How to Know When Recovery is Done

Today, I decided I would go on a little bike ride, but it wasn't enough to just ride for a half hour or even an hour.  No, I decided I was going to ride six miles to a hot power vinyasa yoga class.  And then ride back.  I survived my little adventure - 25 minutes there, 60 minutes of strenuous yoga and 35 minutes back into a headwind - and I can say I learned four things when it was all said and done.

1. My recovery efforts should be at an end now.  If I feel the need to do a mini operetta of exercise in three parts, then I should just start my next training plan now.
2. While yoga seems like a benign non-exercise on the surface it really is an ass-kicker, and one should take that into consideration when they plan on biking home afterwards. (Did I mention the headwind?) 
3. Biking in 80-degree weather, sweating out every drop of available liquid in a heated yoga class, and then biking back in hot weather makes for a gross little lack-of-hydration situation.
4. Plan snacks.  I have never felt so hungry as I did biking home.  Even the burgers at the burger joint I passed smelled passingly good, and I am a long-time vegetarian.  

I am not a biker by trade, so while this was a fun little adventure for me, I don't know as I'll do it all the time.  Although in my little fantasy world where there are no childcare concerns, I see myself doing this once a week or so throughout the summer.  We'll see.  

I got a lot of looks while biking the streets of town, but I think it had less to do with the idle curiosity of drivers trying not to run me over, and more to do with the fact that I was hauling my yoga mat precariously.  

Perhaps they were concerned that it might fly out at any moment, unravel and perfectly cover their windshields.  I have to say, though, that baby wasn't going anywhere; it just looked dorky.  Somehow I feel if I had a basket on the front and a little dog, that might have completed the picture.

Getting to yoga, I found out I should have renewed my class card two classes ago.  So, I guess unless I really want to get the stink eye the next time I go, I had better rectify that situation.  Although, they are so nice about everything, it's hard for me to picture them actually kicking anyone out.  I guess I would rather not test that, though.  Namaste and all that.

So, yoga was good, except for all the dripping and sweating and uncoordinated attempts at the poses.  It's been too long since I have gone regularly, and I was never that good to begin with.  The only thing I am marginally talented at are the balance poses.  For some reason, I feel I could be a tree all day. 

One thing I was happy about with yoga was that my arm didn't hurt as much as I thought it might.  I have had this handy little reminder popping up for the past few months telling me that my tetanus booster was overdue.  I vaguely remember getting one 10 years ago.  I was sort of questioning the whole necessity of actually getting this booster when I scratched myself on a piece of rusty metal Sunday.  That can happen when you leave the fall cleanup of your garden for the spring time.  So I got the vaccine yesterday.  My arm is still there this morning, albeit a little sore.

So, tomorrow I attempt the group run again. Yay! Not sure how that will feel after the biking and yoga, but with any luck really, really good.  Essentially, though, I am rolling right over into my next training plan - one that I wrote myself.  I have a trail marathon the first weekend of September and I am excited to get the ball rolling on training.  Because it will be a hard marathon, I actually adapted a 50K training plan for the marathon.  More on that later.  In the meantime...

Happy Running!