Backtrack

Weekend Adventures: Friday’s Run, Saturday’s Bike Ride, and Sunday’s Walk (3/25-3/27/11)

Please send help.  If you can, send it in the form of a free day for me to use for catching up on my life.  I probably shouldn’t complain, because I had a terrific weekend.  Terrific!  I can still remember it, sort of, four days later.  I wouldn’t mind being able to zip back in time for a second go-around, but until that technology is available, I guess I will have to settle for a blog post. 

On Friday night, I was feeling itchy for a run, so a run it was, before dinner and a birthday party that night.  I ran for about 20 minutes—easy, fun, short.  I’m enjoying these short runs after all those long, long runs for half-marathon training.

On Saturday, I decided to take the day off of work completely and used my morning to bike across town to HEB, where I found gorgeous, perfect organic Romaine lettuce, kale, and cauliflower.  I love vegetables.  I also found my favorite spicy burrito wraps, dried apricots, some funky blue cheese that I need to find a good use for, and red lentils.  The lentils were the secret driving force behind this special shopping trip, and I do think the soup in which those lentils landed was worth the extra pedaling.  And because I seem to spend most of Saturday devoted to food shopping, I also biked to Brazos Natural Foods, where I picked up an assortment of the usual goodies.

On Sunday, I spent most of the morning working on my taxes, where I was confronted with an unpleasant surprise.  To soothe my tax-frazzled nerves, I went for a walk through the dog park and around the neighborhood.  I took my camera and had a grand time taking photos of all the new springtime beauty that’s popping up around here.  Spring in Texas is just about the loveliest thing ever.

The best thing about writing about a weekend on Thursday is that the next weekend is just two days away!  This Saturday I’ll be back in the lab, for a little bit, but I’m looking forward to some time to read and relax afterward.

“It’s a dance with the breath.”

Yoga Update (3/21-3/27/11)

First, let me start with a confession.  I am failing at practicing yoga every day.  It’s my social life’s fault, really.  Or maybe it’s my fault.  When I am social in the evening, I don’t know where to squeeze in the yoga, or if I even want to “squeeze” it into the rest of my day.  I know the options: I could do it first thing in the morning, or right after I get home from work, or I could force myself to do it late at night, when I’m exhausted and want nothing more than to be unconscious for eight hours.  Or I could let it go and realize that tomorrow is another day.  My 40 Days of Yoga project will still consist of 40 days of yoga, but it will be spread out a little bit more.  I’m okay with that.

Doing yoga more frequently is not leading to any earth-shattering moments for me.  Is that disappointing to hear?  I hope not.  It’s not a bad thing; it’s just that I’ve been doing yoga for a long time, so I’ve had years to get the hang of it, on and off the mat.  I will say, though, that I am sleeping really soundly these days.  I fall asleep quickly and sleep like a rock.  Sometimes I even wake up without my alarm, which is awesome!  Sunday nights are usually the worst for me because I’ve stayed up late on Friday and Saturday, and I’ve slept late, so going to bed early on Sunday is almost impossible.  But not last night!  Bedtime last night was easy-peasy, and I woke up only marginally bummed that it was Monday again.  (Sigh.)

Here’s a more in-depth look at what I’ve been doing this week, as well as a chance for you to see my hippy-dippy side.  Will someone please light some patchouli-scented candles for me?

* Monday (3/21): I attempt a new yoga class called Detox Challenge Flow and almost give up in frustration.  I have the worst time trying to follow the instructions for this class!  Getting mad during yoga seems like it defeats the purpose of doing yoga in the first place, but I slog through it and feel relief when this bizarre and poorly taught class is over.  Afterward, I try to relax by finding something soothing on youbute.  I end up doing a chakra meditation, which was quite nice.  Recommended!    

* Tuesday (3/22): I stay up late talking to a friend on the phone and skip yoga.  But I do take a few minutes before bedtime to sit quietly in meditation.

* Wednesday (3/23): I make this day a DIY yoga session and have a quiet meditation afterward.  It’s nice to turn off the computer and just listen to my body while I practice yoga.

