With all illness, injuries and vacation time behind me, I got back into the full work-out routine this week. And let me tell you - I am exhausted.
On Sunday I ran that sopping wet 5K.
On Monday I did New Rules Stage 4 Workout A and went to YinYang Yoga.
On Tuesday I rested. Because I was exhausted.
On Wednesday I did New Rules Stage 4 Workout B, which kicked my butt, ran a 15 minute speed workout and went to Power Yoga.
On Thursday I ran 3 miles.
On Friday I went to Victoria's Vinyasa Class...where she decided to punish us with a grueling standing split series.
Tomorrow I am running 5 miles at the crack of dawn with Meri and going to Power Yoga at 9am.
Sunday I am hoping to get in an afternoon home yoga practice and am going to Sanskrit class that night.
When I look back at the weeks activities, it does not look like a lot to me. I feel dissatisfied with my overall performance...which is insane because I know I completed a lot of quality workouts this week. And my body feels like it has been run over by a truck...in a good way. If that is possible.
I think the feeling of dissatisfaction comes from missing 3 days of yoga this week! Victoria was asking me today if I have been practicing and my first thought was 'of course I have' but then when I though back...this week has been seriously lacking in mat time. Right now, I just feel exhausted. Exhausted and anxious which is a direct result from failing to calm my mind and center my energy. I am hoping that after Power Yoga tomorrow and possibly Sunday ... and Sanskrit class Sunday night ... I will be feeling more like myself ... which tends to be exhausted ... but exhausted and calm.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Chisel
Last night I went to Power Yoga at Revelation and Scott was subbing in for Kim. Scott tends to tell a lot of stories when he teaches, which is fine with me. I am not a yoga purist or a yoga snob...I find different instructors and different styles of teaching refreshing. Last night's Scott story resonated with me so completely, I thought I would share it with you.
When traveling in India, Scott heard the story of a man who carved life sized elephants from single large pieces of stone. This man was famous all over the country for these carvings, both for their size and their beauty. The carver was once asked how he went about his craft, and his answer was as follows:
With the help of many men, friends possibly, they would drag which ever large stone was closest to the center of the village. The carver would then spends days on end, just staring at the huge mass of rock until he would find what he was looking for...the elephant within the stone. He would then chisel around the elephant, removing all the excess stone...in essence, releasing the elephant which was there all the time.
Scott talked about how, in yoga, we too are chiseling away at all of the extra stuff that has collected on us, in our minds, that is not truly who we are. It is chiseling away the negative thoughts, the past experiences, the future anxieties. It is freeing us from using others as a way of defining ourselves. The practice of yoga is chiseling away at all of that extra stuff in order to discover and release your true self.
Chisel away my friends.
When traveling in India, Scott heard the story of a man who carved life sized elephants from single large pieces of stone. This man was famous all over the country for these carvings, both for their size and their beauty. The carver was once asked how he went about his craft, and his answer was as follows:
With the help of many men, friends possibly, they would drag which ever large stone was closest to the center of the village. The carver would then spends days on end, just staring at the huge mass of rock until he would find what he was looking for...the elephant within the stone. He would then chisel around the elephant, removing all the excess stone...in essence, releasing the elephant which was there all the time.
Scott talked about how, in yoga, we too are chiseling away at all of the extra stuff that has collected on us, in our minds, that is not truly who we are. It is chiseling away the negative thoughts, the past experiences, the future anxieties. It is freeing us from using others as a way of defining ourselves. The practice of yoga is chiseling away at all of that extra stuff in order to discover and release your true self.
Chisel away my friends.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tofu
Do not be scared, okay? This post is going to contain pictures and nutritional information about tofu. It is nothing to be afraid of.
What is tofu? Tofu is made from soy milk similar to the way cheese is made from milk. See? What is scary about that?
Why do I want to eat it? I buy Light Firm Tofu which has 160 Calories, 6 Grams of Fat (none of it trans or saturated), and 28 Grams of Protein, no cholesterol and no sugar. Which means that, if you want, you can chow down on the entire block/container and not feel the least bit guilty. And feel very full. Most nights, I only eat half of the block. CAUTION: These are stats for light tofu...non-light tofu has a much different nutritional profile.
How do I eat it? Here we go!
Start with:
Two paper towels
Tofu drained cut up how you want it
Place on paper towels
Cover tofu with two more paper towels and some books
Leave the tofu alone for 10 minutes or so. While LEAVING THE TOFU ALONE...
Put in a pan:
Olive Oil (some)
Veggies (kale, corn, carrots here)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Gold
Saute over medium high heat
When the veggies are cooking:
Pick up cook books
Discard top layer of (now soaking wet) paper towels
Stack up tofu so that you can remove the bottom layer of (now soaking wet) paper towels
Complete the whole two paper towels, tofu, two paper towels, two books routine again. This is to press out extra water from the tofu...in case you were wondering.
Once the veggies are done cooking (they should be cooked to your liking, not mine):
Remove veggies from pan
Add pressed tofu to pan
Season (salt, pepper, Garlic Gold...whatever floats your boat)
Cook for:
7 minutes? 10?
