I Survived Yoga Class

You may have seen in my previous post that I was going to my first yoga class last night.  I am happy to report that the class was great ,and I felt very comfortable the whole time.    Here is the description of the class: 

The instructor was great, and talked through every movement for the full hour.  I was expecting the instructor to just call out names of poses, but this really helped me since I didn't know what I was doing. 

The other funny part is that I didn't even consider that I live in "land of the retirees" down here in Florida, and that there would be old people at the class - but they were there in full force!   That made it easier for me to feel relaxed too because I knew they were not going to do everything perfectly.  The class was a mix of beginners and experienced people, and there were even 3 men in the class which surprised me.  Although I am pretty sure one of them was just there to flirt!

Overall it was a really good class, and I quickly learned that I have a lot of work to do on my core - I was so wobbly on some of the positions.  It's very hard for me to leave a one hour exercise class and only burn 130 calories, but I also have to remember that there are other benefits such as the core work and stretching.  I was jealous of the women who could do downward dog with their feet flat on the ground. I guess that gives me something to work towards!

I will go back to this class, but I would also like to try the yoga class at my gym, to see if there is a little more of a calorie burn combined with the yoga.   I can see how this is a great supplement to running.

And speaking of running....

I was scheduled to do 4.5 miles this morning, but ended up only doing 3.5 miles.  I had to get into work a little early and ran out of time to do the extra mile.  I decided to mix it up this morning and see if I could go back to my 12 min/mile pace and run the whole time without my usual walking breaks. 

The good news is that I was able to run without stopping, and it felt like such an easy run because I kept my heart rate lower the whole time.   It's hard to see my pace on the Garmin when it's dark in the morning, but I stayed right around my 12 minutes/mile pace because the total run took me 42 minutes.  I still feel like I am "cheating" when I do my 4 minute run/1 min walk intervals, but it's good to know that overall my endurance is still getting stronger.

It was chilly out this morning, which worked out well because I got my new Old Navy Yoga Pants in the mail last night and I wanted to try them out.  The length is great (I am 5'10" and ordered the tall) and they have a comfortable waistband that stayed in the place the whole time I was running.   I may have to order a few more pairs the next time they have a sale!!