* Thursday (3/24): Early in the evening, I meditate to calm my anxious mind and depleted spirit.  Later, before bed, I do some Power Yoga, which is not as hard as I expect it to be.  And I am relieved to be taking one of Jackie Casal’s classes again because she is my favorite yogadownload.com instructor.  Her classes always make me feel terrific.

* Friday (3/25): I skip yoga again!  This time, I am MIA because I decide to run after work.  After dinner, I head to a birthday party where we discuss various phases of Madonna’s career.  After the party, I am tired and have stayed up past my bedtime, so I crawl into bed ASAP.

* Saturday (3/26): I return to an old favorite, Gentle Hatha Yoga #2.  I’ve done this class many, many times, so it is comforting to do it again.  However, I really feel ready to find a new, awesome class to love!  

* Sunday (3/27): On Sunday night I have perhaps my craziest yoga moment so far.  I decide to make it quick by doing pajama yoga again with some easy poses: cat/cow, downward-facing dog, forward fold, a back bend or two.  Afterward, I sit quietly in meditation…and I begin to pray.  I’m not religious, yet I can’t help myself.  I pray for strength and wisdom.  I pray for a good week.  I pray for my family to be protected, for Matt to be safe, for all of these people to be happy and healthy.  I pray for healing for those who need it.  I keep going until I feel I’ve said everything that is weighing on my heart.  Then I go to bed.

To whom, or what, does a nonreligious person pray?  I don’t know.  And I think I don’t need to know.  Maybe that’s the thing about yoga for me: it gives me a place to deposit these thoughts and feelings, and once I’ve said and felt these things, I can let go.  And that’s good enough for me.

Have a good week, friends.

* The title of today’s post comes from, I believe, something Jackie Casal says during one of her Power Yoga classes.  I thought it was lovely, so I borrowed it.

Free-Wheeling

Tuesday and Thursday’s Bike Ride Commutes (3/22 and 3/24/11)

Oh goodness, I am so happy today is Friday.  It’s been a long week, and I need a weekend.  I also need to do my taxes, but who wants to talk about that?  At least I live in the great state of Texas, where we have no state income tax…for now!  Actually, maybe you do want to talk about that?  Yes, Texas: no state income taxes.  It’s not the money that makes me happy, it’s the lack of paperwork.  Paperwork is the pits, and the less of it I have in my life, the better. 

(Oh, okay, the money is a sweet bonus.  Certainly.  Plus the state of Illinois, which is where I used to live, has raised their state income tax from 3 to 5%.  Holy moly.  I am sort of glad I don’t have to pay 5% in state income taxes!  But boy, do they need it.  Maybe I should send them a check anyway.  They keep sending me paperwork so I can file my state of IL income tax, which is weird because I haven’t lived in Illinois for a year and half.  Maybe they’re just hoping I’ll forget that minor detail?)

Anyway, so yes, today is Friday and I’m tired and excited and a tiny bit tipsy on champagne right now.  We had a little good-bye party for one of our lab members, and I’m feeling melancholy about his absence.  His personality is such a big part of the lab, and I know this place won’t be the same without him.  Who is going to talk to me about Duke basketball now?  Who is going to regale me with stories about…everything?  Politics, sports, military vehicles, Freebird’s burritos—we talk about all the important things.

One thing we don’t talk much about is bicycle-riding, which is a shame because it’s such a pleasant pastime.  This week I did the bike commute on Tuesday and Thursday.  My afternoon rides were slow and lazy with pit stops for various reasons.  On Tuesday, I was determined to get some nice photos, and it was my lucky day: I caught that butterfly up there in a rare moment of stillness.  I also took some fun photos of my favorite skirt, including that middle photo where the wind was swirling it around me.  I like that photo a lot.

Finally, does anyone else find that broken CD ironic?  I do!  Oh, love…

Alone on a Yoga Mat

Yoga Update: 3/18-3/20/11

Lately, I’ve been spending more time with my mat than my Matt.  It’s nice, really, this chance to be alone for a while.  I need to be alone in order to feel like myself.  I spend a lot of time listening to others, and it’s only when I’m alone that I feel like I can listen to myself.  It’s like a self check-up, except that instead of a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff, I use a yoga mat and a pair of shorts.  But in both cases, I take deep breaths and try to hold still during my check-up.

