Trying to Share the Love

My workouts went great last week. I had wanted to post results but didn't have time.  I did get all of my yoga in, which I wanted to make sure I did, and I had 3 days where I was able to take walks.

Last week I was able to convince my 16 year old to go to a yoga class with me. I've wanted her to try yoga for a couple of years, but she's been unable to find a love for it practicing home alone. So an opportunity came up for us to attend a class together,  and then she went again by herself tonight. I want to get her hooked on yoga. I would love if it became a passion of hers. So I intended to spend the next couple if months trying to work it into our schedules.

This week I have lots more kettlebell on the menu. This week I'm using Lauren Brook's Kettlebell Revelation DVD.

Monday - strength 1 +fat burning
Tuesday - strength 2+ abs of steel + restorative yoga
Wednesday - fat burning+ abs of steel+ 30 mins of yoga
Thursday- yoga +walk
Friday - strength 1+ plus 30 mins yoga
Saturday - strength 2 + yoga
Sunday - Yin yoga day

I hope to walk more often than one day, but it is planned for Thursday.

I did strength 1 today plus the fat burning (cardio work). It felt good. Today was lots of Get-ups, cleans, deadlifts, and presses. The cardio was swings, a variation of jump squats,  and snatches. 

I feel like I've been working hard, and while I do miss running, I'm content to have a new focus.

New Schedule and Binge Eating

I'm going to start with the binge eating.  I never had an eating problem.  I ate when I was hungry and stopped when I was full.  Then I got to my 40's.  It's been an issue, not a huge issue but an issue.  I don't know if it's stress, hormones, or both. I have been hungrier thanks to the increase in my strength workouts, but I don't think that's it.

Today I had eaten well, that is I had until tonight. I was very hungry all afternoon, but I did eat a good snack to deal with it.  I then ate a good dinner (mushroom-pumpkin chili). I ate the chili but I was still hungry, and that's when I lost control.  I think I ate half a box of Peanut butter Puffins!  I just kept eating, and now I feel over stuffed.  I find it odd, because I was never a person who did that.  It's very new to me.  It hits me a few times a month, and I find it disturbing.  It's not a weight thing. I'm not overweight, and I'm not dieting and trying to lose weight.  It's just an out of control food thing. I need to find a way to make it stop.

Now on to a more fun topic, my workout schedule!  I still can't run.  I had been doing kettlebell 3x's a week and yoga 3x's a week.  Kettlebell is about to go all out, with 5 workouts a week.  Some will be strength focused and some more conditioning focused. I plan to incorporate yoga after most workouts.  I'm determined to keep it up.  I need yoga.  Yoga, for me, is meditative, and I don't want to lose that.

But now for my workouts.  I'll be using Lauren Brooks DVDs.  I made a 5 week schedule based on suggested rotations of the DVDs that Lauren provided.  5 weeks gets me to Thanksgiving, at which point I plan to take a week off and just practice yoga, then it will be back to strength training.

I'm using these DVDs





             










I'm excited. I feel like this is a good direction for now, even though I'm missing running a lot.  I'm hoping to really improve my overall strength so that I can get back to running when this hamstring gets healed up.

This week I'm using the Kettlebell Body DVD.

  Monday will be Sculpt plus an added tabata,
 Tuesday will be Butts plus yoga,
 Wednesday will be a conditioning workout from BeSlam, Conditioning 1(not a video) plus yoga,
 Thursday is my yoga class day,
 Friday will be Sculpt plus yoga,
 Saturday will be Body plus yoga,
 Sunday is my Yin yoga day.:)

 That's my week.  I plan to report back on how it's going.

Change Can be OK

This week the yoga class I have been attending has changed format.  It's a new studio and I guess the instructor wants to try different things to see what pulls people in.  I loved doing yoga.  This new class is more of a fusion class. It's a sculpt and tone class, with some yoga.  But even though I was disappointed when she announced that the format was changing, I am trying to embrace it.  As we worked on different poses, breaking them down and trying to engage the core more, I realized that I need to correct some of my poses.  I was going down too far in Chataranga, and while in chair pose I haven't been "knitting my ribs together".  These subtle things make a big difference, and after just that intro class I can tell I need it.

For me, the last couple of months have been all about change.  My kids started attending a once a week co-op for school that has been a huge change for our little homeschool.  I had to stop running because of an injury.  I have to stop consuming any dairy, because it now makes me very ill even if I have just a bit. And we are also in the process of finding a new church home.  All that change can be disturbing.

I've tried adding good habits, like meditation and more scripture reading.  I'm also embracing the strength focus with gusto.  I can tell that my hamstring is getting better, but I think running is still a couple of weeks away.  And by the time I go to start it will be very cold and dark.  I may just run a mile a day (on the treadmill) and continue to focus on strength and yoga.

Change can be good and I'm working on embracing the now.

