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

Yoga!

90 minutes hot hatha with this new teacher who I like. Getting both heat acclimation and modest yoga fitness - I am GROTESQUELY inflexible just now, but it is something to work on, and the hot session is no longer completely flattening me. Tricky to fit in the rest of the week but I will try and have at least one over the weekend, it is good for mental and physical health and mood!

Mon/Tues runs

Mon.: 20 as 1:1 (should have been 30, but I was pressed for time - assigned too much reading for class and was prepping up till the last minute!)

Tues: very nice more leisurely hour as 2:1.

Brent gets here tomorrow! Stripped-down run schedule while he's here (some friends are also in town, when it's just Brent he is kindly amenable to my introvert's needs but we will have some socializing to fit in!), then I think I have a good quiet run of disciplined weeks for first three weeks of March before some holiday days at end of the month visiting friends outside Toulouse...

Yoga!

I did have a bout of jet lag-type intense sleepiness and napped for half an hour, but I'd set an alarm and truly did want to get to 3pm yoga, and I did, and it was GREAT! The usual teacher seems to be off this week but the one doing it instead was great too (some teachers speak French that is much much easier for me to understand than others, this was one of the clear ones!), and the room rather less warm than it usually is - I don't think it was just acclimation, maybe someone left a window open....

1.5hr hot yin yang yoga!

Fri/Sat

Hmmm, must not have logged yesterday, but I did do the appointed 30 as 2:1. Have been in a frenzy of trying to get this talk written for today and battling jet lag (really I have almost a sleep disorder, and the travel in this direction is horrible for me - I can't fall asleep at night and then I can't resist the call of bed in the daytime). Will paste in the report from my training log:

Call it a draw, not an utter disaster - I couldn't make myself do it in the morning (tech. was up just about early enough, but feeling awful in every dimension of jet lag, sore back and hip [too much computer time Thurs and Fri] etc. and still needing to finish last touches on talk, plus ladyfication is necessary when delivering an academic talk, it's more time-consuming than regular getting-out the door). Slept for THREE hours after I got home (talk was fun tho!), the jet lag in this direction is very tough for me as I basically have what is almost a sleep disorder and cannot resist the call of bed in the daytime when I get that queasy-sleepy feeling. Woke up 5:30pm, still a bit of light, didn't let myself talk myself out of running and meant to do the whole hour - but was taken aback to get to park and find it of course locked, it's only open 8-5 at this time of year! ANYWAY I did 20 as 4:1 (to and from the park, basically), better than nothing, don't worry, I do feel guilty and I know this letting work stuff and bad sleep habits get the better of me is my longstanding vice!

Catch-up

Tuesday: travel recovery! (Ugh, slept ALL day after I got home mid-morning, and still battling a bit of jet lag)
Wednesday: 30 as 2:1
Thursday: 60 alternating 3:1, 2:1 (the 7-times table!)

Got this talk to write for Saturday morning so everything is still feeling a bit frenetic, but I WILL go to Dominique's 7pm 90-minute hot yin-yang yoga this evening. Brent gets here on Wednesday next week, it doesn't affect running but we will have a few social engagements with friends and really I have to compromise on yoga, must make sure I get in a lot of classes between now and Tuesday!

Hot yoga!

Hahahaha, that was PERFECT. I took the license allowed to a runner who has been pretty consistent in recent weeks and decided that 6am hot yoga is the best thing to set me up for a very long day of travel (15 minutes walk each way). I brought my mat home yesterday after the workshop as I was so hammered I was not at all sure I would even be WALKING today let alone doing another yoga class in a warm room, but in fact it was good, my back was less sore than it has been over night (the hammering was more in the nature of heat stress I think than exercise as such), it tightened up a bit as I walked to class, but definitely a net gain from workshop overall. (And I REALLY noticed how much more mobility I had in hips for wind-removing pose, and that I could go back pretty far for camel - though that also has to do with the room not being so hot first thing in the morning!) It is a gift of course not to have had the heat get fully up to where it is supposed to be, AND the teacher was late, so we had more like a forty-five minute class, with only single repetitions of most of the mat postures. Anyway I felt good both during and after - it is my perennial wish that hot yoga should be about 5F degrees cooler....

30 minutes walk
45+ minutes hot yoga

Run/yoga!

1hr early as alternating 3:1 and 2:1 (have always liked the seven times table), home to shower, Cafe del Sol with Brent and stayed for some Gibbon time (have been suffering slight self-inflicted Gibbon deprivation, didn't want it to go on another day), then Mark's insane "opening" workshop! It was what I most need, but it was way more intense than I had imagined (this was foolish, because although yoga workshops in general may involve a fair bit of sitting and learning things, Mark's regular classes are always extremely strenuous and sweaty, and so was this workshop - which also went on a half-hour longer than advertised!). It was very good, including 3 assistants to press down and offer alignment and other assistance, but VERY very very warm and effortful - I refilled my water bottle twice, and I still was absolutely tapped out of all fluids when I emerged. Much better now I have had a Gatorade, a .75l bottle of Pellegrino and 2 wonton soups....

