! Felt queasy almost right away, pretty intensely so, and had to keep on lying down, I'd get back up to make an attempt and just immediately feel so queasy I had to lie down again. Whoa! I also note that it is now cool enough outside that I can't just walk home in sweat-soaked clothes, need to revert to winter mode where I strip off down to sports bra and put a dry layer (sweatpants, sweatshirt) over it to walk home, then shower at home. No point showering at the studio as I need to wait at least 20 minutes to stop the sweat pouring off me!

1.5hr grotesquely too hot (really it was super-humid today I think, not really hotter than usual) hatha

Weekend update

Saturday: 1hr as 1:1, PT; didn't have the vim to make it back out to evening yoga (psychologically difficult I think - I need to fuel and organize my day so that I can do a weekend 3pm or 5pm, 7pm wasn't realistic given that I hadn't eaten enough food earlier either)
Sunday: 1hr as 1:1. PT will have to wait as landlord is stopping by shortly to pick up a piece of furniture from the apartment, I don't want to be on the mat when he gets here! In fact, may head to office shortly, undecided (he has a key, I don't need to be here) - got my eye on a 3pm yoga as well...

Thursday-Friday

Thursday, just PT; Friday, 1hr as 1:1 jog-walk + PT.

Wednesday update

Monday: rest day, missed PT (Disney return + letters of rec used up every ounce of vim). MUST DO PT EVERY DAY!
Tuesday: 40 min as 1:1, PT. Recovery week.
Wednesday: 60 as 1:1, PT. Really nice - feeling a lot looser and smoother than I have for a while. This evening is talk, tomorrow afternoon is workshop, Brent's here till Saturday - things don't quite get simple again after that (I am annoyed at my past self) as I am going to Barcelona next week to do some class visits and tourism, but once that's done I am back in routine!

Sunday closes out the week

60 as 1:1 park loops - beautiful weather again, and it's a pretty nice little path. I did see ONE ginormous koi in the canal - people were feeding it bits of bread.

Biggest run week since May and back pain fiasco/intensive summer rehab - Mon. and Thurs. are rest days, but otherwise it was 60, 70, 100, 75, 60. PT every day. Very happy about this - things are feeling good, back and sciatic stuff very much better and jogging itself is feeling smoother and more relaxed. All good!

Saturday catch-up

Thursday: day off, did PT and walking expedition to the Jardin des Plantes with B.
Friday: long run first thing in the am, 100 mins. as 1:1 jog-walk. Very humid, and sore feet later on in the day, but not bad otherwise. PT done.
Saturday: 75 mins. 1:1 at Disney + PT post-breakfast and shower. Beautiful morning!

Wednesday!

Brent is here! That is the big news. Did my run midday (rather warm, and park v crowded), 70 as 1:1, PT not long thereafter. R hip a little sore from overly deep twisting at yoga yesterday, will be more cautious going forward.

Hot yoga!

OK, it was a near thing, but I did get to 5pm hot hatha 90 class. Felt very hot and a bit queasy, but I am glad I did it. Doing some book work this afternoon helped me calm down a little - I am still feeling overly scattered though (need to start assembling the images for my talk, I don't usually have those, and also REALLY need to organize the information re: letters of rec....).

Sun.-Tues.

Sunday: 1hr as 1:1, PT. Monday: day off (Louvre walking!), just PT. Tuesday: 1hr as 1:1, slightly curtailed PT. Anxiety running very high, gotta go and do some work STAT (and figure out logistics on these chaotic letters of rec)....

Saturday

95 as 1:1 jog-walk. Had modest breakfast, must shower and do PT and then get more food...

Thursday-Friday

Thursday: rest day, just PT and walking (many work evening commitments this week, no space for yoga)
Friday: 1hr as 1:1 jog-walk, very nice, PT will have to wait for later as I am now running slightly late (it's 11:25, I'm in sweaty run clothes, and I need to be at a fancy lunch at 12:15, i.e. probably with blow-dried hair - had intended to take bus but I think it will have to be an Uber...)

Monday-Wednesday catch-up

Monday: 1.5hr hot hatha (Dominique's class, harder than Robin's on Saturday I think!)
Tuesday: 1hr as 1:1, plus 1pm hot hatha (Coco)
Wednesday: 1hr as 1:1.

Did PT all three days, I think I'm back in the routine on it now.

Run!

1hr as 1:1 jog-walk. Hot yoga yesterday worked a miracle, it rebalanced my left and right sides and everything was much more as it should be today than yesterday! No yoga this afternoon, didn't time fuel intake correctly, but I think I will go to two classes tomorrow, a hot one at 11 and then the evening back therapy yoga one as well....

Hot yoga!

FINALLY. It is pitiful, I have a very easy schedule here, but troubling managing the timing of sleep, jogging, fueling, office time has hampered me - if I eat breakfast but not lunch it's too long to hang around at the office till 5, it's more like I finish writing at 2:30 and go home and eat a late lunch! And yes, I need to pay more attention to food, where I am getting it and when I am eating it. But today, after my am 1.5hr jog-walk, I had decent breakfast at home _and_ picked up a ham and cheese sandwich which I ate at the office around 12. A 3hr digestive interval is needed before hot yoga; class at 3 was indeed 90+ minutes, hot but not too hot, GREAT!

90min hot hatha

Saturday update

Thursday: 1hr back therapy yoga (teacher is going to move this class to the evening as well so that we can have the full hour and a half)
Friday: 1hr as 1:1, would have liked end of day yoga in theory but (a) hadn't fueled correctly and (b) done in by hearings so just going home was a better choice.
Saturday: 1.5hr as 1:1, very nice, sciatica in evidence but not painfully so. At office now writing some pages (hahaha, Knausgaard is an inspiration, and also the place I am in this project is uncannily slightly reminiscent of his own project!), will go to 3pm hot hatha class. (FINALLY!)

Midweek update

Mon.: 1.5hr yoga back therapy class - SO GREAT!
Tues.: 1hr as 1:1 jog-walk, never did do PT, MUST do it daily...
Wed.: PT then 1:1 jog-walk - Becca has pointed out that really it should be done before the run, I resisted that theory but really it must be so (will still soon have second yoga mat at the office for days with genuine morning time constraint).

Sat./Sun.

Saturday: 90 as 1:1! Woo-hoo! Attempted to go to hot yoga mid-afternoon but felt a little woozy as I was walking over and decided it would a better idea to buy food and come home and eat it.

Still a little lightheaded this morning, especially when I get up from lying down but also while walking - I did 60 as 1:1, felt normal while jogging but that slight mild maybe-vertigo feeling when walking. Would like to go to 3pm hot yoga today but will use discretion about that....

Friday

1hr as 1:1. Terrible sleep again (11-3, then completely awake until 7:30 before I had a little bit more dozing), it seems unlikely that I will want to go to full-on Bikram yoga at 5, but you never know....

Back therapy yoga!

Becca points out that when I write "yoga therapy: dos" she thinks it's "do's and don'ts"....

Great hour-long lunchtime class, that is a treat!

Wednesday

1hr as 1:1, very nice. Need to get a move on, it's another late start! May go to yoga later, not sure - not a priority - but must do PT before too much longer...

Monday-Tuesday update

Monday: non-run day, did 1.5hr back therapy yoga in the evening and it was GLORIOUS - amazing long savasana at the end to absorb everything, I really love this teacher and her approach.

Tuesday: started the day with 1hr 1:1 jog-walk, will do PT after I have eaten and showered. Shooting for 5pm hot hatha 90 but don't feel locked in on that if I don't feel like it.

Sunday

V nice run along the Seine, went "out" for my whole hour and found my way home without undue stress on public transit. All good. 1hr as 1:1 jog-walk.

Catch-up

Logging in too many places....

Friday: 1hr as 1:1, plus 1hr hot yoga
Saturday: 1hr as 1:1, will do PT in a bit, undecided re: later yoga

Yoga!

Yoga "back therapy" class, it is really good. Plus a fair bit of walking (knocked important task off the list in the am: seeing a French doctor in order to get my prescriptions rewritten so that I can fill them here).

Wed.

1hr as 1:1, very nice. Haven't yet done PT. Thinking about letting my schedule just fall where it naturally wants to instead of trying to force early rising - the case against is that if I could get up 8:15, run 8:30-9:30, eat breakfast, go to office it would be a pretty sane schedule that would please me. But really I should do PT after the post-run shower, and I don't if I'm antsy about getting in - also it's tight to have have digested before a 1pm hot yoga class. And then again I could get to the office at noon and then leave for a 5pm yoga class which would be directly on my way home! Obviously there is not REALLY a need for a highly systematized schedule, but I do like it when I have one that works....

