Today in training to bike for the Clean Air Challenge I took it up a notch. Literally.
I love to finish my bike rides with yoga. It can be hard to find a class that starts at a time that compliments a bike ride, so this year I am tending to make my bike schedule around yoga class schedules. If I can bolt out of work at 5:00 (never seems tohappen), be biking by 5:30 (never happens), I can get in about 1-1/2 hrs of saddle time in before yoga. What is really happening is I have about 45 minutes to-maybe-if-I’m-lucky 1 full hour of riding time. It is making me quicker, as I am trying to get mileage in before May 6, the D-day of Clean Air Challenge. Which at 3 weeks away, is right around the corner.
The two yoga class types I focus on to follow a ride are: Deep Stretch, to lengthen out all those muscles that have been flexing and tightening; and Relax and Restore, which allows all the muscles simply let go, rest, and reset. This is a practice that everyone should do after a workout, in my opinion. Yoga vinyasa, or flow, also offers great cross training benefits to any sport by strengthening those necessary smaller muscle groups that are so often neglected. Practicing yoga has helped me by eliminating pain in the back, shoulders, neck, and hands. Yoga balances the whole body, and trains all the muscles to do what they were intended to do, and be the best they can be.
So after getting a full 45 minutes of biking in today touring around the Anchorage International Airport, I went off to yoga. I was bummed I didn’t get more time and mileage in, but class tonight was an exception to my Deep Stretch/Relax and Restore “rule”. Tonight was AIReal yoga with Anchorage Yoga. It is fun, but don’t take that to mean it is an easy class. It makes me sweat. AIReal yoga requires a lot of balance, core, grip, and an empty stomach. The class combines some vinyasa with aerial silks, taking traditional poses to a different level and adding inversions that are not possible without the support of the fabric.
Tonight was the first time I felt strong enough to have a workout prior to AIReal, and I was successful! Adding a new inversion pose, full star, was another first.
Please consider donating to support my ride in the Clean Air Challenge; everyone deserves clean air! Here is a link to my fundraising page:
http://action.lung.org/site/TR/Bike/ALAMP_Mountain_Pacific?px=4659966&pg=personal&fr_id=14890