And that's why we wear helmets

Hangover Meg took my bike home on Friday. I really should not have drunk quite so much wine on Thursday. Anyway, I skidded out on some road construction and slammed myself into the ground pretty hard. I'm glad I was wearing a helmet because even with it my head is a little bruised and scraped up. I guess it had to happen sometime but it still sucked. But, on the other hand, by the time I got home and took a shower I felt human for the first time.

It's a beautiful morning

8:30 meeting with a client [grrrrr!] so out the door at quarter of seven this morning on Betty. I stopped and fixed the light on my front wheel so it doesn't smack against the magnet any longer and I think it really made a difference - this was by far the fastest average speed (well, by 0.5mph, but that's about a 5% improvement) and according to Ascent I did it in just under an hour although my Garmin said just over an hour but I think Ascent measures active time and stops counting while I'm waiting at stoplights. And now I'm at work and feeling on fire having had exercise and coffee and meeting all before 9am. I could be annoying like this.

Credit crunch? What credit crunch?

Running commute! Didn't get up in the morning so decided to pack my things and run part way home before catching public transport. Started from my office. Got passed by a guy on a unicycle and thought, "bloody hell i'm being beaten by a guy with only one wheel." Luckily I was still in the walking-waiting-for-the-satellites-to-lock-on part so I didn't feel too bad. My route took me through West Kensington Estates followed immediately by the splendour of old Kensington and on into Belgravia and Mayfair where everyone was all dressed up for parties and hailing taxies and generally being ostentatious. Also saw the Serpies but seeing as I was passed by every single one of them I think I'm not yet fast enough to run with them. 4.9 miles at 9/1.

Guilty

Clearly I need to get out of the running head-space, because while I'm enjoying riding my bike (and contemplating going out with Out to Swim later this week), every time I think about running I feel physically ill. So, I am going to try to feel less guilty about the running I'm not doing and trust in the staying-active to get me through the half-marathon in 2 weeks. If you want to revise your time estimates - or add your name to my growing list of sponsors - feel free as I'm definitely not aiming for a 2:15 finish anymore.

Publish Post

What's in my head today

Not a whole lot, that's what. Yesterday rode my bike in and discovered that I'm still no good at navigating - though I did average my fastest speed yet. Left it at work to cut 15 minutes off my commute time after Meg got hers stolen and really wanted me to be at home. Convinced myself to get out of bed this morning with a stern "you're going to eat like a pig tonight" (happy anniversary, baby) only to discover that the 10 minute rule got me right back into bed this morning. Most boring blog post ever.

I did have last Friday off from work (we're merging and moving - exciting stressful times) and my officemates had given me a gift certificate to The Sanctuary after I ran the marathon. I added a Thai Ritual thingy and the therapist laughed at my tight hips. Gotta get that sorted.

No photos from the vacation - it wasn't really that kind of holiday - though I did go to the US Open one day and maybe sometime soon I'll get around to uploading those photos and put a few here as this purports to be a fitness blog.

Reverse brick with absurdly long transition

Not really a brick workout, but I am proud to say I both ran (for the first time in practically forever) and rode my bike to work this morning. Short run, but the goal of it was really just to prove to myself I can still run since the last few have been crap (some so crap I won't even write about them here). And I think something's not quite right with my bike - yesterday it derailed for no reason so I couldn't even ride my bike to work and today I felt like I was mashing away hard for not a lot of result - but I did it. And I was even on time.

Anyway, I'm back from vacation. I've missed everyone, I'm totally behind on both training and hearing about y'all, but I hope to be back on track and caught up soon.

On solitude

I thought I ran for fitness, to lose weight, to get those sexy runner's legs. But on my vacation this week, with enough time to actually think - I've discovered I was wrong. I run for solitude. This week I've got free days and friends and companions each night. You'd think I'd be on the road every day - no "too much work" or other people's plans to get in my way. But I haven't, and I think I know why. When I'm busy, I spend all day at work dealing with problems and people. I love my job. But it's not relaxing, especially for an introvert like me. I don't have time to reflect, or just be alone with my thoughts. So I run. When things aren't busy, I do actually take time all day to give my actions a little consciousness. And when, like this week, I have nothing pulling me to be with someone else and I have all the time in the world to think, I don't need the mental space running provides. So I'm doing other things - which is awesome and fun, but isn't going to help me across the finish line! Luckily the second half of my vacation next week (I do love the European vacation) will be with tons of people so I'll probably need the solitude.