Tues.

Slept mostly through the night, hard to get up (vivid cinematic melatonin dreams!), very nice 1hr as 1:1 jog-walk (the weather continues to be shockingly beautiful). Have breakfasted, need to shower and get myself out the door, it's almost 11. Envious of people who can easily get up early - jet lag is particular cause just now but in general I find it really hard to get up before 9 when there are no hard external prompts....

Yoga!

Brilliant hot hatha 90-minute class. That is too long and too hot, I need acclimation, and some of the postures are too hard/borderline impossible, but it is always appropriate to modify. Happy to be back at it - felt amazing sense of calm as I walked in the door! Had a couple hours at the office first (did get continuous sleep 11:30pm-6:30am) but it is going to be very tempting to go back to bed after I shower....

Fri.-Sun.

Friday: jet-lag related writeoff, nothing beyond normal walking (and I couldn't even make myself do PT)
Saturday: got sleep in 2 shifts, nice 1hr as 1:1 jog-walk, PT, didn't make it to yoga but walked to the big grocery store and did bigger shopping, which was probably the wiser use of that time slot anyway
Sunday: got sleep in 2 shifts (but gosh, being awake from 3-8am is unpleasant - not terrible on a weekend because you can effectively go back to sleep, but not good for coming weekdays)

Gonna shower and do PT, uncertain about yoga now as I can't do the 3pm I'd hoped to (not long enough digestive interval). I think I probably should be patient and wait till tomorrow, which is not a run day - if I wear yoga clothes under work clothes and get to the office at 9:30 or so, I could then sneak out (still on an empty stomach) for Dominique's 11am hot hatha 90, come home to shower and change, then back to the office by 1:30 or so. That sounds reasonable to me...

Thursday

OK, Wednesday was just regular walking (not a special exercise one) and PT at the office, which is not optimal (jeans incompatible with full stretching!). Napped in afternoon, jet lag is hard to shake, feeling a little overwhelmed with minor details of settling in. Today was better partly because I basically just admitted that if I wanted "run" and yoga I might not make it to the office at all (we had been given a "free day" although unfortunately my clean set of yoga clothes was in my office, as I'd hoped to use them yesterday and didn't feel like ferrying them home again).

1hr as 1:1 jog-walk
1hr "yoga therapie: dos"! Which was GREAT, and I feel much more grounded now that I've paid for a three-month membership and gotten over the hump of start-up

Fuller update!

Friday: 1hr walk early, PT

Saturday: 1hr as 1:1 jog-walk early, PT, then to the airport for mega-transit

Sunday: arrived in Paris lunchtime, managed to stay up, went for about 1.25hr walk with my landlord who showed me around the neighborhood, did the crucial 75% of PT

Monday: 1hr as 1:1 in Luxembourg Gardens, which are literally five minutes away; PT at end of day (yoga turned out not to be realistic, I hadn't eaten sufficiently)

Today: 30 as 1:1. PT will have to wait till later, I need to get a move on to get ready to go with my landlord to arrange apartment insurance.

Gruesome jet lag last night, I thought it might be OK (up at reasonable hour, no naps, exercise, human contact, tiring new experiences) but I couldn't get to sleep till after 3am, and feel pretty awful right now! A shower will help I expect, and some food and caffeine. Sciatica in R leg still rather sore....

Update

Not sure what happened to logging this week! (But I write it in my training log and then also update at a secret PT group on Facebook, so perhaps not surprising....)

Tuesday: 1hr early as 1:1 jog-walk + PT, session #11 with Errol at the gym
Wednesday: 2 x :15 walk to 1hr hot yoga! Most of PT done late afternoon
Thursday: 1hr early as 1:1 jog-walk + PT, session #12 with Errol

Our final session was glorious: a "real" full-body workout with non-trivial weights, a lot of things I couldn't have done without significant back pain a month ago. Woo-hoo!

Monday

I must have opened this earlier and then never written it! Anyway, early 1hr walk + PT not too long after, and just now brilliant session #10 with Errol. All is well, and we have found a home with a friend of mine outside NYC for the little cat!

Sun!

1hr easy and early as 1:1 jog-walk. Haven't done PT yet.

Fri-Sat

Fri: :55 walk early + PT
Sat: 1hr alternating 1:1 jog-walk, PT

Set the alarm for 5:15 instead of 5:30 today, and will do that till I leave at the end of the month - traditionally 5:30 lets me be out the door by 5:45/:50, but the little cat needs 10-15 minutes of full attention and high-energy play!

Thursday

1hr easy and early as 1:1 jog-walk, PT not too long after. About to go on expedition, do have 3pm appointment with Errol and hope I am home in good time to get re-air-conditioned before heading back out! IMO they could have the AC about 10 degrees cooler at World Gym and it would be better...

Wednesday

Just did 1hr walk early - I would in theory have very much liked to go to hot yoga, but having visitors is taxing albeit nice, and though I woke up at the requisite hour, I thought I'd better do the simpler thing that let me have a little bit longer at home first to play with the kitten-cat and got me home right at 7 rather than more like 7:20, as it is the dreaded cleaner day as well (writing from "cleaner exile" at Cafe del Sol on Lawrence Boulevard)....

Sat-Sun

Saturday: 1hr easy and early as 1:1 jog-walk, PT; Sunday: 30min easy and early as 1:1 jog-walk, PT.

Walk/PT

1hr early walk, mid-afternoon PT. If I don't do it early in the morning, it becomes very easy to keep on postponing....

Wednesday-Thursday catch-up

Wednesday early: 2 x 15min walk to and from 6am hot yoga. That was good - it is so humid outside that when I leave the condo at 5:40 or so the sweat starts to build up in a sheen all over, even just walking....

Final stroke and stride race went off well, kayak volunteering is the nicest place to be - beautiful out there on the water.

Thursday: very nice 60 as 1:1 jog-walk early - my R leg is actually feeling almost like the L leg, fatigue builds up more quickly on R side but it is an amazing improvement - and then a 3pm session with Errol. We are actually starting to do some lower body strength work to try and rectify the strength imbalances and small muscles in R leg not firing properly....

Tuesday!

1hr as 1:1 jog-walk easy and early, followed by PT not too long thereafter. And just got back from very nice session #6 with Errol - some upper body and back strength work as well as the all-important stretching. We're going to try lower body on Thursday, I'm excited!

Session #5

with Errol, so good! It is amazing how fast things are progressing - R glute in particular feeling so much stronger and more stable, this is good....

Sunday-Monday

Must have forgotten to log yesterday, but very nice 1hr as 1:1 jog-walk easy and early, then PT a bit later on. Did some thinking about how to stop shirking non-run cardio and decided I'd better use early run slot on non-run days to walk outside: just did 1hr walk plus PT. Time now to shower and get on with things...

Friday/Saturday

Must have forgotten to log yesterday: 1hr as 1:1 jog-walk easy and early, PT a bit later on. Today: 1hr hot yoga! And now I know what to modify. It was very good. Will do PT a bit later on, need to let the sweat finish first so that I can put on clothes post-shower!

Session #4

Bliss! Some back strength and stretch (I think the load from Mon-Tues was a little too high so we backed off slightly), and then some bona-fide upper body lifting at the end. Very nice to be back at it even if in this very modest way! Did PT in the morning, no cardio as kayak volunteering last night put extra load on and I thought rest was the better choice.

Wednesday

Early: 1hr as 1:1 jog-walk. Mid-afternoon PT exercises (slightly curtailed, only stretch not strength, as may have slightly overdone it with last couple days of gym stuff). Off shortly for race #2 of the Stroke and Stride series at Sunset House, I am again on a kayak.

Session #3

Some mat work and a lot of very extreme stretching, some foam rolling, etc. This is great!

PT/sea swim

Just a short one. Will have session #3 of back rehab later on with Errol at the gym.

Monday!

It's only three things if you count PT as one of the three, but I am looking forward to getting back to double workout days, everything goes better when I can do it that way.

early am: 30 as 1:1 jog-walk
morning: PT
afternoon: very good session #2 with Errol at the gym (back strength work focusing especially on rotation, just a bit of Xtreme stretch at the end)

Weekend update

Saturday: nice early 60 as 1:1 jog-walk, did PT mid-morning.

