Instructor Review: Zach Reifert

Hi Readers,

I did something a little different today.  

As some of you may know, I haven’t snow boarded in a long time.  A long time as in about 5 years.  In fact, last time I was on a board I was in high school and I broke my wrist and hurt my back, and I have been uncharacteristically terrified to go back ever since. Today, when my parents left for their instructor training clinic (I happen to be part of a family of snow-sport instructors!), I thought to myself, f**** it.  I’m going too. Of course when I got to the mountain I realized I couldn’t even remember how to lace my boots right, much less consider riding down the hill, so I swallowed my pride and decided to take a private lesson, and my instructor was Zach Reifert from the Summit Learning Center at Snoqualmie Pass. (Note: pretty sure that’s his last name! Great instructor, not so great handwriting)

Usually I just write about my challenges, but since I have been a terrible blogger this year, and since I don’t currently have a formal 30-day-challenge in the works, and since Zach was such a great instructor, I thought I’d write about my experience today.

I was apprehensive about signing up for a lesson. I always think those situations where you’re hanging out with someone who is being paid to be nice to you tend to be awkward, but Zach wasn’t awkward, and more than that he was an excellent teacher. He has an almost scientific understanding of the physicality of snowboarding, and he’ll explain it to you, with his somehow humble seeming disclaimer: “let me know if this is getting too technical!”

I appreciated the fact that he seemed to understand where I was coming from, having had an injury, and he was the perfect balance of encouraging, and respectful of my limits. I have always said that what makes a a person a great teacher, is being able to read and respond to a student’s needs. That is definitely what makes Gary my favorite teacher at the Sweat Box, and it is what I strive to do as a teacher. Zach has that gift.

A good instructor is something valuable beyond measure, so when I find one, I obviously have to share the wealth! Hopefully some of you yogis also happen to like snow sports, and if that is so, I have to recommend Zach as my top pick for a private lesson. He’ll have you doing 180s on your first day!

-C

 

Bikram Challenge V. 2.0: Days 1 and 2

It all started when Kaleesha and I were looking at pictures on Facebook. “You look so good in these pictures!” She said. “That was right after my Bikram Yoga Challenge,” I explained. “We have to do a yoga challenge,” she decided. That was that.

We set a tentative date of september 15th to start our challenge. My boyfriend left for Washington DC for a few months on the 7th, so I figured I’d have one week to cry on the couch and eat ice cream, and then be forced to actually do something. What ended up happening, though, was quite fateful. Kaleesha and I get e-mails from Groupon, and one morning, the daily deal happened to be one month of unlimited Bikrams yoga at Bikram Yoga Seattle for $30. We had to do it.

This time around I am structuring my challenge a little differently. Reading over my blog posts about my previous 30 day challenge, I gave myself some advice for if I did this again, and I’m going to follow it. First of all, I am going 5 days a week. This extends the challenge by 2 weeks, making it more of a 6-week challenge than a 30-day challenge, I guess. I’m doing this to decrease burn out, and to give my body time to rest and reap the benefits of the practice. The next thing I am doing, is I have photographed myself in several postures (camel, standing bow, standing head to knee pose), and I am going to photograph myself again in 6 weeks to gauge my improvement, and to see if my body has changed. I am excited to find out, because it is something I was really curious about during my last challenge.

It’s always interesting starting back into Bikram’s. I haven’t practiced regularly for about a year, but my body fell pretty naturally back into it. I did start to feel pretty nauseous when it was time to get into camel pose, and I could hardly bend back at all the first day, but by the second day, my intense nausea was quite diminished, so I was able to participate more. I feel like the first day was kind of a “get through the class” kind of day, but by the second day, I was getting used to making those minor mental and physical adjustments, and improving my postures. I kept thinking about Katie’s advice, (she is one of my favourite teachers from Vancouver BC) “it’s yoga practice, not yoga perfect,” and it made me unafraid to try things. I’ll never forget the class I took from her during my last 30 day challenges. It was me and five other students, and it was far and wide the best yoga experience I have ever had. Katie was an amazing teacher, and I miss learning from her. I am lucky to have her voice in my head when I do yoga elsewhere.

