Yo guy, sup?

Well, after months of talk and months of friendly pestering on Melanie's part I finally decided to attend a full hour session of Hot Yoga at the Yoga Shack. I must remind you this was my first ever hour of yoga at above 100F.. This was also my first ever hour of yoga after a 10km race the same day. Hell, this was my first ever hour of yoga period.

I arrived at the yoga studio excited, and I can honestly say I wasn't nervous. I met the instructor (and co-owner of the Yoga Shack) Lisa Shackleton. She arrived rather hurried and we managed to scare her as she arrived...I guess she didn't expect people to be there so early.  I signed their disclaimer/waiver, purchased a yoga mat and then made my way into the yoga studio.  What ensued was something I could never have fathomed.

We arrived early enough to 'enjoy' some relaxing/quiet time in Savasana or mrtasana, corpse or death pose. Wow, what a meaning! I didn't realize this till i Wiki'd it, but I guess I'll try even harder to be a dead corpse next time. :)

Lisa came into class and we started to relax even more. I came close to falling asleep twice, but the constant sweat dripping down my face kept me too alert to pass out. That was going to change quickly though...

Class kicked off and I was having a fun time learning the different positions, although Melanie had done a fine job getting me prepared over the past weeks. Sync'ing my breath with that of the teacher's was the hardest part of the class, and I found that if I slowed my breathing down to the class' pace I found myself getting very weak and light headed. 

Too many planks, warrior poses and downward dogs later and we were done the full hour. It was physically, and above all, mentally testing for the entire hour.  I was caught up in trying to focus on my posture, and breathing all the while trying to clear my mind while not slipping on the gallons of sweat that had accumulated on my mat.

I got home and weighed myself and after having eaten an apple, a bagel, and 2lt of water since the class (during which I drank another 2lt) I still weighed 2.6lbs less than this morning.  Looks like I've still got some water to replenish, which I'm slowly taking care of. To give you an idea of just how sweaty I was, I was able to splash around in my sweat puddle on my mat. I was so wet for the entire 60 minutes that I had wrinkly fingers. Yup. That wet.

I think I enjoyed most of the class, the part where I had to will my body to continue was stupid challenging. I didn't have much left as far as physical energy goes, I guess a 10km road race 6 hours prior will do that to an athlete.  I did however get the chance to truly relax and try to clear my mind, which was mildly successful.

Takeaways:

I learned to slow my breathing in order to sync up with my exercise/pose. This is something I NEVER do. Breathing, especially when running, has always seemed to be second nature to me, so to actively breathe in unison with my exercises was a bit of a mind game.

I learned how to properly relax my shoulders and stretch my shoulder blades. The instant I did this and stretched my spinal chord thru the top of my head I felt as though I was at a chiropractor's office getting worked on. When you are normally asked to relax your shoulders you have a tendency to bring your blades together, I fought hard during this hour in order not to do this, and by golly it worked!

Bring more water. I think I need nearly a gallon of water to keep me properly hydrated.

Don't do yoga the same day as a hard running workout or run. I had little energy left in my quads and hams when it came time for runner's lunges or 1-legged splits, and by the end, even standing in tree pose was a stretch. Haha, stretch. Now I'm being funny.

That I need a minimum of 3 towels in order to clean up after I get out of the pool. Ridic.

Fun? Maybe in a sick way.
Challenging? Yes, in a giving birth kind of way I'm sure.
Will I return? Yes, I'm a sadist. Bring it on!