For the month of November I intend to focus on cycling and yoga. I've gotten fairly good at listening to my body and deciphering what it wants and those are the two things it's craving right now.
Several months ago, I borrowed a road bike from a friend, only to leave it untouched in my hallway, taunting me daily. Today, I finally went to Sports Basement and picked up a pair of Sidi Zephyr cycling shoes, cleats, a patch kit, extra tube, and a floor pump. Now at least I've got the basics. All the fancy spandex will have to wait.
[Sidenote: I've realized that I now officially find men in spandex attractive. It's not such a bad look after all!]
Haven't tried riding with the shoes yet... and I'm dreading those first awkward minutes of trying to clip in and out and not fall off the bike.
My main goal in doing more yoga is to learn to just be still and breath. Probably a good goal for many of us. The style I've done the most of is Bikram (hot) yoga, probably because Global Yoga is a few blocks from my house. Otherwise, I'm essentially a beginner.
Today at noon I went to a Vinyasa Flow class at Yogaworks. It was divine. The teacher, Pete, was super warm. He welcomed me immediately, asked about my yoga background, and told me what to expect in the class.
During the class he was very hands-on which, as person who errs on the side of being way too touchy-feely with people, I thought was great! There is nothing more soothing to me than the human touch, particularly when it's combined with a genuine connection with someone. Pete's gentle hand on your back feels like a wave of calming energy.
Being naturally flexible and pretty strong I found myself rather aggressively trying all the poses and doing pretty darn well (if I may say so myself.) But, toward the end of the class, Pete made a great point: the poses are just the tip of the iceberg. I was basically forgetting to breath, which (for me especially) is kind of the point.
Always come back to your breath. Always come back to your breath. I kept thinking of that Telepopmusik song.
Later in the afternoon, I had my usual training session. One thing I dig about my trainer is that he makes you work most on your weaknesses. One of mine, clearly, is agility. He's attempting to get me to think and move more like an athlete. We did some footwork, box jumps, and kettlebell stuff. Oh, and we're also working on bar muscle-ups! So. Hard.
It felt great to fit two very different workouts in today. And the achilles is feeling pretty good actually. I'm cautiously optimistic!
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