I decided to turn my weekend into a single post: two workouts, one post, mega fun?! On Saturday, I convinced my housemate J to check out a Real Ryder class with me. I spent all morning working on homework alone in Starbucks so it was really great having a friend to chat with before class, and later on, to high five after a series of "hilly" sprints. Once again, I loved the sassy Ryder attitude, but I think J thought it was a little cheesy. Perhaps my brief stint in a sorority has desensitized me to the more dopey aspects of life, but hey, I can't resist a few fist pumps mid-ride. 45 minutes later, J and I were shaking on our saddles, and overdosing on endorphins- twas awesome. Afterwards, we rode out our adrenaline high by visiting one of my favorite stores in Chicago- Alcala's Western Wear. J bought an awesome new pair of cowboys boots, while I, with great difficulty, restrained myself from buying a beautiful red fringe jacket. Though I left Alcala's empty handed, I now know what my first summer purchase will be- a fantastic cowboy hat. Fighting skin cancer while looking fabulous; I'm in. I'll be in Israel in June and can't wait to rock the Nashville look( along with my mad post-half marathon muscles).
Today, I went to Hot Power Fusion, which is pretty typical for me. I love vinyasa flow, but HPF has definitely become my go to class. I've started practicing right under the heater to keep the class challenging. I used to think this class was sixty minutes of slow torture, but now I see it as my sanctuary. I've learned the routine of the class and instead of being bored with the same poses, I enjoy the familiarity and like pushing myself to go further and dig deeper. My balance has improved so much since I started and now that muscle memory has kicked in, I can really focus on my breathing. For so long, I thought that ujjayi breathing was something only "real" yogis did, in fact it actually drove me nuts, but now I've come to rely on it as a way to center myself and keep my heart rate down. I find myself using ujjayi breathing when I'm running and I think it's definitely helped me improve my times. Anyway, I've got to put the blog away and get back to my homework, but I'll be back tomorrow! Something tells me that there's another HPF class in my near future....
peace, love, sweat xoxoSR
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