I kicked off my 40 Days of Yoga on Friday night with a favorite yoga session: Morning Flow #1.  I love all those back bends, and this time, I held wheel pose for longer than I ever have before.  It was kind of amazing.  Wheel pose always feels like a slightly out-of-body experience to me.  There’s something about the extreme quality of the back bend and the way your head goes upside down that makes it feel almost…ethereal?  Maybe it’s a little like floating.  My body doesn’t feel quite like my own during wheel pose, and yet there I am, arms shaking, back flexing, trying to breathe and not fall over.  It’s an amazing set of feelings.

On Saturday, I was less ambitious and chose to do a DIY yoga session.  I did a lot of downward dogging and various warrior poses.  It wasn’t very exciting, but sometimes you want the comfort of the familiar.

On Sunday, I did what I call “Pajama Yoga.”  Right before bed, after washing up and putting on my pajamas, I did some easy yoga—more downward dogs and a lot of forward bends.  Since I ran that day, I wasn’t feeling up for something too involved, but I did want to get in a few minutes of yoga.  Afterward, I sat for a while with my eyes closed.  I don’t know how long I sat there; I just sat until I felt ready to go to bed.  This is how I did my meditation on Saturday night too.  On Friday, I set an Egg Timer for 10 minutes, so that was a timed meditation.  I find that timing my meditation can be nice too because it puts a limit on how long you have to sit still and try to quiet your mind.  I think I like alternating between timed and untimed meditation—I like the variety.

And Now for Some Aerobic Action

A Weekend in Motion: Saturday’s Bike Rides and Sunday’s Run (3/19-3/20/11)

I’ve made an important decision about the 40 Days of Yoga Project: I’m going to post yoga updates on Mondays.  That way, I can keep tabs on the project without bombarding myself with posts-to-be-written.  I’m not very good at posting every day, as you may have figured out.  (Exhibit A: this post in which I’ll cover a weekend’s worth of motion in one fell swoop.)  The last thing my sanity needs is yet another thing on my to-do list.  But my sanity definitely needs yoga, so I’ll keep that on the list for the next 38 days or so.

This weekend was the perfect mix of busy and not-busy.  On Saturday, I rode my bike to the lab, ran a quick experiment, cursed the data for not giving me what I wanted, and then rode my bike home for lunch.  After lunch, I headed out a second time to stock the kitchen.  Sometimes I feel a little resentful that it’s practically required that I do my grocery-shopping on Saturday because Brazos Natural Foods is not open on Sundays.  On weekdays, they are only open until 6 PM, so it’s tough for me to go there after work unless I hustle.  This weekend, I was missing Whole Foods pretty bad, especially their wonderful evening and Sunday hours.  I also miss their gorgeous vegetables, like their crisp Romaine and perky fennel.  Most of the time I think I do okay in this Texas town, but these days, I am longing for a bigger city.  Some day, some day…

On Sunday morning, I went for an easy run.  There’s a nice loop that runs along campus and the golf course.  One of the guys in my lab told me that it’s a three-mile loop, which sounded good for today.  I wanted to run for about 30-40 minutes but no more than 40.  This loop gave me 40 minutes with a 5-minute walking warm-up and about 12 minutes of walking cooldown—perfect.  My right knee—the same one that’s been bothering me—was hurting a little during this run, and as I was walking home, the answer hit me: it’s time for new shoes.  I’ve had the same pair of Brooks for over a year, and I did most of the training for two half-marathons in this pair, so I think the knee pain is probably shoe-related.  My knee only seems to hurt during the run; I can feel just the faintest twinge when I walk around or do squats.

But gah, this exercise hobby of mine is starting to add up!  My bike repairs cost $92, and now I need a new pair of shoes.  I suppose I should look on the bright side: a bike is way cheaper than a car, and Brooks shoes only cost about $100 a pair.  There are worse ways I could spend my money, like buying insects for my new roommate to feast upon.  He has a very particular palate with absolutely no interest in the soup/bread/cheese diet that I maintain.  Ah well—to each her own!  But that lizard is going to have to find his own insects.