Sunday: 1hr hot yoga! I modified things as needed (i.e. just staying standing for R side eagle, standing bow, keeping knees up and bent for shavasana), lower back a bit achy by the end but it feels fine now and I am really hoping I can keep doing this a couple times a week at least. I think it's one of the things that's going to help with R glute and leg, which are now more of the problem than the back as such - still need to be very careful about spinal extension, but this is a good context to get back stronger....

Friday

More of a bare minimum day: did PT at home, then to gym for 15 mins elliptical and 15 treadmill walk. Tension starts to build in R glute and leg on elliptical, not horribly (definitely the bike is the thing to avoid); relieved as I switch to TM, but then as I go along I start to have shooting twinges in R upper back/back of shoulder. Trying to be patient!

Thursday!

Just did PT exercises in the morning, no independent cardio session, mostly because I wasn't sure what the afternoon session at the gym with Errol would be like. I am happy to report that it seems perfect! Sort of like a hybrid between what my PT was doing in NYC and a regular session with a trainer - a lot of these intense stretches really need a second person, and the pummeling/manipulation of back at the end also got some good cracks released. Focusing on activating and strengthening the glutes - my lower back is actually quite strong. THIS IS GOOD - just kinda great to be back in a gym with a serious purpose, even if it NOT lifting very heavy things...

Wednesday misc.

Back a bit tight/tender last night and R leg definitely not right this morning, not painful but not good either. Anyway did my 60 as 1:1, did PT shortly thereafter and then had a funny and nice early evening as a kayak volunteer at Sunset House. Yes, I may have carried around more things than I should have; yes, the position you sit in in a sea kayak seems fine at first and then leads to some forward stretching to relieve pressure; but - I HALP!

Gym!

Not for anything much, but it is important to get my Cayman routine set up right. World Gym is only a few minutes' walk away from Brent's condo and it is a very pleasant place to work out, I have no excuse! And I do like leaving the house to do the PT exercises, since I am home so much of the time otherwise. So:

did PT in rather awkward location (then realized that there IS a whole stretching area on second floor, I will use that next time) by the small free weights area upstairs. Then just did minor trial upper body things (almost nothing, and I am WEAK!): 3 x 10 floor press with 20lb dumbbells alternating with 12 skullcrusher at same weight (which is not really heavy enough). 10 mins exercise bike, fine at first (and position was right) but right LB starts to ache as I get close to ten minutes, so switched to elliptical for 10 more - it is NOT nearly enough cardio but it is better than nothing and I will start with the elliptical next time.

Slightly giving up on local sea swimming for now, it's warm and a bit gross - will have a longer swim tomorrow at Sunset House when we are there for Brent to volunteer at the Stroke and Stride (usually I volunteer as well if I am not participating, but I am selfishly going to use the chance to get in a swim in nicer sea location), ditto following 2 Wednesdays, but I don't think I should count on morning sea swim as regular cardio.

Monday 30/PT

30 as 1:1, PT. Have just shut kitten out of bedroom so that I can get some quick work done at the keyboard! (Presence of kitten obviously swayed me away from going to Cafe del Sol for the usual morning work session!)

PT and short sea swim!

It's not my optimal swim workout situation, I like the structure of a pool and the heat and salt water make it a little less enjoyable than it might be, but it is RIGHT here, I am so lucky! Thinking about whether Camana Bay masters swim might be available - under the circs, the RT walk might be considered salutary part of exercise, though the walk back post-swim and after the sun comes up is a bit much (also not sure how safe it now is for pedestrians to cross the highway!). Something to ponder, anyway...

PT and quite short sea swim

Friday/Saturday

Alas, no yoga yesterday, the inactivity/sitting/missed PT of earlier in the week left things all kinda lit up - I did PT early Friday morning and it was clear to me that yoga was contraindicated. Talked myself out of early-morning swimming (because I'd already showered, under the impression that I'd do yoga later - no, this was NOT a sufficient reason, hopping in the shower for quick rinse is not a big deal) - then later it was a downpour with thunder and it was clearly not going to happen. Stern thoughts on run this morning that I must do the cardio first thing in the am whether or not it is a run day! (We are right on the beach, I am not super-keen on this stretch for swimming - it's very safe, very shallow, rather too warm - but it is super-easy to access, with a funny-shaped pool to warm up in if I want to do some drill, and the gym is 1 block away. I have no excuses!)

Anyway, very nice early stint of 60 minutes as 1:1 jog walk. Had a huge smile on my face throughout, it's so nice - lizards and baby chicks and beautiful flowers and greeting other runners and cyclists with "Good morning!"

Thursday Cayman report

OK, back on track now I hope. Sunday I just did PT, Monday and Tuesday I really knew would be a wash (didn't even do PT, ugh - Monday was getting out of the apartment in a fashion that left it visitor-ready and transporting cats and luggage to Philadelphia, Tuesday was PHL-MIA-GCM with only about 3.5hrs in the air but a total of 16 hours from door to door!). Got in so late Tuesday night that Wednesday also suffered (and it's "cleaner day," which necessitates "cleaner exile" - then I slept the whole afternoon, I was utterly wiped out).

This morning did force myself out of bed at 5:45 and get in my 50 as 1:1 before the sun was too high in the sky. Did PT exercises at home in the afternoon. Still figuring out what exercise schedule is going to be like - I am going to try yoga tomorrow for the first time in a while and see if it will work with modifications or perhaps not.

PT + 50 as 1:1

Saturday!

It is my birthday, and I am in a good mood. Humidity unusually low yesterday and today; have sorted out all my prescriptions after second trip back to the pharmacy this morning; I began the day with a lovely meet-up with a dear old friend of mine from grad school days who I haven't seen in probably fifteen years, and have just had my statutory PT and "run" - today it's FORTY as 1:1, starting to build back up! PT is done, I'm leaving on Monday, I clearly need to do (at least most of) these exercises forevermore. But being at Brent's for five weeks will really let me put back in more things, test yoga, etc.

(Friday was just PT exercises at home and then my final PT appointment, with some intense stretching and pressing/pummeling.)

Thursday

Slightly regretting having blown my day on soothing exercise (and then Uber ride home stresses me back up again due to traffic - NYC is impossible, I might need to leave - I mean, I AM leaving soon!...), but it was really great. 75 minutes of restorative yoga, very nice, got to say thanks to the teacher afterwards. Bite to eat in the cafe, minor digestive interval, then an extremely pleasant swim as follows:

Warmup: 100 swim, 2 x 150 as kick-drill-swim by 50 (1st back, 2nd free), 100 RaLaCuBa (500)

Main set: 3 x 250 as 100 easy free, 75 kick-drill-swim back, 50 free build, 25 free hard (750)

50 easy swim down and hot tub dunk

Mid-week catch-up

Monday: designated rest day from exercise, but I also didn't do my PT exercises (have let the 2 things get unduly tied together).

Tuesday: early doc appointment in midtown compromised sleep (but my back is doing SO MUCH BETTER! Just had 48 hours pretty much pain-free - putting in this pillow underneath my side while sleeping was the last important piece of the puzzle and has made a big difference). Meant to go straight from midtown doc to Chelsea Piers to swim, but inevitably forgot to bring swim stuff (was leaving apartment at 7:15 when usually I don't even wake up properly till about 9:30!). Dozed some, important conference call re: Ottawa business, did do PT in the end but didn't manage to get to the gym for a bike.

Wednesday: PT, then the alloted 30 as 1:1! Which I now see could have been 40 if I had only looked at my training spreadsheet! Woo-hoo, we're starting to build back up again a bit more....

Catch-up

Hmmmm, seem to have missed some days of logging....

Friday: complicated day schedule-wise, did PT exercises in the morning and had an hour of PT in the afternoon (very good) but no actual exercise, alas. If I don't do it before PT session, it won't happen after. (But the washer-dryer is in!)

Saturday: PT exercises and my precious 30 as 1:1! High point of the week. Did I really not log it here?

Sunday: PT exercises and went over to the Columbia gym (couldn't make myself go there the other day, but really I must just have been in overload mode, it didn't feel stressful making it happen today), 15 mins bike, it is still not happening for me pain-free. Adjusted position as per PT's rec last week, started out OK, but as soon as I started a higher-cadence interval I had sharp discomfort in glute and building ache in hip. Back to square one on this - PT sensibly said (yes, I guess I kinda ignored it, I didn't mean to) get to 20 minutes and then 30 minutes pain-free before I try and do anything that's not absolutely easy, and that is what I will do.

