Set back? Step back?

I had an awesome week last week and I was feeling strong and ready for another great week when…dun, dun, dun…a sore throat struck on Monday by Tuesday afternoon I was starting to get stuffy and low energy. Today (Wednesday), it’s full blown head cold! I absolutely hate being sick! I know I’m only in week 3 of training but it still annoys me that I’m sick. I’m downing water and tea and basically playing my workouts by ear. I skipped weights yesterday morning in favor of sleeping in, since weights isn’t an essential workout I think I made a smart choice. I did run 4 miles after work though I canceled on Kathy (sorry chica, we will meet up soon!). I ran an incredibly slow 4 miles with the dog, granted I didn’t stop the watch when she needed to go to the bathroom but I think the overall pace was 12:15 or something. I’m glad I went—thanks to Mr. Pi for convincing me to go. I have a feeling I’ll be skipping at least one essential workout this week though if I continue to feel like I do now. Most tri plans go in meso-cycles where every 4 weeks is a step back week; guess my step back week is coming a week early. I have a big weekend ahead that I’m really looking forward to. We’re heading down to CA on Friday. I have an awesome ride scheduled with Sarah (thanks for organizing) and a 5k with my sister-in-law on Sunday.

Must.get.healthy.

Anyone have tips on working out when sick? When do you know you should suck it up and go and when do you call it a rest day?

Barb's Race Training Week #2

Another full week of training and I’m feeling fantastic.  I’m going to do a backwards recap this week, starting with today (Sunday).

Sunday: 1.5 hour spin class

I can’t say enough great things about Alex’s spin classes.  This guy is freaking amazing.  Anyone that does an UltraMan is nuts.  I didn’t even know they made anything longer than an Ironman.  Lots of sweat in this class but I’m definitely starting to feel more comfortable on the bike (in spin and out on the roads).  If you’re a Portland peep looking for a good spin class with an awesome instructor, check him out at Soul Culture:  www.soulculturecycling.com.  I also plugged him and spin class in general in my latest Examiner article (found here).

Saturday: 1.5 hour swim + 11ish mile run

Swimming was hard this week.  I lead my lane and felt kinda bad that I lapped one person. I guess I should man up and move up a lane or two.  Anyway, great swim!  ~2600ish yards --- hard for me to remember once I get home.

Mr. Pi and I took the rest of the morning/early afternoon to get some house stuff done and to relax.  We finally ventured out for our long run about 2pm.  It’s so unusual for me to run that late on the weekend that I forgot my Garmin and my headphones!  We made a quick stop at RiteAid on the way to the trail for headphones and Mr. Pi downloaded an iphone running app with GPS (iPhone LOVE).  Unfortunately, where we went neither his Garmin nor the iPhone app could lock satellite.  I went with the rough mile markers on the trail and went out farther than I’ve ever been on Springwater.  I went Greshman to Boring.  It was a great afternoon to be out on the trail, sunny and warm just the way I like it.  I’m approximately about 11 miles, could be 10.5 or 11.5.

Friday: 3.5 run

I love Friday’s for a number of reasons—the obvious one is that it’s the end of the work week.  Not so obvious is it’s NOT a double day.  This was a quick run on the Fanno Creek Trail before I met up with Mr. Pi and some other awesome friends for happy hour.  I knew I was running late so I cranked the tunes and told my legs to be speedy.  I finished with a 9:49 avg pace---I’ll take it.

Thursday: 1 hour weights class/2000 yd lunch swim/1 hour trainer ride

Have I mentioned Thursdays are exhausting?  Weights class was awesome, my friend Sarah re-joined the gym and met me at class.  Lunch swim was awesome.  Fast 2000 yds and I was back at my desk within an hour and 15 minutes.  Post-work trainer ride since the weather didn’t cooperate to ride outside.  I took the ride fairly easy but still managed ~14 miles.

Wednesday: 1 hour spin + 10 min brick run on treadmill/2000 yd swim

Spin class was okay, it was a new instructor and she played really weird music.  I swear I heard something by Craig Chaquico (he’s a guitarist my dad likes)—BARF!  I need music with words—if I can’t get my beloved hip hop, at least make it something I know or something with a good beat.  But she was tough, lots of climbing.  My brick run went well.  I just hopped on a treadmill after spin and did an easy 10 minutes.  Though I did get a foot cramp which I knew would come back to haunt me in the pool.

