Hill Training.....great for us FLATLANDERS!

I went back to NY to visit my family last week and had three opportunities to do some of the hardest running us Hoosiers can do: HILLS.

The first run was easily in the top five hardest workouts I have ever done. It was a run up Mt. Beacon in NY state. Only 2.5-2.75 miles....but the last mile and a half is a constant mountain climb....at times over a 20% grade. I ran it with my nephew who has been doing it several times a week and I thought I was going to have to stop twice, but I plowed through. The reward was a gorgeous resivoir at the top, and a great swim. I was obliterated. Granted, I had done a weight workout earlier that day, and it was about 90 degrees, but it would have been extrememly hard anyway.

I was so intrigued by it, that I ran it again two days later. Not as fast this time, but I made it. I ran alone and didn't push as hard as when I was with my Nephew.

Two days later, I ran at my Mom's on River Road (Ive blogged about that before) and I BLEW through those hills!!!! Something about the mountain's constant climb made the River Road seem much easier.

And today, at an indoor track at NIFS I took advantage of my "mountain legs and lungs" and set two records for myself. Fastest five miles ever (6:28/mile) and fastest 6 miles ever (6:28,75/mile). No, I didn't run 11 miles! I ran 6 miles, but noted the time each mile.

So if you can get to some hills....train on them!!!

Peace,

Rob

Another Mini Under my Belt......

Ran a half marathon yesterday in 91:30. Not an official race, just me in my neighborhood. Felt really good and I was glad I brought my stopwatch. I wasn't going to for fear of getting too much performance hype in my head. But I never did. I felt like my RPE started out at about a 7, and when I finished my first lap (it takes a little over nine laps around my neighborhood to do a mini) I was surprised that my time was 10:10. Usually I have to push to get under a ten minute lap. Since I was close to that, I decided to lightly push the next lap, which I did in 9:44. Well, then my positive cometitive juices kicked in and I had a lot of fun challenging myself, without going overboard. The result was the fastest half marathon I've run in two months. Not my personal best, but really good on a day when I was just going to run without timing myself.

I can push myself for another sub-90 half marathon. It's just about putting the fear aside and doing the work and enjoying the effort.

QUESTION FOR CHRIS OR ANYONE ELSE: Is it common to be stronger on your "non-dominant side" and better with balance on your "dominant side"? I am and I think it's odd.
My entire left side is stronger than my right, but my right leg is a much better anchor for single-leg poses than my left. What is up with that?!?!?!

Update.....a brief one!

Keeping up with Kelly!!! I will not let her have to take on the whole blogging duties!!!!

My trip back home was AMAZING! My Mom was blown away and surprised completely by the party.

And near the end of the great night, Jen and I wound up on the dancefloor with about five of my nephews teaching them yoga moves! Headstands and arm balances! And they did really well and we provided lots of entertainment for the hard-core party-goers.

And the day before the party, I ran ten miles on River Road. I have run a half-marathon on that road, but this was cooler and maybe more challenging. The reason: I ran a hillier section of the road. It was INSANE!! So steep hills, but it felt really wonderful. And Jen did three miles and one mile walking, so I think she is good to go for the "Go Girl" race!!!!!

Jen and I took the ACRO-YOGA workshop tonight and it was wonderful! We balanced each other in lots of different poses. Although some of it is challenging, I think many of our community could do lots of these poses. Kelly! You and Matt could totally do these! We should talk!!

Hope all are well!

Rob

My Mom is Turning 80!

Hi All,

So next weekend Jen and I will be travelling East to see my family and have a party for my Mom. She is tunring eighty, and I can't really belive that. Well, part of me can. I think we are all aware somewhere inside ourselves of the constant progression of time. When my Dad passed on in 1989, a clock sounded in my head that began a different awarness of my mortality and everyone around me. And it seems like only a short time ago my family was having a party for my Grandma turning 80, and now it's my Mom........the onion keeps peeling, doesn't it?

I don't know what to say about it, except that it's cool. It must be! It's what we all signed on for. Or what our parents signed us on for when they has us. But I feel like we signed on for this life, and our parents just provided the entrance into this world. Sometime I'll explain my theory behind this, and then you'll all think I am either really in touch with things, or a real whack-job!!


