When Coach Tim and I were discussing my breathing issues, he mentioned how important deep breathing is while running and suggested I try yoga to help.
Now, I've tried yoga once before. My sister and I took a class with the local Parks & Rec department a few years ago (OK, who am I kidding, it was nearly a decade ago). It was just alright, but I wasn't in love. I decided to give it another go this week - at this point I'll try just about anything to get my breathing issues under control!
My gym offers five yoga classes per week. Which is great, until I realized that three of those five are at 8pm. Ew! At 8pm I've already had dinner, showered and am winding down for the night with a purring orange tabby cat in my lap. It takes me a long time to fall asleep as it is, I can't imagine how long I'd be up if I didn't finish exercising until 9pm!
My other two choices were Thursday at 7:00 or Friday at 5:45 (which would be great, but that is the same time as my very-favorite spin class, and there's no way I'm missing that!). So, Thursday it is!
I gotta say, I really loved it! The class was far more technical than anything I remembered doing in the Parks & Rec class. There wasn't a ton of just lying there with my thoughts ... which is what I think bothered me about the other class. Sure, we were holding poses, breathing deeply and there was a few minutes of lying there at the end, but everything required using all of your muscles and really pushing yourself. I never expected to sweat so much in yoga! It was great!!
One of my favorite poses was called a bound side triangle (I think). It started simple enough, but as the instructor kept going with the instructions it became more and more pretzel-like. I'm sure nobody reading wants to see me doing yoga, at least not yet, even though it was probably hilarious...so I found a picture of a pro doing the bound triangle. Many people stayed in this position, but the instructor encouraged us to take it a step further if we were comfortable and bring the back leg in and stand on it while the other leg came up in the air and your arms stayed clasped behind your back. I'm so glad I have pretty good balance! This one was tough!
Yoga was so unlike my usual routine and I woke up this morning feeling awesome! I think I'm going to keep it up!
Do any of you do yoga and run? Do you find that it helps too?
Only one week until Run for the Woods! I'm getting so excited! Hope to see you there next Saturday!