My swim was awful.  It took me 45 minutes to do my 2000 yard swim.  I had to stop for foot cramps every 5 minutes or so.  I had set out to do Endurance #3 in my Swim Workouts in a Binder book but ended up just making up a workout as I went along knowing that as soon as I hit 2000 yds I was going to be done.

Tuesday: 1 hour weights class/4.5 mile run with Jen

Weights class was okay.  I didn’t push it very hard since it wasn’t the normal instructor.  She did do a lot of abs, which I felt the next day, I definitely need to do more abs.

My run with Jen was great.  I never wear my watch when I run with her anymore, mostly b/c the signal by her apt isn’t great but also b/c I use these runs as tempo runs and she’ll slow me down or speed me up as necessary.  We did most of the run together though she tacked on an extra .5 in the middle to do her Pfitz strides which left me to run the middle section solo---hoping she wouldn’t catch up.  I kinda wish I had my watch b/c I bet I was running extra hard knowing that she was behind me chasing me down.  I beat her to the meeting spot and actually had to wait a minute or two—go me.  It was a great run with a great friend---thanks for running your easy runs with me and pushing me on my tempos Jen!

Monday: Rest

I rest like a champ!

All in all, it was an awesome week.

Total Time: ~ 11 hours 30 minutes

Post 200!

Who knew I’d stick with blogging this long. I can’t believe I trained for and completed my first marathon without the support of this awesome online community—what was I thinking?!?!

Well, similar to post #100 (found here – ironically posted on 3/26/2009 almost one year ago), I’ll be posting another list of exciting facts about yours truly. (Thanks to Aron and Jen for letting me steal your idea for milestone posts.) Here we go in groups of 10:

10 fun races I’ve done (in no particular order):

1. Nike Women’s HM

2. Healdsburg HM (probably the most scenic race I’ve done)

3. San Diego RnR Marathon (twice but 2008 specifically b/c it was my first marathon)

4. Davis, CA 5k Turkey Trot (my first race, way back in 2002)
5. Bay to Breakers
6. Ras na hEireann (I did the Boston version)
7. Race for the Roses HM (weather was perfect and I had a great pacer)
8. Gobble, Gobble, Gobble 4 miler (not b/c there is anything particularly special about the course but b/c it was the first race I ever remember seeing someone dressed in a full turkey suit)

9. Ambitious Aspirations 2010 Turkey Trot (mostly b/c this was the “race” that made Andrew and Lisa pick up running and now they are signed up for their first half marathon!)

10. Apple Harvest Ramble 10 miler (It certainly wasn’t fun at the time but this is the race that taught me humility and also gave me the drive to train for and run longer distances. Sometime I’ll have to share the story of this race---remind me.)

10 races/events I want to do (in no particular order):

1. A century ride

2. Goofy Challenge in Disneyworld

3. CIM (it’s my hometown mary, at some point I gotta do this one)

4. One of those crazy multi-day relay events

5. Big Sur (half marathon)

6. An Anchorman Tri (you get to jump off a boat to start—how cool is that!?!)

7. Any wine country race I can find

8. Bay to Breakers (again! The first time I was in college and ran with my Dad. I had no idea it was more of a party than a race.)

9. An ironman (?????maybe)

10. An international marathon

10 things I never thought I would EVER do/have:

1. Run a marathon (run two marathons…run three marathons…and potentially want to do another one)

2. Move to Oregon

3. Get married before 30 (so glad I found Mr. Pi—he is by far the best man I could have found for myself—love you honey)

4. Ride my bike down a hill without braking (I am still working on this but as I become more of a cyclist, I’ve learned the more speed you can get going downhill the less you have to pedal UP the next hill)
5. Marry into a large family and totally LOVE it, in all its chaotic glory! (I’m an only child.)
6. Start a blog
7. Meet friends online (Almost all of my friends in Portland I met through this blog—you guys are the best)
8. Have a job that dealt with health care issues
9. Have more than two email accounts (I have 6 total but really only use 3)

10. Get recognized at a race by a “stranger” aka a blogger (Mel-2nd Chances, this honor goes to you, you tracked me down at Nike)

10 foods I don’t like:

1. Mayo (YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

2. Meatloaf (except for the bacon wrapped version Mr. Pi made)

3. Fruit flavored Gu (not sure if Gu is a food ?!)

4. Overripe bananas (and by overripe I mean any that aren’t green)

5. Cashews

6. Watermelon (and watermelon flavored stuff)

7. Fig Newtons

8. Fritos

9. Okra

10. Prunes

10…actually 17 bloggers I’ve met, I sincerely hope I didn’t leave anyone out (not including ones from Portland):
Aron
Tara
Maritza
Danica
RoadBunner
Audrey
Kristen
Kristin
Julianne
Mel-2nd chances
Amanda
Nik & Dan
Maddy
Melanie
POM
Carrie
Sarah J

Sorry some of these are so small!

