...and when performance is measured...

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Yoga anyone?

Today was supposed to be my first attempt at yoga. I've always shied away from that kind of stuff so it was pretty new to me. I manned up, if that's what you'd call it, and popped the P90X yoga dvd in this morning.

The first thing that bugged me was the time it was going to take. On the P90X workouts, every one has a type of timer bar at the bottom that shows your progress and how many minutes you have left. The yoga workout was going to take 90 minutes. I just didn't have that much time. Maybe 75. So, I decided I'd cut it short if needed.

The dude then tried to get me going with such basic positions as lying dog and some kind of soldier something. I gave it a shot. It was really, really tough for me. I think that's mostly because I'm about as flexible as a telephone pole. I'm the kid that never really could touch his toes. So the moves these cats were busting out were not happening for me. Yet, anyway. I know I'd have to build to that, but I'm a long way away.

After about 15 minutes of about a 60% effort on my part, I sat on my couch and started thinking if I could be doing something better with my time. I then decided to scratch Yoga X and run. I had about 45 minutes left. Another thing that tempted me was the womens world cup soccer game that was just starting - US v. Brazil. That way I could run on the treadmill and watch the match. So running it was.

It's the first time I've run in weeks - maybe almost a month. I was pretty worried that all the gains I had made from the training I was doing in July and August would be gone. I'm glad to say I was wrong. I pounded out a little over four miles and felt great along the way. I've got to think it was good for me. I may just change the regular P90X routine a bit and replace Yoga and Kenpo Karate (I don't think I'll be able to do 60 minutes of air punches and kicks) with running or the elliptical machine. That'll add more cardio and hopefully help me lean up a bit.

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