You gotta mix it up!

Over the next 30 days, I will write about a lot of things. I don't want these posts to be a dull, "got up, went to the gym, went home, the end" type of thing. I want to give everyone actual insight into what I do and what I'm up to. With football season coming up, everyone is going to ask how are things going or what have I been doing. I'll just point them this way so they can see what's up.
People remember that last year I was about 3-5 seconds from taking off to do my dream job. But, after I hurt my hamstring, it was tough for me to reach my top speed. So, at the very least, I've been running once a week. On average, I run about 3 times per week. But I run on concrete here on my street, which is tough on the knees. I don't feel it now, but I've heard that it can get bad if I don't rest.
So, what to do on those rest days? Yoga of course! I started doing yoga about 2003. One day I just up and went to Academy and bought a yoga mat. I looked around to see the different yoga studios here in Austin and found one I loved: Yoga Vida. Now, the yoga taught there is Bikram Yoga, which is taught in a heated room. When I say heated, think 100 degrees or so. The idea is with a heated room, your muscles can stretch beyond what you are used to. And it works. The first time I went, I felt great. The next day, I felt like I had been hit by a truck! But with time, I gained greater flexibility.
Sadly, the day I pulled my hamstring, I didn't stretch, which cost me. And during the recent Baylor Kickball adventure, I came down with a case of Tennis Leg. I looked around and saw that most of the people that suffer tennis leg are older, so I was not feeling good when I read that. But then I found that younger people can also suffer from tennis leg by having a calf muscle that is too strong for the Achilles tendon. That sounds a little more like me. Have you seen my calves? Nice stuff! So, I've been taking it easy on the sprinting, but I have to stretch really well now.
Which brings me to my latest yoga experience: Yoga Today! You can subscribe to their free daily yoga podcast in iTunes or your favorite podcasting program. Since I was taking a break from running today, I did an entire hour of yoga and I think I'm going to be in pain in the morning. But that's ok, I need to be more flexible if I am going to land that elusive dream job of mine.