And So The Fitness Came To Me

I’ve made a wonderful discovery: there is a yoga studio exactly (according to GoogleMaps) 1 mile from my front door. Can you imagine my excitement?! The studio offers a variety of yoga classes for walk in or unlimited classes with a monthly membership. They have a special for new customers: £30 (about $47) for 30 days of unlimited classes. Since it was £10 for a walk-in class, this is a great deal. I went to warm yoga last night and a beginners’ yoga tonight (establishing a strong form- it’s sometimes good to go back to basics). I have another warm yoga class scheduled for tomorrow so, there you go; already worth the money! My favorite part is I ride my purple cruiser bike (Shout-out to my thoughtful husband for being good at gift-giving!) so I get a two mile bike ride along with yoga. Well, now, isn’t that nice. Life is so sweet.

In other news, a friend of mine told me about these “pole fitness” and “aerial yoga” classes she does. I’m intrigued! Who said fitness has to be just clocking hours at the gym?!

Oh, and I’m doing a color run this autumn. Yes, this is a season of change!

Small Victories

It’s Thursday as I sit sipping my morning coffee, waiting for a measured cup of it to cool enough to make my favorite “Mocha-Nana” smoothie (a knock-off of my local juice bar’s product). The recipe is mostly made up and I’ve been trying for a few days to get it just right. Today I am blending for two people (no wait! I’m not preggo, this is literally two individuals), so I doubled the ingredients:

• 2 Frozen Bananas
• 1 cup of cooled coffee
• 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder
• 1 cup of skim milk

The recipes I found online also called for almond butter but (a) I don’t have any and (b) I’ve been avoiding all nuts it since I found out about my mild peanut allergy (yes, yes, tree nuts versus legumes, I know). My cooling coffee has got to be ready by now so excuse me for a moment. But stay turned because I’ve got some news about my ankles/calves!

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Three Days Later…

It is possible that I got distracted.

The smoothie turned out yummy (not quite as good as the one from the shop, but pretty close), in case you were wondering. I also bought some almond butter and so far it’s been okay. I haven’t tried it in a smoothie yet though.

MY NEWS: On Wednesday evening, I went to the gym and planned to “run” a mile and a half. And by “run” I mean jog the 60 seconds until my calves and ankles were screaming and stiff, stretch-stretch-stretch, run for another 60 seconds, repeat. I begin my jog at a slow pace (5 mph) and the most incredible thing happened. I ran an entire mile. No soreness, no stiffness; I just ran and breathed and made it a whole mile. I then walked 1/4 mile and sprinted the remaining 1/4 mile. Guys, it has been three YEARS since I was able to go that long without my tendonitis acting up. The funny thing was I didn’t stretch before this run.

I ran the day after the post and didn’t do so well. The only factor that was different was the incline: successful run was at a “1” incline; unsuccessful one was at a “0”.
I may or may not be avoiding the gym this week. I just hate being cooped inside- I feel like I’ve missed this whole summer in my windowless office. I will be working out though- powering through Jillian Michaels “6 Week 6 Pack” routine in my sunny living room with the windows open to the morning breeze. I may not earn my Mocha Nana smoothie at the gym this Monday/Wednesday/Friday, but you can bet I’ll be making my own at home!