No Gym This Weekend

My encounters with Bally have really been declining. Especially now since I am not here Monday through Thursday and all the classes I like to take fall on those days. Of course. Instead this weekend I went to dance, cross-fit and yoga classes. Hip-hop has been fun and mentally stimulating - most importantly fun. After this weeks class of cross-fit I think I've realized that if I signed up, it would become a chore and then I would eventually hate it. It's a good change of pace, but just alternating what kind of resistance work out you do isn't the kind of change I need in my workouts. I think I will go back to it every now and then cause it is a REALLY GOOD workout.

I have been wanting to try a good yoga class because Teresa and Lisa seemed to really like it. None of that grandma yoga stuff they have at Bally. So what better day than today? Well probably should have waited because I did xfit this morning, but I didn't want to wait a week before I could try it. I was so pumped I went and bought 2 pairs of yoga pants and a yoga mat. haha. So then I went online and found a few places. Jenn Yoga claimed to have a class at 6pm but was definitely closed when I showed up. So I did a Joy Yoga class. Joy Yoga on reliability -> A+.

Anyway this yoga was definitely challenging. No pauses for 45 mins. It wasn't even hot yoga and I was sweating like I was outside. It was weird because internally I was really hot, but the room was probably at a nice 75 degrees. We kept going back to the same poses about 50% of the time so I wasn't that mentally engaged, but I guess that's not bad because by the end I was balancing a little bit better. You know, when you see pictures of people in those crazy yoga poses, you think "oh that doesn't look bad, I can do that" but really they're freaking hard. Today I learned that I have little balance and sometimes have trouble following directions. haha.
I think I'll give it another few go's and then decide how much of a commitment I want to have with yoga. I do want my balance and flexibility to get better, so yoga is in my future but it might take a backseat like xfit. We shall see.

Dance Some More!

So today after work I headed to the Dance Place on Chimney Rock and Richmond. They have a bunch of different dance lessons, rooms for rent, and a huge floor where people take private/professional lessons. While I was waiting for class I got to watch some Viennese waltz, professional salsa, and this one couple that kept tripping over each other.

Today was the start of a 4 week beginner Hip Hop dance lessons. I had taken salsa here, but wanted to keep at hip hop. Mondays are one of my free days, so it just fit. The teacher, Marissa is pretty cool. She seems to be about my age and pretty knowledgeable on dance. We go twice as slow as the MET tho. This is good because I can take the time to really learn the steps, but at the same time I feel like it is kind of slow. Oh well. I'm here for the next 3 weeks. I'll just keep working on my coordination and dance style.


Maybe next I'll try a modern or contemporary dance class. That might fit my personality better.

Good Weekend

For those of you that keep up with my blog, yes I did post date the last three posts. I have been pretty busy this weekend so I didn't have time to write until now. If you don't feel like reading them, don't worry. I really like having this blog cause it helps me keep track of my progress and thoughts; I don't expect people to read it, though it makes me feel good to know people enjoy my writing. Anyway, to save you time I can give you a quick run down of my workout weekend through short phrases and adjectives.

Here we go.

Friday
Ran. 2 miles.
Banana.
Good.

Saturday
Hip Hop Class. Awesome.
Banana.
Ran 6 miles. Paced slow.
Abs hurt. =(
Apple.
Pasta lunch.
Pasta dinner.

Sunday
Oatmeal.
ConocoPhillips Training ride. 37 miles.
Fig newtons, regular pretzels, animal crackers and peanut butter filled pretzels. Yum.
Fish and bread lunch.
Tired. Nap. Yay.

Hip to the Hop

So I planned to do the 5k Rodeo Run this morn, but I flaked out cause I didn't want to pay and felt that I would be too out of shape since I hadn't worked out much this whole month. Plus I've never actually done a full 5k without stopping to walk, and I didn't want to look like a wuss in front of 13,000 Houstonians.

Instead I decided to take the one free Saturday morning and go to the Houston Metropolitan Dance company and take this Hip-Hop class I've been dying to try. Thanks to Alec for recommending the MET. The instructor was hilarious. He was an effeminate man with a small lisp and a get-it-done-and-have-fun attitude. It made the class all the more fun. At the beginning we did this intense core workout, so now it hurts to sneeze. And he did go really fast so that was good in that I think it makes the class challenging, but I didn't have time to perfect the steps. Plus everyone was pretty much focused on themselves and trying to get it right so you didn't really have to worry about looking like a fool cause no one was paying attention. Once these ConocoPhillips Training rides end, I'll have to go back...because hip hop is awesome. Then maybe one day I'll be able to do this. Haha.
After that I made my way to Rice and ran the outer loop. 32.06 minutes. No stopping. woohoo. I actually paced myself. haha. This is good I think it will help me in my overall ability to pace. I made sure to leave energy cause I wanted to run the steps in the football stadium to get a good quad workout. No dice. Some guy kicked me out, so I just ran another loop. This time I ran it the way I like to, which is GO FAST for about 300 meters or so then walk until I feel better, then GO AGAIN. Horrible way to run, I know but I think it came from the way I bike - cause it's easy to coast on a bike. You don't always have to be pedaling. Anyway, I'm breaking the habit so yay.