We are on Day 8 of the 30 Days of Yoga Challenge and I am feeling great. I have mostly been doing an at home yoga practice using yoga DVD’s and podcasts. I have been to one studio class and hope to get in a few more this month.
My favorite yoga DVD’s are Rodney Yee’s; I like the progression of his workouts and his voice to guide the practice. One of my favorites is Yoga Burn.
Where is your favorite place to practice yoga?
Do you use yoga DVD’s?
Last night Neil and I headed to the gym after work to get in a cardio session in before heading home for a little yoga and dinner. I was already planning on making red curry vegetables and tempeh for dinner so I was delighted to see a box from Village Harvest Rice sitting on my doorstep. Neil and I anxiously opened the box to find a variety of frozen whole grains just waiting for us to heat them up. Since I was already making curry for dinner and planning on making a grain to go with I was excited to try one of the varieties out. I let Neil choose and he decided on the red quinoa and brown rice blend. All I had to do was cook my curry and heat the grains up on the stove for 3-4 minutes. Simple and quick. I was as little weary about whether the grains would hold up or if they would be mushy like other heat and eat grains I had tried before. 
Conclusion: The grains were perfect. They were not over cooked, not mushy and they held up really well with the curry sauce. I am very impressed! This is just the thing I need to have in my house for busy nights since grains always take the longest to cook.
Since we were pretty hungry last night we didn’t have enough for leftovers so I made beans, greens and grains this morning for our lunches. I decided to try the wheatberry and barley blend to serve along with my stir fry of black beans, spinach, zucchini and peppers. I snuck a few bites and I’m excited for lunch to come.
I think lunch will be the perfect fuel for my run this afternoon. Then it’s off to yoga and out for a drink with the Hubz.
Happy Friday!
The challenge starts today!
I am thrilled by how many of you are participating in this months yoga challenge. This month you will challenge your body and mind by taking on a task that many of you have never done before. I know this is going to be a challenge for me but I am already carving time out in my busy schedule for yoga to make sure that I succeed.
Also there is still time to sign up! Today marks the start so if you can get in a 20-25 minute session today you can still participate. Just sign up here.
The holidays are coming up which means family, friends and festive music. It also means parties, events and lots of food, lots and lots of it. Holidays are the one time of the year I find I struggle to maintain my workout routine and take care of myself. This year I have decided to be proactive and set fitness and self-care goals for myself. One of my goals is already in motion and that is training for my half-marathon which is in February. My second goal is to do yoga EVERY day this month. This is going to be quite a challenge considering I have only been doing yoga about once per week (if that) for the past few months.
I am challenging myself to practice yoga everyday in November. Oh and I am challenging YOU to to take on the challenge with me. That’s 30 days of yoga in a row. Now some days you may only be able to practice for 10-15 minutes other days you may do 90 minutes. The goal here is to set yourself up for success. Simply that you will do yoga everyday in November, details below.
I encourage all of you to participate in the 30 Days of Yoga Challenge for the month of November even if it’s just doing a minimum of 10 minutes of yoga per day. However I am going to take things a little further for those of you who want to challenge yourself beyond 10-minutes per day. For those who want to take on the extra challenge I am going to provide you with a little incentive to do so with TWO chances to win a Lululemon gift card.
There are two incentive options; Option A is for those who want to go above and beyond 10-minutes per day while Option B is for anyone looking for an even greater challenge:
Option A: Do a minimum of 15-minutes of yoga per day PLUS at least three 30-minute sessions and two 60-minute sessions during the month of November i.e. twenty-five 15-minute sessions plus at least three 30-minute sessions plus at least two 60-minute sessions.
Option B: Do a minimum of 20-minutes of yoga per day PLUS at least three 60-minute and two 90-minute sessions during the month of November i.e. twenty-five 20-minute sessions plus at least three 60-minute sessions plus at least two 90-minute sessions.
Challenge Starts on November 1, 2011.
Fill out the form below with your name and email address, you can also add your twitter handle and/or blog address if you have one (not required). I will send out sample Yoga Challenge Log that you will fill out for the month of November. You must return the completed log to me by December 2, 2011.
Incentive Winnings: You can qualify by completing the challenge for either Option A or Option B (not both) and must indicate on your completed log which option you participated in. For those who choose Option A you will be entered to win a $10 Lululemon Gift Card (purchased by me). For those who choose Option B you will be entered to win a $25 Lululemon Gift Card (purchased by me). The winner will be chosen via random.org on December 3, 2011. There will be one winner per each option.
Other Details:
I have decided to enter to be a FitFluential Ambassador. Over the past year fitness has become a big part of this blog because it is part of how I live a healthy life. I love to post about what I am doing to stay fit, about my training for races and other fun things I like to do to stay fit such as hiking and yoga. I am always finding new ways to stay fit and stay motivated.
Below are photos of how I stay fit and how I have fun in Vermont; don’t get me wrong I have fun staying fit as well.
Neil is finally home from the hospital. He has a contusion on the brain, intracranial hemorrhage and a fractured orbital bone. He will be okay but no physical activity or alcohol for a month and no driving, outings, visitors, overstimulation for at least this week/until he feels better. Blogging will be light this week while I try to regroup after traveling to NYC Saturday, rushing back yesterday morning and spending all night/day at the hospital. I’m exhausted and need a break.
Racing. He will not be doing his 10k next week or the one 2 weeks after that. Also due to the injury and the timing we both will not be doing the Disney half marathon. This injury will interfere with his training plan and his energy levels so we have decided not to add the extra mental and physical stress of training for a long distance run. I am hoping that we will be able to run the 5k Turkey Trot together on Thanksgiving and that we will be able to still run our first half marathon together at Disney within the next year.
It’s crazy how one event can change everything.
Goals for this week:
When I first started running my husband and I always went on your runs together. Although he is faster than me he was always just 2-3 minutes ahead of me and I felt safe knowing he was near by. Nowadays I often do my running alone, many times in the early morning or afternoon and since I don’t have my husband or a friend with me I always wondered what if something happened to me.
A few weeks ago I made the poor decision to go out on a run even though it was hot and I knew I had not hydrated well. By the last half mile of my run I started to feel a little dizzy but I pushed through. As soon as I arrived home I had to get some water and sit down for awhile because the horrible combination of heat, humidity and lack of hydration made me feel like I was just about to pass out. I lucked out that I made it home before that feeling hit but fear set in anyways and I couldn’t stop thinking about the what ifs. That’s when I looked into getting a Road ID.
I talked with the team at Road ID and they decided to send me a Road ID of my choice to have for my safety and to try out for review. I had a choice between a few different styles: the Wrist ID Sport, the Wrist ID Elite, the Wrist ID thing, the Shoe ID, the FIXX ID or the Ankle ID. I decided to go with the Wrist ID Sport because it seemed like the perfect one for running. After measuring my wrist I chose my size, color and what I wanted on my ID. I put my full name, location, my husbands number, my parents number, I noted that I have no allergies and lastly “Follow Your Bliss”.
I now run with my Road ID on every outdoor run. I have a Garmin on one arm and my ID on the other and even though it looks a little silly I don’t care because it’s all about safety first.
Do you run or do outdoor activities with an ID? If not when will you start to?
