Planetary Alignment

So, just because I've got a Posterous account with other folks doesn't mean I'm abandoning this -- you are my boys and this is our blog. The Posterous move was an experiment to see what it's like to do a team blog over there -- it's smooth and easy and provides an alternative forum for people to share training stories.

I've been goofing with running this past year and it's time to get serious. I did 5.2 today, and including cool down walk it was all done in ~50 minutes. I felt good. It was cold and dark and the footing uneven in places but it was nice to get out and 5.2 is the furthest I've done in a while. I need to go in the mornings and that's a goal for the new year return to AM trots.

The stars were out and Mars & Jupiter were in the sky, so it was cool to be out. I did two 40 minute yoga workouts with Mrs. A this past weekend and we might try and do another tonight. It felt good and it was tough. I'm looking to work more of that sort of stuff too this year, focus on the whole body. One 20 minute session did lower body, and the other did upper -- I enjoyed and felt better the next day though the lower body workout made my legs sore which was totally unexpected.

Yoga! Yoga! (To Belushi's chant)

Yoga is by far one of the greatest low impact exercise routines I have done. How is it possible to raise your heart rate to 140 simply through breathing and some poses? My HR stayed in that range for close to 45 minutes by posing this way and that. When I first began, I could hardly hold any of the poses, let alone get into any of them. Now I am actually able to hold my balance for close to 30 seconds and not fall over. Focusing on your breathing and trying to clear your head for an hour and a half is completely worth it and has increased my concentration immensely. At points, I am actually moving and stretching my body in ways I did not think were conceivable. If you have the opportunity, I would highly recommend yoga. Be prepared to sweat!