10 of my favorite exercise accessories:

1. Nike Capris
2. Nike Tempo Track Shorts
3. Running Skirts from RunningSkirts.com (I haven’t tried other brands)
4. Nike waterproof jacket
5. Sugoi Compression tights
6. Garmin (most days, LOL)
7. Bike shorts (they make a world of difference)
8. Chamois Butter (if you’ve never used it—try it)
9. Pool Buoy and paddles
10. Saucony ProGrid Rides (in PINK)


10 of my favorite websites (not including all of your wonderful blogsites of course):
http://www.swimoutlet.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
http://runningwarehouse.com/
http://www.groupon.com/portland/ (this is the Portland specific link)
http://www.thedailyplate.com/
http://www.buckeyeoutdoors.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/
http://www.yelp.com/
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/
http://www.weather.com/ (yes, I’m a little obsessed even though I know 10 months of the year here I see rain drops and/or clouds)


10 pictures from races:

10 pictures of Zoey:

Choosing her from the litter

Playtime

Her first camping trip, it made her sleepy!

More sleepy!

Tornado Zoey!

Our nephew made sure she was nice a comfy for a nap.

Zoey made sure I was nice and snuggly for a nap.

Exploring leaves.

Getting bigger.

Ready for her treat.

10 pictures of Mr. Pi and I:

Sydney in 2004

Sorry it's blurry! Xmas 2005.

Frog pond Boston Commons 2005

Niagara Falls 2006

Engagement Weekend Maine 2006

Wedding Rehearsal 2007

Camping Summer 2007

First Marathon San Diego 2008

Weekend of Second Marathon Arizona 2009

Hawaii 2009

Barb’s Race Training Week #1

Week 1 of my half iron training is in the bag. By Friday I was exhausted but I gained some energy over the weekend. I don’t have a single picture from the week—I suck. But I have some awesome running songs to share. First the recap.



Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: AM Weights/PM run with Jen, Amy and Deana
Run Recap: 4.5 miles Waterfront


Wednesday: (bad Alisa skipped her AM Swim)/PM Spin + 10 min brick run [1 mile]


Thursday: AM Weights/Lunch Swim/PM Ride
Swim Recap: I didn’t have time to do one of the awesome Binder workouts so I did a 1000 yd straight swim followed by 200 kick/200 pull/600 swim.
Bike Recap: Post work ride out West of Portland with a friend. Hilly but awesome. 14.5 miles


Friday: AM Run with Sarah
Run Recap: This turned into more of a run/walk as my legs were tired and instead of running on a flat trail we opted for safety first and went with lite streets that were hilly. 3.85 miles


Saturday: (bad Alisa skipped her TriClub Swim)/35 mile ride with Mr. Pi


Ride Recap: 35 miles on Springwater. The sun was out, I was in short sleeves for the first time this season. We rode to the end of Springwater and then some---we took a side road out a few more miles past the end of the trail. It was awesome.


**Swimming: While I did skip two swims this week, the swim is my strongest leg and the sport I’m the least concerned about. I don’t want to make a habit of skipping swims but if I’m going to skip something, this is least damaging thing to skip.


Sunday: AM 10 mile run on Burnt Bridge Creek Trail in Vancouver, WA
Run Recap: I was mostly solo for this run. Mr. Pi was running 20 miles so he went ahead and I caught a ride with Andrew and Lisa. They were planning to run 5-6 so their pace was a little quicker. Jenn was somewhere on the trail too but running farther. My run was really good. I went out very conservative for the first 3 miles, kept it slow and steady about 11:40 pace with .9 run/.1 walk. The next 3 miles I picked up the pace 11:20 again with .9 run/.1 walk. At 6 miles, I picked up with the pace again next 3 miles at 11:00 still with .9 run/.1 walk. The next mile I wanted to be the fastest so I kicked it up (thanks to some awesome running songs) at brought in the last mile at 10:35---seemingly effortlessly too. Surprisingly, since my legs felt so heavy the first few miles.