Cook until golden brown on the bottom side, then flip each piece.
Continue to cook for another 7-10 minutes.
Remove cat from counter:
Place veggies and tofu in bowl. Add any additional seasonings. I like to mix this up, but for last nights dinner I wanted sweet and spicy, so I drizzled on agave nectar and rooster sauce.
Feed very tired, hungry and wet blogger:
What is tofu? Tofu is made from soy milk similar to the way cheese is made from milk. See? What is scary about that?
Why do I want to eat it? I buy Light Firm Tofu which has 160 Calories, 6 Grams of Fat (none of it trans or saturated), and 28 Grams of Protein, no cholesterol and no sugar. Which means that, if you want, you can chow down on the entire block/container and not feel the least bit guilty. And feel very full. Most nights, I only eat half of the block. CAUTION: These are stats for light tofu...non-light tofu has a much different nutritional profile.
How do I eat it? Here we go!
Start with:
Two paper towels
Tofu drained cut up how you want it
Place on paper towels
Cover tofu with two more paper towels and some books
Leave the tofu alone for 10 minutes or so. While LEAVING THE TOFU ALONE...
Put in a pan:
Olive Oil (some)
Veggies (kale, corn, carrots here)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Gold
Saute over medium high heat
When the veggies are cooking:
Pick up cook books
Discard top layer of (now soaking wet) paper towels
Stack up tofu so that you can remove the bottom layer of (now soaking wet) paper towels
Complete the whole two paper towels, tofu, two paper towels, two books routine again. This is to press out extra water from the tofu...in case you were wondering.
Once the veggies are done cooking (they should be cooked to your liking, not mine):
Remove veggies from pan
Add pressed tofu to pan
Season (salt, pepper, Garlic Gold...whatever floats your boat)
Cook for:
7 minutes? 10?
Cook until golden brown on the bottom side, then flip each piece.
Continue to cook for another 7-10 minutes.
Remove cat from counter:
Place veggies and tofu in bowl. Add any additional seasonings. I like to mix this up, but for last nights dinner I wanted sweet and spicy, so I drizzled on agave nectar and rooster sauce.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Racing in the Rain
This past Sunday morning featured the wettest race of my life. The sky Sunday morning was gray and the rain was coming down...yet, due to some insane drive to run, contribute to charity or some other reason, I as well as over 600 people lined up to race the Butterfly 5K this weekend!
I was psyched to see many familiar faces at the start - Tammy, Chrissy and Meri, as well Jen from Chicago, Libby, Allison and Lauren! As miserable as running in the rain is, friendly faces always help.
We stood around for about an hour before the race ... which means we started the race soaked. I am not going to lie - this was miserable. Cold, wet and miserable. The actual running wasn't bad...until the last mile. My splits on miles 1 and 2 were about the usual (9:18 for the first mile and 19:02 for the second) but things were off for the last mile and I finished in 30 minutes and some odd seconds, which is about 30-45 seconds slower than my usual finish time. If you have not raced you are probably thinking "Whats 30 seconds? Thats nothing"...if you have raced, you can probably imagine my frustration. 30 seconds is a lot of time in a race...Shaving a minute off a race time is a huge feat...so a backslide of 30 seconds is pretty disheartening. Worst yet is that I was not tired at the end of the race! I usually go a little easier in my last mile of any race to gather some energy than run real fast (for me) the last quarter mile or so. The problem here? I didn't know the course, misjudged how much course was left AND didn't have my race watch on to estimate the time. The result was a lousy finish.
Even though a big part of me wants to call the race a fail, it wasn't. So my time was off and I didn't finish hard. I showed up - and so did hundreds of others - to race through the rain. That in itself is a win.
A special congrats to Tammy who came in 4th in her division and to Libby who came in FIRST in hers!
I was psyched to see many familiar faces at the start - Tammy, Chrissy and Meri, as well Jen from Chicago, Libby, Allison and Lauren! As miserable as running in the rain is, friendly faces always help.
We stood around for about an hour before the race ... which means we started the race soaked. I am not going to lie - this was miserable. Cold, wet and miserable. The actual running wasn't bad...until the last mile. My splits on miles 1 and 2 were about the usual (9:18 for the first mile and 19:02 for the second) but things were off for the last mile and I finished in 30 minutes and some odd seconds, which is about 30-45 seconds slower than my usual finish time. If you have not raced you are probably thinking "Whats 30 seconds? Thats nothing"...if you have raced, you can probably imagine my frustration. 30 seconds is a lot of time in a race...Shaving a minute off a race time is a huge feat...so a backslide of 30 seconds is pretty disheartening. Worst yet is that I was not tired at the end of the race! I usually go a little easier in my last mile of any race to gather some energy than run real fast (for me) the last quarter mile or so. The problem here? I didn't know the course, misjudged how much course was left AND didn't have my race watch on to estimate the time. The result was a lousy finish.
Even though a big part of me wants to call the race a fail, it wasn't. So my time was off and I didn't finish hard. I showed up - and so did hundreds of others - to race through the rain. That in itself is a win.
A special congrats to Tammy who came in 4th in her division and to Libby who came in FIRST in hers!
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