One more week in NYC! Office declutter is still ongoing but my apartment is really almost ready for me to leave it. Have a bunch of library books that I need to skim/take notes on/return, that's the one other biggish thing....

Thursday!

Good day. Just about made it to 10:30 restorative yoga, which really hit the spot today: I wasn't having allergies that made my face want to explode (or right-nostril breathing impossible), my back is much better and no longer twanging even in rest positions, etc. Ate a salad and finished reading Naomi Novik's extremely good new novel. Then had PT on pool deck and a nice swim as follows:

Warmup (500)

100 easy
2 x 150 as kick-drill-swim by 50 (back, free)
100 RaLaCuBa

Main set (500)

4 x 125 as 25 back, 100 free, concentrating on long smooth easy strokes

Test: 50 fly as drill-swim. Hmmm, maybe I can start adding a little of this back in - it would make sets more appealing....

Cooldown: 50 easy back, 100 free

1200 yards total

Wednesday

Exercise went haywire when at the 8min mark of proposed 30 as 1:1 I got the beep for voicemail (ambient noise prevent me from hearing ring I guess) saying that appliance delivery truck was less than 15 minutes away - raced home, got there in time, but I ordered the wrong machine, so they had to take it away again! Take two on Friday. That was kinda it for me as far as exercise goes today as I was supervising effort of getting all the STUFF in my apartment that I am getting rid of over to campus for first day of donation event. Need to go back out now for the evening so that kind of is just going to have to be it for today, got no vim left for anything surplus to minimum requirements...

Beautiful swim!

Monday is rest day, I just did PT (and there was some misc. walking). Tuesday: very nice swim! May try and bike for a bit before I leave the gym (about to eat and set up with work in cafe, first day I have had like this for so long!), but might be that one thing was enough for today.

PT on pool deck, then:

warmup: 100 free, 100 RaLaCuBa, 4 x 75 kick-drill-swim (odds free, evens back)

main set: 2 x 300 as (2 x 50 easy, 2 x 50 moderate, 2 x 50 as 25 hard, 25 easy)

cooldown: 50 easy back, 50 easy free

1200 yards

Sunday

Sunday: had walk in the park instead of bike (but I need to get over the hump of not wanting to set foot in the Columbia gym, it is foolish, it is RIGHT THERE), then did PT. Only two more weeks in NYC!

Catch-up

Thursday: did restorative yoga, bad allergies and knowledge that I had forgotten keys and would have to deal with that when I got home did NOT make for best class ever, did PT on pool deck afterwards but no other exercise. Overheated en route home, that plus key fiasco (fault of declutter - keys in a bowl are not as noticeable as keys splayed out on dining table!) led me to cancel assistant session and huddle in bed for much of afternoon and early evening!

Friday: short version of PT exercises before a BRILLIANT PT session. This guy is really good. Things are getting better but still a ways to go. My run (shuffle) gait on treadmill got seal of approval. We experimented with position on stationary bike until I found one that didn't trigger (mild but noticeable) sciatica. My task is to get up to 20 minutes on bike totally pain-free, then thirty, before I add in any interval work. This is extremely sensible.

Saturday: The heat wave broke! Did my 30 as 1:1 in the park, area around top right quadratus initially quite lit up from yesterday's soft tissue work and stretching, that warmed up but other stuff twanged a bit, I have to be patient - but it was BLISS out there, 65F, sunny, low humidity - a gift!

Tuesday, Wednesday

Tuesday I just did PT - schedule mismanagement on my part, but by the time I'd done my office book-moving session, even mostly just supervising, everything was sore and achy and it didn't make sense to try for anything (also, HEAT). Today I got a late start but it didn't matter. Taxi to gym, pool deck PT and a nice swim. I feel sheepish that it's such a small number of yards, I think of 2000 as a sort of minimum workout (the way 3 miles is for a runner - not that I have been running three full miles on my 30 as 1:1), but important not to overdo it - no pain now but everything does feel a bit tight on that right side.

Warmup: 400 as 100 swim, 100 RaLaCuBa, 100 back alternating double-arm and full stroke, 100 alternating catch-up and free (400)

Main set: 2 x 300 as (100 easy, 2 x 50 back-free by 25, 4 x 25 hard on :45) (1000)

Cooldown: 2 x 75 as easy kick-drill-swim (back, free) (1150)

Monday back-at-it

Saturday and Sunday were a wash - it was a VORTEX of memorial activity. Did PT on Saturday but not on Sunday (only got about 2 hrs sleep and hosted this drop-in brunch Sunday - about 20 people - I casually host after misc. academic stuff at that kind of number but it's mostly graduate students who do not at all mind standing around with, usually, beer and pizza - but this is an adult crowd with higher expectations - I am happy to say it went really well - once everyone left around 2, I went back to bed and slept for four hours, AND slept a good night's sleep too - I was exhausted!).

Today: PT, 30 as 1:1. Decided not to go downtown to restorative yoga as it is just TOO HOT outside and I felt the quiet morning at home in air-conditioning was clearly going to be better for me. Will get down there for swim and/or bike tomorrow I think.

Friday PT/swim

RT taxis, extravagant and still not optimal as traffic en route home was unbelievable and I only JUST got home in time for the beginning of my take-two couch delivery window. Spending money like water! Assistant will be here at 1 so that I can go and get my hair cut (tonight is out-of-towners' dinner at Petrarca in Tribeca, tomorrow's the big celebration of life party in memory of Gene at the Tribeca Grill), FreshDirect delivery booked too, feel like a crazy NYC lady multitasker!

Only had time for a short swim (and am trying to play it safe - back was way better yesterday and overnight than it has been, I need to take things really slowly and not do anything that will produce a setback), but it was really nice. Somewhat as follows:

100 swim
100 RaLaCuBa (Doug Stern's favorite)
100 kick on back
100 alternating double-arm back and full stroke
100 free easy
100 as 4 x 25 harder on :45
100 easy swim down

PT exercises plus 700 yards

Thursday

Taxi to gym (I was running really late, barely made it there in time, but the class starts a bit late because the teacher waits for the previous hour of pilates class to finish, so that in fact I wasn't late at all!). 75 minutes of highly beneficial restorative yoga - can't miss these classes as they're only twice a week and it's the only kind of yoga class I can currently do! Did PT exercises on the pool deck, then tried a stationary bike (the more recumbent kind) - alas, felt that yawning tugging feeling at R proximal hamstring right away, so just did 10 mins to get the HR up a bit and called it. I will swim tomorrow, jog Saturday and take Sunday for rest, then see how everything feels next week - but swimming more may be the solution for now.

Wednesday

Had good session with Tom the PT yesterday where we were in agreement (reluctant but strong on my part) that I am doing too many things still that aggravate back stuff. He worked on my upper back and neck, with beneficial effects, and today I only did my PT exercises, especially as I was spending a lot of hours pulling stuff out of closets and sorting it into trash and donation bags, with the kind of miscellaneous leaning over that you get with that kind of work. Tomorrow I will go to restorative yoga in the am and then have some kind of bike or swim after - Tom rightly suggests that I should be trying an upright stationary bike of regular rather than spin bike kind, because the spin bikes are to a great extent set up to mimic road bike posture. (You can adjust, of course, but I do find that as a short person, it is impossible to have the handlebar high enough up to get a truly sedate ride.)

Monday-Tuesday catchup

Monday: rode bike RT to Chelsea Piers for restorative yoga, which was good. Did PT exercises there. Rode home irritably into a headwind, it activated the R glute-hamstring thing somewhat.

Today: Did PT at home then had 30 as 1:1 (mixing up the days based on what other commitments I'm working around, will bike tomorrow on a spin bike at the gym). That R proximal hamstring was activated yesterday while biking and I could feel it today, not unpleasantly but certainly it felt weird and sciatica-like all down the leg. PT appointment later, will grill him about various things.....

Sunday

Gonna have to start taking Sundays as a rest day, that was not good. Did PT at home mid-afternoon, then rode bike to gym to see if the 90-minute hatha yoga class might be ok. It was not OK (I almost burst into tears when the teacher sent us into a series of fast sun salutations near the start of class - but even just lying in shavasana without a bolster under my knees currently makes right lower back immediately rather sore). Things kind of came round and the second half of class was mostly things I could do, but that plus overcrowding on the bike path (note to self: do not even think about riding bike to gym on a summer weekend day - especially not Pride weekend!) and hot hazy weather just made everything frazzled rather than in any sense relaxing. Ugh!

