SweatyShe Monday: Bikram Yoga and Beer

Danny and I in Corpus Christi

By: Susan Farago

I blame my friend Danny for this and he knows it. When I curse him for it he just smiles and says that it’s good for me. I’m referring to having a nice cold beer after a really, really hard workout.

It started a few years ago when Danny and I, along with a group of eight other people, ran the Capital to Coast relay -- 223 miles of running starting in Austin and finishing on the beach in Corpus Christi. It took us two days of non-stop running relay-style and by the time we got to Corpus, we were very tired but very excited to have finished the race. They offered free beer at the finish line and Danny handed me a glass before I could even refuse . I have never been a beer drinker and on the rare occasion I would indulge, I would order a beer based on color, not on name (“I’ll have a medium colored beer, please.”) But Capital to Coast was cause for celebration and after the team toasted our achievement, I have to say that medium colored beer tasted AWESOME!

Bikram beer of choice



After that something clicked in my system: hard sweaty workout = beer craving. I am able to resist the urge most of the time. And then I started taking Bikram yoga last week.

If you are not familiar with Bikram, it goes like this: Walk into a yoga studio where the thermostat is cranked up to 108 and the room smells like a combination of hay, melted yoga mat rubber, and sweaty feet. Then take off as much clothing as possible and get ready to sweat like never before. Proceed to stay in this room for 90 minutes as you are verbally guided through a series of 26 postures, each one done twice. I sweated through two beach towels and five bandanas during my first class. And as we laid there “cooling down”, my mind drifted to one thing. Ice cold fizzy medium colored beer.

I got home and cracked a Victoria - what has since become my beer of choice - and it tasted fantastic! Then I realized I was probably defeating the benefits of Bikram detoxification with Victoria intoxication. But my liver was just going to have to get over it.

I have taken two more Bikram classes since then and each one is followed by a beer chaser (and a small cursing at Danny for even starting this whole habit). The beer chaser cravings are coming earlier and earlier in the workout and I now find myself thinking about the beer reward even before class begins. I have two more Bikram sessions scheduled for this week. They would probably frown if I rolled a cooler into the yoga studio and cracked a cold one before the workout. So I’ll just have to get through the 90 minutes and look forward to my post-workout rehydration fix.
Go.Do.Be.

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Need a way to jumpstart your week? SweatyShe Mondays are thoughts and humorous musings from the world of active Shes.

SweatyShe Monday: Swollen Leg and Eternal Optimist - The 2013 Race List

Susan is very excited (and a little scared)
about her 2013 racing schedule!

By: Susan Farago

Sunday was a rainy day and I was having a hard time getting motivated to finish some work-related projects. I glanced over at my "race pile" - an ongoing, never ending stack of papers, postcards, brochures, and magazine tear-outs that contain various bits of information about events that I think would be fun to do. There are trail running races, standup paddleboard events, mountain bike adventures, long distance bike races...some event you can do with your dog (I don't have a dog but I have a very accomodating cat). So I decide that now's the perfect time to draft up my 2013 race calendar.

I haven't been training much lately since the hematoma on my calf is still swollen and very visible thanks to a mountain bike race crash over three weeks ago! Not to mention that the rest of me is also feeling very swollen (more like bloated) since "that time of the month" just hit and I feel about as fit and in shape as an Umpa-loompa from Willie Wonka. My body may be bloated and hematoma'ed but my mind is ready to train!

I start out with my ultimate wish list - which means I am independently super wealthy and I have all the time in the world to do nothing but train and race. Oh, and I also enter into a somewhat delusional state and imagine myself being in a super fit, super "lean and mean" shape (which means I'm about 8-10 pounds lighter than my current weight and I could keep up with Lance Armstrong on my bike or Dean Karnazes trail running on Austin's greenbelt). So taking all this into consideration, this is what 2013 looks like:

January - Big Bend 50K Trail Run
February - Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile Trail Run
March - RAAM Challenge 200 Mile Bike Race (solo)
May - Jemes Mountains 50 Mile Trail Run
July - California Death Ride Bike Ride
August - TransRockies 6 Day Trail Run
October - Furnace Creek 508 Bike Race (2 day)
December - Coyote Moon 100 Mile Trail Run

My philosophy with choosing races is that they should always give me an excited feeling in the pit of my stomach. The excitement can come from the venue itself or, more frequently, because the event scares me a little bit. I think it's good to get pushed out of my comfort zone when I start getting too "comfortable" (or lazy) with what I'm doing. Fortunately for me (or unfortunately for those around me), this usually means doing longer and longer events or going to some crazy part of the world. So as I sit back and look at my 2013 ultmate wish list, I get butterflies in my stomach. And those aren't the menstral cramps talking either.

If I proceed with even part of this list, 2013 will have several firsts - my first 100 mile trail race and my first solo 200 mile bike race. There come the butterflies again!

I'll sit on this list for a few days and then make my final selection, which will probably mean cutting the list down by half. If I'm serious about 2013 then there's no time to wait - training officially starts back up again on Monday (that's today)! Someone better tell that to my hematoma.

Go.Do.Be.

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Need a way to jumpstart your week? SweatyShe Mondays are thoughts and humorous musings from the world of active Shes.

SweatyShe Monday: The Power of the Catalog

By: Susan Farago

Stylish Yoga!



If you're like many of my active female friends, you look forward to getting the latest fitness apparel catalogs in the mail like Title Nine, Athleta, and Terry Bicycle. My ritual goes like this: I make a cup of French pressed coffee and go sit outside on the back deck and turn each page with complete rapture and interest. I look with longing desire at what the women are doing, I wonder where they are going, or what crazy exciting adventures they are about to have. Then I visualize my friends and I taking the day off to go paddle boarding like the two women on page 3, or heading to the local farmer's market after a yoga class - our yoga mats fashionably in tow while we are wearing yoga-approved long dresses and flowing scarves...our hair just slightly tousled but still looking good.

Ahhh.



Then I go through the catalog again and actually look at the clothes - that cute flaired skirt or that fantastic pair of boots or the dress that can go from the bottom of the gym bag to dinner at a five star restaurant. After mentally spending $2700, I close the catalog and relish my happy place for just a few more minutes as I finish the last of  my coffee.



Fashionable Trail Running

Then I return to reality.

Truth is, I have never gone trail running wearing a fur hat with coordinated skirt and leggings. Or walked out into the middle of the woods and sat on top of a rock on the Hill of Life in Sukhasana (Easy Pose). I have never commuted via my road bike while wearing a dress, or walked down to Townlake carrying my standup paddle board while sporting a crocheted hoodie dress. But the catalogs give me hope that somehow, some day I can combine fashion AND function.

Sometimes the wardrobe/activity combination is so rediculous that I tear out the page and drop it in the mail to my friend Richelle with a note that says, "Why don't we look like this when we trail run?" But the last time I did that she went out and actually bought one of the entire outfits and wore it to our next trail run. Oh the power of the catalog!



Reality - mismatched, muddy gear...
 just the way we like it! (Bunny ears optional.)



As summer turns to fall and the weather finally gets cooler, I look forward to the next catalog and seeing what I "should" be wearing for my next outdoor adventure. Hey, a girl can dream!

Go.Do.Be.



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Need a way to jumpstart your week? SweatyShe Mondays are thoughts and humorous musings from the world of active Shes.