Week 1

Typically at this point, I think people usually talk about how surprised they are that an entire week has passed.  Sorry to disappoint you, but that's not how I'm going to begin this post! :P They have been plenty of fun, for sure, but they have also been very demanding, and I certainly have been feeling it in my muscles even when I'm not training.  By now, though, most of my soreness from Tuesday and the following training days has gone away.  My shoulders and arms were the big annoyances.  It was very difficult to even raise my arm straight up over my head for a while.  My legs are now sore because of running from yesterday and today, but I'm constantly working to counter them with stretching.  Live is still very good here in Brattleboro.  :-)

Since many days have passed since my last blog post, and since many different things have happened on those days, I think it'd be best for the sake of organization if I give you a bit of a summary of what's happened since Wednesday.

Homemade Bikram Yoga :-)

Wednesday, September 8, 2010: At 10am, I went with two other circus-housemates for the Outer Limits orientation.  The Outer Limits is a health club located just in front of NECCA.  This year, Pro-track fees include a membership here, so they wanted us all to go in to familiarize ourselves with the place.  It took a full hour, but it was informative.  While I am personally not too much of a fan of weights, nor have I had very much experience with them, I feel like the majority of my workouts there will be for improving cardio, such as using the treadmill, or other machines they have (which will be particularly advantageous once it starts getting colder outside).  I often prefer my strength training through what feels to me like more natural means, such as yoga, or with a fabric or trapeze bar, just simply because you're using your own weight to strengthen your muscles.  Even so, I will definitely try out some of the equipment they have there soon.  After the orientation, I had my lunch, and went to NECCA for three hours of open studio.  A lot of it again was stretching, as I was still trying to recover from Tuesday's wonderful Physical Assessment.  Later in the day (8:30p), I did a 90 minute Bikram Yoga session in my room with an audio recording of Bikram Choudhury doing his dialogue.  While I wasn't able to make it hot in the room, it still served a great workout, and still was able to get my muscles warm enough to temporarily alleviate soreness.  It was definitely worth it.

Thursday, September 9, 2010: For this day I was afraid, as what was scheduled for the morning was a "Conditioning Assessment."  By having experienced what the words "Physical Assessment" meant in terms of Pro-Track at NECCA, I was highly nervous.  Interestingly enough, what actually took place was neither conditioning nor assessment.  I'm not quite sure if they're moving the conditioning assessment to later, whether that was really it, or whether they're skipping it all together.  Anyway, it was highly relieving to actually be doing injury prevention and posture exercises instead.  The warm up that day was excellent, though.  They basically played tribal-ish type music and told us to move about the space like air.  More and more I feel this place having a similar character as did Smirkus Camp, and that makes me really, really happy. :-)

We had another three hours of open studio that day (on Tuesdays and Thursdays the 12:30p-3:30p Open Studio is required for Pro-Track students).  Again, I took it lightly again, as my soreness returned when I woke up.  I've been particularly attacking my left hamstring with stretching.  I would really like to even my two legs out.  For as long as I can remember they've always been this uneven, and I'd really like to fix that.  It's one of my greater weaknesses here at this point.

After training was over for the day, I went over to the Brattleboro Co-op to get some food (I absolutely LOVE that place :D), and as well as Price Chopper to pick up a pie for the dessert social to be happening on Friday evening.

Friday, September 10, 2010: This day also originally intimidated me.  We had running scheduled for that morning (yuck!).  Fortunately it didn't end up being too bad.  We spent most of the time working on form (such as proper arm movements and the interaction between our feet and the ground).  We did some lunges (which I certainly still feel in my legs even now) and then at the end we went for a run around two of the local cemeteries.  It was really hard to push all the way through, but I'm glad I did.  It's definitely what I need to work on.  Afterwards we went back inside to stretch with Aimée.

We completed the day earlier the other days with team building with Bill (10:30-12p), in which we played a game outside requiring us to trust each other.  One of us was blindfolded in the middle of a circle and they were allowed to go at any speed they desired, and we just had to make sure they were safe.  It was interesting to see everyone's individual reactions and decisions throughout the game.  There's no Open Studio on Fridays, so that day ended up being a bit more relaxed.

As I mentioned above, the dessert social was that night.  It was very fun.  I particularly found it nice to meet those whom I didn't know in the Intensive program as well as see two of my friends from camp perform a duo trapeze act.

Saturday, September 11, 2010: (Today) Like Wednesdays, Sundays have Open Studio, but no group classes.  I went to NECCA this morning at 10 for two hours of open studio.  Afterwards, I went over to the Outer Limits gym and ran on the treadmill for 45 minutes.  As of now, I plan on doing this frequently.  While it's still warm out, I'm also thinking about running along the paths around the cemeteries on Mondays and Wednesdays before I go in for open studio.

Afterwards, I tried a sauna for their first time.  Just as doing Bikram in my room was, it was great for relaxing my muscles (but only for the length of time that it kept them warm).  As they've cooled off throughout the day today, they've been a bit achey.  I'm thinking tomorrow in the evening I might do some more yoga for the same purposes.

While I was at the dessert social, I, along with a bunch others there, was invited to an "Acro Jam" down in Massachusetts.  As of now, I plan on going (but of course it's all dependent on whether I can get a ride or not, which I feel is rather likely).

So yeah, that's pretty much the scoop at the moment!  Upcoming this week for our group sessions are aerials and floor assessments. I feel those should be fun.  ^_^

Woo!

Trevor