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Meditation: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
Two lessons learned yesterday: It’s hard to express super-crunkedness about meditation, and it’s hard to meditate for an hour. I went to this group meditation thing last night, and holy crap. I’m a novice (again) at meditation, so I’m normally working in, like, 10 minute stints. How about 25 minutes sitting, 10 minutes walking, then 25 more minutes sitting? Three years ago, I could almost do that. I knew enough this time to get a chair. I have subpar leg circulation, so sitting cross-legged–even on a cushion with butt elevation–would end in tears and a desire for leg amputation. I’d like to want to keep my legs, thanks. So, sitting…
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Jingle Jog: Race Report and Future Training
In summary: it was awexsome. Saturday morning, I got up at the butt-crack of dawn and ran in the Jingle Jog, which I’ve mentioned training for before. I’m out of practice with first-thing-in-the-morning runs these days, so I was up at 06:00 even though the race wasn’t until 08:15. I had about a third a cup of coffee and some yogurt, and spent a little time just waking up–a bit of reading, a bit of writing.
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The Post-5k Training Gap
There are oodles and oodles of beginner’s 5k training programs–I’ve been using Hal Hidgon’s novice plan for the race coming up this Saturday, and I like it, despite the difficulties of running in a neighborhood with no flat stretches at all. I actually have to leave my neighborhood and get chased by a dog to get a half-mile break from the hills. My goal for the race is just to finish it and get a sense of what my race pace would be (especially since I may be facing temperatures in the teens!), but during training I’ve cut 6 full minutes off my 3 mile run time from October. Of…
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One Song, One Move
One of the things I love about belly dance is how easy it is to practice. It’s chock-full of named moves that I can drill over and over again until I get ’em right. Because I have a deep love of listening to music on repeat, I’ve got a certain way I like to practice: one song, one move. This would probably drive some people nuts. I warm up doing a variety of moves for one or two run-throughs of a song, just doing a few repetitions of every move I know. …This might be where I sneak in some of the combo ideas I come up with on my…
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Running: Now With Hamstrings!
Folks warned me, and I should have listened–5k’s are addictive. About a week after my 5k back in October, I signed up for another 5k on December 11. It’s not a fundraiser and so is more expensive to participate in ($35), but I’m actually using a training program for this one. The classic Couch-to-5k isn’t a good fit for me–I’d be starting several weeks in, and 30 minutes doesn’t equate to 3 miles for me. Going for a distance-based training program led me to Hal Higdon’s novice 5k routine. Not the most conservative program, but it’s silly to only increase by 10% when you’re starting at 1.5 miles. I can’t…