2 x 5mi bike
90 minutes of ill-advised yoga

Catch-up

Friday: long walk with friend and colleague L., PT exercises.

Saturday: PT exercises, 30 as 1:1. Not great, not bad (really I'm just in low spirits); trouble area was tight rather than sore as such, spot in left knee very sore for some reason. It is such a first-world problem that I am ashamed I even let it affect my mood, but I had a disappointment this morning with the couch delivery - the armchair is in, but the couch was too big to fit in the elevator and it had to go back into the truck! Was very tempted to go back to bed afterwards and weep, but really that doesn't do any good - and I think there is an easy solution, there is a loveseat sized version of the same couch (WHICH I SHOULD HAVE ORDERED IN THE FIRST PLACE, I AM AN IDIOT, I HATE EVERYTHING TO DO WITH ADULT LIFE IN THE WORLD) and I can get them to send me that instead. The question now of course is whether (I think probably not) it can be delivered in time for me hosting an open house brunch (closing event of the Gene Kilik memorial celebration weekend) for a relatively large number of people a week from tomorrow....

Thursday bike-yoga

Rode bike to and from gym, restorative yoga (I am rediscovering my love for this particular yoga practice by the way!). Nice not-hot ride on the way down; way back, hotter and also something of a headwind, which activates a sort of strip along my right proximal hamstring. Not painful, but feeling almost as if someone glued a strip of plastic to it or similar. Still need to do PT stretches, but shower first I think...

Wednesday

PT session yesterday afternoon was good, we slightly modified exercises but not by much, we're getting somewhere I think. Today I used up all my good back mojo on finishing organizing books in the living room; took taxi to Chelsea Piers, did PT exercises on pool deck and then had very nice swim. My back was sore before I started and I could feel it throughout, so I am erring on the side of caution in terms of total workout time - but it is nice being in cool water on a hot day.

PT exercises
swim: c. 1000 yards with fins (mix of swim and drill - RaLaCuBa, fists, finger-drag, thumbs-and-salute, kick on back)

Tuesday PT/jog

PT exercises + 35 as 1:1. Legs a bit tired from riding a bike yesterday, which is pitiful, but there you go (not muscular fatigue as such but a slight sciatica twinge down right leg and general feeling of no spring in the legs). PT appointment in 45 mins, must get in the shower and get myself out the door...

Monday back-at-it

OK, things have kind of been all over the place, but a big revelation Friday at PT about cause of ongoing R lower back soreness and hip pain - it is the position I read in lying down, something I do for many hours every day! - which doesn't solve anything as such (not least because even if I keep correct posture while awake, as soon as I am sleeping I am twisting and turning - went to bed yesterday evening with pillow between legs to keep spine in neutral and almost normal-feeling back after day in NJ with no exercise and no reading in bed, woke up 2am with very achy tight lower back and sore hip...) but gives me a clearer set of things to work on. PT introduced the notion of the "pelvic clock" (nomenclature!) and we discovered that at 3 and 6 o'clock I am immediately experiencing very tight sore right lower back....

(I spent all day Saturday just concentrating on keeping posture exactly right - and when I went out for 30 easy as 1:1 just before dusk, NOTHING HURT AT ALL! It was a minor miracle! And gives me confidence that I will some months from now be back running not all but most days of the week.)

ANYWAY in the meantime I have adjusted seat height on commuter bike and acquired a cushioned saddle cover for comfort. Rode down to Chelsea Piers (headwind, but nice breeze off the water), did 75 minutes restorative yoga and 20 minutes of PT exercises on the sunny pool deck, ate a sandwich, rode home (it is now insanely hot!). I feel like I can now be functionally back at it.

Saturday catch-up

Thursday: restorative yoga (great, need to find more places to do it), spin (stopped after 30 mins due to painful sciatica). Need to adjust left cleat but otherwise shoes are much better.

Friday: a wash. Got three important things done, so I will still count it a win, but didn't even do PT exercises, I was too tuckered out by the end of the day. Need to organize morning priorities better.

Saturday: 30 as 1:1! First time I've tried it since doctor visit 2.5 weeks ago (not deliberately so long, but I figured since Ottawa is impossible anyway it made sense to have a couple weeks totally off from jogging to let any peripheral inflammation die down). A twinge of sciatica originating in glute and feelable down the leg, but not nearly as sharp as while spinning the other day. Towards end I can start feeling some tightness in my back (I did the PT exercises pre-run to stretch everything out). I really don't think it's contraindicated - I am going to suggest doing 30 as 1:1 3 times per week. Still working out some kind of regular exercise schedule, I don't like leaving it to be ad hoc, it goes better when it's locked in....

Still - 30 as 1:1!

Back at it

Got home from Ottawa yesterday (major endurance was required to get through that stint, but no actual exercise!), PT yesterday afternoon, back on normal exercise schedule from today forward (though it has yet to be determined exactly what that schedule will be). Got new cycling shoes last night and am powerfully hoping they will solve the foot pain issue. (Once you've ridden clipped in, it's hard to think of going back to sneakers, even with the cages on the spin bikes.)

For the record, here's the updated PT regimen.

On all fours:

Cat-cow (emphasizing cat, neutral spine for cow)
Prayer stretch both sides
Quadruped leg only (5-second hold, each side x 5)

On back:

Hamstring stretch (knee at 90 degrees, extend leg)
Piriformis stretch
Hip flexors/heel slide (hands on hips to monitor)
Wind-removing pose (R, L, together)

On side:

Side plank (knees, 5-second hold, 3L, 5R)

On knees:

Hip flexor stretch: arms in salutation

Sitting:

Roll down over legs and hold at bottom

Tues, Wed

Yesterday was tough: good doc appointment, but she is sure that (not just for now, for lifelong) I should only run 2x week and use swimming, biking etc. for the other days. That's OK but I have been so thoroughly enjoying being a daily runner! Went to the gym later (had to get over the hump) and had a stressful reentry, they're not doing powerlifting at powerlifting any more (I had expected upper body day - but they are not even scheduling it like that any more), did some stretching and foam rolling, took subway home but it was so crowded and with so many delays that I was pretty near total meltdown...

ANYWAY, today is better. Rode bike to and from gym (GOSH that seat is intolerably uncomfortable), did 1hr hot vinyasa class in the fancy new studio, all good.

Sorta on tenterhooks re: various family members' health issues, still finding it hard to concentrate on real stuff I need to do here (may need to do an Ottawa trip sooner than planned), but I think I've found my real subletter, I've got all the student work for end of term and can start grading (won't take long, I have been putting it off needlessly), things should be coming back into normal focus....

Catch-up

Austin stay turned out to be more conducive to morning exercise than I feared. Had nice 50 as 1:1 on Saturday and 1hr alternating 1:1 and 2:1 Sunday (Brent had very early cab to airport, I went out then, my flight was 5 hrs later than his and it didn't make sense to go to airport together). Good to be home, I need to recreate a solid routine! Just did 30 as 1:1, very beautiful in the park, bits and bobs to clear (my subletter for next year is coming at 11 for instance) and doctor's appointment tomorrow morning, after that I will sit down and figure things out properly.

Friday run!

OK, did figure out how to get to river path, will do a longer one tomorrow (and I think I can do something Sunday am as well, as my flight doesn't leave till 2 - Brent's is at 9 and he will want to leave from here c. 6:30 or so, doesn't make sense for me to go with himm then and have such a very long time hanging out at the airport).

c. 35 mins as 2:1

Thursday in Austin

7am car for airport yesterday, as Coach David points out it's a CHOICE that I don't run before that rather than that I truly CAN'T - but I do not envisage a future self doing differently! First morning with Brent in a hotel after a separation makes it hard to get out early, I want to chat with him and have downtime, but I did get out midmorning (it's hot here, but not as humid as Cayman) for just 20 as 1:1. Slept badly, sore hip and glute and I think the AC going on and off was making me restless, but got helpful run map from front desk and am looking forward to doing proper ones tomorrow and the next day!

Bad Tuesday!