A New Path for Springtime

40 Days of Yoga, DIY Style

Running is great.  Really great, in fact, and I’m looking forward to some springtime runs, now that the evening light is lingering into the after-work hours and I feel fully rested and recovered from the half-marathon.  There’s nothing quite like running to refresh and rejuvenate you.  When I’m running, I sweat away all my stress, and I return home, feeling serene and relaxed, sometimes energized and other times just ready for dinner and bed.

I have spent a lot of time running in the past two months, and one of my hobbies that got pushed to the side as a result is my yoga.  Now that I can let up on my running mileage, I want to focus on a more regular yoga practice.  I was inspired to read about Jenna’s 40 days of yoga.  Immediately, I knew I wanted to do something similar, and I’d do it my way, which is to say: I’d do it on my own, according to what appealed to me each day.  I do yoga primarily to relax and because it feels good.  In a sense, I use the physical aspect of yoga to tap into my emotions.  It’s the mind-body connection that really draws me into yoga.  Yoga has certain fringe benefits of course—it’s a strength and flexibility work-out that I believe makes me a better runner.  Yoga also teaches patience, which is an invaluable virtue.  Patience can work miracles.  It can make the impossible a reality.  I want to be a patient person, and yoga helps me work toward this goal.

My 40 Days of Yoga will consist of yoga, every day, for 40 days along with a few minutes of quiet meditation.  It’s amazing what five minutes of meditation can accomplish.  Even after just a few minutes of sitting quietly with my eyes closed, my mind feels clearer and calmer.  It’s really powerful stuff.  Too bad I’m not disciplined to do it regularly.  But that is what this yoga project is all about: applying some discipline to my yoga practice.  I won’t be spending hours every day on yoga and meditation—I probably won’t even spend more than 20 or 30 minutes each day on it—but I’m excited to see what the rhythm of doing it every day will bring me.  I hope that at the end, I feel happier, calmer, and more mentally alert than I do now.  I should clarify that it’s not that I feel terrible these days—in fact, I feel fine—but I’m curious to see what 40 days of yoga can do.

In the interest of full disclosure, I will mention that I am already planning a time-out on this project in April.  A friend and I are planning a little weekend road trip to weird, wonderful Austin, Texas, and I don’t know what our schedule will be for those two days.  So I may hit the pause button on 40 Days of Yoga and then resume it when we come home.

(My goodness, I am such a planner.)

One final note that I find funny and interesting: this project coincides perfectly with the season of Lent.  I am not religious at all, and even when I was religious, I wasn’t brought up in a household where we observed Lent.  Although I know that most people today observe Lent by giving something up, I like the idea of a springtime ritual that is oriented around spirituality, whatever your spirituality may entail.

Now with More Zip than Ever!

Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday Bike Riding (3/14-3/15/11 and 3/17/11)

My sweet bike and I have been reunited!  As I mentioned last week, I dropped my baby off at the bike doctor’s because she was having some serious problems.  I felt that it was best to let the experts sort things out.  Also, Matt convinced me that now was a good time to give the bike a routine tune-up.  I, fortunately, have learned to listen to his advice because it’s usually spot-on the right thing to do.

It turns out that when the wind slammed my bike into the ground, the spindle was bent, which explains all the issues with the pedals and the gears.  The spindle is basically a rod that connects the pedals to the bike frame—it sits perpendicularly to the bike frame.  If it’s bent, then things can’t rotate evenly because the spacing is no longer equal between all parts of the spindle-pedal system.  Anyway, the spindle had to be replaced, and the bike doctor was able to do that quickly because he had the part in stock.  He also fixed my right brake, which had stopped working some time back.  And now, my bike is back with more zip than ever!  Riding it is so much fun again, so fast and easy and smooth.  I am in love, all over again.

Please pardon the relative silence on Feels Like Flying this week.  I’m having some belly issues this week, and I don’t feel very good.  That’s also why I’m not running this week or doing yoga.  Biking, for whatever reasons, is easy enough that I can do it even if I’m a little unwell.  The rhythms seem to soothe my cranky body, and it’s nice to feel the sunshine on my face while I ride around town.

In the meantime, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  May the luck o’ the Irish be with you, sweet reader.