Author name: Kyra

Athlete, Running, Triathlon, Yoga

Athlete Yoga Education Video – Triangle Pose

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triangleThe yoga pose “triangle” is an excellent way for athletes to bring a synergistic balance of stretch and strength to the whole body.

Also called Trikonasana.  Athletes/runners, this is one of your “go-to” poses.

Here is a video for Triangle. Enjoy. It’s a short one. 8min.  😉

What Athletes and runners need to know about Triangle Pose:

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  • Benefit: Stretches the hamstrings.
    This is a wonderful pose to 1) find out if one hamstring is tighter than the other. Which causes a whole lot of issues and 2) gives you a way to address it. Also, you can spend some time with this pose to might small adjustments to find the different parts of the ham, which might have one tight part vs another.
  • Benefit: Strengthens the glutes.
    When done “correctly” or in the idea of alignment, you can learn to fire your hip rotators in a healthier way. As well as learn if one glute is weaker than the other. Which will probably be the case, especially if the first bullet about the hams is true.
  • Benefit: Stretches the back.
    There are parts of the back that are hard to stretch. This pose gets to some of that. Especially if you ratchet it down a bit and practice on a wall. This is really a lovely way to study this pose. Getting your hand to the floor is not the goal. Balance of the body, in relation to itself is the goal. So if you aren’t touching the floor, your spine isn’t parallel to the floor (which it probably won’t be and thats a-ok”, your hand reaches up in relation to alignment with your heart. Not the ceiling. Develop this idea and your shoulders will thank you.
  • Benefit: A really DARN GOOD POSE.
    This pose does a ton of stuff. More later on it. Just take my word for it. You can look forward to practicing this one for a long time because there are a lot of this to learn from this pose. And of course, the running, biking and swimming…this is a therapeutic pose. So when you jack something up, this is one you pull out of your bag.

    TRIANGLE – a pose that can be studied by the yoga student for years and has benefits that last a lifetime.

  • Benefit: Can help to strengthen the “flat foot”.
    This is a great pose, once again on the wall, to help with strengthening feet that like to collapse in the arches. Most of the time this is just de-conditioning of the feet. Maybe a lifetime of it. Generally you can strengthen the foot to have a stronger arch. This can be a long process but well worth it considering the function of the arch, as a shock absorber as well as help you have better running form, more natural and flowing.

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Diet, Eating, Education

Why Green Smoothies make you warm, even if you’re that “cold hand person”

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Kale, and cruciferous veggies in general, that you might be putting in your smoothies will make you warm. This is because, along with all the awesome benefits of this food group, they contribute to vasodilation.

Vasodilation occurs when blood vessels expand, allowing larger amounts of oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to the muscles of the body. What results is that wonderful feeling of skin and muscle swelling which is called the “pump” after an intense workout, or the “runner’s high” after an invigorating run.

There are several ways to increase vasodilation. As mentioned, intense exercise is the best way to open up your blood vessels.

However, for the elderly or infirmed who cannot participate in rigorous exercise, massage is used to better circulate the blood and increase vasodilation.

Or if you are an athlete that needs targeted/localized increased blood blood to promote healing… Essential oils are often used for this purpose which combines the beneficial elements of such natural ingredients as lemon, lemongrass, marjoram, cypress and myrtle, all of which have been used since ancient times to dilate capillaries and improve circulation.

Prescription vasodilators can also be obtained through a doctor, blah blah blah. Call if you need to.

Natural Vasodilators and Their Sources

kaleWhen it comes to exercise, vasodilation occurs naturally within the body. Nitric oxide is a powerful vasodilator and its effects are increased by eating foods rich in nitrates, flavonoids, L-arginine and other natural vasodilators.

Nitrates are contained in such foods as spinach, leaf lettuce and beets. When eaten, the saliva in the mouth turns natural nitrates into nitrites which then get swallowed and arrive in the stomach where nitrite is converted into nitric oxide by gastric acid. Nitric oxide is then used by the body to relax and dilate the walls of blood vessels.

Flavonoids play another key role in producing nitric oxide and can be found in foods like broccoli, spinach, kale, hawthorn and dark chocolate. Flavonoids magnify the effect of nitric oxide synthase which is the catalytic enzyme used in nitric oxide production. Therefore, flavonoids increase the activity of nitric oxide synthase which, in turn, increases the amount of nitric oxide produced by the body. The more nitric oxide coursing through the body, the more dilated the blood vessels become.

The amino acid L-arginine is another powerful vasodilator which research is finding is used by the body to assist with the synthesis of nitric oxide. Natural food sources which supply L-arginine are red meat, chicken, fish, cheese, milk and eggs. You can also obtain it from almonds, walnuts and cashews.

