This weekend was packed full, but that doesn't mean that I skimped on my workouts. Saturday morning I got up super early, did my laundry and packed up Girl Scout cookies that needed to be mailed out to friends and family. Then I dropped off Isabel with her father and headed off to Hot Yoga Bootcamp. And my beloved Fitness Guru Adrienne kicked my ass for an hour. I know that I lament that her longer weeks (an hour and a half) are the alternate weeks that I can't go because I have Isabel, but honestly, between the heat and the workout an extra 15 minutes might actually kill me.
And for those who hear yoga and thing "easy", let me just tell you, the very fit guy behind me who came with his wife was sitting on the ground halfway through the class dying. This class is not for the faint of heart. It's a heated yoga class for the start and then it kicks into high gear and becomes a full-on bootcamp class complete with kettlebells, bosu balls, so many push-up variations, and any other crazy things that comes into Adrienne's head. I sound like I'm complaining, but I pay extra for this because I love it.
Afterwards I took my disgustingly sweaty self (seriously gross) to the post office with six giant boxes of cookies to send off. Let me just tell you, some people are real jerks. Some woman saw me struggling to open the door and practically ran the other way instead of holding it open for me.
Then I headed off to celebrate my friend's birthday, play with her baby and then stayed at her apartment in the city overnight. Got up pretty early in the morning and went for a lovely run in Central Park. My friend Jennie had considered coming with me, but when I told her my hill interval plan, she decided to opt out. Probably wisely.
From her place on the Upper West Side, I headed north in the Central Park loop up to the top of the park where the nice giant hills are located. I ran up and down the big hills in one direction then turned around and ran them the other way. Got to get that training in for the Pocono marathon some how. I slogged my way up the hills and sprinted my way down. As is my norm. Good thing that my half of the Pocono marathon is almost entirely a decline. On my way back south, I happened to notice that alongside the main running loop there was a dirt path, so I hopped on that for a while and my legs were in heaven. It didn't hurt that the sun was shining and it was close to 50 degrees outside. I couldn't have asked for better weather conditions.
I was feeling so good that when I got over to the Reservoir and saw that it was a dirt path and nice and muddy from the recent snowy rain, I started smiling. I'd already clocked 5 miles per my GPS and had at least a mile back to Jennie's apartment, but I couldn't resist a loop around (my GPS says its just over a mile and a half). I was practically bounding and was grinning at everyone who ran past. I even told my dad that I had fun running. Yes, I know how insane those words sound. I usually just tolerate running, but maybe this is the elusive runner's high? Or perhaps I'm only really enjoying running when there's a chance there will be mud on my shoes. But I do know that when I'm running on dirt and trail, I pay far more attention to where I'm stepping so I don't kill myself or twist and ankle, that I forget about breathing and how much my legs hurt.
I think that my mile and half reservoir loop was actually my fastest mile or so of the day, even though it was close to the end of my run. Too bad that most of my races are on pavement, and that most of the places near to my house are all concrete and tar. Then again, maybe if I were running on dirt all the time, it would lose its charm.
Unfortunately, after I got off the dirt path and back on the pavement to head to home base, I was still in my bouncy mode and killed my poor hamstring. I had to walk/run the last mile back, even though I've been run/running for a while.
Afterwards I had to get ready so that Jennie and I could go for our spa day. Her husband had gotten us a lovely package with a mani/pedi, massage and facial as a Christmas gift and we finally worked it out schedule wise. But for me relaxing is harder than doing a bootcamp workout, especially when strangers are touching me. On the plus side, I told the massage therapist about my sore little hamstring and she fixed that right up. I could get used to that. Normally I'm way to fidgety, but I told this nice woman that I'd been trying hard to meditate lately and she told me she was a Zen Buddhist Monk and then helped me relax with some guided meditation. I wasn't quite as comfortable during the facial and the rest of the pampering, but it was still fun and then Jennie and I got to have a nice girl dinner together, I snuggled her baby a little more and headed home.
So it was a little chaotic, but a lot of fun. Aside from the clocks jumping ahead for Daylight Savings Time and stealing an hour sleep, I'm not sure I would have changed a thing.
Day 8
Day 7
Day 6
Day 5
Day4
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