Cross Training: Bikram Yoga

I've tried many fitnes related activities over the years and still worlout in some form about 5 days a week. Weightlifting, marathon ('99), triathlon (Sprint and Olympic distances), skiing, swimming, cycling, climbing.... Looking back and to the future, if I could only do one activity it would be Bikram Yoga and I'd recommend it to everyone. There are official Bikram studios all over the world. Every class, everywhere is identical: 26 poses, 90 minutes in a room heated to 105 degrees. When I first heard this, I was skeptical. I hated yoga and I hate the heat. My wife and I took our first class together. It was very hard and we were not impressed. We stuck it out though and after the first few weeks we noticed great results and felt better. We've both been practicing ever since. Try it for a month. You'll feel better, get stronger and more flexible.

Tracking the Progress

My wife bought me a Garmin GPS unit that i use when I train. It is designed for triatheltes but since I gave that up, I just use it on the bike. It has the ability to upload every detail of every workout on line. You can even play back the workout to see your heartrate, speed, cadence and elevation during the workout. Of course the question is - what do you do with that info? Not much except that I just looked up my stats for the last 365 days. Here they are:

• 129 bike rides
• 2,607 miles
• 171 hours - yikes
• 160,500 calories burned
• 15.2 mph average speed

If you click the title above, it links to a ride I need in Utah for the National ABility Center. So I've found a use for all that data!

Bicycle Commuting to Work

Is it practical to commute to work via bicycle? I've been doing it for the last 2 weeks and here are some suggestions/observations. 1) Storage - you need a place to store the bike at work. Our downtown office has a storage room in the basement that is perfect. Most buildings won't let you bring the bike in the elevator; 2) Shower - you'll need a place to shower. I joined a small fitness center in the building next door; 3) Clothes - I roll my suit into a garment back and pack in a backpack. If rolled properly, no wrinkles; 4) Meetings out of cab range. I joined ZipCar so in case I have to drive to a meeting, I can. The service works great. Downsides? Things change so the biggest hurdle is when I need to meet someone for a drink or event after work. Fortunatley, I only live 3.5 miles from the office so I can cab it or take public transportation easily. So far, I enjoy the bike commute and the extra miles i am able to achieve. We'll see what happens when it gets colder and darker.