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Sage Endurance News
May 2009

Pose of the Month: Mountain Pose

Mountain pose is the base of all other poses in yoga; it’s also the fundamental position for endurance sports. With a strong sense of mountain pose, you’ll be able to efficiently transfer energy to the ground as you run, to generate more torque on the pedals as you cycle, to snap your hips and rotate on your long axis as you swim. Above, you see my athlete Dave starting the run at the 2008 Beach2Battleship half-iron-distance triathlon, en route to ninth place overall. His shoulders, hips, knees, and feet are all aligned; his spine, including his neck, is long; his shoulders are low. Check in with mountain pose often, and you’ll be more economical—and therefore have more endurance.

You can find mountain pose discussed in The Athlete’s Guide to Yoga, and it pops up in various episodes of the Sage Yoga Training podcast.

Workout of the Month: Run/Walk

Yes, that’s right, I’m advocating walking in your long run or in an easy run. I have long felt like walking was for walkers, not “real” runners. But as part of my Ironman training, I’ve recently started incorporating walk breaks in my long runs and in my first run of the week after a weekend race. Coach Jeff Galloway has long advocated this practice, but I wasn’t convinced of its place in my own training until reading in Run Workouts for Runners and Triathletes that coach Bobby McGee also endorses it. I’ve found that whether I walk through the aid stations in a training race or walk on the 9s (the ninth minute of every ten) in a long run, I don’t lose much time at all, and I wind up feeling immeasurably better by the end. The key here is to have a plan, and then to work the plan. Don’t just walk because you feel like it! Start early and limit your breaks.

Dave heads to his first 100-mile race this weekend, and he’s certainly planning to walk some of it. Would you tell him he’s not a real runner?

Service Idea: Be a Pacer

At many ultrarunning events, participants can pick up a pacer around the halfway point. The pacer helps keep the athlete on track. A pacer is not a porter; rather, the pacer is a shadow cheerleader, following the runner’s lead and helping keep spirits up. Many ultra races take volunteer pacers, either matching pacers with athletes or establishing a holding pen of pacers for athletes to pick up as needed.

Your pacing duties don’t have to involve running thirty miles on trails in the dark with a semidelusional friend or stranger, though! Organizations like Girls on the Run use pacer/mentors to accompany young athletes over a 5K. I helped my daughter Lily get through her first 5K (didn’t I mention the benefits of walking?), while my husband, Wes, helped psych up our daughter Vivian for her first mile race.

Pacing duties can also include accompanying a friend in a charity bike ride, as my athlete Stacey is doing in the Assault on Marion this month; on-course encouragement of a child in a youth triathlon, as my athlete Meredith and I will be doing this month; running a half marathon with a friend, as my athletes Katy and Tara did last fall; or simply joining a friend for a workout. For inspiration on the job of the pacer, read “Party at My Pace,” a nice piece published in Runner’s World last fall.

Teaching News

On May 31 at 2 p.m., I’m leading a FREE CLASS on yoga for athletes at the Carrboro Yoga Company. The class will be filmed; you’ll need to sign a waiver and to wear clothes without any flashy logos or patterns. It’s your chance for Internet greatness! If you’d like to come, please sign up at the CYCo. site (click here, then choose the Workshops tab); we need to keep the class on the small side.

The fall yoga and running retreat at ZAP Fitness in the gorgeous North Carolina mountains is full, but I am taking a wait list, so please write me if you’re interested in coming. The dates are October 23-25.

Please plan to join me for a weekend retreat at Kripalu February 5–7, 2010. We’ll reprise this year’s fun workshop on yoga for athletes. Registration will go online this fall, and I’ll keep you updated here.

More on all of these events at the Workshops page.

Teaching Teachers

Dates are sent for my first weekend teachers’ workshop to share my approach on working with athletes: September 18–20, at the Carrboro Yoga Company. We’ll meet Friday evening, 6–8:30, Saturday afternoon, 1:30–3:30 and 4–7, and Sunday afternoon, 1:30–4. Cost, which includes a manual, is $195 if paid in full by September 1; $225 thereafter. Visit my Workshops page for full details.

Discounts for You

New to my site is an Amazon store containing my recommendations, including books, DVDs, and equipment for endurance sports training and for yoga. I personally recommend everything on there, and I own most of it!

In July, The Athlete’s Pocket Guide to Yoga will hit bookstores everywhere! This beautiful pictorial practice guide will help you start or focus a home practice. If you order now on Amazon, you’re guaranteed the lowest price for this already affordable volume. And when you order from Amazon, you can then post a glowing review on Amazon . . .

If you need a guide for home practice right now, 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 still offering an amazing deal, with a bunch of free gear accompanying your purchase of a sunglasses kit. Here’s the scoop. If you have your eye on one item in particular, write to me and I will share my generous pro deal discount with you.

Central North Carolina Events

The last weekend in May sees some great events:

Gears and Cheers, held May 30, combines three of my favorite things: cycling for fun, local agriculture, and wine! Visit the Grove Winery website for details on the 25- and 40-mile options. Wes and I had a great time at this event last year. The course is gorgeous, and the day culminates in a picnic lunch on the grounds of the winery. This year, you can also enjoy breakfast on site before the ride.

Swim for Smiles raises money for the North Carolina Children’s Hospital through fun children’s races. The third annual youth triathlon, held May 31, offers both a short- and a long-course option. I’m looking forward to watching my daughter Lily compete! Later in the summer, construct a family relay for the Swim for Smiles Family Triathlon.