Along this yoga journey of mine, I have been a bit overwhelmed by all the yoga information out in the world. Yoga is EVERYWHERE! There is a huge amount of merchandise, ideas, styles, equipment, studios, health claims, etc. etc. etc. and it can be crazy trying to sort through all of it.
I had the greatest idea during my marathon last Saturday: instead of working through all the information out there about what yoga can or can't do for you, I can put it to the test in certain areas myself. I love and sincerely appreciate what other sources have to say about certain benefits, but the best advice or wisdom I can give will come through my own experiences.
I have had the most rewarding experience training for a marathon with the use yoga to relax and restore. I touched on this in a previous post, but I wanted to give the update! I was blessed to run 26.2 miles last weekend and only have typical muscle soreness afterwards. I saw people whose bodies were so tired they were forced sit down and rest, hobble across the finish line, and I believe a few were even rushed away in ambulances! Of course our training was the number 1 thing that helped us get to the finish line, but my husband and I are confident that yoga was a big contributing factor. I am happy to say that I can confidently (and strongly!) recommend yoga for anyone who runs! The marathon is sort of the race to do for most runners, having maybe done shorter runs but really looking for a challenge. And let's be honest, I was a little excited to finish it just for the bucket list's sake. It was the most physically, mentally, and emotionally tough thing I have ever done in my life. It took everything I had to complete that race. It was crazy and exhausting but to have trained and raced injury free? Totally worth it, and definitely an attainable goal for anyone who just knows that a 26.2 mile race waits for them in the future. You need to pair the training with yoga, though! I don't know when my next marathon will be, but I know there will be another and there will be plenty of yoga to go along with it.
So there's my first stamp of approval. Yoga is great for marathon training. But one thing marathon training has distracted from is my strength training. I love lifting weights and feeling myself get stronger, and this unfortunately has taken a backseat to the hours of running our training has required. We have literally been training since April! Now I would like to see what yoga can do for strength. This should be exciting!
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