Why do you run?

My dirty laundry: now with air miles

Leaving for a lovely long holiday shortly (vacation countdown: 2 days too many) to NYC and my MIL's house on a lake so of course we've waited until Monday to start the laundry and everything I want to take with me (namely, running clothes) is dirty and smelly. We put the laundry in the washer, crate the dog, and step out the door for work. Except, what is that horrible noise? That can't be the dog? Oh no, much worse, it is the washing machine/dryer all-in-one Euro-combo. It has filled with water, soaking them, and now the drum is scraping against something outside the drum. Open it up, take out the pile of heavy wet clothes to see if there's a quick fix for this problem. Discover there isn't. Leave wet clothes on kitchen floor (on towel) and go to work. Text neighbor. Borrow their washer to finish this load. Stand in their kitchen with all my underwear in my arms talking to them. Resolve to pack everything else dirty and hit up the laundromat in NYC. Feel like I'm in college again, taking laundry home to Mom. Except this time, Mom is the lovely immigrant lady who works in the drop-n-wash. At least she won't tell me I need a haircut.

Redemption denied

8 miles today. I thought, given that I actually ate beforehand, I might do better than last week's 8 on the 8th. Not so much. 1:40:10, but I felt better the whole time so that's something. Today's funny encounter: I stop at the half-way point (thank you, Victoria Park, for being exactly 4 miles from my house and having free clean toilets, even if you are a bit lacking in the paper department) and having done my business sit down on a bench for a minute to stretch, drink some water, and eat some gummi bears. On the next bench over is a homeless man, who immediately says to me, "Cigarette please." Sorry man, thanks for politeness, but not only do I not respond well to other people's sense of entitlement to my stuff, I don't smoke, and also, did you not notice the sweat dripping off my nose and the fact that I jogged past you? I may have emergency TP in this CamelBak, but cigarettes not so much. He looked so crestfallen when I said no.

Vacation countdown: 3 days too many...

Free Yoga on the Web

I like yoga and enjoy the odd class but am too cheap to lay out $25/class (at 12 GBP per class but I can't figure out how to make that symbol) and also sometimes I want a class *now* and there's not always a class nearby at 3:43 on a Saturday afternoon. So I have some podcasts, but I'm interested in compiling a longer list. Add your favourites in the comments - anything free is fair game.



Before you try any of these, I definitely recommend you take some classes to learn the poses and get some teacher correction on your form so you don't hurt yourself.

• YogaJournal: an easier practice that clearly describes what to do in each pose. Very easy to follow; audio is great. There is also some video which I have never watched. Definitely a physical practice rather than a "total yoga" approach. Only a small number of choices - easy to mix-and-match to make your own practice as they have a morning or evening sequence plus a few middle sequences focusing on different areas (hips, backbends, etc); each of the middle sequences warms up, does the hardest bits in the middle, then cools down so you can end with shavasana or your prefered ending pose, or go right into another middle sequence. They also have a full practice.


• 90 minutes of yoga with Wade: This is a much harder physical practice. Lots of vinyasas. Wade teaches an in-person class and someone (usually his wife) mics him up and records the class to put on iTunes. This means there's lots of variety and new classes coming out all the time. Unfortunately the audio isn't always great, but the biggest problem with this practice is that, because he's actually teaching to people who can see him, the directions are sometimes hard to follow, and when he gets his left mixed up from his right it gets confusing. Still, this is usually my go-to practice.


• Hillary's yoga: This is much more a whole-yoga practice. Focus on intention and spirit as much as on the physical asanas. A bit self-promoting which gets on my nerves occasionally, but the audio quality is good and it's a nice respite from the physical focus. Another class recorded live.

So, what do you like? Kitzzy has a few ideas, including YogaDownload which has short (20 min) downloads for free (donation requested) and iYogaLife for Runners which has more articles and suggested poses, but I'm really interested in full practices we can follow.