Tuesday Adventures

Yesterday was a day full of new or revisited things for me! I started the day dusting off my yoga mat and getting myself to class! (I didn't run first thing. Shocking, I know).

For awhile I was going to yoga very regularly and was happy with where my practice was heading. Before leaving New York, I joined Pure Yoga and was practicing Vinyasa 2-3 times a week. When I moved here, I was lucky enough to find a studio near me and a few great teachers. Unfortunately, it got a bit expensive and it was hard to find the time to get to class. There are apparently some great teachers at my gym and I have been waiting to find a time that would fit so I could get myself into class again. Today was the day!

The class was a very gently flow, which was probably good for me after not having practiced in a good month or two. I didn't break a sweat, but it was nice to stretch out my hips, since I have been pretty lazy about stretching lately.

One of the intentions the teacher set for the class was to go 80% instead of pushing yourself to 100% during each of the poses. At first when she said this I was like, "Heck no! Pushing myself to 100% is what I do best!". After her 3rd time mentioning it, though, I really started thinking about how important that message is. If we push ourselves to our limit all the time, there are so many consequences and sometimes its more about the journey than hitting a certain goal. I tried to follow this mindset the rest of the class, but it was certainly a challenge!

After refueling and enjoying a good cup of coffee, I headed over to the Crossfit noon class. I usually go to Crossfit in the afternoons, but today I had made a date with one of the gym's trainers to do the noon class and then head out for a trail run. I'm actually going to have to go to the noon classes several days a week soon because they are changing my work schedule, but until then, I'll hang with my afternoon Crossfit friends!

Our WOD wasn't too hard today, but I did do my box jumps on our highest box, which I have never done before. When my partner drug out that red box, I told my coach to hold my hand so I could try to jump up. It's so weird that box jumps are such a mental block for me! After a few jumps holding his hand for support, I finally jumped up by myself and was able to do the workout with the high box!

Our circuit for the day was 3 thrusters, 6 box jumps and 9 kettlebell swings. We did it as a partner workout where one partner would go through the circuit for one minute and then the other would start where they left off for one minute. We did that for 8 minutes each, not too bad!

After CrossFit, one of the coaches took me out to the trails at Cougar Mountain so we could practice trail running for the Tough Mudder. I was a little nervous because I have only trail run once before and the coach I was running with is an ultra marathoner. She is getting over an injury, but usually does multiple 100 mile races per year! She is so badass!

Didn't run with my phone so all you get is a pic of the entrance.

Anyway, my nerves quickly went away as soon as we started. The scenery was so gorgeous and my coach gave me a few pointers to get started with. One tip was to follow far enough behind that if I fell forward, I wouldn't knock her down as well. I thought I was going to have a rough time with the uphills since I don't train hills at all, but I was so much more comfortable with the uphills than the downhills. We kept such an easy pace that I felt like I could run forever. We ended up running for about an hour and twenty minutes and we estimated we ran between six and seven miles.

I loved trail running so much more this time! Despite the downhills, I really enjoyed running through different scenery and just being out in the forest instead of on the same roads I'm always on. I can't wait to go back!