So last night I took my first yoga at the Y class, and I have to say I was pretty impressed. I’d signed up for a few pilates classes and didn’t like them as much – they just didn’t offer what I was really looking for. This class, though, was well worth the one hour spent.

It’s amazing how tight your body can be without your realizing it. When we worked on hamstring and calf stretches I could actually feel my knee pulling. I’ve felt all along that my knee issues were caused by tight hamstrings, and now I’m about 100% sure. I can’t wait to continue some of these stretches I learned, along with the class itself, over the next few weeks to see if it resolves some of my knee issues.

Some runners skip over any type of yoga and stretching practice, but this really is a detriment to their running routine. Yoga not only helps improve flexibility, but it can:

• work out any kinks in the back and neck you get from those long distance jaunts
• improve injuries to the knee, glutes, hamstrings, etc by gently stretching the muscles that are causing the pain (but if you are in real pain, don’t start yoga without a physician’s recommendation as you don’t want to pull anything more out of whack than it already is!)
• teach you great breathing methods – I use these on many of my runs, whether I’m sprinting or going out for the long haul
• allow your body a chance to rest and rejuvenate, especially if you are working on a lot of long runs

I believe a lot of times we as runners get so wrapped up in the running that we skip over the necessities of keeping our body in condition – such as stretching and relaxing. Running can be a ‘hard’ sport – it can hurt our knees and ankles and feet if we don’t take care of our bodies while we’re doing it. Yet we spend so much time on the pavement we forget to stop and do something else for our bodies in the interim.

If you haven’t taken a yoga class, do it.

If you have and you have stopped, go back.

The benefits of yoga – not just for runners – are immense. But the gentle stretching and relaxation techniques you learn during a class can really hold over into your running and make you less prone to energy and stronger all the way around.

Today is Tuesday. I will only do an ab and arm workout later today. It was nice sleeping in today. Tomorrow, up early for a run and then to the Y for a swim. I have to fit it all in before company arrives at noon – but am hoping that Thursday morning I can get a good biking session in. However, I have a great friend coming to visit from California so the wine we drink on Wednesday night while catching up on each other’s lives may just make me sleep in on Thursday morning!

Happy workouts today!