Athlete, Education, Triathlon, Yoga

Yoga Athlete Runner Education Video – Warrior 2 and Strong Legs

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warrior-2-bhanda-2The yoga pose “warrior 2” is an excellent way for athletes to bring a synergistic balance of stretch and strength to the whole body.

Also called Virabhadrasana II in your more “refined” yoga classes. hahaha. Just joking, sort. of. Thanks for the picture: Daily Bandha

Here is a video for Warrior 2. Enjoy. It’s a short one. 6min.  😉

What Athletes and runners need to know about WARRIOR 2:

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  • Benefit: Strengthens and stretches the legs and ankles.
    This pose done well takes a lot of effort in the legs. If you find yourself bored with this pose, you’re not working hard enough.
  • Benefit: stretches the groins, chest and lungs, shoulders.
    When you build this pose from the feet up and engage all muscles, keeping the pelvic bowl upright, neutral (which requires a lot of length in the back leg groin area) you find a nice organic stretch. Then to add a tall spine with the chest, shoulders and arms lifting up, from the action of the lower part of the body and back…this is where the elusive opening comes from. This is exceptional work for the athlete, who most of the time, is very tight and tense in this area.
  • Benefit: Increases stamina, builds mental toughness.
    If you doubt me, attempt to stay in this pose for awhile. Like minutes. Get back with me if you have more doubts. 😉 No, seriously, this pose, once you can stay in it for minutes, you develop this equilibrium in the body, where your muscles are holding your body as a whole, a well balance whole, in equilibrium and you discover that once your mind gets out of the way, your bones are holding you up. It’s almost becomes effortless. Though I will throw out the disclaimer that this might take years of dedicated yoga practice.
  • Benefit: Stimulates internal organs.
    If this sounds weird to you, think about Grey’s Anatomy when they say do cardiac massage. When you stretch, twist and strength muscles, the organs get a squeeze and other stimuli, which increases blood flow, etc etc. Not silly talk, just science.

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Warrior 2 – a pose that can be studied by the yoga student for years and has benefits that last a lifetime.

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  • Benefit: Therapeutic for carpal tunnel syndrome, flat feet, infertility, osteoporosis, and sciatica.
    This might sound too good to be true. But if you think about all that this pose does, these are the outward benefits of your body being healthier, stronger, and more in balance. The stretch of the hands, kinetic awareness and stretch of the arms/wrists/hands as a whole helps with the openness of carpal tunnel. Watch the video, I talk A LOT about the feet. Flat feet is something that can be fixed in most cases. With awareness and patience. Weight bearing exercises are proven to help with osteoporosis. And then add on happy hips. BOOM! Addressing sciatica, getting it to be a thing of the past is just a matter of a well balanced hip. Strength and length in balance, which this pose can help you to develop.

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Athlete, Running, Triathlon, Yoga

Yoga for running – stretching tight hamstrings

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hamstring-forward-bend

The yoga pose “forward bend” is an excellent way for athletes to stretch their hamstrings

This is an excellent visual on the goings-on of the standing forward bend.  This pose is awesome for becoming friends with your hamstring.  Most athletes probably HATE this pose.  Those that practice yoga laugh, when we say we “hate” a pose, that’s usually the pose that we need to practice more than anything.

Doing this pose with some thoughts in mind, listed below, will help you to gain big benefits that will have a great impact on your running, as well as feeling better before and after running.  I’m mean really, who would love to have a back that doesn’t hurt?

Thanks for the picture, Daily Bandha.

What Athletes and runners need to know about forward bending:

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  • Hinging at the hips is important.
    What this means for the runners; most likely the runner has either one or two tight hamstrings is that you MUST be patient at this stretch. If you are only bent at the hips a little bit, that’s ok. Practicing forward bending with a flat back. This helps you to focus on stretching the hamstrings and not involving the back too much.
  • Understand that the hamstrings are connected to the back.
    You have two hamstrings that are separate and can be different in length. So what are we talking about here? Tight hamstrings can cause the pelvis to tilt backward, which causes the lumbar spine to flatten out. And it really doesn’t like to be flattened out. The lumbar spine is designed to be curved (lordosis). To compensate, the back muscles and maybe the psoasis (etc) work (excessively) to correct the imbalance. You get this tug of war with the athlete ending up with a very sore and cranky back. Then add that one hamstring might be more tight than the other, which causes a side lilt in the pelvis as well. This results in the athlete having one side of the back more angry than the other. This imbalance continues up through the back and can cause shoulder and neck issues as well.
  • Do not get aggressive with forward bending.
    The hamstrings need to be treated like babies. They work alot. They probably have been neglected and expected to work a lot for little pay. If you stand a lot, they are constantly engaged. If you sit a lot, they get short and angry. So when you are working with the hamstrings and back in forward bending, always go slower, be more mindful. Ensure that when you are stretching the hamstrings, that you feel the stretch in the belly of the muscle, NOT in the back of the knee or at the sit bones.
  • Use a block.
    If you are working on lengthening the hamstrings and you are doing a standing forward bend, use the block. Some athletes are resistant to using the block because they feel like it’s an indication that they can’t do it “right”. Using the block can be necessary to get a good connection with whats going on in the hamstring and the back. If you do this, you will stretch better. If you stretch better, you will have a greater chance of the hamstrings becoming longer and staying that way. If you do that, you will have a greater chance of getting to not needing a block faster. So…use the block! Also, there is this interesting thing that happens if you use the block: Having your hand on the block, mildly engaging the upper body, feeling a bit of push off from the block helps you to engage the entire back fascia chain. This means that kinetically you get smarter, experience a more whole body response. And that feels AWESOME.