No More Running

I've had a hard time admitting to myself, but I'm done with running, for probably 3 or more months (it could be 6!).  My hamstring is not improving.  I do fine with kettlebell and yoga as long as I avoid deadlifts in kettlebell and don't try overstretching in yoga.  In a way, it's nice to just be doing the 2 things.  Trying to do it all was hard, and I didn't make much strength progress.  I was ok with that, but still, I didn't progress.  Now I can focus on these 2 things.  I want to continue working on my upper body strength, (which I did more of while running) but also lower body.  Time to increase the weight for my goblet squats and lunges.  Time to start working on single leg squats.  In yoga I want to work on inversions and improving my back bends.  I can do these without aggravating my hamstring.
I've ordered a new kettlebell DVD, Lauren Brooks Kettlebell Revelation




I have 3 DVDs by Lauren, as well as her book and BeSlam program.  I plan on rotating the DVDs, adding extra stuff when needed, such as some conditioning at the end of the strength workouts, and a strength warm-up before the conditioning workouts.

I may eventually try a series by Pat Flynn, of Chronicles of Strength.  He uses mostly double kettlebells, and I don't have 2 8kg bells, I don't even have 1.  I have a 15lb bell and a 20lb bell, then I have two 12kg bells.  I guess I could do his program with the 15# and 20#, alternating hands each set.  I could not do it with the 12kg.  I plan on 6 solid weeks of using the DVDs, then maybe I'll try his.

Yoga continues to be great.  I love the class I'm attending and I use YogaGlo.com almost everyday.

This week at yoga class I got to try a yoga toy.



This thing was amazing.  It was easy to get into headstand with it, and now I want one.  I could do much longer headstands, and it was easier to engage my core, and work on that instead of my head/neck or hands hurting.

So many new things I want.  If only I had unlimited funds for my hobbies. :)

Yoga

It's been a bit of a discouraging week. I ran on Tuesday and Wednesday,  just 3 miles each day, but it hurt my hamstring.   My hamstring felt fine all weekend through allvof that difficult hiking,  but I still can't run on it. I also did kettlebell on Tuesday; I don't want to fall behind on my strength work. But today's post is about yoga.

I've been taking a yoga class at a studio in the city once a week. I've done yoga on my own for 5 years, and it's been good, but this class has been great. The young woman who teaches is on par with those yoga "stars" on YogaGlo.  And, unlike online, she does little adjustments that bring me deeper into the pose. I'm loving this class so much. It's made me love yoga even more, and I feel restored and refreshed when it's done. Everyone needs yoga.:-)

Hiking

My husband and I spent the weekend hiking. On Saturday we took our two youngest kids on a 2.5 mile hike.  It was quite strenuous,  but the boys did great. At the end was a nice waterfall and they enjoyed climbing the rocks around it.

On Sunday my husband and I went hiking at the Smokey Mountains. We did an 11 mile hike up to Mt. Leconte.  It was very strenuous and we probably took on more than we should have. We had planned for a shorter hike, but after we got to our spot at Alum Cave, we decided to hike on. By the time we were done we were very tired.

We stopped at a Ruby Tuesday's for dinner, and it turned out exciting. While we were eating the kitchen caught fire. We were able to finish our meal, but didn't opt for dessert. :-)

The drive home was long and hard, and I know that I'll be sore in the morning.  I believe Monday morning will be a yoga day.

Beautiful views and my husband in front of the Lodge.

Injury and Detox

So I've been neglecting this blog. I've been too busy to write. 5 weeks ago I decided I would start training for a fall half marathon. The date was the beginning of November.  My plan was from the book Train Like a Mother. I went for their Own It plan. During the 3rd week there were hill repeats. I felt tired that morning but decided to push it anyway.  There were 6 repeats, during the 5th one I felt my hamstring. It started to hurt. Then I did the 6th. Mistake. I had to run 1.5 miles back to the park. I was in pain the whole time. I rested the next day, but then ran my scheduled 12 mile run. I hurt, but thought I just needed ice, but after a rest day I went for a short 3 mile run. Pain, lots of pain.

So no running for the past 2 weeks, and I don't know how long. I moped for a few days but then decided to refocus. I did upper body and core work with both kettlebell and yoga, and it's been good, even though I miss running.

I also started attending a real yoga class. I've always just practiced on my own, but I'm really enjoying the class.

I've also on my last day of an Ayurvedic detox. For 7 days I've had oatmeal for breakfast,  and kitchari (curried rice and mung beans with veggies) for lunch and dinner. I also drank water with lemon and herbal tea. My mornings started with breathing exercises,  meditation,  and yoga. It's been an interesting experience.

My goal was to settle my gut. I'd been having such bad problems with everything I would eat.  I wanted to find new habits that would be helpful for my life.

I know I need to cut out dairy. I think I need to reduce foods like pasta, and fatty meats. I need more beans and need to be careful with fruit (seems fine if cooked, but not raw).

I also know I need to include more meditation in my life. I think I will try and continue to do the breath work and meditation in the morning.

Life has been crazy,  and I need to keep looking for ways to help manage.