As my readers know, I don’t love Bikram Yoga Seattle. I prefer The Sweatbox, and unfortunately, that has been very much confirmed for me over the past two classes, and I have also figured out why. Bikram Yoga Seattle is completely missing the mind part of the mind-body aspect of yoga. I prefer teachers that share Bikram’s knowledge and words of wisdom, are encouraging, and help take their students to a mental place where our physical boundaries can be challenged. Since I have done a lot of this kind of yoga, I have certain things that teachers have told me that I can keep in my mind as I practice. Things like “one millimeter today, one millimeter tomorrow, and eventually you’ll get there.” or “move with the class, don’t think, let the teacher be the mind and you be the body.” These words, among others, float around in my mind and guide my practice, but I imagine for someone who has never done Bikram’s anywhere else, it must be less fulfilling. The sad part is, those students don’t even know how much their practice could be improved with better teaching.

Anyway, since I am doing 30 days, 5 days a week, I have six weeks of yoga to do, and Kaleesha and I decided that for our last ten classes we will go to The Sweat Box. I can’t wait to take more classes from Gary!!

I am kind of sore this weekend, but I think I will be ready to go on monday again (I almost wish I was going today!). I am relaxing, icing my back to prevent injury, and going to the baseball game tonight.

Motivationally yours,

-C

 

Facebook for Breakfast

I woke up this morning and the first thing I wanted to do, after seeing I had no phone-calls and no e-mails, was check Facebook. Especially now, I am dying to know what my friends are up to. I went out for the morning, leaving my phone behind as well, and when I came back… still nothing! It is taking a lot of willpower to stay away from Facebook right now. Blogging helps a bit.

Am I really that dependent on Facebook that I would have needed to look at it twice today already? Better question: would I have gotten anything from it? Well the person I am interested in, I already know what he is doing, so it is doubtful I would have read anything other than a vague insight into maybe what he did last night, or something else that I would consider equally frustrating and likely misleading.

This makes me think how shallow that form of communication truly is. Even with someone I know quite well, I’m granted a cursory look into their psyche at best. At worst, the friend has a manufactured list of interests, hobbies, and well-liked literature or music to try to fit into a character. The internet really affords people the ability to become someone who they are not.

It reminds me of the old days, think my seventh grade (1999-2000) when AOL came out with instant messenger, AIM, and my girlfriends and I thought it was terribly exciting to talk to teenage boys in other states, and pretend to be people we weren’t. The truth is, for all we knew (and our parents loved to caution us), those “teenage boys” could have been middle-aged women.

The internet makes for a very believable mask.

-C

 

Pain is temporary, pride is forever: an interview with the inspirational Natalie Chomin

My 8k is coming up and I am nervous, plain and simple. I ran my first practice 8k last week, and it went horribly awry: my allergies acted up, my shins hurt like crazy, my clothing was uncomfortable, and I felt discouraged and let down. I kept thinking to myself I’ve been working at this for nearly 6 months, and 5 miles is still challenging. Why am I even doing this? I want to quit. I’m going to finish the last out of everyone and feel terrible about myself. But I finished my run (if you could call it that), and I felt like I knew my worst case scenario.

Feeling sorry for myself, unmotivated, and disappointed, I sauntered into my house to check out facebook (where better to seek comfort?) when low and behold, an update from Jamie: a picture with the caption “Nat on her 40th km today in the BMO.” Ok I’m sitting here feeling bad about running an 8k and Natalie is on her 40th km of her marathon? I am in awe of this woman. All my negativity instantly went away, and was replaced with inspiration and motivation. I could get there one day too! But how? Well, ladies and gentelman, without further ado, I present to you my Q and A with the amazing, inspirational, and very very fast, Natalie Chomin herself.

Claire: How did you start running and why do you love it so much?

Natalie: I started running in elementary school and realized I loved to race, so that’s when I decided to try Cross Country and Track. I competed until I graduated High School [and did] other sports at the same time. When my High School days of running were over, I found myself craving that racing experience and decided to do my first half marathon. I really enjoyed it, and decided to start racing in triathlon, which I did for the past 5 years along with running shorter races. Last year I decided to take it up a notch and sign up for a full marathon and the rest is history!