I will just post in my training log entry, it's one of THOSE days:

Ugh, that was a minor disaster. Right away everything from hip to outer ankle/foot was really unpleasantly lit up (hip I blame on sitting very still for 2 hrs yesterday evening at my colleague's funeral). I hobbled for 12 minutes as 2:1 but as clock rolled into thirteenth minute I realized I just didn't have it today. (I note that allergies are still SO AWFUL and are contributing to my baseline feeling of health being much lower than it usually is, ugh.) I was hiking up left shoulder and sorta leaning over right hip in a way that had by then activated sharp discomfort in right lower back. I walked the rest of the circuit, so about 45 mins total but with only some short stints of jogging in the first bit. I am anxious for this doctor's appointment next week, I really feel like everything is a regrettable mess!

Catch-up

Last week just went crazy on me - I was out too late Thursday at the Fordham eighteenth-century seminar - (very interesting talk, but it went on way too long - moderator didn't seem to notice - it was esp costly as schedule there is drinks at 6, talk at 7, dinner at 8 - we didn't get dinner till close to 9! - NOooooooooooooooo!). so:

Thursday: 1hr as 1:1, 3:1, 1:1 (rinse and repeat) (causing me to muse on how I would have written it as 2 x 4 alternating 3:1, 1:1!)
Friday: ZERO (cost of making the attempt at this #metoo editorial - I had to send it out Friday and our grad student conference started midday)
Saturday: ZERO (still tidying and shopping all morning for evening hosting duties, it was just impossible)
Sunday: YES. Realized that I was desperate for the full hour I'd not had the day before. Did 60 as 3:1 in full awareness that it meant I would probably then need to spend $$$$ on an Uber to get me to my brother's house in NJ in a timely fashion. It all worked well.
Monday: 30 as 1:1. Very nice to be back at it, trip to Austen this week is going to be disruptive but after that I am hoping things are a bit quieter and I can settle back in...

Wednesday short run

Woke up way too early, couldn't sleep, too many things going on - allergies continue to make me feel awful - yes, one of THOSE days! But my new laptop is all set up now and it is GORGEOUS - with a smooth huge keyboard that is like night and day after broken old one. And I did get in 30 as 2:1 and now must shower and scamper downtown for my dear friend Amy's unusual birthday gathering - due to a major donation to a charity, her husband had a whole table of seats at the gala for Seeds of Piece, with 8 seats, and Amy realized that it would be fun and funny to have a bunch of us use that as an occasion to celebrate! We will see - I am relieved that it's "business attire" rather than "black tie" (and comically it's at Chelsea Piers)...

Short and easy, better late than never

Almost didn't get out - state of collapse after getting cats back from Phila and having an afternoon with troubles coming (not directly at me, more at nearest and dearest!) from many directions! Got an invitation yesterday to write an op-ed for the Outlook section of the WaPo, thought I might decline but having Tanya's story come out last night reminded me that I do have things to say, and shouldn't turn down the invitation to a big platform - long phone chat with editor this afternoon, and I'll try and get her a messy draft by the weekend. (Nice change from writing newspaper book reviews where the word count is hard and fast and SHORT - this will be short and sweet in the end, if I can write something that can be made to work, but editor likes to see all ideas sooner rather than leaving me entirely to my own devices.) Anyway, 30 easy as 1:1, weather GORGEOUS (onnly way too much pollen making me miserable), will hope to do the longer one that was on today's schedule tomorrow. All the life stuff that mounted up while I was away still needs to be attended to - lots and lots of people to see, both work colleagues and non-work friends, and normal end-of-term stuff is intense, and I got my long-overdue new laptop and have to meet with faculty desktop support tomorrow to get everything transferred from old and properly secured (and hopefully old one can be made more functional, but its lifespan may be over, we will see what the verdict is...)

30 easy as 1:1

Miserable Saturday 8

I think I will just post in the entry in my training log:

Ugh, that was miserable. I should have paid attention to my initial reservations, but I decided I was just being defeatist and should give Coach's advice a try! My Garmin is still buried in not-yet-unpacked Paris luggage (didn't use it at all there anyway since I was running on time and prefer minimalist regular Timex watch that I wear all the time - it has stopwatch function which is really all I need). Picked 8mi route (some local distances I know well from various prior training stints) - the "long" way to the Little Red Lighthouse, i.e. down from 116th to 96th and then uptown along the river. It's about 5 from here to lighthouse on that route, then about 3 directly back as crow flies if you depart from river path at 125th when it splits. So: I did 2:1 from start to lighthouse (it is admittedly a really good destination!). That took about 1:20. It was miserable - my right foot was very sore from the start, back/hip OK initially but gait starts t o get affected and it was clearly jamming up left knee. I'd d ecided in last stretch of that bit that I would then walk t he remaining miles (it's not s traightforward getting from park to public transit up there), that was a bout another 1:10 (so total time on feet for 8mi was 2:30, split 1:20 jog-walk/1:10 straight walk), but my foot was just really sore (it's kind of along outside of foot from ankle, more on top of foot than sole, no idea what this might be except that it sure "feels" like it's connected to the messed-up stuff higher up on that side), and post-any kind of run my back and hip f eel awful, so I was just hobbling home feeling overheated and grumpy. I am not usually in such a bad mood, and got initial mild mood boost because of it not being 90 degrees, but the cyclists are SO OBNOXIOUS on the shared-use path - it is worst as you move north on foot on the stretch between 96th and 125th (I am actually going to write a letter to city/parks people to complain - markings could be clearer, tho honestly it really is clear what you are SUPPOSED to do, the cyclists just don't WANT to do it that way) - and my mood never really recovered, esp since lots of different areas were so sore. I think we should cap longest run at 80 minutes till I've seen this doctor and got some kind of fuller diagnosis and PT r ecommendations - it just can't be good to d something that makes eveyrthing so unpleasantly sore, and I think the foot soreness is a direct result of semi-ignoring the hip/thigh/backc stufff....

Fri end of day easy

30 easy end of day as 1:1. Weather was so awful, allergies killing me, did feel mildly better (despite eyes, nose and face feeling like they were all about to explode into pollen-shaped confetti) after I got it done. It was a good example of a day when I was glad to have a running coach to whom I am accountable, I am pretty sure I would not have gotten out if I didn't know that David would be sorry if I didn't!

Wed, Thurs

Wed: 1hr alternating 1:1 and 3:1.

Thurs: 1hr with 20 as 1:1, 20 as 4:1, 20 as 1:1 (I like this better, the first 20 lets things loosen up a little).

IT IS TOO HOT IN NYC!

End of day Tues

30 easy as 1:1, will leave the longer one written for today for tomorrow morning. Needed to spend the day just digging in on this task, it was worthwhile, but in general I should run first!

Mon

30 easy as 1:1. I was awake way earlier than I wanted to be - having minor but acute life re-entry woes, first of all I think allergies are making me feel unwell and second of all the task of getting my apartment back into functional tidy state seems overwhelming! I have one time-sensitive writing task that I will probably dig in on instead, as if I can get it at least conceptually and logistically set up today it will clarify the week's priorities, but - ugh....

Sun

End of day again - I was feeling a bit queasy earlier, with light sensitivity - few hours in bed solved it. 1hr with 20 as 1:1, 20 as 4:1, 20 as 1:1. Hip felt looser in socket than it did yesterday, that's good (had heat pad session yesterday evening that helped). Have IDd a doc to see, going to call tomorrow for an appointment...

Fri-Sat

Friday was just 30 easy as 1:1 (I think?), and then a long busy day whose highlight was an excellent dissertation defense by one of my doctoral students! (Culmination of seven years of work - triumph!) Today I had lazy day in bed, only got out to run late afternoon - the weather is absolutely gorgeous. 1hr as 2:1.

Short run

Just 20 as 2:1 - I was a little late getting up and out (dozing), sun was already up. Leave for the airport shortly after 9. A short visit but a nice one, back soon I hope - one of the cyclists heading to work along West Bay Road greeted me warmly with "A long while!" as I was finishing, you make these little morning-routine friends when you are on a regular schedule and he is quite right, it is a longer while than I like since I was here last!

Run, yoga

1hr early as 2:1 (back slightly sore after, 60 vs. 30 makes a big difference - but that blister is finally mostly better!), 1hr hot yoga mid-morning. Heater wasn't working properly, I w as excited, teacher said it would be "warm" rather than "hot" yoga - but by that point it had cranked up fully and temperature continued to ascend to at least normal levels! Alas, hot yoga would be so much better for me if it were 5-10 degrees F cooler... (I am excited to see that they've added hot yoga classes at Chelsea Piers and that the temp for those is 90F! Woo-hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Yoga!

