Hey everyone! Week #4 is in the books, and I’m SO PROUD! I did the entire week! Just not in the order they told me to. Because who actually does that? I’m also incredibly proud of myself for doing as much as I did last week because I was getting observed at work which is basically the most stressful week of the school year. I taught 3 classes and my trainer from Seattle was there to see them all. I got my results and it looks like I’m doing a good job and won’t get fired anytime soon which is awesome 🙂
Monday: 10:00 easy, 20:00 steady, 10:00 easy. I went to PF at 8:00 pm and it was PACKED. I thought for sure it would be less crowed then than if I’d gone at 5:00. I was lucky to get a treadmill! Notable moment: I started listening to Serial which is crazy and totally keeps my mind occupied while running!
Tuesday: 10:00 easy, 2:00 hard/2:00 easy times five, 10:00 easy. I pushed the run back to 9:00 pm and it was a bit less crowded. I’m a late night runner! FYI I was super nervous about doing this run, but I actually think this was my favorite treadmill workout ever – I can do anything for 2 minutes, and it was so much less monotonous than a long easy run!
Wednesday: My manager and I decided we’re going to check out all the yoga studios/classes in Anchorage so I chose to tackle a new studio this week. They have a 6-part yoga basics workshop that I had missed the first class of, but I called the studio and learned that I could drop in on any of the workshops. I probably won’t be going back to next week’s workshop honestly 😦 I felt like I paid $17 to relax in a room with strangers! It was sooooo slow paced yet included an intro to inversions which was terrifying and some chanting/cymbal stuff at the end. But I will say that the instructor was incredible and made me feel so comfortable and calm. So I may go back to the studio for a faster paced vinyasa class sometime.
Thursday: I wanted to celebrate my successful completion of being observed all week by destressing a bit, so I looked for a candlelight yoga class. And I actually found one – at a dance studio! The studio teaches adult dance classes, yoga, pilates, and barre! Dream come true right there! So after calling to make sure I wasn’t going to be out of my league, I showed up for the class at 7:40 pm with about 5 other girls (who I can only assume are dancers at the studio which was slightly intimidating). It was held in the dance studio, which was lit only by a border of candles around the room. It was the most relaxing environment EVER and I was really excited for class. It was described as being hatha style which I really liked. Some of the positions were hard for me to do, but overall I only got adjusted by the teacher like 5 times and could do about 75% of the poses. I was also sweating buckets in the slightly heated room, but luckily we had a long cool down and I could leave class with some dignity. I may go back next week!
Friday: I had a killer headache and was exhausted, so it was a rest day for me.
Saturday: 10:00 easy, 10:00 steady, 10:00 hard (1:00 walk break in the middle), 5:00 steady, 5:00 easy (cut short because I felt sick and needed to stop). This run was hard, mostly because I think I needed to eat more before running. This is why I don’t run in the mornings.
Sunday: 60 minutes easy long run, where I hit 5% of my milage goal for the year! Wooohooo!
Why no pictures this week? Well no phones are allowed in yoga (thank god) and every run is on a treadmill now. I think my last outdoor run was on New Year’s Eve at the Northern Lights Resolution Run, which was the most slippery race ever. It’s been so warm here lately that most of our 1 inch of snow has melted and re-frozen into pure ice. It’s hard for me to walk, let alone run! Everyone is warning me not to try it even with studded shoes, so PF is my new running spot. Boo. Can we just get a little bit of snow so I can run outside please? Thanks Alaska!
How was your week of workouts? Anyone else dealing with ice?
Mom in the Mtns 
Congratulations on a great week! I’ve been doing a lot of treadmill running lately, which I mostly don’t mind, since it’s that or nothing. Intervals definitely help to make it less boring!
So true! I kind of liked the intervals on the treadmill more than on the trail because I was able to regulate it!
I’ve been dying to try Serial! That candlelit yoga sounds really nice too 🙂
It’s so good! It’s kind of like Law and Order but real life. I’m trying to pace myself (the first episode is 1 hour but the rest are around 30 minutes so far) but I’m dying to see if they ever find out if he was guilty or not. It’s free to listen to on their website so I’ve just been streaming it from my phone at the gym!
Candlelit yoga! I can’t practice yoga with lights on, so terrible!
I told my mom to find me a mini buddha for my room (for Christmas) but she didn’t find one….I need one to make my practices more “zen” 😉
Haha you should! Yeah it was incredible, most classes I’ve been to have dimmed the lights and it felt nice, but this was really awesome and I didn’t feel self conscious about sweating or doing stuff wrong because I feel like people couldn’t see me as well 🙂 I think what I want out of yoga is a good workout mixed with a small amount of relaxation at the end, and candles helped with the relaxing part!
Congrats on the great running week! I’m so jealous of the adult dance/yoga/barre studio. I used to be a dancer so I would love to go to a place like that! Plus the candlelight yoga sounds so relaxing.
I’m really thinking about trying a ballet class – I’ve always wanted to do it but I’m so intimidated! I bet you could find a studio in your area that has adult classes too. It’s definitely interesting because most schools are focused on kids instead!
Great week! One question for you, what are you using to track your yearly mileage? I don’t use an app to track my running, but I like the look of yours.
Thanks! I use RunKeeper to track my runs outside, but I just learned that you can create goals/do training plans on there too! Since all of my runs in 2015 have been on the treadmill I have to manually add my miles on the app, but it’s worth it because I’ve never tracked my yearly miles before! And I love their cute little updates when I hit a milestone!
I have a garmin, but use a spreadsheet to track all my runs, so I’m always manually entering runs there, why not add an app to the mix! Haha…I really like the idea of getting a little pop up when I hit milestones.
Way to go! The candle lined room yoga class sounds so relaxing!
It was! I don’t know how I’m going to get through a non-candlelight class now!
I just started Serial to make the gym bearable too! I ran Saturday on the Coastal Trail and Monday in my neighborhood and both times I was fine, FYI. Just got my shoes studded before the run on Saturday but the Coastal Trail’s been fine.
What! My manager told me she ran on the coastal trail this weekend and it was so hard for her to stay upright. What part were you on? She runs down by Earthquake Park I think. I should clearly go run where you do because this treadmill business is killing me 🙂 Also, did you hear we’re supposed to get snow on Thursday? So excited!
We start at the Lagoon and go toward Earthquake Park, but we usually only run 3, so we only go out 1.5 miles and then turn back. Then I did close to another loop because I wanted a longer run. But I saw probably 30 people out there on Saturday between walkers and runners and no one looked like they were struggling with the ice. One bridge is a little slick but other than that I think the parking area is the worst part!
I am so calling her out tomorrow! I honestly have not been able to run outside before dark lately because work has been crazy, but I so would have done it over the weekend! My mission is to do one outside this week now that I know it’s manageable. Thanks for letting me know!