Purpose–>Strength and Stamina

• Yoga Styles: Vinyasa Flow, Power Yoga, Ashtanga, Batiste

• Class Format: These styles of yoga repeat the same sequence of poses every class. The movements are fast-paced and flow from one posture to another throughout the class.

• Running Analogy: This is the “speed workout” or high intensity effort level of yoga, where the intensity is higher and the movements are fluid.

• Running Benefits: Runners tend to be attracted to this type of yoga because it is a little more aggressive and dynamic in nature, and it can heat the body in the same way that running does. It develops strength and stamina and it feels like a hard effort workout. Similar to running the same course or interval session several weeks in a row, the repetitive nature of the class allows you to see progress along the way.

• Training Strategy: Treat this class like a high intensity workout. It is a great overall cross-training style for everyday runners. However, if you’re training hard and progressively, be aware that it can take away from your running performance due to fatigue (especially during the higher volume weeks). This is an opportune time to either decrease the number of times per week you do yoga, or to incorporate other styles to allow your body to adapt to the demands of the training phase and balance your workout intensities (just as you would with running workouts–long, easy, speed, tempo…)

Purpose–>Yoga for Core Stability, Balance and Muscle Release

• Yoga Styles: Hatha, Sari, Iyengar, Bikram Hot Yoga, Anusara

• Class Format: The rhythm of this style of yoga is slower and more deliberate, requiring the runner to hold a pose for longer periods of time to experience the pose effect and to allow for the entire muscle to fully release.

• Running Analogy: It is the “tempo workout” of yoga, where there is a continuous effort (hold) which increases the functional threshold for balance, stability, and body awareness.

• Running Benefits: The longer holding patterns develop core stability, body alignment, and balance, which can translate to better hip stabilization. This improves the efficiency of every stride by decreasing lateral hip motion and wasted energy (while helping with issues like ITB!).

• Training Strategy: Outside of Bikram Yoga, which is slow but intense (due to the heat and length of the class), these styles of yoga are less aggressive, and a good complement to a runner’s recipe. Because every run is a “workout,” taking a holding-style class can balance your body and mind and provide a less taxing mode of strengthening and flexibility. This is especially true for first-time half and full marathoners, as every week of training is progressively more demanding on the body. Having a lower effort cross-training yoga class can balance the energy demands and still develop a solid base of core strength, balance, and flexibility.

Purpose–>Recovery, Restoration, and Flexibility

• Yoga Styles: Restorative, Yoga for Relaxation, Yin

• Class Format: This style of yoga is geared more to improving flexibility and facilitating recovery or restoration. A minimal amount of time is spent on your feet and knees, and most on the mat.

• Running Analogy: It is the “easy run” of yoga, where the demands are low and the focus is on returning the body back to a healthy functional mobility.

• Benefits: The relaxed, low intensity level of Restorative Yoga provides a great class for improving flexibility without the demands of a workout, while also improving mindfulness and focus.

• Training Strategy: This style is a great compliment for runners that already participate in a variety of activities including running, strength training, and other cross-training activities. Weaving it in during your rest or recovery days, especially after long runs, is a great way to take advantage of the many benefits of this style. It requires very little energy, therefore it won’t detract from your training, and increases bloodflow and mobility to the muscles and joints, which aids in efficient recovery.

Here is the link for the certificate.

1. Pick up the phone and contact your elected official. Find their phone number here.
2. Send an email to your elected official. Find their email here.
3. Ask your representative to vote for Representative Petri’s amendment to support dedicated funding for walking and biking.
4. Send your friends an email asking them to also contact their representative.
5. Ask your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter to take action.

Your message can be as simple as this:

My name is [YOUR NAME], and I’m contacting you today to ask you to protect the dedicated pedestrian and bicycle funding in the new American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act.

This bill is expected to eliminate the two largest programs that fund bicycling and walking infrastructure: Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School. Without these programs, communities in your district and all over the country will lose access to resources to build the facilities that keep people safe.

