"It took 50 years to look this good"

I don't know what this is called, but it's a good glute stretch

Hopefully it's not bad luck to hit a milestone birthday on Friday the 13th.

I've decided to go with the mantra "fifty and fabulous"  although I made need to "fake it 'til I make it" because most of the time I just feel old.

We have forty miles on tap for tomorrow and it looks like the weather will cooperate. YAY!

Meanwhile, I'm keeping busy with my daily yoga. Here are a few more photos.

Some Side Stretch pose that I think I was doing wrong

Extended Child's Pose - note trapped cat in background. Hahaha!

The screen has been wonderful at keeping the dogs out.  However, one of the cats (the old one) got trapped on the wrong side the other day.  You can see him in the last photo trying to figure out what to do.

He actually had an alternate path through a cutout passthrough to the kitchen, which he eventually figured out.   Silly cat.

I think the half-century is in six more weeks. Our training plan peaks at 55 miles four weeks from now. Hopefully that will be sufficient to get us ready.  One thing I'm not sure about is the course profile.  However, we will be riding at a significantly lower altitude, so that will work in our favor.

Enjoy your day. Happy Friday the 13th and Happy (early) Valentines Day.  Hope you enjoy it doing something you love.

Fickle February

Bundled up for a chilly ride

 Last weekend, Sunday looked to be the better day to ride.  It had snowed/rained on and off Friday and Saturday, but the skies were blue and the temps had increased to upper 30s/low 40s.

Enjoying a spring-like day

I was sporting a balaclava under my helmet and had donned a winter jacket. All things considered, it was a decent day to get out to ride.  But it was definitely a wintery February day.

Fast forward to this weekend.  Much to my surprise, Saturday's high was 67.  It felt like spring!  I was able to ride with just arm warmers.  I didn't even need a light jacket, although I was wearing an extra short sleeve layer under my jersey.

Hard to believe the change from one weekend to the next.  Of course, this pleasant weekend was a rare event.  It looks like winter plans to return on Wednesday. But no complains for the spring preview!

Uninterrupted yoga!

Now for some yoga news. After a particularly frustrating few days whereby the dogs just would not leave me alone, I decided to invest in a folding four panel screen.

You may notice a few things from this next photo.  A few panels of the screen are visible; it's blocking off the arch to the kitchen. More importantly, no dogs!  They are trapped on the other side of the screen. I'm sure they could nudge it out of their way if they wanted to, but so far they haven't figured that out.

It is really nice to have uninterrupted yoga for a change. I'm not sure why I didn't think of this solution earlier; I expect it to enhance my yoga experience immensely.

Yoga (with dogs)

Long time, no blog.  Yes, I know.

Jan was filled with two things fitness: cycling and yoga. I've given up on the trainer for now and we're back to riding outside, at least for long rides on the weekend. We have 6 more training weeks until the half-century. That's where my training focus happens to be.

But what I feel like sharing today is my yoga journey. I've had an on and off relationship with yoga over the years. I've usually gone into it thinking that I don't like it and am not good at it, and end up fulfilling that destiny.  Recently something has changed. I feel like I'm truly embracing it, and the result is that I'm starting to enjoy it and see improvement in strength and flexibility. Surprisingly, I've been doing yoga daily for 20+ min and sometimes more (longer or a second session) for the past month.

The biggest obstacle right now is that I am attempting yoga at home with dogs. For some reason, they can't stay away when the mat come out. Some photos of my escapades:

Downward Facing Dog (with dogs)

Every morning it's the same, the dogs want to be on the mat!

Sunbird Bow in a rare uninterrupted session. Dogs happened to be outside.

Swan Pose (with dogs)

Cat Pose (with dogs)

Tell me about your experiences with home yoga practice. Anyone else accompanied by dogs/cats/kids?