Run/yoga!

I am happy being a creature of habit. Reasonable early run (hamstrings v stiff, the left one loosens up as I warm up but the right side is basically just not good!), 60 as 2:1, then 10:15 hot yoga. That's the 75-minute class, I was nervous, but in fact it was OK - either it wasn't quite as hot as the hottest it ever gets or I have garnered a bit of heat acclimation by dint of non-Bikram hot yoga classes in Paris, probably a bit of both.

1hr jog as 2:1
1.25hr hot yoga

Run/yoga!

Just 30 as 1:1 easy and early, a good work session at Cafe del Sol (typed up reader report on book manuscript, which meant I could throw the pages away, significantly lightening my load for return travels), Keri's para-inspired flow yoga. Feeling rather sleepy now, must stay awake....

Run/yoga!

Had thought I might try and stay for a second yoga class, but self-assessment following class #1 told me that further yoga was more likely to undo benefits than compound them! Home and showered, and rather tempted to go back to bed - huge anxiety spike yesterday evening concerning Brent's mother's health (not a true emergency, but the hospital didn't admit her and then she was stuck there in a snowstorm and transport issues assumed undue complexity - flurry of phone calls - seems everything was resolved OK in the end, but i t doesn't help one wind down towards sleep!)

42 as 2:1
1hr flow yoga

Run/yoga!

That's a long day of travels (I left my apartment in Paris around 7:30am and got to Brent's shortly before 10pm Cayman time a.k.a. 4am Paris time - call it 20+ hours door to door), but it all went smoothly. VERY stiff today, my morning jog (30 as 2:1) was more of a hobble, but I did a lovely 8:45 flow yoga at Bliss that has significantly restored fluidity to muscles! Did a couple minor work tasks at the cafe afterwards, now I'm home and I'm feeling extremely sleepy, may need to stick to novel-reading rather than work this afternoon in the interest of staying awake....

Short one!

Just 20 as 1:1, the Monday routine. Nice brisk chilly morning! Unfortunately I'm behind on laundry and was wearing a pair of pants that are great for hot yoga but just don't want to stay up when I'm jogging - otherwise would have added on a bit of park time, but enough is enough!

Sunday run

I was not enthused, took long nap yesterday afternoon that meant I then couldn't fall asleep till really late and slept restlessly, house cleaner coming at 10 which always throws me into a tizzy (I am experimenting today with just staying at home and working at the computer as I realized that the idea of my usual self-imposed cleaner exile was hugely stressing me out!), but it was nice once it was underway. Rather chilly morning, should have had gloves, back in old shoes which is better for the toes but worse for that stiff right lower calf. I am getting to know the familiar faces of runners at the Parc Montsouris!

1hr as mostly 2:1 with some 1:1 on the long hills

Long run!

Woke up way earlier than I wanted, mused on Gibbon and got up and wrote some words and waited for the sun to come up so that I could head out for my run (parks only open at 8, sunrise is more like 8:30). DONE. Ah, I don't think these shoes are going to work, toes became increasingly painful IN SPITE of the slits I cut along the sides, stopped in desperation after about 40 minutes and took out the insoles and threw them in the trash, instant relief but only for a little while, quite sore again (though short of excruciating) by the final fifteen minutes. Will pursue getting a pair in the proper size!

90 as 3 x 30 as (1 x 4:1, 2 x 3:1, 3 x 2:1, 4 x 1:1)

Run/yoga!

Good day! Easy short run in the am (30 as 1:1), then a stretch of work (unfortunately "real" work caught up with me, I'll write if I can this afternoon but I needed fresh quality morning time for a long list of minor but essential tasks), then 1pm hot hatha 60 with Dominique, which I think is my favorite. Have just showered and now really need to eat some food, somehow it's almost 3pm!

Hot flow!

Hahahaha, none of these classes is as easy as I would like! I may have to give in and go to an actual hot 26.

(Hard to generalize, I haven't sampled widely enough, but I think that I prefer the vinyasa I to the hatha I in the non-hot room but that hot hatha is possibly preferable to hot flow. Really they are all good classes and good teachers - and I could understand this one again today pretty well....)

1hr hot flow

Run!

Up pretty early, out and back pretty reasonably early too, minor miracle! 1hr as alternating 2:1, 3:1 - hahahaha, I like my seven-times table, only problem is that SIXTY IS NOT DIVISIBLE BY SEVEN! My route (with 2 full loops + 2 pond add-ons) is only a scant 60, so I did not make it 63, but I will do exactly that next time David writes me this workout....