Category: Coaching
Racing Wisely: Testing
Here’s an excerpt from my latest book, Racing Wisely, on the importance of testing yourself during training. It’s not the most fun part of any training cycle, but it is critical to set yourself up for a personal best. In order to adjust your training so you can achieve your best performance on race day, you’ll need to…
Bring Your B Game
Don’t bring your A game. I first thought of this as a throwaway line previewing my Yoga for Athletes class on Twitter, and then as a clever way to introduce the “B game” concepts of body and breath. But on reflection, the idea of intentionally bringing your B game—doing less, going for 80 percent rather than 90 or…
Watch: Using Meditation to Perform at Your Personal Best
You know that visualizing your upcoming event will help you perform better. But where do you start? In this YouTube series, I explain how to get comfortable—really comfortable—for meditation; how to turn your attention inward, quiet your mind, and focus on your breath; how to visualize the way your breath and body will feel as you race;…
Racing Wisely: Managing Expectations
Here’s an excerpt from my latest book, Racing Wisely, that seems especially germane as we hit peak spring race season. As you plan your travel, you also need to consider who is coming with you, what their intentions are for the trip, and how you can preserve both your good relationship with your travel companions and your…
Read: Balanced Breathing for Better Running
Get to know your breath and you’ll have a powerful tool for keeping yourself calm and focused on the run or anytime, as I explain in this piece at Competitor. Your breath can have a profound effect on your nervous system. Consider the admonition to take a deep breath when you are upset—this has a basis…
Read: Are Your Hip Muscles out of Balance?
Are you sitting down? You could be contributing to hip issues, as I explain in this piece at Competitor.com: Most runners claim they have tight hamstrings. I see it all the time in the yoga classes I teach to athletes. But often, the problem is less in the hamstrings and more in the opposing muscle…
Sage Advice: Yoga During T2
Eleanore asked an interesting question: Is there a good pose to do during T2 [the second transition, from bike to run, in a triathlon]? Something to help facilitate the transition from bike to run? Not for a sprint tri, but more for longer distance races where an extra two minutes spent in transition might be regained…
Read: The Triathlete’s Guide to Massage
One of the sweetest parts of my job is researching recovery modalities, from napping to restorative yoga to massage. A current hypothesis is that it’s impossible to get too much massage; I’m deep in data collection. You need a massage, too. Here’s a piece I wrote for Ironman.com on massage for triathletes, but massage is…
North Carolina Literary Festival
If you’re in central North Carolina this weekend, join me at the North Carolina Literary Festival at N.C. State University, where I’ll speak at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow (Sunday, April 6). While the title of my talk is “Intention and Goals: Tools for Your Personal Best,” I’m looking forward to talking about whatever will be most…
Merge 25K: Yoga
I’m having great fun helping my neighbors at Merge Records and bull City Running with planning and training for their upcoming Merge 25K on March 22. It’s going to be a unique and fun race with a wonderful postrace party! Here’s a post from me they ran on their blog yesterday. In my books on…
Yoga for Runners, Paragon Sports
Last week, I visited the legendary, still-family-owned Paragon Sports near Union Square in New York City for a yoga for runners class, thanks to my sponsor prAna. It was a beautifully produced event, start to finish, and there were even sandwiches! A lovely, lively community of runners congregates at Paragon, and I felt honored to…
Listen: Another Mother Runner Podcast on Racing Wisely
It’s always a fun conversation on Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell’s Another Mother Runner podcast. I joined them to discuss Racing Wisely, intention and goals, and smart pacing. I suggested they need to be lazy and stubborn; in exchange, they somehow pegged me as Shirley from Laverne and Shirley. Maybe worse things could happen—Shirley had…