The Home Stretch

Image via WikipediaJust as the mental calm created by a regular yoga practice permeates the rest of my day, my asana practice tends to show up in my other physical activities, especially running. In addition to being aware of my breath, I also adjust my posture to Tadasana (mountain pose) as I run - lifting the front of my pelvis, engaging my core, relaxing my shoulders back and down. And Uddiyana Bandha has gotten me up more than one tough hill.

No surprise that when I need to stretch after a run I turn to the asanas. If you're looking for a few good post-run stretches, here are my favorites:

Kapotasana (pigeon pose) is my go-to pose after every run. Folding forward into what I affectionately call "lazy pigeon" opens the piriformis on the front leg side (nasty little muscle that thinks nothing of pinching your sciatic nerve if it's tight) and stretches the hamstrings and glutes. The quadriceps of the back leg get a nice stretch, too, and they deserve some pampering after a run, especially if you've been on hills. The key in pigeon is to keep the hips squared and level, rather than collapsing to one side. Keep drawing the hip of the back leg forward and breath through that juicy stretch in the other hip.

Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward-facing dog pose) opens the backs of the legs and, with a few minor adjustments after you've settled in, opens the low back. As your heels sink toward the floor you're lengthening your hamstrings, gastrocnemius and soleus (those well-defined calf muscles that let everyone know you're a runner) and glutes. With a reach back through your tailbone you can lengthen the sides of your waist and decompress the lumbar spine a bit, which is nice after it's been your shock absorber for a few miles. The diaphragm and intercostals also get a stretch. Know what they've been doing? Working really hard helping you suck in oxygen.

Janu Sirsasana (head-to-knee pose, or half forward fold) gets to all our favorite muscles down the back of the extended leg - hamstrings, gastrocnemius, soleus, piriformis and glutes. Up in the torso you're opening lats and obliques. You're also hitting the hip adductors in the bent leg. Since deepening in this pose requires some help from the breath, you'll feel your heart rate come down as you focus on breathing deep.

Take five minutes in some yoga poses after your next run. Your body will thank you. And who knows? Maybe yoga will start sneaking into the rest of your life.

A Half-Mary and a Smile

When I decided not to register for any triathlons this year and just do the Adirondack Distance Festival Half-Marathon, I set a goal for myself to get faster. My training runs were faster than last year and I felt ready to run today's half and better last year's time.

Knowing that I could have done it makes me feel really good, even though I didn't.

For the first time, I had someone to run the race with. Mark, a friend and former ultramarathoner, decided to get back into running this year and trained for the same race. Our schedules were different so we didn't do any training runs together, but we enjoyed supporting each other on Facebook and when we saw each other around town. Our training paces were pretty close, so we agreed to run together.

I could have run faster if I'd pushed hard, but, in the end, running with Mark became more important than the time. I didn't want to run fast by myself. I wanted to finish the way I started, with my friend.

Unseasonably warm weather, one week after unseasonably cold temperatures, slowed our pace a bit. 80 degrees is a bit warm for a fall marathon, and there were a number of people needing ice baths at the end. (At least last weekend's 30 degrees cooled the lake for all the runners who jumped in.)

I didn't push. I didn't melt in the heat. I only got a couple of small blisters, which I didn't feel until we were almost done. My bad knee isn't even sore. And I had the most fun I ever had running 13.1 miles.

We finished in 2 hours and 22 minutes, which is a decent, middle-of-the-pack time.

Thanks, Mark, for keeping me company. I'm smiling in the race pictures, thanks to you.

Blistering

In five days I'll be running my second half-marathon, on the beautiful Adirondack Distance Festival course around Schroon Lake, New York. Since it's our home-town race, I've run sections of the course many times and I know I can finish. I'm experiencing my week-before-a-race calm (perhaps the people who vie for the top spots get nervous) and feeling pretty good.

Except for the blister.

If there is one thing (other than my perpetually funky knee, which is much better than last year at this time thanks to yoga) that keeps me from enjoying taper weeks, it is chronic blisters. Last season they haunted my heels, so I tried a different brand of running shoes and got some wicking, double-layer socks. Heel problem solved.

This year they popped up on my toes.

Part of the problem is hiking down mountains, which sends my feet sliding into the front of my hiking boots. Nearing the bottom of the trail off Noonmark, too tired to pick my feet up, I stubbed the same toe five or six times. Before the next climb I got new hiking socks for more cushion, but the damage was done. Blisters on the tips of all my toes.

The blisters seemed to heal quickly and when I made it through a twelve-miler blister-free I thought I was safe. Who knew that it would be the last long run, an easy eight miles, that did me in?

I'd post a picture of the killer blister, but I can't get a camera between my toes. That's where it is. On the inside of my big toe. And it hurts.

I soaked it. I popped it. I bandaged it. All day yesterday it felt fine. Then, in the middle of the night, my toe woke up screaming in pain. Of course, my toe couldn't be awake without the rest of me.

Instead of losing sleep because I'm excited about race day, I'm awake because of a blister. Laying on my back with my legs up the wall (Viparita Karani, anyone?) all I could do was hope whatever was making my toe hurt would drain out and let me go back to sleep. It worked, and I fell asleep right there with my legs on the wall.

I've got a brand-new package of blister Band-Aids and I've done some self-Reiki, hoping this nasty thing will heal before Sunday. Thirteen miles is a long way to hop.

My off-season plans? More research into blister prevention. Because I'd really like "blistering" to describe my pace, not my toes.