YBC 39 Day Yoga Progress Project + BuJo Spread

At a biergarten in the Englischer Gartens in
Munich! 

      The start of our second week in Munich marks the start of my husband going to work daily, instead of hanging out and exploring with me. I could whine about it, but it was my choice not to jump into work right when we got here. While I am hopeful to work in the coming months, I'm currently available to do all the "adulting" and make sure we get our paperwork in order while my husband can focus on starting a new job and figuring out what his role is there. It is nice to have some extra time to figure out what the heck an Einwohnermeldeamt is and where I find one, since that is where I have to register our address and receive an Anmeldebestätigung to prove we are allowed to live here. Those are some ridiculously intimidating words. Are American words for similar identification routines as intimidating? Driver's License? Identification card? DMV? Well, that last one can be intimidating but only because of the implied waiting foreverrrrr. Adulting is hard.


      As I Google Translate webpage after webpage (including the webpage to sign up for German classes...I should probably take those?), it occurs to me that I have zero commitments at the moment. This can be a bit demotivating/frightening/difficult for me. I'm used to quite a hectic schedule. I recently read an article that talks about how being busy is becoming a new status symbol, and while I can identify with that post, I can also appreciate my lack of busy-ness right now as something that will probably never happen again in my life. Regardless, without anything at all to do I'll just sit around, watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and drink coffee. Do I need the coffee even if I'm not busy? Obviously, yes, because coffee. However, I'm really out of my element with this whole empty schedule routine.

My BuJo spread for keeping track of the Project. I left some space in the notes section to record particular videos or
poses that I want to remember later on, because I'm sure I'll forget them. 

      Enter: the 39 Day Yoga Progress Project for Flexibility from Yoga By Candace. She is one of my favorites, both as a yoga instructor and an entrepreneur who's really killing this whole "Girl Boss" thing in life. I have been telling myself for months that I would really benefit from doing yoga every day. I just never got in the habit of it. Tasks and errands came up, there were so many "lasts" that couldn't be put off, and so many trips to take to see people before we moved. I could tell myself I didn't need to do yoga if I'd already worked out, but going running was difficult this summer because a) it was ridiculously hot and b) my body is pretty stiff, still, from an ankle injury I suffered in April. This project will be a good way to loosen up my muscles, give me something productive to do, and focus my energy in a positive way as we go through the rough parts of transitioning after a BIG move.

     Candace has a sample program all laid out on her website. It's easy to follow, and the multitudinous library of yoga videos on her YouTube channel makes it easy to switch up the routine every day. I'm combining the program with my slight obsession with Bullet Journaling, and I've made a spread to keep track of my progress and the program. The less I have to go online, check what I'm supposed to do, and then probably get distracted by something else online, the more accountable I will be to this program! I borrowed Candace's suggested program but just put a time limit, so I can choose a video of that length to do, that suits my mood, each day. I also hope that my running will benefit from this progress journey as well, so I've included spaces in my layout to record my mile time at the same time as the yoga pose check ins. I've included a picture to give a close up for the boxes on the right. My favorite part is the quote, which I stole from Candace's project page. It's a [bad] pun, which I looooove!

      I've chosen Dancer's Pose as my focus, and you can see my *sarcasm* magnificent form in the "before" picture below. I didn't realize how ridiculous I looked until I took it, and I'm totally embarrassing myself by posting it, but progress is a journey and every journey has a starting point. I've definitely got a ways to go. But in the name of keeping a commitment, finding productive uses of my time, and keeping my sanity, I'm determined to make some progress. So, here I go! Follow the Growing Polymathic Instagram to see progress along the way, and the final result!

Embarrassingly bad before shots. Here's hoping for a LOT of progress! 

      

A Bit on Running

Running. What can I say... A LOT, actually. I haven't written about running yet because I haven't had a good focused idea for a post. Honestly I could talk about it for several posts, and if I had just sat down to type a post about running, it'd be a LONG post. And no one would read it because it would ramble, and probably run on (get it? run on? anyone?). But now I have a focus! Today's post will share an inspiration of mine and then I'll follow that with a small example of a training schedule to get your pace down. This is by no means a plan for those extreme runners who want to BQ (Boston Marathon Qualify) or any other major running feats. This is more for those people who are runners but are perhaps more leisurely, who run on their own, and are maybe looking for a way to challenge themselves in a new way while running.

This sticker adorns my laptop; so much inspiration! And cheesiness.

A little background: I ran track and cross country in high school, and then just kept running. "Back in the day" I was a sprinter more than anything, and even today running more than a 5k (3.1 miles), unless I'm training for something longer, takes something special. I enjoy running because it's an easy way to burn off some steam, take some time for myself, and achieve goals. Even the smallest accomplishments feel like major feats when you're running. As a sprinter, knocking off half a second from your race pace was like being on top of the world! It was all so exciting- was I going to PR (personal record) that day? Had I trained well enough? What could I do to continue to improve? Running is a sport that is always looking forward- literally, because, DUH you look ahead while you're running, and figuratively because running allows you to continually strive to meet that next goal. Maybe it's increasing your distance, decreasing your time, feeling good while you run (not fatigued), losing weight, improving your mood, or just getting a good sweat in before dinnertime. Whatever the goal, because there are myriad goals you could set for yourself, no matter how small, you can always feel accomplished while running. I think that's part of the reason that races have become so popular recently. Anyone can feel accomplished running, and it takes minimum equipment to get yourself to your goal. It does, however, take maximum effort.

Action shot from "back in the day" when my
hair was long and I recovered from injuries
so much quicker than I do now. Sigh. 

So, my inspiration today is my mom! She is a wonderful person with more energy than I think I've ever had in my life. We started running a Warrior Dash 5k for Mother's Day 6 years ago, and we haven't missed one yet! The Warrior Dash is a fun obstacle course and mud run over 3.1 miles, and my mom always kicks my butt. Whether I'm just more out of shape than her, or just keep wiping out in the creeks because I try to hurdle a log (my track coaches in high school forbade me to go anywhere near the hurdles because they were smart coaches), she is always ahead of me in these races. After a couple of these, she started doing miniature triathlons on her own (run 3.1 miles, bike 12.4 miles, swim half a mile), which then became doing 5ks for beating her times, and then she started running 10ks, and she recently completed running a half marathon (she got the same time I did when I ran a 10 miler. Ooof.).  Her adorable dog, Jackson, is her  "trainer" and, again is very adorable. That link will take you to his website (he is a therapy dog). 

For the "training schedule," this is something I use to help me start when I have to "get back to running," typically because I've been sick, injured (have I mentioned I'm clumsy?), or wanted to get myself out of my comfortable pace zone.
********Before I start this schedule, I have typically been running 1-2 days per week and keeping a comfortable pace, to get myself back to a place where I'm ready to train. ********
Starting off with this schedule, from nothing, is NOT a good idea. You will get injured (I've done that too) or worse- you'll think it's too hard from the start and then give up. When you are in a place where you can run 2-3 miles, without stopping, at the same pace each time, and feel comfortable at that pace, THEN it is a good idea to start something like this.

Before you begin you need to decide the following. Then you can fill in the schedule with the times you're aiming for:
Starting pace: ____ (Ex: 10:30 min/mile pace)       Goal pace: _____ (Ex: 9:00 min/mile pace)
Starting distance: ____ (Ex: 3 miles)                         Goal distance: _____ (Ex: 5k at goal pace)

I'm working on formatting a table and/or being able to link the pdf in to this page directly, (#computerskillsproblems) but here is a link to the training schedule via a shared Google Doc pdf. Enjoy!