    Let’s be clear. In yoga, “not right” is whatever hurts your body. For the runners, you want your yoga practice to help you race, be strong and stay in the game.

  • Forward bending engages the parasympathetic nervous system.
    This calls you down. Turns off your body’s stress response. Most of us, the runners, are very driven and perhaps prone to “running at high speed” all the time. In the gym or at the office. Forward bending can be very nurturing for the body. If you allow yourself to slow down for a bit, and during your yoga practice don’t skip the boring and slow stuff, you allow your body to recharge, rest and recovery.

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Here is a video for hamstrings. Enjoy.

Athlete, Personal Growth, Yoga

Yoga helps the Athlete deal with stress by increasing vagal tone

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yoga-nugget-vagal-tone-2HA! I know athletes (and the rest of the world) what you are thinking…vagal tone…what’s that!?!?!

Here is the 101 on it

So crazy important. Because while we all know that exercise is important, exercise is still stress on the body. And if you aren’t exercising right now, keep reading…unless you have no stress in your life.

The vagus nerve, the largest cranial nerve in the body, starts at the base of the skull and wanders throughout the whole body, influencing the respiratory, digestive and nervous systems. It’s the “air traffic controller”. It helps to regulate all body functions. Breathing, heart rate, digestion…as well as our ability to take in, process, and make sense of our experiences.

This vagal “tone”, as it increases, we feel better. Digestion improves, our heart functions more optimally, etc etc. This means for the athlete specifically that if our digestion is better (for example), we are absorbing nutrients better and getting of waste better so the SYSTEM (aka the exercising body) is working more optimally. So the athlete recovers faster, better. You get sick less often.

We have an easier time moving from the more active and often stressful states of being to the more relaxes ones.  As we get better at doing that, we can manage life’s challenges with the right blend of energy, engagement and ease.

Low vagal tone bring on a feeling of depletion, digestion gets sluggish, our heart rate increases and our moods become more unpredictable and difficult to manage. Studies are showing that low vagal tone is correlated with health conditions such as depression, PTSD, chronic pain and epilepsy.

Ok, so what does this mean? DO YOUR YOGA. Get to class, do the practice. Don’t go to the class thinking about toning the vagal nerve. (hahahaha) Just know what when your yoga teacher is asking you to do that breathing practice that seems odd, it’s gonna benefit you in a really BIG FAT WAY!

If you really want to know, the practice of the ocean breathe, aka Darth Vader breathing, aka breathing as if you are fogging up a mirror, (ujjayi pranayama) is a great way to increase vagal tone, as well as repetitious speaking of single symbol words such as “om” (aka chanting or prayer). To take the mystery out of it, its the vibration quality or frequency that results of the word “om”, when chanted, that works to increase vagal tone (It’s science, not voodoo).

Yoga helps to manage the crazy, or increase vagal tone. However you want to think about it. And that’s the rest of the story!

Athlete, Running

Ran(g) in 2015 with a BLASTING PR!

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2015-new-yearWe had a SUPER FANTASTIC time ringing in the New Year with the most committed of Athletes!

Because you needed to be either bat crap crazy or COMMITTED to “something” in order to get out. It was cold. 25 to be exact. While there was no wind, it was cold. And yeah-yeah I know, that’s nothing compared to…say -15 at Estes or whatever. I guess I’m must kind of whimpy. 🙂

The goal was to get to sub 2 this time. Been listening to my coach, Jeff at PRSFIT. Been committed to the training.

Let me throw in that we are currently moving, so finding all the gear and what not was it’s own challenge.

