Okay, that title sounds pretty selfish, doesn’t it? My Season. The season of ME. Well, sometimes it’s okay to be selfish.
Saturday was our final meet of the cross country season. It was a big one, the CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) preliminaries, the next step after league finals in the road toward state championships. We were eliminated in spite of an all-out effort by the girls. And that means that, yes, cross country season is over.
For me that means no more excuses. Cross country is very time consuming. Practice is five days a week, usually at the time that I would normally be doing my own workout. We started back in July, so yes, I am ready for a break (as are the girls!).
Time for MY Season! Yoga, Pilates, and training for the @SLOMarathon. #Fitfluential
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What is MY Season?
Actually, MY Season isn’t nearly as selfish as it sounds. It just means that now that cross country season is over, I will have time to focus on my own fitness goals. I’m working now, with a fairly flexible schedule as I build my personal training business, so I plan to take advantage of the extra time. So, to me, MY Season means that I will focus on several things.
1. Running. As I mentioned last week, I’ve been running, somewhat lackadaisically, around 12-15 miles per week. I decided that I needed a goal to get me out of my running rut. I first decided to run the Palm Springs Marathon in February, then I decided to join the SLO Marathon Ambassador program again and train for 26.2 on April 26, 2015. Now that it is MY Season, I will have four or five days a week to run, so the plan for now is to build my base and work my way toward 25-30 miles per week over the next month. Then I’ll really start a training program. For now, my base training schedule will be:
Monday: Medium length, moderate pace, gradually building to about eight miles.
Wednesday: Tempo run.
Friday: Shorter, easier run before work.
Saturday: Long run. I’d like to have a base of 10 miles when I start my marathon training. Right now I’m at about five miles.
Sunday: Easy run. This is the day I run with my dogs, which I’ll continue to do. It is shorter, slower, with lots of pee breaks (for them, not me 
).
As I add on new clients on Monday and Wednesday, my planning may have to change, but I will keep the basic outline of this schedule. I’m working on my training program now, which I will share with you. If you want to join me in San Luis Obispo for the SLO Marathon or Half Marathon, you can use the discount code WOODAMB to save $10 on either race.
2. Yoga. Yes, I know that I have said this before, but I plan to re-dedicate myself to my yoga practice. I have recently been inspired to get back on my yoga mat (I’ll talk a little more about that later in the week), and I went to class today. I realize that making it to one yoga class is just a tiny first step, but I really want this, and now that it is MY Season, I will make the time to continue.
I went to my favorite studio, Yoga Central in La Quinta, which is owned by my friend April. She is also my favorite teacher, but fortunately she wasn’t teaching today. Yes, fortunately, because she teaches a flowing, almost dance-like Vinyasa class, and I am just not in the shape to keep up. I would have spent much of the class recovering in child’s pose. Instead my class was taught by Stephen, and while it was certainly challenging (it’s an all-level class, so you can make it as hard as you like), he held the poses longer, there were a lot fewer chaturangas, and I left his class feeling accomplished and happy. And sweaty (with the curly hair to prove it).
My plan is to make it to the studio at least three days a week, probably Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. That’s a little lopsided, but that fits into my work and running schedule. Once my Saturday long runs get over 10 miles, an active Vinyasa class may be too much, so I might try the Friday afternoon restorative class instead.
I will supplement the studio classes with an at-home practice. I love YogaDownload.com. That is an affiliate link, but I’ve been a member for years and pay my own membership fees. The instruction is clear, there are a variety of levels and class lengths, and you even have a choice between audio or video. I love the audio classes because I can download the classes and do them anywhere, and focus on what I’m doing, not the instructor on the screen.
3. Pilates. This is a new one for me. Now that I’m working as a personal trainer again, I have the opportunity to use some of the Pilates training that I had a few years ago. To do this, I need to get on the reformer and practice, not to mention decide whether I want to continue on toward a Pilates certification. It’s a long (and expensive) road, but for now I want to work on the reformer a couple days a week, and maybe go to a mat class once a week (there’s one at work I can go to).
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What you don’t see here
While I have a lot of fitness plans, there are a couple things you won’t see here. Regular weight training for one. I’m just not that into lifting heavy weights right now. While that may change in the future, for now I’m happy to be using the alternatives of Yoga and Pilates, both of which provide an amazing workout. I’m not teaching any classes right now either, so traditional strength and core work are also out of the picture.
Totally off-topic, but isn’t this just the cutest picture of Olivia? She’s never done this before and I just happened to see her there this evening. Photographing a black dog can be difficult, but she is looking at Alan to my right, so the whites of her eyes make everything show up better. (Do you follow me on Instagram?)
If you could design YOUR Season, what would you include? What obstacles get in your way and how do you overcome them?
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