A Delicious Green Day.

I'm feeling in a photo mood. I don't feel like typing away and photos are far more interesting then anything I have to say anyway, so I'll just leave you with some foodie delights. Sorry everything is veggie.

What do I do when I accidentally order an insane (what was I thinking!) amount of organic fresh produce? Pull out the juicer and throw together a fabulous juice!

1 Carrot, 2 stocks of Celery, 1 huge Kale leaf, 1 green Apple, and an Orange (didn't use in the end)

 

Ohayo Juice is created! Absolutely pure goodness! You can't go wrong with fruit and veggie mix. 

Perhaps I'm delusional, but these sort of juices make me feel pretty on the inside and out :)

More greens throughout the day. 

Carrot Pate Spinach Salad - Roughly process a carrot, 1/4 avocado, tsp balsamic vinegar, tsp of olive oil, and dried oregano. I was pleasantly surprised to have created a delicious pate.

 

Sometimes the strangest combination's turn out wonderfully. Depends if you like natto though.

 

Trip down memory lane. Running through vineyards in Champagne. Oh, I miss this place! I want to live in France! I really do! Beautiful places to run and champagne = perfect place!

Time for a perfect preworkout snack - a date. I better go get my sweat on now. 

 

I notice I like to use the word "perfect" a lot. 

Have a happy, healthy, and PERFECT day everyone.

Yoga For Runners - Hip Stretch

My Gosh, November is gone! Time for a new blog design and a new project to tackle.

For the next little while, I'm hoping to focus on sharing different yoga postures that will benefit runners. I've been teaching a Yoga For Runners class for a little over a year now, and its been a wonderful and rewarding experience for me! I've been so lucky to have a wide range of students from the ultra stiff students to flexible students. From students who are hard core marathoners/triathletes, to the easy going weekend runners. Each one is special and different. I've learned that every one's bodies respond differently and while some may benefit from a particular pose, others may not.

Through these small video clips, I hope to help runners find a balance in their bodies. That is ultimately what we want! Of course, we want to run faster, have better endurance and minimize our chance of injury. Well, believe me, finding a balance in your body is going to bring you a HUGE step closer to obtaining those goals.

I'm so excited about this project of vlogging about yoga for runners as running is something quite dear to me and I truly understand what its like to be injured and out of running for weeks and months! Its depressing and very frustrating. But with the help of yoga, I've become a better and healthier runner.
My goal is to keep all of you runners running healthy for a long long time with a combination of stretching, strengthening (yes, yoga can be extremely strengthening) and LOTS of core work.

Since I have zero editing skills, nor do I have a proper video camera, I do apologize in advance for the blurry footage and lousy editing. Hopefully, I'll get used to talking to a camera and my instructions will improve over time. Of course, there's many things I could apologize for in this video..... messy hair, strange facial expressions, but oh, well....:) I'm not perfect.

I hope you enjoy today's simple outer hip stretch. DO IT!

Happy running!

Autumn, stay forever!

The days are seriously getting colder and the Autumn leaves are looking more and more beautiful! Although I have to bundle up on my runs now, I often find myself smiling because the fallen leaves and vibrate colored trees are just so delightful! I keep telling myself to bring my camera with me on my run, but I always forget it, doh!

With the change of temperature I've been really enjoying a hot cup of Echinacea tea after my green smoothie. Green smoothies tend to lower my body temperature, so tea is appreciated.  I just noticed yesterday that the tea bags have these lovely little quotes on them. Oh, I love it!

 Today I had to pull out the long running tights, 2 layers of long sleeves, and gloves! Putting my brave/happy face on even though I don't feel like running in the cold.  How flattering these mirror photos are :)

This week I'm trying to catch up on some running that I couldn't get in last week. I usually try to run 4-5 days a week, but its easy to put off my run because I'm not training for anything. Running now is just for my sanity and weight management :) mmm....food!

Last week I had a huge yoga week! I took 10 hours of yoga classes, plus my own practice at home and my thighs, buns and upper back was sore on a whole other level.
Special teachers Chuck and Maty did some intensive teaching for 3 weeks at my yoga studio. I finally managed to take their morning mysore for 4 days. Each class is 2.5 hours starting at 6:30 AM! It was exhausting waking up at 5AM, but I got SO much out of each session that it was totally worth it!
Chuck and Maty are extraordinary teachers! Maty has eyes like a hawk and can see a misaligned yoga pose from a mile away! It was great to get adjusted by her and I feel my standing postures are different now. I learned I was tensing certain muscles that prevented me from getting length in the spine or putting my hip off balance. Really really subtle adjustments made a HUGE difference in how I felt in a pose.
Chuck is such a warm gentlemen who has such a great way of explaining yoga. Yoga, not as an exercise, but as a spiritual journey. He really inspired me and made me smile so much!

They emphasis that the most important thing in yoga is the breath and the mind. Those 2 aspects are really the most challenging part of yoga. Its not the poses that are hard, its keeping the breath smooth and constant (you won't believe how often we hold our breaths without being aware of it). The mind has to always be present so it can be sensitive to the body. Its easy for the mind to wander, so the challenge is keep it focused on what I'm doing in each pose. In 2.5 hours I felt like I used my mind for 8 hours straight. It was intense and exhausting, but also very rewarding!

Sunday was their last teaching day and of course I had to take their conducted class. We did a very slow Astanaga class and even though I hardly broke a sweat, my legs and arms were shaking with the intensity of each pose. During savasana Chuck said "If you want to feel a little bit of freedom, relax a little. If you want to feel more freedom, relax more. If you want to be completely free, relax completely." I can't say exactly why, but I started getting teary eyed after he said this. I wanted to be completely free and then suddenly I felt like a weight was lifted off me and I felt RELIEF.
Yoga has seriously changed my life! I don't know what I'd do without it!

But I still really enjoy running. My yoga teacher, Michael, said he hopes I can continue to keep the balance between running and yoga. Some runners get SO into running that they become so narrow minded about health and fitness. And the same goes for yogi's, its easy for us to think yoga is the best, but there's really no need to make it a competition. Do I think yoga will help runners? Absolutely! Do I think doing more yoga over running is better? No! And visa versa. Its all about maintaining balance.

Last weeks running/yoga log: Nov 8th - 14th
Yoga - 10 hours      Ran - 27.8k (lowest since September)

Mon - Off (legs needed a break from the 10k race)
Tues - 2.5 hrs Mysore class. 11.5k run (heavy legs)
Wed - 2.5 hrs Mysore class
Thur - 2.5 hrs Mysore class
Fri    - 9k run (easy run. Can't believe how sore yoga got me!)
Sat - 7.3k run after teaching yoga. (thighs still sore from yoga)
Sun - 2.5hr Ashtanga class