I have been looking forward to this weekend for quite some time. I don't have usually things planned that much in advance (except for my marathon of course - I know my plans for two years ahead :))) ). But this ladies weekend is something special, booked it already in spring and now I have my reservation ready for spring 2014!
What's this about? Girls only weekend with power yoga classes with the beautiful and inspiring Petra Polanská as our instructor but also buddy in crime ;) Friday evening started with boss class but I missed out on that one because I left Prague too late. Wasn't too sporran out that since my 14 mile "easy tempo" run did not feel easy at all in the morning so I didn't feel like any more training ... I only joined for the right time for dinner. We are staying at nice and modern Ski Resort OMNIA in Janské Lázně, fortunately the food they make is quite good. I am spoiled, but for Czech mountains it is even excellent, unfortunately still far behind most of Austrian, Swiss, Frapench and Italian places in the Alps. Bummer, but Alps are not 90 minutes drive from home... I am still doing this 21 Day Paleo Cleanse, so no alcohol and many other no things. I am basically eating meat, veggies and fruit. Honestly, I am pretty happy with it. I only miss eggs and coffee... Guess what I am having for breakfast on Monday? :)
My dinner was delicious "home made" goose broth followed by a salmon and snow peas. Yummy!!! I was hesitating about having the 500 g ribs, but I already had some pork for lunch and wanted to feel light for the morning class of yoga. Given the end of week tiredness element, I said bye to the girls at 10 pm, was not at all social and went to bed to watch Tomas Berdych fight and unfortunately loose to Raffael Nadal. But the game was great! I never played tennis, not even tried, but love watching the great players play. 11 pm and I was fell asleep like a champ!
7:30 was wake up and 8 am first power yoga class. What a start of the day! I think I need Petra at my place every morning so I can get the right stretches and moves :) I could feel that my body was tired and not that flexible as I am used to, but was way better at the end of the class. Quick shower and off for breakfast! The choice for me was bacon and veggies as I don't eat any grains and diary and am off eggs for the 21 day period (I actually had two such plates as in the photo!). The breakfast was decent, everyone could choose according to preference, quite generous buffet. Though I make better one and far far from the crazy yummy things we got at the Westin in Berlin for the Berlin marathon over month ago (omg it feels like yesterday!?).
Had little rest and at 11 am I was at the lift to the Black mountain in my running gear. I really didn't feel like running all the way up the mountain (the top is 1 260 m above sea level), so I did the easy thing of taking the lift and then running mostly on the mountain tops and down to the hotel. I did a mistake on one of the crossings so that made me go really down and then I had to climb back up and I was definitely not running most of the uphill. I was shooting for heart rate of 148 BPM and that was easily attained while walking.
But the downhills!!! If I am ever doing Boston again, this is where I will train. We did some work on letting my legs run on the downhill with The Coach on Monady, so I tried to practice that. I think my legs are trashed. But on the other hand, I think the downhill is really good for getting some faster leg turnover without rising your heart rate and stressing your heart too much. What do you think? Any experts?
Did little under 9 miles of total, love the feeling after the run that challanges you in new ways - new scenery, altitude, navigation, lot of downhills ... Had only the broth for lunch again as I directly headed to the wellness where I am typing this post right now. It is decent but for a hotel at ski resort I find it really small, cannot imagine it winter when everyone wants to use the sauna after all day skiing. The sauna can fit in like 3-5 people. Luckily for me, not that many people go to sauna at 2 pm :) Now off to little beauty sleep and then more yoga later in the afternoon!
