Discussion: Substitute

Kickboxing and spinning? See, right then, I would have slipped out the door. There's one yoga teacher I avoid like the plague because she almost killed me when she substituted in a stretching class once. When I first started yoga, I saw her at the desk one night when I arrived and I was afraid there'd been a schedule change, so I hid my yoga mat and staked out a spot on a bench where I could see who went downstairs to the yoga room before I got trapped in there. :-)

She didn't have us doing any spinning, and only a little bit of kicks (which I've done before in this step class). I saw someone I knew who had just finished the class before step ("Power Sculpt"), who said that she was okay (can you imagine leading two classes back to back like that?), so I stayed.

She did have us doing an awful lot of knee lifts, though, and only threw in hamstring curls and outer thigh lifts near the end. She was tough on the abs, too (lots of repetitions on those crunches). I'm feeling my knees now; probably not a great idea the day before an O meet. :-) But then again it may just make me stronger...

I've learned not to feel awkward about not doing everything the instructor says, too, if my body says "no."

Yes, they always tell us in yoga to "honor your body" and I have no problem modifying or eliminating anything that's going to aggravate or cause problems. This yoga teacher, though, is just an intense type and not what I need from yoga. One of the other teachers did the stretch class all the time and every single part of the body got a good stretching but you left feeling very serene. The day we had this substitute she started out with 5 minutes of dancing and then we spent the next 15-20 minutes of a 30-minute class with our legs flying around in the air. It was completely exhausting and I was pretty sore afterwards!

It is hard to know what to do or not do right before a big meet or race. I usually try to rest but one of my best, if not the best, 5K's was the day after I did a Brown course and a sprint at Fair Hill during which I repeatedly rolled my already strained ankle! So who knows? :-) Good luck and have fun at Surebridge.

Thanks! I've found that I have stronger/better training runs the first few days after an O meet, so I should be sure to get out tomorrow (too hot today!).

I could feel my quads above the knees on Saturday (which I worked hard on Friday), but I don't feel like the soreness slowed me down any. And by Sunday I didn't notice any soreness. Don't think I'd want to do an 8-mile run the day before an O-weekend, though!

Congratulations! You're really doing great this year already. I guess your consistent training is paying off. :-)