My bod feels pretty good. My voice is a little ratty, which is no good for actors! My fault for doing some things that don't help it, like the occasional cigarrette. But I am working on keeping that down. I want to admit that I do that to my "healthy community" of friends because otherwise I feel I am hiding it, and that is only adding to the issue in a negative way. And you know, there is a part of me that views an OCCASIONAL smoke as an ok thing. But the majority of my mind and heart recognizes that it is incidious; it will always be a habit forming and addictive temptation. And it will not help my career.

Besides that little ommision, I feel very strong and healthy. Mixing up the workouts: Some project stuff (the last one Chris put out there was GREAT!) and running, biking and the Gauntlet. All of these are keeping me strong for the upcoming acting season and for perhaps becoming a Papa......!

Jen and I are talking about.....no, I don't like the term "trying". We are talking about "making the opportunity very possible" for becoming pregnant. Haven't made things fully possible yet, but maybe soon. Scary and absolutely wonderful!

What else? Thanks to my Nephew, Zack, I am picking up the guitar after a sixteen year pause! Only for fun and probably just for myself and Jen, but it's so nice to strum some chords again. So theraputic. And Jen has begun tickling the piano keys again! Hopefully we will keep this up. Much better than the t.v.

Wow, lots of topics. But I will keep writing thanks to Kelly and Chris for the re-inspiration into blog-dom!!

With love,

Rob

Kelly has inspired me!

I have been off the blog lately, but not because I have nothing to write about. Just got out of practice. But Kelly and her posts have got my mojo going again. I do miss keeping up with how everyone is doing, so I am going to get back into it.

Just a shortie tonight, as it is LATE!!!

Jen and I have been doing a stationary bike at NIFS. Jen much more than me, but thanks to her I am into it as well and it is GREAT. It's called the Expresso, and it has 30 different virtual courses you can do, and some of them are butt-busters! I never dug cycling, but this has me a little stoked. I will write more about it later.....other topics I want to cover:

Me and Jen thinking pretty seiously about having a kid.

My Mom turning 80.

How my mind feels at 43, and how my body feels. And how my mind sometimes THINKS my body feels! ha ha! that's a good thing to ponder......

gotta sleep. More soon! Hope to see more of you good people!

-Rob

The Summer Sweat Teaches me why the song says, "Don't Fear the Reaper"

So it's been two classes back on the mat in Indy. And the teperature has been getting higher....and with it my mat is gettin' slippery-er!!! And I love it.



There is something about the heat and humidity that opens me up like a waterfall in the summer. And during the other months I take much longer to start a sweat in class. I think this is due to my aerobic work. I don't know if this is usual, but it seems that the more I have been able to raise my aerobic capacity, the longer it takes me to break a good sweat. But in summertime yoga, I sweat more than I think I ever have in my life.



And the feeling at the end of a class where I have literally left a puddle on the mat, and the floor around it, is amazing. Completely spent and a feeling of euphoria. Oddly enough, I feel like it might be what someone feels (or what I HOPE they feel) when they leave this life and move on. A feeling of leaving "it all on the mat" and just letting go. I have heard the "corpse pose" at the end of class is a good comparison for letting attachments go, including the fear of having to let life go. But if leaving this life will be anything like the end of Chris' Saturday class, then I don't have to fear death at all.....it'll be wonderful.

Back in Indy and on the Mat!!!

We are so happy to be back home! And Chris welcomed us back with a GREAT CLASS this morning. A sweat fest, which I have missed with the weather being not hot enough to really "get my sweat on". But today was a dripper, and I look forward to many more.

One thing I am dealing with that I am not too happy about is a bum shoulder. I think I have a problem with my rotator cuff. I need to find a sports doc, and Ginger might have one for me. If anybody else has suggestions, I would welcome them.

But pain or no, I am gonna keep working, get the problem dealt with, and then get right back to the work......and I WILL be careful not to injure myself further!

So nice to see all the folks at yoga today, and come to the WOODRUFF flea market this weekend!

xoxo,

Rob