We had a good excuse not to race. Heck. We had to get up early and drive to Wichita to get it done. Now that’s DEDICATION. 😉

I got to thinking though! Racing makes me feel strong. Finishing up a “round of training” with a race and getting a PR feels

FORKIN’ AWESOME (just saying)

So we went. We were prepared instead of flying by the seat of our pants, what we usually do. Had all the clothes set out…blah blah blah. We even peed before race start. I got all my business done before. You all know what I’m talking about.

hangover-marathonGoRun did a nice job laying out the race. Was great to see everyone. It was snowing and a bit icy on the roads. So that made it challenging. Couldn’t really get into a nice rhythm to sink into.

I battled with my goals and how I was feeling, and mostly won, for 10 miles. Then my right foot started screaming (time for new shoes). I generally started to belly ache, whine and bitch. Karla tried to pull me along. I probably had a touch of bad attitude but mostly I was spent. done. tank empty.

So my pace dropped big time at the end. I was done. Like a cooked turkey.

Truth Time: I’ll tell you all something:

I’m not all that great at cutting myself slack when the goal that I had sent out turns out to be unobtainable.

There’s a fine line between being too hard on yourself and not pushing yourself enough. Most days I’d like to think I land on the healthy side it. Today, had to get a good dose of reality check from Karla and my coach.

A PR is a PR!

Hope you had an AWESOME Day 1 of 2015!

Athlete, Eating

You DESERVE the BEST! Let’s make 2015 crazy awesome.

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Hey SuperStar!

Check it out! 2014 has come to a close. And here we are, celebrating 2015. And you know what!? I’m crazy excited. I’ve got some big plans for myself. Can’t wait to see how it all shakes out.

I’ve been working on my dream board. Wishing. Dreaming. Having a blast.

And I CAN NOT believe what a year 2014 was. When I slowed down a bit to take a ganger at the year. OMG! Have you done that? Have you stopped to think about all the things you accomplished?

Is there a list of carry overs?

Hey, that’s ok. If you’re like me…I set goals like I’m a hungry girl in the store. There is always too much in the end. But that’s how I roll. I plan big, go for all I can think up. What ends up happening is always super crazy awesome. The left overs, I move to the next year. No biggie (And if you find that you have the same left overs year to year, well, that’s something to think about, get help on)!

I wanted to give you something to think about before you set your goals.

What makes you CRAZY HAPPY!?!?!

Write it down. The color blue. Birds eating out of the feeder on the porch. Good home cooked food. Sunsets. Facebook posts about friends having a blast. Pig vidoes. Warm kisses in the morning. Little boy hugs. Cuddling with the dog.

WHAT MAKES YOU CRAZY HAPPY!?!?!?

I challenge you ROCKSTARS out there to make a list of 50 to 100 things that makes you happy.

Then work to set some goals.

READ THIS: These goals work manifest much easier if they align with what makes you CRAZY HAPPY!

I AM SENDING YOU ALL A BIG FAT HUG!!!
You’re the best!

Athlete, Triathlon, Yoga

Yoga for Athletes – Side Plank

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side-plankSide Plank is an excellent way for athletes to build strength

This is an excellent visual on the goings-on of side plank. For those that are interested, the yoga name is Vasisthasana.

I’ve recorded a video for you on the in’s and out’s of this wonderful pose.

Athletes check out the plethora of benefits:

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  • Great for developing/maintaining shoulder strength for the athletes. Or rehabbing an athletes injured shoulder. When done with proper instruction, the athletes can learn to activate and stabilize the shoulder girdle in a very strong and positive way. Working to external rotate as well as internally rotating the forearm which is on the mat, helps to “co-activates” the infraspinatus and teres minor (external rotation) and the subscapularis (internal rotation) muscles of your rotator cuff.
  • Good place to work to develop core strength, and to learn how to put the entire kinetic chain together. Foot to trap. By pressing the edge of your lower foot/side of the foot into the mat, and then gently draw it upwards towards the shin to “evert” the foot activates a series of muscles-including the “lateral subsystem”, which connects yours shoulders and legs to your core. When you press the side of your foot into the mat, you activate the peroneus muscles as well as the abductor muscles up at your hip (the TFL and gluteus medius). These muscles have a fascial connection to your abs, specifically the external oblique (which attaches to the rim of the pelvis). The external oblique connects to your shoulders via the serratus anterior muscle. The serratus anterior is a scapular stabilizer that works in concert with the rotator cuff. So the whole operation helps to integrate your feet, legs, pelvis and lumbar–all the way up to the shoulders.
  • Will slim down the athletes waist. 🙂
  • Can give the wrists a much needed rest if you are an athlete new to yoga.
  • Can help athletes to identify imbalances in the core/shoulders one side to the next. And also provides you with the pose to work on to even things out. This will benefit the athlete in a really big way in the pool especially, but in general as well.

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Thanks for the picture, Daily Bandha.

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