Introducing toes to fingers

Another session of yoga down last night. I actually worked up a sweat this time. I don't know that the moves/poses were any harder this week versus last, but I tried harder to keep my core under tension plus I was just coming off 50 minutes on the bike so it helped to keep the blood pumping a bit more.

I noticed a couple things. My hamstring flexibility is all ready getting better. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that I've been making sure to stretch them good after cycling plus the yoga. So, I can touch my toes without straining and actually start to get my fingers down on the floor. My eventual goal would be to put my palms on the floor, but I think that's a ways off yet. Other than that, I noted my right hip flexor and IT band are pretty dang tight. So tight in fact that anything involving both legs showed the right leg sitting significantly higher off the floor than the left. I got a few stretch recommendations from the instructor after class to help with that range of motion too.

While I don't think I'm quite hooked to the point of buying my own yoga mat, it's been fun and I'm planning on keeping up with it. Miranda and I also designated it as our joint night at the gym. While we didn't get to the gym to do anything before class, it was still nice having an hour to stretch and just be by each other. Truly the class length and interest level is about perfect considering I didn't look at the clock and wonder when we'd be done until our hour had actually passed.

The plan is to catch a couple hours outside on the bike tonight. I'm REALLY looking forward to being outside. Sure sweating away on a trainer hasn't become complete hell yet, but actual movement is nice, plus I can switch up bikes too. I'm excited to see how the fitting on the mountain bike goes this Saturday. I've changed just a few basic things since buying it, but I'm toying with the idea of flipping the stem back to a more aggressive stance. As long as I'm talking fitting, thus far, the fit has been pretty good on the road bike. I think I might tweak the saddle tilt a shade to bring the nose up a hair more as I notice I'm sliding forward slightly. I'm also planning to talk to Adam about my right hamstring feeling a little tight now compared to the left one. Might need a minor cleat adjustment.

Stiff as a board, light as a tank

Isn't that the name of the old game we played as kids? If not, it's close enough for me. That's pretty much how I felt during my first yoga class in years and years last night. I have roughly the flexibility of a geriatric patient that's been strapped to a back board. We did some poses and moves last night that roughly resembled me trying to stick my head up my own ass. I had about the same success level in either case.

On the plus side, I drug Miranda along with me and we're designating Tuesday as our gym night together and planning on keeping up with the yoga as well. It's actually offered 2 nights a week, but for the time being, we've all ready got plans for the other night with Corley starting in on tumbling class. Actually, I rather enjoyed the stretching and most of the moves. Due to my bad knees and lack of range of motion, there were definitely some painful spots, but nothing too bad. I got about the same feeling when done as a deep tissue massage- slightly beat up, but all worked out. Now we just have to see how it helps out with my core and flexibility.

Score one for me on making good on my self promise to work harder on staying in shape this winter. I've been on the bike twice this week and in the gym three times all ready. I'm actually a bit sad I won't make it out on the bike tonight for my standing Wednesday night ride. I do plan to hit the Nth degree ride that DMCC is putting on for New Years Day. See Lou's post for more details on the when and where.

Saturday I'm planning on doing the first of three bike fits (redo the road bike, MTB, and cross bike) with Adam at Rassy's. The plan (in my head) is to do something of a two pronged approach to the fitting. Adam seems pretty eager to get more information and more experience and I'm looking for some baselines in various areas. My thought is to go do a heart rate and wattage test using their computrainer before the fitting. Then we'll proceed with the fitting since I won't need any real power to do my pedalling there, it's mostly a form issue. Then, when we get to the next fitting, I'll bring my road bike in again and redo the power test. Hopefully we'll be able to analyze and see some true gains from the fitting. Since I'm scheduling the fits only a week apart, I don't think my training will really affect the overall numbers as long as I take a rest day before the fit/test.

Overall, I'm pretty excited in regards to some personal life plans I've got for this year. Work still isn't making me all tingly, but then again, that's why it's called work. I wish all of you (still reading at this point) a Happy New Year and I'll see you on the flip side.

One Sixty

An interesting title for a post for sure. But it also is a milestone of sorts for me. That was my weight as of this morning after a little urine slinging and other morning rituals. I've been bouncing around the 163-165 mark for a month or two now with an occasional dip into the 161 range, but hadn't hit 160 yet.

Following Kim's patented skip a meal fatass plan and cycling to work the past two days, plus Monday's hard effort I'm sure put me over the top. Actually, I really haven't skipped any meals and just have been a little more aware of what I'm actually eating. Considering I started riding seriously just a shade over a year ago and weighed in at 183 when I started. I'm pretty damn happy. I can't remember when I last weighed in below 165 on any type of a regular basis. There may have been a period for about 6 months back in 02 when things were a bit messy in my personal life and eating didn't even sound appealing, but beyond that, it has to be back to high school or possibly earlier than that considering I was a tab "chunky" for the first few years of high school.

Ideally, I'd like to bottom out around 155-160 and keep it there while building a little upper body/core muscle strength up. I'm thinking some yoga and a few free weights would really help out with that. Now if I could just find a free or really cheap yoga class to attend. Any suggestions?