Tag: Physiology

  • Thoughts on the RW Run Streak

    As the author of a book (The Athlete’s Guide to Recovery) and a column (Serious Recovery) on recovery, I take rest seriously and hold my rest days as sacrosanct. But as a coach, I like to try out various approaches to see how they feel. With an open mind, then, I joined my colleagues and readers…

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  • Sage Advice: IT Band Boilerplate

    I get questions from y’all sometimes, and they are usually interesting and often good fodder for a blog post. IT band problems are so frequent that I created a boilerplate response in Evernote, ready to whip out at a moment’s notice. Here it is. Caveat: I am not a PT or medical doctor. Just a…

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  • Maintenance Mode

    My athlete Erin, who discovered a surprising, if fleeting, taste for Marmite during Ironman South Africa, is entering her first year of emergency-medicine residency. Given the demanding schedule and her plans to enjoy the spring triathlon schedule in New Orleans, she asked me what she should be doing now. Here’s what I prescribed; I hope…

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  • On Barefoot Running

    I said Friday I didn’t want to open the barefoot running can of worms. Ross Tucker does it beautifully on the Science of Sport blog, in a recap from the ACSM meeting in Denver. Great reading.

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  • In Praise of Juil Sandals

    Regardless of my thoughts on minimalism in running shoes (a can of worms I greatly prefer not to open), I am a wholehearted advocate of letting your feet move naturally and, in yoga, in running, and in general, using only what we need to get the job done and nothing more (with a few aesthetic…

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  • Sage Advice: How Much Is Too Much?

    Scott, a cyclist in Brooklyn, asked me a very interesting technical question about proper back position for snap accelerations and sprints on the bike. I deferred the specifics to my friend Victor Jimenez of the Bicycle Lab, a fitter, bike-builder (his line is called Karma, which I love; he built my husband’s Guru bike, too!),…

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  • In Praise of Kigos

    I’m relaxing in post–long run happiness. (Remember: recovery is key!) While it was too hot to keep on my compression socks (we had an early taste of summer today in North Carolina), my feet feel great in these Kigo Star shoes. Elevating them on the ottoman helps, too. One of the three women who runs…

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  • Training for the Krispy Kreme Challenge

    Three of my athletes are training through the Krispy Kreme Challenge, en route to bigger events, including Ironman South Africa and a six-hour mountain bike relay. This is good, as they can afford the calories (2,400 of them!), and their training for their target races will even be served by running nauseated, as coping with…

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  • Never Fear

    A central paradox of my career is the name of what I do: teaching yoga for athletes. It’s really just yoga, presented in ways that complement what athletes do, and that also work for most folks with tight hips and shoulders (read: Westerners). It’s not, as the name might imply, athletic yoga. Athletes get their…

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  • A Humble Proposal

    Whether you observe Black Friday or National Buy Nothing Day, at some point you’re going to need a new pair of shoes. I found myself at our local Fleet Feet Sports, which smartly opened after the turkey trot yesterday. They had a range of shoes on sale, and I tried some on, but I wound…

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  • Midnight Train to Georgia

    I very rarely run with an iPod. I’d rather listen to ambient noise: traffic, birds, my breath, my training partners! But today I took a short run, just a few miles (with a stop at the grocery for allergy medicine) as I am leading a yoga and running retreat at ZAP Fitness in Blowing Rock…

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  • Practice, Practice, Practice

    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…

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