ardho mukha somethingorrather

Tonight's session - yoga

Two yoga sessions in one week - I'm trying, I'm trying. Flexibility has never been my strong point but as I get older *groan* and run further and more often, it has become very important. Anyways we spent a lot of time on leg stretching poses tonight including the dog pose - the ardho mukha something-or-rather. Our instructor uses the sanskrit terms for the poses and usually the only bit of fairly lengthy names that sounds remotely familiar is 'asana' or 'pose' (usually the last part of the very long and complicated sounding name). I tend to look and see what other people are doing and hope that our teacher expands on what she wants us to do.

Tonight was a good session except from the one occasion when I toppled over as I had one leg propped up on a chair. Hmmm balance needs some work.

This morning's session - easy run

Time / weather - 6am / 17*c, cloudy, muggy
Distance - 12km
Time taken - 1hr 7.25min
Av pace - 5.37min/km
AHR - 139; MHR - 163

Compared to the same run last week, this one was so much better. Its hard running back to back runs (medium long run one in the afternoon and then running again the next morning) but today I felt comfortable. The pace and time taken to do the 12km is about the same as last week's run but my average heart rate was lower today and I didn't feel blah (which was, I think, the title of last week's blog entry!).

Diet - still lolly and chocolate-free though nearly slipped up when my work colleague (who is deliberately trying to sabotage my efforts, I might add) offered me some lollies and I nearly accepted without even thinking. Just as I was about to put my hand in the bag I remembered - nearly caught me out. Will have to be on my guard. Someone had also left me a Fantale but reluctantly I gave it to my friend. I have had pizza for lunch the past 2 days but they have been gourmet cafe-style pizzas, with lots of vegies and good things like cashews so surely that can't be considered as junk food.

I don't do 'elegant' - today was one of the very rare occasions when I wore a dress to work. Virtually everyone at work noticed and commented on how 'elegant' I looked. Now this is tantamount to putting a hex on me - I am then guaranteed to either fall down steps, spill food or coffee over myself, or any number of other klutzy things. And it happened - my grand entrance into a meeting this afternoon with a cup of coffee nearly resulted in my work colleague wearing it as I tripped. Miraculously I managed to keep the cup upright. However about 5 minutes later, after sitting down, I somehow managed (don't ask me how) to then spill coffee on myself.

Tomorrow:
Yasso 800s x 6

***********************************************
Looking back - Road to IM 2004
52 days to go

On this day 2 years ago:
Workout - swim - overdistance
Time - 8pm, AIS 25m pool, swim squad
Distance - 2.3km

The session included the following:
16 x 25m (Distance per stroke; kick; max speed; run)
4 x 300m Time trial + 50m max (2min RI)
5 x 100m (75m swim; 25m run)

Good swim even though I felt tired and a bit like a ping pong ball swimming in a 25m pool. My times for the 300m were between 5.35min and 5.51min.

Susan mentioned a chamois cream called Assos which might help with cycling comfort (oh boy do I need it - the comfort, that is). Lonsdale Cyclery has it apparently so I must check it out and see if it works. I told Susan that I would be eternally grateful if it does work.