Hahaha, still hot, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. Ate breakfast really early, that is a necessity! And Brent picked me up afterwards so I wasn't staggering home in heat.

Run!

It is a good way of starting the day. 30 early and easy as 1:1. Blister still plaguing me but not as badly as yesterday - it is amazing how much discomfort a superficial wound can produce!

Yoga..

Ugh, that was fairly gruesome, though I suspect that if I stick it out and go again to the mid-morning hot class tomorrow and Wednesday, it will feel better by the third day. Today I was suffering from insufficient post-breakfast digestive interval, a scant two hours is not enough before hot, I felt distinctly queasy at regular junctures and hobbled home with heel blister pounding!

1hr hot

Run!

about 28 mins as 1:1, couple minutes short - very painful blister from weekend running made me unable to eke out the couple extra I needed! It will be better tomorrow I think...

Yoga!

V happy to be back at it. 1hr flow yoga with Iliana, perfect.

Sunday run

45 early and easy as 2:1. Nice except for painful blister that started yesterday and blossomed today...

Looking at pretty steady routine for coming months. Have 2 projects I am not looking forward to but must be done - finding and properly pursuing PT to improve this annoying ongoing back-hip-hamstring situation and attempting to drop some pounds (2017 was not a good year for weight maintenance - it had less to do with back injury than with Gene's decline and death, which taxed me to the limit). Really I would like to start mega-exercise program but back must be better than it is now before that's a good idea. Various travels will challenge my ability to stay with the program but should be surmountable.

Catch-up (vortex edition)

I did run Sunday before I left for the airport (30 as 2:1), but Ottawa was a total vortex; residual fatigue from prior travel/jet lag didn't help, but it was also the ice storm that was showering stuff down from Sunday to Monday, and my completely hopeless idea that I might be able to jog outside rather than on treadmill in hot little box of a hotel fitness center. ANYWAY we made it to Cayman safely yesterday with all luggage intact, very early to bed (trying to eke out last bit of jetlag as long as I can), up early and out for 40 as 2:1. Good chance I will go to yoga later too...

Run!

Ah, that was so nice. A beautiful day today (unlike yesterday, which went up to the 80s with a humid overcast feel): low 70s, very sunny but breezy and clear. 1hr as 2:1.

Riverside Park run!

I did run Wednesday in Paris but must not have logged it: very nice final Parc Montsouris run, 1hr as 20 1:1, 20 4:1, 20 1:1. Yesterday was travel day, taxi pickup just before 7am - I was home by mid-afternoon (it is the nature of the time difference) but it was surplus to requirements to try and run, I had a lot of other bits and bobs to pick back up!

This morning, a very nice easy 30 as 1:1 in Riverside Park. Jet lag works favorably for me in this direction, it is no longer what anybody would call EARLY but I like it when I can run during the off-leash dog hours!

Monday, Tuesday

Mon.: 30 as 1:1
Tues: 30 as 2:1; 1pm hot hatha 60 (this is pretty much ideal routine IMO)

Run!

Just a short one, 30 as 2:1. Back was very sore later on yesterday - I need to get to doc and physio and get this stuff sorted out...

Run!

I am woefully imbalanced - however it was nice otherwise. 60 as 3:1 only I walked the long hill the second time round, just couldn't motivated to shuffle at higher effort and more right-side discomfort when I could walk it!

Good day!

Sunny, warming up - had a flurry of activity yesterday and got various Ottawa arrangements made, and I am feeling very cheery at the thought of seeing Brent a week from Sunday (albeit under initially trying conditions before we beat our retreat to Cayman!).

Morning: beautiful park jog, 40 as 2:1
1pm: my favorite hot hatha 60 with Dominique

Not sure how many (if any) classes I'll now get to before I leave next Thursday, but I did get a chance today to tell him how much I have liked his classes & that a return is probable (arghhh, this news is still embargoed, I have been sitting on it for a month now, let them announce it soon!)

Yoga, run!

Hahahaha, 1pm yoga was a DISASTER - it was the same teacher who had laryngitis earlier in the term and spoke in an incomprehensible whisper - voice back to normal levels, but still fast and breathy in a way that makes it impossible for me to understand! Add that to the fact that there are a couple things I genuinely can't do (right now/ever - standing splits for instance...), and it was not fun, though the heat and the stretch are no doubt worthwhile regardless. (I hasten to add that she is very nice, I just can't understand most of what she's saying!)

End of day: 30 as 1:1.

I think tomorrow I'm back on "run soon after I get up, eat smallish breakfast, digestive interval, 1pm yoga" though it depends partly on when I get to sleep tonight.

Run!

Moving incredibly slowly at a gait that can only be called "hobble," but it is such a beautiful day to be outside! I thoroughly enjoyed that. 1hr (20 as 1:1, 15 as 6:1.5, 25 as 1:1).

Yoga, run

That worked pretty well. My sleep-wake schedule is sliding later and later, ugh, but I'm so close to done here (and it works with my commitments in any case) that it seems silly to try and correct it. Got up just before 10, had breakfast and did a couple hours of very focused work, went to 1pm hot hatha 60-minute class with my fave teacher. This was really good - 60 > 90 from POV of heat stress/dehydration but also of back issues. Came home, ate lunch, huddled and was sleepy and unproductive, had to drag myself out of bed and into running clothes for late-afternoon 30 as 1:1 - but in fact it w as glorious, it started POURING just as I was getting started and the rain made me exuberant and awake...

1hr hot hatha
30 jog as 1:1

Mondayy

30 easy as 1:1. Now slightly frenzied as seminar is meeting at my apartment today - tidying is in order, but I also need to go and get food for lunch for all (6 students + me), complicated by the fact that most things are closed for the Easter holiday (same reason we're meeting at Impasse du Rouet - Reid Hall is closed).

Sunday run

Very pleasant, Easter is a big deal here, lots of smiles on lots of faces! 1hr as mostly 2:1 but 1:1 on the 2 long park uphills.

Fri: 40 as 2:1. Sat: 90 alternating 8 as 3:1 and 8 as 1:1. Not very fun but it is done! Gotta find some way to fix this cluster of pesky injuries.

Thursday run/yoga

Morning: 1hr (a few mins short) as 20 1:1, 20 4:1, 20 1:1.
Evening: FINALLY back at yoga! 90 min hot yin yang. Gosh it is hot and gosh I am not flexible! But happy to be back at it. That was 2 weeks since my last class (I would normally have been back on Tuesday this week but it was P's birthday party in the evening) - noticeable fact is that once it's not a habit, a mild aversion/phobia starts to develop, it takes more and more effort to overcome - this is the reason it is good I run every day....

Wednesday

Just did 30 as 2:1. Will do longer one tomorrow on non-teaching day.

Tuesday

Ugh, out of sorts today - was tired yesterday and then couldn't sleep till FOREVER, did finally get to sleep but felt awful when I got up and basically went back to bed in a big way. Feeling immature and annoyed with myself for not doing a better job staying on top of pretty basic life stuff! Anyway, 40 as 2:1, MUST prioritize getting some improvement on this hamstring/hip/back stuff when I am back in NYC (also MUST lose weight, ugh, my least favorite and most impossible task)...

Back at it!

Did do 30 as 2:1 last Wednesday before leaving for my trip. No running while I was away but much more general activity than usual (Thursday: Albi, lots of clambering up ramparts; Friday: Toulouse, lots of city exploration; Saturday: trail walk with pup!). Today, end of day 30 as 1:1 (it was a scramble to get ready to teach after having been away).

Mon-Tues

Mon.: 30 as 1:1
Tues.: 40 as 2:1

Didn't flake on yoga goal, but felt that I needed to give problem areas some rest - inflammation....

Catch-up

Not sure what happened to good reporting practices! Did my run all three days Fri-Sat-Sun, Sat was arduous due to more than usually knotted-up glute and heavy cold rain, have taken these days off from yoga as I think I overdid it slightly on Thursday...

Fri: 30 min easy/mod as 2:1
Sat: 90 min moderate as 2:1 and 4:1 alternating
Sun: 1 hour easy as 1:1 and 2:1

Yoga! (?)