New power songs:
Running Down a Dream—Tom Petty
Anyone that knows my type of running music should know that this choice is WAY out of my normal realm of running music but I LOVE IT!


Blah, Blah, Blah—Kei$ha


We Belong to the Music—Timbaland (feat Miley Cyrus)


Cousins—Vampire Weekend


I’m ready to take on week 2 and beyond—bring it!


Also, for anyone interested I posted by first Examiner article. You can find it here: http://www.examiner.com/x-41941-Portland-Triathlon-Examiner  

That's right put in work

So, that’s a line from Kanye’s “workout plan” song, which I love despite Kanye being a tool. I’ve definitely been putting in the work this week. I also started a couple new projects. I started a volunteer gig this week and I found out that I was accepted to be Portland’s Triathlon Examiner! I’ve joined the ranks of ChicRunner, SteveinaSpeedo and RunningLaur---all fellow examiners. I’ll probably put a sidebar link after I post my first article!

Between regular work, volunteering, training and trying to spend time with my wonderful hubby and cute doggie it’s been a BUSY week. Barb’s Race training has officially begun and I am feeling it (in a good way). I went for my first midweek outdoor ride last night with a co-worker. She lives in the suburbs west of Portland and within 3 miles of leaving her neighborhood we were in the country. It was a great night for a ride the sun was shining, not a cloud in sight! I wish I had taken pics. The ride was a bit hillier than I was anticipating but great practice. We even ran into another larger group of riders out enjoying the nice weather. I definitely think this ride was the highlight of my mid-week training since I was the most nervous about it!

My run highlight of the week was my Tuesday evening run with Jen, Amy and Deana. The flowers were out (so were my allergies BOO), we chatted and even stopped to pick a couple of flowers. Deana was remarking that our group was the most people she’s ever run with. It was pretty funny to me since I rarely run alone anymore. Next week, I’ll bring the camera!

This morning Sarah met me at o’dark thirty for a quick (well, actually it was pretty slow, thanks for sticking with me chica) run pre-work. I’m trying to make running dates for Friday morning since I know running after work on Friday can be difficult.

The weekend has couple of hard workouts in store…I’ll be posting a full re-cap of my first training week Sunday or Monday. Happy Friday!

Good luck to ChicRunner as she takes LA by storm at the LA Marathon!Good luck to Carolina John who is running marathon #2!

Shamrock 2010 Race Report

Well, it wasn’t the race I wanted but I still gave it a great effort and finished in 31:28. My first mistake is starting too far back in the crowd. I was trying to be realistic, knowing that I wanted to run about 9 min miles I started in the front of the 9-10 minute pace group. Unfortunately, the 8-9 minute mile group ahead of me were running like 11 min miles. The first half a mile was obnoxiously crowded. I haven’t run a 5k since 2005 so I forgot how crowded they can be. When I looked at my watch and saw a 10:05 first mile I knew my PR was gone, but I set a new goal—“finish before my music ends” (I had allowed a buffer of 2 minutes on my playlist). Mile 2 was uphill so I passed a LOT of people who were walking but I was also running slower since it was uphill (10:20 for mile 2). Mile 3 was mostly flat with a little downhill section. I chuckled to myself that there was a water station---really, for a 5K? I blew past the water station and flew past lots of walkers (seriously---walkers should line up with the 10 min mile and over group)! “Gloria” came on as I entered the final turn and the last flat stretch of road. I powered through and came up with a 9:02 final mile---that was more like it. I finished in time to see Mr. Pi and Amy start the 15k. I’m happy with my finish, I finished strong. I am disappointed in my overall time, especially since I ran a 9:29 avg 3 mile loop with Jen not too long ago. Whatev’s there will be other 5k’s.

My favorite thing about the whole race though (other than watching Mr. Pi finish) was hanging out with A & L. It was their first race. They were so excited to finish and have their first race under their belt. I couldn’t have been happier for them! I know it was the first race of many for them. (They are signed up for the Disneyland half marathon in September.)

In other news, Barb’s race training officially started on Monday. I’m really excited to get official training underway, it feels great to be back on a schedule again. I’m 20 weeks from the start line of my first half ironman!

