Born Again Athlete:

Ballet

New moves:

soutenu ["sustained"].where from 5th position, the working leg is taken out to the front, 2nd position, or to the back, while the supporting leg is lowers to demi-plié. Then the supporting leg rises to demi or full pointe while the working leg is drawn into it, ending in a tight sus-sous position.
         Basically, a one legged squat done with the other leg held out very straight and pretty-like

pas de bourrée ["bourrée step," the bourrée being an old folk dance].  One of the simplest connecting steps, used to link other steps in a combination. The commonest form is probably the pas de bourrée dessous. Assume your right foot is in front: left foot on half pointe; step on it and put your weight on it; move the right foot to the side, transfer your weight to it (also in relevé); move the left foot to the front of the right and put your weight on both feet in a plié.

Crap - I can't get this one; I really can't. This is start of "real" dancing, not just moves at the barre, and I have no coordination! 

Dilemma: if I cycle more, my quads get huge and I look fatter in ballet. White/pink tights does wonders in making you look fatter than you are.

Brickin' it

I haven't done a brick in a loooong time. It's been too friggin' hot after spin class. Also, I hate running and we all hate what we avoid! But with the weather being beautiful and my new attitude of working your weaknesses (sigh, meaning more running, less cycling), I ran about 20 minutes after today's hard spin class (yes, I think Coach Charles has been trying to kill us. I really did hit a threshold tonight where I said 'I'm done'. It's kinda a good feeling) and the run felt fine; good, in fact. I could have run a lot more.

Yay!

Suck it up, Buttercup

I don't know if people read my blog for humor, inspiration or voyeurism; hopefully not training advice, but here's some advice - suck it up Buttercup! It's what I've told myself this week in order to kick my own ass back into training. And it worked! Sometimes you gotta do tough love on yourself [er, okay that sounded like some masochistic masturbatory technique] Whine, whine, whine - sometimes you just can't find the reason why you lack motivation - you can analyze it to death, but when it comes down to it, only you can make yourself do it.

I trained 9 hours last week, which is pretty good, but didn't do my long bike. I feel okay about it though because I did my long run and well, I really can bike 112 miles without much problem. Oh, I only swam once. boo.

I ran on the trail, which was a good change because I get distracted by getting lost and trying to find my way back, picking out different routes on the trail, and generally looking at nature and crap.

My hips hurt though.

IMAZ is 9 weeks away.

Jane's "Inspirational" Quote of the Week

Everyone should shake their booty at least once a day fer fun.

Ballet

oh that position I couldn't remember the name of:

Passé (from Wikipedia):

As a position passé means when a foot is placed near or on the other knee.As a movement passé refers to the working foot passing close to the knee of the standing leg. 

Looks like this:

except I'm not on pointe.

Interesting move because it brings out the weaker leg. I know my left leg is weaker (isn't everyone's?)

but I can do this move much easier on my right leg.

I have a body image issue in that I look in the mirror and see HUGENESS. I can see why dancers have eating disorders. My legs are big; my quads are big. I know it's because of the cycling, but damn, not that cute in leotard. My booty looks big, even though it isn't. It just sticks out badly in that leotard. Ballerinas ideally are really supposed to look like pre-pubescent teenagers.

I hope I learn some dances in the next few weeks, so I can dance my way down the chute at Ironman Arizona. hee hee

I am addicted to walnuts these days.
 

Back on Track, I think

Okay, swam twice last week, started ballet, did 50 mile bike ride on Saturday and ran 8.43 miles on Sunday. IMAZ is 10 weeks away. I needed to get back on it. Six week hiatus since Vineman - a little longer than planned.

Something that I put in my high school yearbook popped into my mind this weekend. I heard it from my piano teacher in regards to piano competitions:

Discipline is remembering what you want.

Ballet as Ironman training

I started the fall season of ballet lesson. I have been off for several months, so rusty on some things, but it was a newbie class, which was good review. I did ballet consistently last fall and I think my good IMFL race was partially due to this.

I was thinking about ballet's relevance to training and last night I observed that the class is basically 1 and half hours of squats and core work! Plies are basically squats, and releve's works the calves, and the whole time you are supposed to tuck in your hips and suck in your stomach. Also, you know how dancers carry their arms? If you do it correctly, it really works the lats! Then the jumping stuff is basically pylometrics. However, I don't like to look at it like training. The music helps and you are trying to look at pretty and elegant....

From About.com: Why is French the language of ballet?

Answer: French is considered the language of ballet. Many of the terms and steps in ballet come from the French language. King Louis XIV of France loved ballet. He established the first official school of ballet, known today as the Paris Opera Ballet. The names of the steps created by King Louis are still used today.

 

 

Stuff I learned (relearned) last night: oh, all of these cute picture taken of artofballet.com

 

 1st 2 basic positions. I did NOT wear a circus-like purple leotard.

 

 

 

Demiplies - half plies.

and Grand plies. How can your legs not get strong doing squats over and over again.

 

Saute - or jumps. Do you know why it's called sauteeing as in food? because it's fast cooking, such that the food "jumps" around.

Jumping is fun, except we sounded like a bunch of elephants. You are supposed to land softly and quietly - which is the exact same lesson we learned in Pose clinic! See it's all interconnected!

I kinda dress like this last picture - short sleeved black leotard, pink tights, pink ballet shoes. No bows in hair, though.

 

 

Other important terms:

 

tendu: ["stretched"]. This is a very basic barre movement that is used commonly in ballet movement. The tendu is when a dancer pointes out extending out starting from her torso throughout her toes.

 

Battement: ["kick"] - this a good base word to know because you add other adjectives which change the move. For example, a  Battement tendu is a battement where the extended foot never leaves the floor.

A grand battement is a powerful battement action where the dancer takes the leg as high as possible, while the supporting leg remains straight. Those are the only 2 I've learned so far.

 

Releve': ["lifted"]. Rising from any position to balance on one or both feet on at least demi-pointe which is heels off the floor or higher to full pointe where the dancer is actually balancing on the top of the toes, supported in pointe shoes.  Really great calf work!

 

There's some other move I learned, but can't remember the name of it. It involves pointing the foot, placing it on the shin, moving it up, then down, then tendu out.

 

 

your ballet lesson brought to today by jane!