The good, the bad, and the ugly

The good:
My yoga class this week was amazing!  I am really starting to enjoy it more and more and look forward to it every week.  One thing I love about it is that it is different every time.  But, the hour long class is always equally challenging and completely relaxing.    
One pose/exercise we did this week was the frog pose.  It is tough and totally works your legs.  Here are some pics/info I got from http://www.anmolmehta.com/blog/2008/02/26/kundalini-yoga-exercise-legs/

 Beginning stance

Ending stance (although the yoga instructor makes us keep our ankles up off the floor)

Here's how you do it:

• Squat on the floor on your toes, with your feet apart and your heels either touching or very close together.
• Have your knees spread out and your arms inside your knees with your finger tips touching the floor.  The elbows are straight.
• Look up, you can have your eyes opened or closed.  Inhale.  This is the starting position for frog pose.
  
• Rise up now by straightening your legs.  At the same time bring your head towards your knees and keep your fingers touching the floor.  Straighten your legs as much as possible.  Exhale.  This is the ending position for frog pose.  This completes 1 repetition.
• Come back down to the starting position and repeat the cycle as many times as indicated.

She has us do 56 repetitions, or as many as we can.  She also has us do them as fast as we can, which makes it even harder.  The first time I did it about a month ago I couldn't do all 56, but now I can!  Woohoo!  Although, my legs are completely burning by the end!  

Here are some benefits I found from that same website:

• Shapes, tones and strengthens the legs and lower body.  Specially the thighs muscles. (This is a no brainer, but woohoo!)
• Builds the cardiovascular system and respiratory system.  Promoting better circulation and better respiration.
• Promotes flexibility in the hamstrings and calves.
• Builds sexual potency and virility.  (Really??  I'm sure my husband will be interested to learn about this...ha ha!)

The bad:

My 1/2 marathon plan called for a 40 minute tempo run today.  My husband was supposed to have a work mtg. this morning, but it got canceled so we loaded the boys up and went to the gym to workout.  Normally I run in the afternoons so I was excited to be able to get my run done in the AM.  

I was actually looking forward to challenging myself on my tempo run, but my body had different plans.  I started out at an easy 8:20 pace for 12 minutes (I know 12 min. is weird, but I wasn't paying attention and missed the 10min. mark!), then sped it up to a 7:35 pace.  I felt good running at this pace for the first 5 minutes, but after that I started feeling weird.  I kept going for another 5 minutes, then stopped to wipe the massive amount of sweat off my face/neck and get some water.  My heart was racing and I was breathing pretty hard.  I guess I shouldn't have stopped b/c all of a sudden I got really light headed and felt like I was going to faint.  I started picturing myself passing out (something I've done quite a bit in my life) and falling on a moving treadmill.  Not a pretty picture.  So, I decided to walk for a couple of minutes to get my heart rate down and see if the feeling would pass.  

I felt fine after a couple of minutes, so went at it again.  This time though, I ran at about a 7:45 pace.  I only lasted for another 5 minutes before I started to feel weird again. So again, I walked and drank more water.  The feeling passed and I decided to run the rest of the 40 minutes at my normal 8:20 pace.  Well, I only lasted another 5 minutes because I started getting running cramps behind my left ribs.  At this point I knew I had to stop.  Obviously my body was trying to tell me something.  

So, I didn't get in my 40 min. tempo.  In the end I did a 12min. wu, 15min. tempo (if it still counts with the walking breaks), and a 5 min. cool down for 32 minutes.  I guess I'm happy that I even made it over 30 min. considering how I felt.  

I think I can chalk this one up to being a little dehydrated.  Don't you think?  

The ugly:

For some reason, this toenail always turns black after my long runs.  And it has fallen off more times than I can count.  What is up with that?  Oh, and please ignore my 4th toe and pinky toe.  Who am I kidding, how can you ignore them?  It's pretty funny because whenever I get a pedicure (which isn't that often), the woman that does it is always amazed at how big my pinky toe nail is.  Really?  Is it really that big?  Don't answer that, I already know it is! :)