It's only 3 miles...

I keep telling myself this for Sunday’s 5k. I haven’t run anything less than a half marathon in a really long time. (I don’t count triathlon 5k’s.) I’m nervous, which is something I haven’t felt in awhile. I’m not nervous about the distance, I’m nervous about speed. On long races, I do usually have a pace/time goal but if I have a bad mile or two it’s not a big deal over the course of 13 or 26 miles. In a race of only 3.1 miles, I’m going to need to find my legs within the first quarter mile and make them speedy. The course has one mile of flat, one mile of uphill and the last mile is flat/slightly downhill. I really want that PR. So, what’s it gonna take to PR?

My goals:
-Minimum to come in under 30 minutes, a 9:40 pace
-Beat my current PR (29:29) which is exactly a 9:30 pace accordingly to RW pace chart
-Anything better than 29:29 is cake!

I’m going back and forth about wearing my Garmin. Sometimes I feel like I run faster when I’m not constantly looking at it but then again, it might motivate me to pick it up if I’m dragging. Maybe I’ll wear it but vow not to look at it unless I’m really struggling with the pace and need to know if I’m draggin’ or haulin.’ Thoughts on Garmin vs. no Garmin?

Also, music. I’m definitely going to need some ghetto-fabu-lous tunes that will keep me going for a minimum of 29 minutes and 28 seconds, maybe less. So far I have on the MUST PLAY list:

AC/DC Thunderstruck
Lady Gaga Bad Romance
Something from MJ—either Smooth Criminal or Wanna be startin’ somethin’
Something Timbaland—loving Ease off the Liquor, Morning After Dark and don’t laugh, but kinda love We Belong to the Music with Miley

At minute 26, (don’t laugh) this will start playing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tVutw8rjFk

The version I have on my ipod is approximately 4:XX minutes long, so I know I have to finish BEFORE the song is over.



As with most races, I've been constantly looking at weather.com. I figure the weather can't be any WORSE than last year (it was raining sideways with hurricane wind). While my ideal conditions would be 60+ and sunny, that'd be hard to find this time of year here, I will certainly settle for:

Mar 14
Cloudy

59°42°
0% precipitation

That last thing is key--0% rain. I can deal with a little drizzle but I really HATE running in the rain!

I know there are several other races going on this weekend---good luck to all those racing!

Calm before the storm...

Well, not really a “storm” but a new training schedule. Barb’s race training officially begins for me on Monday (ironically, a rest day but maybe a 15 min yoga day and definitely push up challenge day—I got to week 3 twice but both times fell off the wagon). I figure the first 4 weeks of my 20 week plan I’ll be working out the scheduling kinks and figuring out what works best. I think I’m already going to make a day swap (move Thursday’s training to Friday and vice versa).

This week I’ve been focusing on listening to my body. Last week was a pretty high volume week and since my weeks are about to start climbing in volume I’m using this as a “taper” week of sorts. Tapering to a new plan or tapering to my 5k—LOL! (Goal post to come.)

Yesterday, I sent Jen an email asking for some validation for taking another rest day. She sent me the best reply, with a bunch of bullet points about how rest days are sometimes necessary but the best line of the whole email was: “The only rule is: Don’t stress out about it! If you sit around all night feeling bad, then it’s a waste of a rest day. Commit to being lazy, and enjoy it!!!” So I did. I committed to being lazy and dangit, I totally enjoyed it.

Thanks to Mr. Pi for an awesome and yummy dinner and to Sarah (the non-existant blogger) for bringing Harry Potter movie 4!

Sunshine makes everything better

Some of you may have already seen/heard about some of this on facebook already BUT let’s just say I had an awesome week. My running mojo isn’t really back, in fact, I really didn’t want to run at all this week---I was having a much better time biking, swimming, zumba’ing, lifting and yoga’ing. I think I’ve decided running is my least favorite activity b/c it’s the most challenging for me. I wouldn’t say that I’m a fast or even good cyclist but it’s still new and exciting. I’m not a super fast swimmer either but I’m comfortable in the water and feel that on most days I could swim forever. I’m both excited and scared that I have a running race this weekend. Excited because I hope it will motivate my running going forward, scared because I haven’t run a 5k since 2005 and I’m scared that it will be SLOW. I’ll post my goals for this race later this week. (Any awesome new running songs, leave ‘em in the comments, I’m putting together my playlist.)

