Down Dog, the teacher says.
With 10 minutes untilbeloved Savasana, I know which pose is coming next.
Lift your right leg to the sky and pull it through for Sleeping Pigeon.
COREY TOWERS
Keep your right thigh parallel to the mat, and double-check your foot stays flexed.
I glide my foot forward just as she says, anticipating what Im about to feel.
Ive been arunnerfor 15 years and a yoga practitioner for two.
In those two years, yoga has become an irreplaceable complement to my training.
Im not sureyogacan take all the credit, but I know it must deservesome.
Yoga can strengthen particular muscle groups that may get neglected when you run.
One of the things that running does in our body is strengthen particular muscle groups, he says.
Im happy to say that doing yoga regularly has helped with this discomfort.
Yoga is comprehensive, Michaelsen adds.
When you do this sort of total-body strengthening work, it can have a big impact on your running.
Yoga helps get the whole body involved while running, he says.
Like any good patient (and writer), I decided to get a second opinion.
I spoke with yoga instructor and running coach Cara Gilman.
She was an all-in marathon runner until she suffered consecutive injuries and found her way onto a yoga mat.
As runners, were not used toactivating our glutesand hips.
Many key poses and postures in yoga force us to strengthen those muscles.
I shake my head vigorously, saying yes.
It also helps to increase range of motionsomething many runners may need to work on.
I wanted to run this concept by someone who wasnt a yoga instructor.
I was curious to hear from someone who was trained in exercise physiology.
Enter Alex Harrison, Ph.D., a sport performance coach who works with triathletes, runners, and weightlifters.
I wanted to know: If a runneronlyruns, what happens?
And how could inserting different types of movementsuch as yogaimpact their performance?
Harrison explains that devout runners will most likely have limited ranges of motion for doing non-running kinds of movements.
Still, I wondered (and asked): So what?
How does having better hip mobility and a larger range of motion affect my running performance?
Learning to breathe mindfully in the studio may also help you on a run.
OK, so the muscle stuff made sense to me.
One particularly interesting physical benefit of yoga for runners has to do with breathing.
Many forms of yoga utilize specific breathing techniques, teaching you how to breathe in a purposeful way.
When youfocus on your breathing patternduring exercise, youre actively connecting your mind and your body.
When these muscle are stronger, it takes longer for them to tire out.
The mental benefits of yoga can help you stay focused when things get challenging.
I would argue Ive personally experienced more mental gains from yoga than physical ones.
Instead of embracing a runners beloved nemesisthe pain caveI ran (slowly) away from it.
Your body is capable of doing so much more than the mind thinks.
Thats the freedom of the now, here moment.
In his words, the practice of yoga brings us to more of a central space oflistening.
Gilman says that mental strength from yoga is crucial when it comes to running.
it’s possible for you to add yoga to your routine in a couple different ways.
Yoga can definitely be a great item in a runners toolbox for both your physical and mental self.
Every class is guaranteed to end inSavasana.