Running is a funny thing. Sometimes I wonder “why do I do this every single day?”….especially when I am losing toenails, chaffing, blistering, missing out on social events, watching my diet and alcohol consumption and giving up my days off so I can run, and recover from, my weekly long runs which got up to 35 kms. But that’s what I love the most about running–the challenge and the high I get from achieving my goals. Nothing is comparable for me, and many people wonder why, but it’s become my escape.

C: What was your very first race like? How far was it and How did you feel after?

N: My first race outside of High School was the Victoria Half Marathon. It was 21.1 km, and it was a bit of a letdown. I had trained extremely hard and enjoyed that aspect immensely, but race day was a thumbs down. The weather was terrible, and I went out too fast with the built up adrenaline and hit a wall around 15km. After, I was happy I finished and overall it was a good first race, but I learned a lot from it.

C: What is the last week before a marathon like? In the days before the BMO marathon, what did you do to prepare?

N: The last week of training before a marathon includes tapering. You hit your highest weekly mileage around 2-3 weeks before the race then all your runs get shorter and less intense. In the days before the race, I focused on making sure my diet was getting a lot of simple carbohydrate for immediate glycogen stores, getting a lot of sleep and mentally preparing. I was extremely nervous, barely able to think/talk about anything else.

C: What types of cross training do you incorporate into your workout routine?

N: I like to do yoga 1-2 time a week, as well as biking or hiking; in the summer I do the Grouse Grind as one of my cross training days. I also do a core circuit twice a week, as having a strong core really improves your running performance.

C: What is normal running pain like? Where do you feel it most when you run for long distances? Shorter distances?

N: Pain is one of the biggest topics in marathon training. I thought I knew what it was like to experience pain from running before marathon training….but I was wrong. In long runs, one of my biggest issues was chaffing. I would literally be bleeding in the shower from the rubbing of my heart rate monitor, sports bra and sometime shorts/long spandex. Long runs also bring on cramping in the calves, and hamstrings, not to mention lactic acid build up occurring in the upper body. Tempo and speed workouts were just painful because they were tough cardiovascular workouts and I would get some acute muscle soreness afterwards.

C: What gets you through the tough times? When you are training what motivates you? When you are actually racing what pushes you to go faster and keep moving?

N: I go through some tough runs and tough stretches of time while training, which all runners definitely experience. On one of my long runs I was seriously questioning my decision to run a marathon. Why am I doing this? Why do I go through all this pain? Will I be able to finish the race? Maybe I should just do a half…..but I always am motivated by the one fact that never changes, I love a challenge, and achieving that goal is one of the best feelings in the world. Hands down. In a race, the adrenaline and the pounding of footsteps by the other runners around me drive me forward–knowing that pain is temporary, and pride is forever. I had a cross country coach tell me “run until there is literally no gas left in the tank”. Lots of times I have to dig extremely deep to find that bit of energy, but it’s there, and sometimes you have to get through times like that mentally when physically, there is nothing left.

C: Any final words of advice or encouragement for newbies like me?

N: I love it when I hear that someone is picking up running. Having confidence is very important when beginning a new sport. You have to know that YOU can do it, and no one else can tell you otherwise. I never thought I’d do a marathon…it was just too long of a distance, I used to think. But when I realized that the only thing holding me back is myself, I went for it. I would suggest signing up for a 5k, or whatever distance you feel would be a challenge and start training. I love having a race in mind, it motivates my workouts every single day. And when I am finished that race, knowing I achieved something that I set out to do, is an amazing feeling!

Happy Running!

Thanks for the interview, Natalie! You are phenomenal and I can’t wait to hear about what you do next!

Happy training to all my readers, whether you are a runner, a yogi, a swimmer, or a bob sledder.

Motivationally yours,

C

 

There’s a kink in my plans…

And my back!

I have the official doctors orders: I can walk, but no running OR YOGA until further notice.

Bummer.

-C

 

Exercising Happiness

This blog started because I was feeling bad, and I wanted to feel good. I noticed I felt better after doing Bikram, and I wanted to eke out every little morsel of happiness and balance that I could. That’s what I did, and I was happy. Then I let myself fall back in to old habits. I fell and I fell, and after tumbling for sometime, I realized I was almost back where I started, and I needed a jump-start.

