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Sage Endurance News
March 2009

Welcome to the Sage Endurance News. I’m still in the process of tweaking this newsletter to make it easy for you to read and to match my new Web site, where you’ll find it archived. Please let me know how you like it, what you’d like to see here in the future, and whether you experience any technical difficulties. —Sage

Pose of the Month: Standing Forward Fold

The standing forward fold (uttanasana) uses gravity to stretch the entire posterior side of the body, from the calves and hamstrings to the back. Most athletes need to practice it with a considerable bend in the knees. Sometimes it feels more like a folded squat than a straight-legged pose, and that’s fine. Depending on the state of your legs, you may even need to bend one knee more than the other. If your hands don’t reach the floor, rest them on blocks, a bumper, or a coffee table, but let them relax to help release the back. Be sure that you’re folding from the hips and not simply rounding the back to take the pose.

You can find the standing forward fold on a number of episodes of the Sage Yoga Training podcast, including Sun Salutations and Warrior Flow.

Workout of the Month: Trash Run

If March has blown in like a lion where you live, it’s probably moved some trash around with it. In my neighborhood, Thursdays are recycling days, and the last few Thursdays have been very windy, blowing loose pieces of paper hither and yon. Chasing these scraps makes a good activity for children, but it’s also fun for grownups. On your next easy run or walk, take along a plastic grocery bag and collect a few pieces of trash. If you plan your route well, you can deposit your bag in a trash bin without having to carry it for long. Or hang on to it, and consider it resistance training.

You can incorporate some yoga poses into this outing, using the standing forward fold to pick up trash (be sure you’re running easily, because your upper body will be inverted). Play with other poses, too: lunges, pyramid, side angle, triangle, and even half moon all reach a hand toward the ground.

Teaching News

This March, I’m talking about yoga with a number of running groups affiliated with local shops and clubs, always a pleasure. (Let me know if you’d like to schedule an event for your club, and let your favorite studio owner know if you’d like to have me come lead a workshop.) One of these presentations is an open class, a fundraiser for CycleSafe.org. It’ll be held this Saturday, March 7, 2–3:30 p.m., at the Central Family YMCA in my erstwhile hometown of Winston-Salem, NC. The workshop is free, with donations happily accepted.

Join me online for an encore performance of my webinar “Incorporating Yoga in Training,” hosted by USA Cycling on Thursday, March 19, at 8:30 p.m. EST (late on the East Coast so those on the West Coast can attend). I’ll spend an hour talking about how to incorporate yoga in training, explaining what styles work during what point of the training cycle, glossing some poses of particular use to endurance athletes, and answering participants’ questions.

Later this month, I’ll give a workshop in Cornelius, NC, just up the road from Huntersville, NC, site of the MAP Triathlon (the second race in the North Carolina Triathlon Series). On Saturday, March 28, the day before the race, I’ll present a two-hour workshop on yoga for focus at Urban Bliss from 2–4 p.m. We’ll examine how to relax to facilitate peak performance. Athletes of all levels and in all sports are welcome. If you’re racing on Sunday, you can be assured that we won’t wear you down.

I’ll teach Yoga for Runners at the Carrboro Yoga Company on Saturday, April 18, 2–4 p.m., to help you learn five ten-minute routines perfect for practice after your run. You’ll leave feeling confident about incorporating yoga in your training. The $30 workshop is appropriate for athletes of all levels of sport and yoga experience—you don’t have to be a runner!

My weekend workshop at Kripalu was wonderful. The participants were all such fun. At one point during the weekend, I said to my assistant, Donia, “Everyone is so great!” “Of course,” she observed. “They’re your tribe.” That makes sense—of course I liked these fine people who were interested in the intersections between sports and yoga. We share a common passion. Some were even game enough to run with me when it was 2 degrees out. We returned to Kripalu with icy eyelashes. If you missed the retreat, you’ll have a chance to catch me there next year. I’ll post details once dates are confirmed. Meanwhile, consider coming along to the yoga and running retreat at ZAP Fitness in the NC mountains, October 23–25.

More on all of these events at the Workshops page.

Teaching Teachers

At the request of many of my students who teach yoga, I’m putting together a weekend workshop to share my approach on teaching yoga to athletes. I envision leading one session in North Carolina, then repeating the session for my friends in the northeast, probably to be held in New York City. Be in touch if you’re interested in being on the mailing list for such a training.

Press Coverage

USA Today and U.S. News and World Report both recently quoted me as an expert in articles on the benefit of yoga for athletes—what an honor! Click through the links to see the full pieces. You’ll also find a write-up on The Athlete’s Guide to Yoga in SKI Magazine this month.

Discounts for You

You’ll get a 10 percent discount off your purchase of the Athlete’s Guide to Yoga DVD through Endurance Films when you use the code SAGE108.

My sponsor Rudy Project is offering an amazing deal, with a bunch of free gear accompanying your purchase of a sunglasses kit. Here’s the scoop.

Service Ideas

Serving your community doesn’t have to mean donating money. Your time is even more valuable. Consider adding the workout of the month to your list of charitable acts!

If you live in the RTP area of North Carolina, please check out Triangle Gives Back, a way to connect locals with charities. Sage Endurance athlete Robyn Fehrman (of Tri to End Homelessness) has been deeply involved in its creation.

Wherever you are, make a point of watching Running the Sahara (you can buy it via iTunes now), a beautiful film with fascinating real characters, stunning scenery, plenty of drama, and a whole lot of running. The expedition across the Sahara helped raise awareness of clean-water needs and funds for the H2O Africa Foundation.