http://www.amazon.com/The-Runners-Guide-Yoga-Flexibility/dp/1934030848/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1351012777&sr=8-2&keywords=yoga+for+runners
The main thing that brought me here was the concept of strengthening and balancing my core and other muscles to improve my running and lower the chances of common running related injuries including runner’s knee, IB Band, stc. I digested the books instructions, bought a yoga mat, and went to my first class last night at the Family Wellness Center.
My overall impression is that the class went much faster than I thought; the hour being up surprised me as I thought we had only be at it for about 30 minutes. Also, I worked (and sweat) more than I expected. I took Sage’s advice to not push farther than my body was telling me, and bailed out of some poses when it felt like it was too intense for my level.
Here are a few things I noticed:
- I can breathe, I can move from pose to pose, I cannot match my breathing to my moves.
- Warrior standing positions put too much stress on the outside of my shins where I have been having pain for the last couple of weeks.
- I am simply not as limber as I thought. Some of the toe reaches were difficult. I also still have a pretty good sized beer gut that gets in the way. Hopefully continued weight loss will help here.
- I also have too much weight and not enough upper body strength to support it correctly in some poses. Yoga really honestly and quickly shows you where you have let your body fall apart and how difficult certain things are that you used to take for granted as a child.
- My lunge position needs work, as does my transition in the combo moves she does from standing, to kneeling, to child, to one leg lunge, to child, to other leg lunge, back to child and then back to standing. I felt like I was always behind, not sure what came next, and not doing any of the poses correct.
- I could not kneel in the position with my rear on my heels and my knees and legs underneath me. It really hurt in both the knees and top of the feet and I could not hold the position.
- There is a lot of things to “know” in terms of accessories needed, size of towels to sit on, size of towel to put under your neck when lying on back, use of towels in the sitting on heels position I discussed above, etc. It differs for everyone and I either did not have enough towels, had them folded wrong, or not ready.
- One of the yama’s is aparigraha or not grasping. Rountree uses the term “envy” in explaining what to avoid. I felt it in poses I struggled with, but for other’s “looked” easy. The yama ahimsa or “not harming” is one runner’s frequently fail on (its called overtraining or overuse injuries for a reason!). I see my weakness in envy as something that both distracts me from my focus and subconsciously pushes me to exceed what I should be doing.
- I spoke with the instructor after class and explained I was a runner, I was dropping weight, I wanted yoga to enhance my running, but would not push or do anything in yoga that threatened my running. The instructor was very understanding and mentioned there are a few other runners in the class, although none were present last night.
I feel it a bit today, but I also am pleased that I did not push it and feel strong enough to get my five miles in tonight. I am now looking at how to build in home sessions of about 15 minutes a few times a week to go along with the classes to achieve the results I am looking for.
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