Enter the 8K challenge I am currently immersed in.

This new challenge, however, has changed me more than I thought it would. It has forced exercise in to my life in more traditional ways, and I have discovered something wonderful. I have discovered that I love to exercise. I have discovered that I love to take care of my body, and make myself feel good, and give myself time.

I never understood before this year, how people could ever want to go to the gym. I never understood how running or stationary biking or crunches could be appealing, but now I get it. I’m not just talking the talk anymore, kids.

I feel like I have unlocked some secret door into healthiness. This isn’t to say I’ve turned into some kind of gym rat. I still have my off days, but I will say that moving my body makes me happy. This is a new fact of life for me.

Healthfully yours,

-C

 

The February Challenge

February. The month of love, and romance, and chocolate truffles. The month of chicken wings, and bbq, and Superbowl Sunday. The month of… another fitness challenge?

Well kiddos, it’s true. I was invited by my friend Kaleesha to participate in a little Facebook event called The February Challenge, and I encourage all of you to participate as well. I’m not a health nut, I’m not a gym monkey, but I do love a challenge, especially a group challenge.

**click on the link now and check out the challenge, otherwise this will simply not make sense beginning now**

I haven’t entirely decided what my challenge options will be yet. As most of you know, I like to set goals that are challenging, but not unattainable. I like the idea of doing 7 hours of cardio a week, for example, but I’m pretty sure it won’t happen. Five, on the other hand, I could probably do.

I’m joining in with Kaleesha on my bad habits: eating at night and chewing my nails. Even just those things alone will do wonders for my health. I’ll keep you updated on my other picks!

I like the idea that you can do anything for 28 days (yep it’s a short month, remember?). I love the mentality of one day at a time, one step at a time, one millimeter at a time, if you’re walking in the right direction eventually you will get there. Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded of what you can do.

Competently yours,

-C

 

To Set Goals, And Then Achieve Them

It’s a shame that I actually am having to force myself onto my blog today after nearly a month of utter internet silence. It’s a shame because this past month I have made such major progress towards becoming a runner.

Briefly, I’ll give you a running update, and after that I’ll get to the more interesting stuff:

1. My 10:36 minute miles has dropped to a 9:56 minute mile – that is a :40 second difference in just a month! A lot of that was made possible because I am learning how and when to push myself in running (which, for the record, is SO different from in yoga).

2. I have gone from thinking of the treadmills as “vicious, evil, monsters who like to revel in my humiliation” to being able to go into the gym and jump up on one like he’s my favourite pony and I’ve ridden since I was born.

3. The shins. Ohhhh the shins. ouch. They aren’t really getting better, but I do find that with a 30 minute warm up on the elliptical the pain is significantly reduced. I also find alternating between running a mile, walking for 2-3 minutes, and running another mile helps immensely.

4. I can finally say I am at a place where I know if I had to run Beat The Bridge tomorrow, I could do it. I probably wouldn’t be particularly thrilled with my performance, but I know I could finish it, and even probably run the whole way.

Now to the juicy stuff. It’s a new year (2011! Yeah!) and since this blog so much focuses on setting goals, and achieving them, you are probably expecting some epic resolutions for the coming 12 months. The fact is, that is simply not the kind of goal setter I am. As you may have noticed, I set my big goals kind of randomly, when the timing feels right, and when the right challenge comes along. This very seldom coincides with December 31st (actually, it tends more to coincide with November, for whatever reason). One of the mantras I do live by, however; is “keep setting goals and achieving them.” This mantra is what drives the rhythm in my life. I set goals, small ones and bigger ones, every single day. Take a look in my day planner, and you’ll see what look like mini to do lists on almost every page. I am a goal setter, that is who I am, and the beginning of a new year does nothing to encourage that or discourage it in any way. Goal setting gives my life meaning.

This year, however, I would like to add a bit of a theme to the goals I will set, and that is I want each of them to make me a better person in a new way. My big goals I’ve blogged about so far have been athletic ones, but the new big goals I am going to tackle are not. I have a few ideas, but I haven’t quite fluffed them out yet. In this way, this new year will be different. I will continue to set goals and achieve them, I will continue to challenge myself both physically and mentally, and I will continue to let this add meaning and value to my life, but I will expand my ideas of what can be thought of as a goal.