The exclamation point is insincere! It really was just too hot, I was done about an hour in and would have been much better off without the additional thirty minutes, which includes several things I can't really do and caused me several times just to flop to the mat in despair and overheating. I was tired beforehand and thought about not going, knew I'd have self-castigation, but it is possible that 7pm yoga is just undesirably late for me and that I should find another class to go to instead.

90 minutes overly warm hot yin yang!

Wed/Thurs

Wed: 30 as 1:1; Thurs: 30 as 2:1.

Run/yoga

It was a bit of a funny day, with needless anxiety worked up around various minor life tasks (figuring out how to wire money from my bank account, buying a stamp to mail a letter - the thought of the second was causing such stress that I blame it for the long afternoon nap!), but everything got resolved, I started the day with a nice run and ended it just now with a super yoga class. Feeling good about things.

1hr mix of 2:1 and 1:1 (latter on hills)
1.5hr hot hatha

Monday short and easy!

Because my seminar (the proper one - there's an associated research seminar on Wednesdays, but prep is less intensive) is Monday afternoon, I am usually spending Sunday evenings this semester finishing the readings, and then Monday morning frantically typing up notes for class. Put sitting at the computer for a couple hours together with run-run-yoga from weekend and it is a recipe for exceptional stiffness as I head out! Fortunately just needed to do 30 as 1:1 - was glad it was nothing more challenging....

Yoga!

90 min hot ying yang. And yes, after 8 weeks of modest but consistent attendance (I missed the whole week that Brent was here, but every other week has been solid, including the week I was in Cayman), my mobility is definitely improved. I was defeated by a couple things near the end of class (by that point, too, I am in such a puddle of sweat that there is little incentive to try and focus and aspire to something impossible), but mostly I am doing much better! (The two things I can't do both involve holding big toe in fingers and then in one case extending the leg and getting it up behind your head and in the other, lying on your back, extending it to the ceiling and then lowering to the right - my body is not made to do this!)

My "15 classes before Toulouse" plan was probably unrealistic, the back situation means it is important not to overdo it, but I might try a few of these yin classes again this week on top of the ones I can definitely do - I think my French yoga comprehension is better enough now that it won't be as difficult as it was at the beginning of the semester! (To state the obvious, it is impossible to relax your head - the ongoing goal of 90% of yin postures - if you have to keep on popping it up to see what everyone else is doing and supplement incomprehension of what the teacher said!)

Run!

I didn't end up going to yoga yesterday, as the one on offer was the strenuous hot hatha 90 and I was aware that my back had already had enough of a workout for the day. That was definitely the right choice, back rather sore during wakeful spells overnight (huge rainstorm that left in its wake - SPRING!). The park today is bursting with joggers and families - pony rides on a Sunday!

1hr with mix of 2:1 and 1:1 (the latter mostly just on the long uphills)

Run!

did it in local park rather than bothering with the bus: 80 mins alternating 10 as 4:1 and 10 as 2:1 (or as we prefer to say round here "2 x 2:1, 1 x 3:1"!). Must now get in shower, it's mild but rainy and I am going to be freezing after another minute of sitting in wet clothes!

Run!

Just 30 as 2:1. Nice mild morning. Having a lot of postnasal drip (and eyeballs were very sore and sensitive yesterday) - I think we are coming up on allergy season...

Run/yoga

am: 30 as 1:1 (pretty nice)
pm: 90 minutes hot yin-yang yoga (less intense series than the hot hatha 90, but intense regardless because of heat. I WAS A PUDDLE OF SWEAT!)

Wednesday run!

1hr alternating 2:1 and 3:1. In aftermath of yesterday's good yoga I can feel much tenderness along right side from spinal erector down to knee - not, I hasten to add, in the "it was broke already and I made it more broke" fashion, more just the way that when something hasn't been right for a long time and you work it gently but thoroughly, there will be some residue of soreness the next day. I need some more PT!

Yoga!

That was really good, I am glad I roused myself for it (was feeling distinctly inertial - on the couch about halfway through the long Convolute J on Baudelaire, really once I'm on a roll I'd rather read till I'm done!). Each teacher does a few slightly different tweaks, but I love the underlying sequence they've developed for this hot hatha 60/90 (today was 90 and it was pretty darn great!) - I have to see if I can get one of them to tell me the sources and rationale (it's not so much the sort of thing you can research online!)...

90 mins hot hatha

Mon.-Tues. catchup

Yesterday: 30 as 1:1 (teaching day is tiring and basically needs to only have easy short am run). Slept longer than I meant to but feeling very cheery this morning, a nice run (not as balmy as I thought it would be!), 40 as 2:1. Because I got up so late, I'll go to 5pm yoga rather than 1pm, that's good too...

Sunday yoga

90 minutes hot yin yang, it was amazing! The sweat was pouring off me as if out of a jug, but it wasn't emotionally overwhelming like it was the other day. This might be my favorite teacher-class combo: the sequence they have put together is really, really good.

Sunday rainy run

Back to the winter weather I like so much here, 40F maybe and rainy and very mild. 1hr alternating 2:1 and 1:1 - that was good, I wasn't feeling full of vim as I set out but it's a nice easy way of getting in an hour of time on feet.

Fri/Sat

Not sure why yesterday never got logged except that I was in a minor frenzy of work and other activity.

Friday: 30 as 1:1; 1hr of grotesquely over-hot and humid hot hatha that had me regretting the fact that I ever heard of hot yoga!

Saturday: 80 written as alternating 10 as 2:1, 10 as 4:1 - David writes these ones where the numbers aren't divisible to try and desensitize me to chaos! My brain wants to impose order, so: 4 x 20 as (2 x 2:1, 1 x 3:1, 2 x 4:1). Nice Luxembourg loops. Now freezing after waiting at bus stop to come home, and need proper food, but feeling good about getting that done. Back a bit sore but more I think as aftermath of working it in yoga, not the dreaded lower-back tight pain.

Run!

100 times better than yesterday esp. due to setting out with thin enough socks that my toes weren't exploding with pain! (Really I am stiff and cumbersome right now, just shuffling along, but it's still pretty enjoyable, sore/stiff parts notwithstanding.) 1hr alternating 3 x 2:1 and 2 x 3:1. It's milder now and the yoga this morning was beneficial. I am visiting friends at the end of the month, leaving on the 25th, and I think it's time for a yoga challenge - don't think every day is realistic (I am every day for running and you can really only have one daily exercise commitment like that or it starts to be too much), but I think I can try and do fifteen classes before my trip - call this morning's 1/15.

YOGA!

That was really, really good. 10am Bikram, I would have sworn it was MUCH less hot than it should be but one of the other teachers said afterwards that really it's just that it was uncharacteristically low humidity. Anyway, whatever it was, I'll take it! Thinking about some sort of minor self-imposed yoga challenge, I really need it right now....

1.5hr hot yoga

Sun.-Wed.

I did do my 30 as 1:1 on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were just a lot of FREEZINGLY COLD walking on our funny Disney excursion (short take: worthwhile, but w ould have been a lot more fun if it hadn't been so cold), one of those days was supposed to be a walk in any case and temps in low 20s really mean I can't jog outside. I was watching the thermometer keenly today, too cold earlier but I got home from teaching at about 4 and it was just about 30F, my tipping point, so I got out for the appointed 40 as 1:1. It was the least enjoyable "run" I have had for some time - overly thick socks meant toes were in agony, everything is stiff and achey, just wasn't feeling it! I feel distinctly better now I have eaten a sandwich; underfueling may have been an issue (it's not a time I usually run, and indeed timing now means that I will forego 7pm hot yoga, since I need to eat more food and it doesn't allow for sufficient digestive interval). Yoga tomorrow, though - I have really missed it!

Fri, Sat

Fri: 30 as 1:1 before a day of museum-going. Sat: 40 as 2:1, off to lunch with friends shortly. Coach David has written me a very light schedule for this stretch of visitors, it is smart - definitely the way to keep consistency. I found myself thinking, "Oh, I'm not really time-constrained this morning, I should do a longer one," but really coach knows best, it goes better when I just follow his advice!

Easy Thursday

30 as 1:1. It is so nice that Brent is here!

Early short/easy run

I was in the usual anxious twist around airport logistics, but it all worked really well in the end, Brent's flight was slightly delayed, I had time to do my run before I took the train to the airport, we had good rendezvous prearranged at the Starbucks next to arrivals so I could sit and r ead a book and eat breakfast rather than standing for an hour anxiously watching. Taxi home, then o ff to teach, and we are now winding down....

30 as 1:1