Thanksgiving in Ottawa was a blast. Linz's house is awesome and quickly became a 3 bedroom for the long weekend. I decided to fly this year because last year really didn't go well (missed a turn/exit and ended up in Montreal) - and it was well worth it!! But as with all holidays there was food everywhere.
Now, it isn't realistic to think that I will never be able to have dessert again - so I made sure that I worked out while I was there and counted every calorie that I put in my mouth. Hopefully it will pay off on Thursday so that I at least stay even if I don't lose anything. The eating program they have me on allocates between 1300 and 1800 calories per day - and even with Thanksgiving dinner - I managed to stay within my limits - wine and everything. Just have to plan ahead...
Linz lives in a really cute neighbourhood that is right across the way from what I am sure is the most expensive farm on the planet. That's right kids, our Federal government has hundreds of acres of prime real estate locked up in an experimental farm right in the middle of Ottawa - combines, plows, corn and all. It did however make for a very nice area to run. So I ran 5k on Friday and Sunday and then on Monday I went for a short 20k bike down the paths by the canals....that's right 20k and in slightly less than an hour!!! Even I was impressed with myself.
But it did leave me absolutely exhausted today - like so tired that my legs got tired climbing the 20 stairs up to my office - so I decided that I would go to the gym and do a class because I just couldn't face 1.5 hours on the machines. So I get all dressed (which consisted of a long inner monologue of 'just go and do the class, then you can go to bed' and 'you had pie so you have to go') and ventured to the gym. Couldn't really picture myself getting back on a bike tonight so cycle was out - which only left hot yoga (no) or anti-gravity yoga....hmmm....well, haven't tried that before - not a fan of yoga - but I should try it at least once right? After all, the club had billboards about it and they are the only clubs in the city to have it.
Um....should have stuck with my anti-yoga stance and avoided it. My friend had learned that they don't often clean the 'hammocks' (twice a week from what she heard), so I was glad that I had long pants and a 3/4 length sleeve to keep the sweaty fabric away. There were only 5 people in the class so the instructor was taking it easy on us - but she took it so easy on us that I barely broke a sweat!
The bands themselves are just a thin polyester fabric that is hung from the ceiling in a 'U' shape. There is a lot of fabric there even though they look really thin. The basic premise is similar to mat yoga, except that you use the support of the band to mix it up a little. For instance - downward dog is done with the band around your hips while leaning more forward. This was the first maneuver she had us do, and I was alarmed at how much this little band of fabric HURT! I figured I was doing it wrong it hurt so much - but no, it was supposed to feel like that. We bent forwards and back, sideways and wrapped ourselves in the fabric to make a cocoon. We even did inverted poses where you hang upside down - using your core to balance.
The poses look elegant, but anytime you take your feet off the floor the band quite literally cuts into whatever body part it is strung around (hips, back, wrists - you name it). It was so painful that I barely noticed that I was doing exercise. I even have a slight case of rope burn under my arms from one of the core exercises we did. I can now see why only 5 people came to the class...it really didn't feel like I did anything at all which kind of makes me mad because it feels like I wasted an hour that I could have actually been working out.
So, another class that I can't really recommend - and I think it is safe to assume that I am not a yoga person at this point, although I do like that they start and end the class in a meditative state - but that is probably just because I am tired. I am going to count this as a rest day since I don't really believe that I burned many calories tonight.
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