As a quick refresher, remember to set goals that are SMART. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and have a Timeframe! Good luck with your own resolutions, and I wish you all the most productive, successful, SMART, New Year you have ever had!

-C

 

Am I a Convert?

So on Wednesday I went to the gym.

I’m going to let you process that for a minute…

…

…

ok?

Those of you who follow this know what a big deal it is that I went, because in the past, I have been the first to say how much the gym sucks. The thing is, it has been snowing here in Seattle. Snow derails my (already mediocre) ability to run outside.

When my dad and sister said they were going to the gym, I decided to go along. I bought a ten visit card for $10 at Prorobics, which is a lovely facility just West of Laurelhurst (all of my $10 went to Children’s Hospital btw!). Truth be told, I could not bring myself to run on the treadmill. I had every intention of doing so, but when I walked into the room, I couldn’t. Running makes me feel a little self-conscious to begin with. The treadmills, shiny and metal, computer screens flashing, were all lined up in the very front row of the gym. They placed the machines, strategically it seemed, right below the televisions where the other patrons glued their eyes. No way was I going to turn my pathetic jog into a performance art. No way, no how. So I grabbed a copy of Vogue, chose an elliptical machine, furtively entered my weight, and pressed the button for cardio workout. Easy as pie.

The workout zoomed by, and I stayed warm doing it.

The thing about training for something is, the day of reckoning is going to come whether I am ready or not, and I want to be ready. I want to say I did my best, and I want to be able to run that whole entire 8K. Run, do you hear me? Not walk. So since I’m going to have to find a way to train, whether it’s snowing or raining, or 90 degrees, I’m going to have to make peace with the gym. I’ll have to get brave enough to try the treadmill too, but I think for now I’ll be proud of myself for just going. My plan is to try the treadmill and get comfortable on it at a time when the gym is not busy, that way I won’t feel like a stand-up comedian with a tough crowd.

What is your favourite piece of gym equipment?

-C

 

Taking My Own Advice… And Other Words of Wisdom, Presented by Yours Truly:

Sometimes when I read over what I have recently written, I am able to get better perspective on my own advice. I think I have a lot to teach myself, for example, on October 25th, I wrote that the hardest part about running would be making the time to get dressed, leave my house, and hit the pavement. Once I get to that point, I’m going to do the gosh darn run – it’s inevitable. On October 28th, I wrote about the good aspects of running for exercise, and I now have that bookmarked on my browser, because I find it heartening to read.

Today I cross trained for 30 minutes, and tomorrow is another running day. I am telling you all now, I am not going to skip tomorrow’s run. It’s going to happen, because I know (and I think you all know too) that I am more than disciplined enough to make myself put on a pair of shorts and runners and trot out into the cold (has everyone else noticed how freaking cold it’s gotten?!).

Something one of the teachers said during my last class at Bikram Yoga Seattle, was that the main reason they ask you not to leave class, is that if you allow yourself to leave class once, leaving will always be an option. If you don’t ever leave, it’s never an option to leave. The first time you do it is the hardest, after that it just gets easier and easier. The truth is, it is easy to skip a run. The world doesn’t end, time doesn’t stop, I haven’t been smote down by any God yet, but it does make me feel kind of bad about myself. That is arguably worse than most other consequences.

So some things I am going to do for myself this week:

*Make a new absolutely killer running playlist. Song suggestions appreciated and welcome btw.

*Drink more water. Since I’ve worked in the school district, I have drunk so much less water! I feel significantly worse because of that, and I need to get back in the habit. I used to drink 10 glasses a day easily, now I’m lucky if I get 3.

*Plan, plan, plan, and plan. I need to schedule my days better, right now they are too unstructured to be productive.

*Lastly, I am going to try my hardest to get more sleep at night. I need to wake the eff up.

So with those four goals in mind, I will depart. I hope to have a much more positive, successful, and fulfilling week this time around. What are your goals to make yourself healthier this week?

-C