Seven Days of Yoga; Week 11

This week has been kind of intense, but I am thrilled with my new plan. Since I did some math on Wednesday and realized I was only 137 days away from my 30th birthday. (RIGHT?!) I won't have time to complete P90X and P90X2 in succession before I turn 30 (one of my 30x30 goals), but what I could do? At least start it... and get through phase 1 of X2 by my 30th birthday. Then finish strong with the final 43 days as a 30 year old. So, this week it started. In addition to my regular workouts, I'm tacking P90X on in the mornings - getting my butt up at 6 instead of 715, and letting go of cookies.

Wednesday night I had already planned on going to Power Yoga. We had a sub who I'd never taken class with before. He taught a really great class - basic on its surface, but with room for creativity and adventurousness. I was into it, and I was next to a woman who is a super pro experienced yogi who - without meaning to - inspired and challenged me. A true yogi, I didn't feel the need to try to "compete" with her, but she did make me want to push myself, find my limits, and try some new things. Because I was already in the zone to challenge myself, I managed to get up into pincha mayurasana without the wall. When I got home I did it again - with a camera - just to prove to myself that I still could. (photo above)

As soon as I made my plan to start P90X, I made sure to tell the hubs so he could be my accountability buddy. So, when 6am rolled around on Thursday morning (aka Day 1 of P90X), he was there making sure I gave him a standing hug goodbye instead of a half sleepy kiss. I pushed play on Chest & Back + Ab Ripper X  from 6:15-7:30am and then off to work I went. It left me feeling strong. The first time I did P90X, I couldn't even do ONE diamond pushup without going to my knees. Thursday morning I did 13.
That night I drove out to see my friend for our weekly yoga sesh. It was nice to get a good stretch in after my workout that morning. It was also nice to bum one of their foam rollers while I guided her through a quick warm up. My right IT band had been killing me - which made even driving difficult - so I worked

Friday (P90X Day 2) I got up early whirly and did Plyometrics X in the morning. I learned from previous rounds of P90X that I need to pace myself during that workout - I'll be sore the next day and get a heckuva calorie burn no matter what, but if I push myself too hard, I will end up running to the toilet for dry heaving fun times. Nobody wants that. I had a great workout that morning.
I thought about going to Ashtanga that night, but it seemed too stressful to try and get there by 545 during tax season, so I took it easy when I got home - just cleaned up the patio and ate cadbury eggs.

Saturday (P90X Day 3) was Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X. I didn't feel like I really challenged myself very much in this workout. I wore my heart rate monitor (as with all my P90X workouts so far), so I know I got kind of a low calorie burn for a full hour workout. Some moves were hard - most of the body weight stuff. Then Ab Ripper is always hard, though it was easier on day 3 than on day one.
I taught an amazing power yoga class at the studio at 10. My playlist rocked my world. I was having so much fun and the energy in the room was amazing.

Sunday (P90X Day 4) I subbed a flow class in the morning. Then I went to an inversion and arm balance workshop. I was supposed to do Yoga X that day, but I skipped it because I knew I'd be doing yoga for four hours at the workshop... which was KILLER, by the way. I thought it would be a little more relaxed, a little less like a yoga class. It was a lot like a typical yoga class - just REALLY long. It was an intense workout. I was mopping up sweat 20 minutes in. It made sense - we need to get warm before we tried flipping upside down and balancing, but it was exhausting. My left wrist just plain gave out at one point (around the 3 hr mark). I couldn't take any pictures during the class (mostly because I didn't know anyone and I didn't want to ask, but I'm gonna try and do a little recap post soon. I'll have to give most of these poses another try. I already instagramed some of them. (1, 2)

Monday morning (P90X Day 5) I got up to do Legs & Back before heading off to teach. I got up a little later then I planned - then there was an earthquake. did you hear about that? - so I didn't have time to do Ab Ripper before I had to leave.
That night I had my private with my friend. She said she wanted a little more cardio, more of a workout to work up a sweat, so even though I was crashing hard that afternoon, that's exactly what we did. We did some running warrior and A LOT of core - a lot - and by the end she was happy with her workout and I felt so much more energized and awake. It was kind of awesome.
When I got home, I did Ab Ripper X, which I'd skipped in the morning.

Tuesday (P90X Day 6) started with Kenpo X in the AM. Maybe I was slacking a little bit, but the calorie burn was kind of a let down. I barely made it to 300 in an hour. At the end of the workout, right as it goes into stretching, Tony advises that we check our heart rates and make sure we're out of "the zone" before going into stretching, but I was well below the zone by the time we got there. I think my heart rate was at like 95. My resting HR is little on the high side, between 85 and 90, and my goal HR for working out is around 155/160, and I never got above 145 the whole workout.
Sorry to talk so much about heart rates. I left work and went straight to Power Yoga that night. My sore muscles needed a little love from the previous few days workouts. That's not to say that power yoga was exactly restful. It was hard, and my body kept reminding me in little ways to take it easy... so I did. I only took the harder variations when I knew my body could handle it, and when I was tired, I eased off.

These workouts posts are about to get pretty intense with the new addition of P90X workouts. I'm pretty pumped about it so far though.

How was your week?