Pages

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Run, ride, yoga, repeat

Back in October, I had an opportunity to visit Estes Park and Boulder, Colorado, and I met with my online running coach while I was there. We worked on some form drills, and he took me on some great runs in and around the Rocky Mountain National Park (about 20 miles total.) My wife was with me, but she is not a runner, so she was attending the Yoga Journal Conference at the YMCA. I found out that one of the sessions on the last day was with the YogaSlackers, so I made a last minute decision to sign up for the workshop. I learned several new techniques with the slackline and had a great time there.

Since that trip, I have been making sure to practice my form on most of my training runs. I am not training for anything in particular right now, but I am trying to make sure I keep my fitness level over the winter because I am thinking about running a 30K trail race in July. I have been doing power yoga at least once every two weeks (sometimes as often as once every week), and I have started mixing cycling back into my routine. Over the last few weeks, I have also been experimenting with my barefoot running again, even with the colder weather. I have been braving the trails for short distances, even in the snow and cold mud, and I have been feeling great. One one of my runs, I managed a little more than a third of a mile, barefoot in the snow, temperatures around 30F. More recently, I did just under 4 miles on the trails, completely barefoot while it was 45F outside. I am being very careful with this experimentation, making sure to carry shoes with me, just in case I start to feel uncomfortable.

My plans right now are to continue running 3 days a week (with some barefoot running on one of those days when the weather cooperates, a structured workout of some kind on another, and a free run on the third day), cycling 2 days a week in the indoor trainer (one short and easy, and the other longer for endurance training), and power yoga 1 day a week. This seems to be a perfect recipe for me for both strength and cardio, so I am going to stick with it.

I also wanted to share one gadget that I got for Christmas this year that I think everyone will find to be fun. It's called a Fitbit One, and it keeps track of your steps and stairs taken throughout the day. It's been fun to see my steps after longer runs, and it definitely helps keep me motivated to keep moving, even when I am not running.

Take care, have fun, and keep running!

No comments:

Post a Comment