Bicycling and walking are critical to keeping our communities moving with healthy, safe, and accessible transportation options.

Biking and walking make up 12 percent of all trips, but only 1.5 percent of federal funding.

And bicycling is good for health and the environment.

Thank you for your support.
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR CITY AND STATE]

A call will only take five minutes out of your day, but it could be the difference between no funding and over a billion dollars in funding. Zero projects or 3,000 biking and walking projects.

When you call your representative’s office, you will most likely get voicemail or talk to the representative’s staff member. That’s okay. Still leave the message. Every call counts. It is vital that every everyone reaches out in some way.

Your phone call matters. Last year, when the Transportation extension was at risk, Bikes Belong called upon 20,000 California residents to contact Senator Pelosi and ask for her support of dedicated bicycle infrastructure funding. Within 48 hours they had over 2,000 calls to her office. 48 hours later Senator Pelosi called a press conference and publicly announced her support of the bicycle funding. This new multi-year bill is critical. We need every representative to hear from their constituents.

Thank you,
John Burke

World Mountain Running Champion Kasie Enman shares her tips for running off-road, whether you’re looking to become more comfortable on the trails, or have your fastest racing season ever.

By Lisa Jhung

1. Pay attention. ”It really makes a difference to pay attention to oncoming roots, rocks, slick spots, and undulations. When running on a trail, you should be constantly scanning a few feet in front of you. Once you become comfortable in doing this, it will become second nature.”

2. Leave space. ”If you’re running with a friend, either take the lead or leave enough space in between yourselves so you can see what’s coming up on the trail surface.”

3. Footwear. ”Footwear is largely a personal preference, so, it’d be ideal to experiment with a variety of shoes. I prefer to wear shoes that have a lower profile and allow me to have a good feel for the surface that I’m running on.”

4. Shorter stride. ”Most form changes happen naturally on the trail due to the variety of the terrain. Your stride will naturally shorten on more technical sections of the trail, and on steeper uphills. You’re going to have more of a varied stride length than on the roads as you navigate different features of the trail. A bonus is that I’ve found that this helps prevent some of the common overuse injuries associated with road running.”

5. Center of gravity. ”To help you stay balanced and upright on all sorts of terrain, try to keep your center of gravity lined up over your feet at all times, instead of leaning too far forward or too far back.”

6. Time. ”If you want to run and race well on trails, you need to have a high comfort level running on trails. I was coming off a spring of road marathon training and was racing the U.S. Mountain Running Championships, then the World Mountain Running Championships. While I did a hill workout every week or so, the most important piece was just consistently getting on trails for my easy runs.”

7. Stabilize. ”Putting in the miles on the trails develops all the little stabilizer muscles, especially in your lower legs, that you just don’t use when road running. If you don’t train those muscles to handle uneven terrain, you’ll find your legs turning to Jell-O way before your energy system tires.”

8. Simulate. ”If you’re training for a race that will have lots of hills, you should do workouts to simulate the particular grades and grade changes that you will encounter in the race. My coach, Jeff Staab, designed a series of hill workouts for me to practice shifting from up to down to up over and over again. This really paid off and became a strength of mine on race day.”

9. Practice. ”If you’re training for an uphill-only race, it can help to do hill repeat workouts where you experiment with different stride lengths or arm-carriage techniques, timing each one to determine how you most efficiently run uphill. You don’t have to do these simulation workouts very often—once a week or even once every other week is plenty.”

10. Recover. ”With hill and trail work in general, always use caution to make sure that you are giving your muscles and tendons enough time to recover and adapt.”

11. Go Fast. ”In addition to terrain-specific training, if you have high goals to race fast, you still need to work in speed workouts. Leg speed, VO2 max, and lactate threshold are all still areas that need to be developed, just like for any road race where you want to run fast.”

Reveille Roubaix: A Grit & Gravel Challenge