This is one of the many questions I get asked from my social media peers quite often. If you have been following my fitness journey, you know by now it is pretty much my life! It is my job and it plays a role in my playtime too. Yoga plays so much of a role in my life, that, you pretty much cannot take me anywhere: without me thinking about yoga, jumping-bending-twisting into some kind of yoga pose for the camera, or talking about something yoga related. If you do not believe me, just ask my family...Here is Nick's number 808-just kidding, but seriously, ask my family!!!But, how does yoga support me while training for marathons? Wherever you are in this very moment, get down on the floor on all fours. With your shoulders over your elbows over your hands and your hips over you knees. Begin flexing and extending your spinal column in what we yogis refer to as cat & cow. Do this for 1-3 minutes breathing evenly, breathing and moving slowly. When you finish relax your hips back towards your heels in what we yogis call child's pose (choose any comfortable variation). Breathe in child's pose for 3-5 minutes, close your eyes, and calm your mind. Relax every muscle in your body. Get back to reading when you have done these two exercises/postures and not a word more before....................................................................................
How do you feel? (Write 3 things down you felt while practicing).
1.
2.
3.
Here is how I felt: ( I wrote 3 things down too!)
1. My spine feels lengthened & more flexible.
2. I feel centered/balanced.
3. My breath was calm & relaxed.
4. That bit of tension in my upper shoulders is not really there anymore! Yeah I know I wrote 4!!!
When I run, I want to feel the same as I do on my yoga mat or within my practice. I want to feel as though nothing in the world around me has control over my mind or body. When I am on my mat, I am on my mat and breathing towards staying centered. I don't want my mind to wander away and take me to these dark depressing places that the mind can often do. I don't want to think about the bills I have to pay, or the to do list that I know will still be there waiting for me later to do. As a runner who practices yoga, I run listening to my breathing (unless of course I am chatting with a my running buddies). I run listening the sound of my feet landing on the pavement or ground whatever beneath me. I run paying attention to how my body feels. Are my shoulders relaxed, my chest relaxed, am I breathing mostly nostrils expanding my lungs, and the body check continues as so do the miles.
I enjoy being in the moment when I'm running. If you have ever "Hit The Wall" in running a marathon, most likely your mind gave out first long before your body truly ever did. If you disagree with me, I ask that you revisit your race mentally and see when you began to shut down. I have run those marathons where I thought that I was tired and ready to quit. Inside I battled what in the world was I doing running 26.2. In reality, it was always my mind talking me down. I have allowed my mind to control a couple of my marathon races before. I have since learned and learned to listen to not my minds mind, but my BODIES mind. I have learned to listen to my bodies body. And when I am weak, which happened not too long ago, my mind once again controlled my running and led me to a mental breakdown. I did finish the race, but I was in a struggle to move beyond my mind. Needless to say, it took me a really long time to find my finish.
Each and every time I show up to my mat, I practice breathing through these struggles I have. I learn to release and let go. In running, I try to incorporate the release and let go technique as well. I release myself of expectations and perfection. I let go of needing to impress myself, the community, the social media crowd.
I take on this yogic approach to running. I run not to compete against other runners, but to run for thy self. Each marathon is like stepping onto my yoga mat. I come to my mat to learn and develop into something far greater than I was the day before. I show up to my mat to practice for thy self. When I show up to the start of a marathon, I show up willingly. I show up with an intention to run because I love running. Over and over, again and again I breathe. On my mat over and over, again and again I breathe. I show up to my mat to practice willingly. Yoga and running cannot be about forcing the body to do something the mind wants it to do. The body has to be willing to put in the effort, the time, the commitment. Sure your mind can say "Hey lets train for a marathon, lets go run 26.2", but if the body does not show up and commit to the miles, to the training, the marathon is most likely not going to happen. Or it might happen but be kind of ugly. You know what I mean by ugly...
I know that running is mental. I do not disagree with you on this, but it is so very physical. The body can and will keep going if the mind is willing to keep going. If the mind is telling the body to stop even though the body is saying it doesn't feel like it needs to stop, the fight has already begun. This is where the calming of the mind, the breathing, the detachment of the thoughts helps a runner continue running. If you know you trained and have successfully put in the effort to run your marathon, you know there is no injury that is lingering, nothing that really could prevent you from finishing. Then what? You run your race and have one hell of day hopefully, right?
We have to learn to train our minds just like we do our bodies. For me, yoga takes care of all the thousands of details. Yoga creates strength, flexibility, mindfulness, calmness, love, practicing at a mental level, practicing at a physical level, and the list, you guys, could seriously go on for pages.
So you ask me, How Does Yoga Support Marathon Training? Yoga supports my body and my mind to balance one another out. They learn to work together, rather than creating a struggle for one another. Sure I show up and some days things do not go as planned even though I practice yoga and I run, but life doesn't always come with a guarantee and absolute. All I know is that I am a much stronger runner because of my yoga practice. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand from the few years of pushing my son in his jogging stroller. I have come so far in my training. I learned to love running, rather than force running. I don't wake up dreading getting out of bed to lace up and show up on those 5am run mornings. Most of the time I look forward to putting on my shoes and for those off kind of days when my body is asking me not today not to run, I listen. Just because my training plan says go run or because you tell me I need to be running X amount of miles a week, doesn't mean I am going to go run if my body is saying Not Today. That is what yoga has done for me: yoga has taught me to listen to my body first, not my mind.Yoga has taught me to breathe. Yoga keeps my body healthy and happy. Healthy and happy is what a runner wants. We all want our bodies to keep moving for us, so we can keep running.
I know that every body is different and has its own mental and physical needs. We all have different needs. Maybe yoga is not your thing, not what you require. For me, I know I need the time on my mat. I need to stretch out my muscles after running and I need to quiet my mind, so it will not distract me negatively while running. Oh my goodness I need yoga for so may reasons really, but I might take up days of your time if I continue writing.
Yoga supports my marathon training. It's as simple as that!
Beginner Yoga Flow - 5 minutes that sets the tone...
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As I always say ~ Just Breathe
Brooke Myers
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