In the meantime, let’s re-count my awesome week.

Totals:
12.5 hours
Biking: 41 miles (10 mi trainer ride + 31 mi Saturday ride)
Running: pathetic 17 miles (5 mi speedy with Jen and Amy, 4 mi slowish run commute, 8 mi long run in FP, started off really slow but ended up with a negative spilt!)
Swimming: 6650 yards (3.77 miles)
1 yoga, 1 zumba, 1 weights class

The highlight of the week for me was our Saturday ride. We went out to Sauvie Island after swimming and it was gloriously sunny. We kept the first 12 miles pretty easy as we had someone with a mountain bike with us. After 12 we were around 13 MPH avg. We kicked up the speed and were consistently riding above 15 MPH and by mile 20 our avg was up to 14 MPH. From miles 21 – 31 we started talking about Lance Armstrong and I swear we were riding at 18 MPH or higher. By the end our avg was 14.36—definitely the fastest ride of that distance yet. I think it helped that we were on a road without stop lights or crossings which meant we didn’t have to slow down or stop very often. All the NW mountains were out in full force. We had stunning views of Mt. Hood, Mt. St Helens, Mt. Adams and the tippy top of Mt. Rainer (some X miles away near Seattle). Pictures below.

The Sunday run was a struggle. I didn’t want to run---I just wanted to bask in the glory of my Saturday ride. However, I got up and ran in forest park. Forest park is lovely and quickly becoming one of my favorite places in Portland to run. Not only is the park beautiful but there are always plenty of speedy runners around to motivate me. (Remember, we have some Nike runners in the area.) The first mile was ridiculously slow, like 12:45, that’s running not walking! However, after two miles (mile two was also a 12 minute mile) my legs warmed up-thank goodness. The next two miles were all in the 11 range. We hit mile 4 and took a short break to stretch. Since we were negative splitting at the halfway point I was motivated to try to keep that up—we did! Our last mile was our fastest at 8:55 (disclaimer---it is downhill). Anyway, what I thought was going to be a disastrous run turned into 8 miles at around 11:30---not speedy by any means but also not horrible.

I capped off my workout week with some well deserved Blackberry Banana Pancakes at Isabel’s with awesome friends. (No pictures of the pancakes or breakfast in general, I think I was too hungry to stop for photos.)

Sauvie Island Bike Ride--in gloriously sunny weather.

The bikes.The Pi FamilyOur friend P--who did great on his mt bike. He hates this picture but doesn't read this blog so muhahaha =).Pretty farmland.He didn't want his picture taken. Though this could also be the face of smelling the cows!Mt. St Helens is to the left in the distance. This pic doesn't do the view justice at all!

March

First week of March is almost over---March, really?!?! The sun is setting later and rising earlier, flowers are blooming, I have to say I love this spring thing. I know there are going to be many, many, many more rainy days ahead but I’ll take the inklings of spring I’ve seen.

I was reading CJ and he posted his February totals, it made me really curious about my February totals. I felt like I had a good month and the numbers show a decent month for sure.

Swim Total: 13,365 yds (i.e. approx 7.59 miles)
Bike Total: 102 miles (Many of these miles were on the trainer and since my cadence sensor is spotty, I tend to guestimate mileage on the trainer but if anything, I probably underestimate total mileage.)
Run Total: 80.15 miles (Not bad)
5.5 hours of strength training

I’d say that’s a pretty good start to base tri training. Here I am almost one week away from official Barb’s race training. I start officially on March 15th. I told myself this week and next week I’m going to take it somewhat easy and fit in as many “other” classes/activities as I can since I know I won’t have a lot of time for extras come April.

That said, last night I went to Zumba with Jen and my other friend B and we stayed for yoga too. After yoga, I definitely realized how inflexible I’ve become. I’ve never been a huge yogi but I’ve gone through phases of being into it and when I was younger I did a lot of dance classes so I was pretty flexible. Over the years, my flexibility has decreased dramatically. As much as I can, I’d really like to add in short yoga sessions, even if it’s only 15 minutes, that’s better than nothing right?!?

I’ve been a little at a loss of things to say on the blog, therefore posting is few and far between. It’s funny, sometimes I have so much to say and other times nothing! I’m almost at post number 200, so I’ll do something special for that occasion. In the meantime, any themes people want to hear about, let me know.