Weapon repair and yoga leftovers

With my new epees having arrived on Thursday, I wanted to get them all set up and running ASAP. Two arrived all ready to go, but the 3rd I would have to put together as the blade had broken on my original weapon and just needed to be replaced. I went out and bought some PVC pipes to cover the bladed of the epees and also picked up a little snap box to carry around small parts and tools, as well as a mini screwdriver set.

At the Salle workbench, it took me quite a while to get it all put together correctly as it was my first attempt at doing this, but I did finally get it in working order...just in time to catch the last half hour of yoga. After yoga, it was margarita night with some of the foilists...good holiday cheer.

Yoga time and first Friday swim with Salmon Bay

Did my Friday night yoga class at the fencing salle again. I'm starting to get a little better at everything...breathing, strength and flexibility. Still can't do the head or hand stands yet though.

The swim tonight with Salmon Bay went pretty well. I got a dehydration headache at one point, but I just sat out during a 200 and everything seemed to be OK after that. I'm still in lane 5 for now and usually lead the group in the sets. Probably be bumped up another lane soon though. We did a long warm up, 600 followed by a couple 100 descending sets. The workout was a 400, 300, 200, 100 freestyle with a kick in between each set starting with a 50 then 100, 150 and 200. Afterward, I went to a holiday party and had some tasty treats...swimming makes me even hungrier than rowing ever did.

Fast swim, fast run, not so slow yoga

I had another great swim this afternoon. My times for the 100yd were pertty much the same, but my energy level stayed with me the whole workout. My pushoffs continue to improve as well.

In the run around Portage Bay, I bettered my time by 15 seconds. Still not my fastest time around Portage Bay, but I'm only 15 seconds away. Since my legs were a bit sore form riding which I hadn't done in a week and I had just finished swimming, I was pretty pleased with this time.

Finally, I went to the yoga for athletes class again tonight. I was much tighter starting off tonight that I usually am and many of my motions were faster than I would have liked. I seemed to be wanting to do the positions too much rather than just focusing on doing what I could do. But by the end of the class I did feel a little looser and more able to control my muscles.

More yoga, more Salmon watching

My back still felt a little tweaked so, after a visit to the chiropractor, I decided not to do my long run this afternoon. Instead, I took a nap and looked forward to my yoga class tonight which would either prove difficult because of my back or feel really good...it felt really good. Breathing, opening up the rib cage, stretching, etc. all felt really great.

After yoga, I scooted over to the Queen Anne pool to hang out with the Salmon Bay swim club again. I'm still not swimming with them due to space-in-the-pool reasons, but I did get some more pointers and got the workout to do later. Once again, Ed gave me some really good pointers. We're going to try and meet up on Tuesday for my initial private lesson to get me started with the club.

Doing yoga, watching Salmon Bay

I helped my little sister, Steph, move in to a new place today nearer to the Art Institute, so didn't do my long run today. I did make it to a 'Yoga for Athletes' class tonight at Salle Auriol though. I was really looking forward to starting yoga back up, both for the mental and physical aspects, and was really interested in the 'for athletes' part. The class was great! Once again, I left a yoga class shaking. The positions, twists and yes even an attempted head stand, left me pretty tuckered out, but feeling great. I think the twists especially will be great for swimming.

Then it was off to watch Salmon Bay Swim Club again. Got a lot more pointers from Ed this time, including several drills to start working on. I should start swimming with them next Friday, November 3rd.

Yoga me

Went back to yoga for the first time in quite a while. We worked a lot on the hip and pelvis area. Did some baby pose and then got into the half-moon pose and a little pair work. I am still looking forward to developing a regular routine that I can do on my own.

From strokes to the shakes

The swim went well this morning. I added a lap on to each stroke/kick so I’m slowly building back up to my former distances. I’m in no big rush, but I think I will be able to progress pretty quickly. My crawl stroke is feeling great which I think is pretty important in itself. I did a quick erg before my yoga. I can definitely feel that my back is out of shape compared to what it used to be while I was rowing. I’ll have to keep up on the ergs because I would like to get back into rowing next spring if pentathlon training allows. Yoga was nice. We did a lot of partner yoga. Partner yoga is great for getting some good stretches that you normally wouldn’t be able to do yourself, but its not as appealing mentally and spiritually to me. Perhaps if I were doing with a significant other it would provide a different energy. Nevertheless, I was shaking after yoga…the sign of a good workout.

“Three breath Change”

Learned a very important tool today. My yoga teacher kept asking us to do things in a “three breath change” What a great thing. You can accomplish so much in a three breath change, in yoga, in life…in anything! This will be a useful tool whether at work or in training. Also finally understood how yoga really takes you apart. Really minute changes in position, balance, etc. can really affect how you feel the stretch/energy flow. This realization has so many applications across my even - rowing, riding, fencing – all of these require micro-level control, whether it be a muscle group, balance, or mental focus.

After yoga did weights for the first time in MONTHS! I used data from the last time I kept track (for rowing), which was…yikes…September of 98. Got back home and did my usual cleaning requirement. I have a bad habit of letting everything go and then needing to clean it before being to sit down and get any home/reading type work done. Cleaned everything up and cleared up my desk, then set into to do some excel sheets for my weights training. I’m not intending to get big, but I do like the idea of tracking progress. And…started my diary! Checked out Adam Holland’s diary on Rower’s World for a little inspiration. I’m looking forward to movies with Ron and Dave tonight.