Most of what I do—and, I'd bet, most of what you do—all day is filling in the spaces left out in success-story montages. It's the work necessary between setting a goal and reaching it. Much of it is tough, much is repetitive, and the progress comes in fits and spurts, rather than following a linear path. (And there's no 80s music playing while we put in the work, is there?)

That makes it extra special when you can enjoy the work itself. Today, it struck me that after six months of getting up to speed in my new role as co-owner of a yoga studio, I'm really having fun with all the small moments of the job. I like checking students in for class. I like writing our newsletter. I even like filing our student waivers and copying our paper schedules. Can you find some joy in your routine today?

In March, I spent two lovely days in sunny San Diego (stay classy!) filming a video series on athletic recovery and hanging out with two fantastic and inspiring role models: the preternaturally prolific fitness writer Matt Fitzgerald and the lovely, fiery, and fun yoga teacher/attorney Ingrid Yang. (You can find Matt's books here and Ingrid's classes at Prana Yoga in La Jolla and online at YogaVibes.)

Here's the first of the series. I could have gone with brighter lipstick and glitzier earrings, but I think it's beautifully produced. What do you think?



If you're interested in learning more about recovery and you'll be at USA Triathlon's national championships in Alabama next month, please join me for my two-hour presentation on Friday morning, September 24. If you can't make that, download my hour-long webinar on the subject and read my column at Lava Magazine.

Age Group Nationals for USA Triathlon will be held in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, at the end of September. For many athletes, this is the A race of the year—the big one. Whether it's your big one or just another weekend in your racing calendar, you'll need to focus on recovering well after the event.

I'll be giving a presentation for USAT on the morning before the race covering what recovery is, how to measure it, and most importantly, how to enhance it. Elite age groupers are at particular risk of underrecovery, as their busy lives don't allow much, if any downtime. Join me for the presentation, and you'll feel fully justified in doing less—less volume, less work—in the service of more—more sleep, more energy, and more impressive race results.

Details and registration here.

Tuesday, August 17, I'll be leading a webinar on my new pet passion, recovery. There'll be CEUs offered for USA Triathlon coaches, but the content will be useful for all athletes—not just endurance athletes. Those who attend the live webinar can ask questions. If you can't make the time (it's 6 p.m. EDT), you can still register and you'll be e-mailed a link to download the webinar after it finishes. Please join me!

You can register here. The full description:

A USA Triathlon Webinar

Topic:  Enhancing Recovery

Presenter: Sage Rountree

Date: Tuesday, August 17

Time: 4-5pm Mountain, 3-4pm Pacif, 5-6pm Central, 6-7pm Eastern

Cost:

USAT Member or Coach: $24.99 (0 CEUs)

USAT Coach: $34.99 (1 CEU)

Non-USAT Members: $39.99 (0 CEUs)

All the hard work put into training is useless if the athlete doesn't take time to recover, absorb the effort, and grow stronger. USAT Level II coach Sage Rountree explains the physiology of recovery, describes ways athletes can track their own recovery, and explains methods to ensure athletes recover fully between workouts and races. These methods include everything from ice baths to compression socks, power naps to powerful massages. You'll learn which methods are proven to aid in recovery, and which aren't worth your time and money.

If you cannot attend this webinar at the specified date and time, you can still register in advance and the complete webinar recording will be automatically emailed out to you after it is completed.

From the beautiful little book A Wheel within a Wheel, by Frances Willard, which my fantastic athlete Julee gave me a few years ago, a lovely thought on learning and progress:

Once, when I grew somewhat discouraged and said that I had made no progress for a day or two, my teacher told me that it was just so when she learned: there were growing days and stationary days, and she had always noticed that just after one of these last dull, depressing, and dubious intervals she seemed to get an uplift and went ahead better than ever. It was like a spurt in rowing. This seems to be the law of progress in everything we do; it moves along a spiral rather than a perpendicular; we seem to be actually going out of the way, and yet it turns out that we were really moving upward all the time.