Race Day Warm Up – Yoga Styles!

With the WIN marathon coming up this weekend, I’ve had some clients and friends, who are participating in the race, ask for some tips on integrating yoga practices before, during and after their race.  The following are some ideas for a pre-race warm up.

First off, start with some simple breath work.  Deep belly breathing is a great way to settle pre-race jitters, relax and find focus before heading out on the course.

Try this, deep belly breathing

1. Lie on floor, knees bent and together, feet apart.  Place palm of hands on either side of the lower ribs with index fingers pointing towards each other (perhaps even touching).
2. On the inhale the chest and ribs rise, fingertips move away from each other.
3. On the exhale the chest and ribs fall, fingertips come back together.

Next, a couple of modified or full sun salutations can also help to gently warm up the body and reinforce the importance of linking the breath with movement.  Here are a couple of ideas:

Modified Sun Salutation A:

1. Start from mountain pose
2. INHALE, bring arms up overhead
3. EXHALE  to forward fold
4. INHALE to flat back
5. EXHALE to forward fold
6. INHALE to flat back
7. EXHALE  to flat back twist right side
8. INHALE  to flat back
9. EXHALE  to flat back twist left side
10. INHALE to flat back
11. EXHALE to forward fold
12. INHALE, return to mountain

Sun Salutation A variation:

1. Start from mountain pose
2. INHALE, bring arms up overhead
3. EXHALE to forward fold
4. INHALE to flat back
5. EXHALE bend the knees, plant the hands and step back to plank
6. INHALE to side plank right side (right hip directed towards floor)
7. EXHALE back to plank
8. INHALE to side plank left side (left hip directed towards floor)
9. EXHALE back to plank
10. INHALE to downward dog
11. EXHALE to forward fold
12. INHALE, return to mountain

You can come up with your own variation, perhaps adding some leg lifts into your planks or some active lunges.  Whatever you decide, be sure to keep the Sun Salutation sequences moving fairly quickly.  Reserve the static stretching for at the end of your race, when the muscles are warm and in need of tender loving care.  But we’ll talk about a post-race sequence in the next post.

During the race, try to keep the idea of breath with movement just as with those Sun Salutations.  It will help you to keep your focus, especially when fatigue sets in.  Above all else, make sure to just enjoy the moment.  Have fun! After all, that’s why you’re doing this, right?! 😉

NOTE: It’s always important to keep things pretty consistent on race day so don’t be too adventurous the day of.  Stick to what you’ve been doing during training and you’ll be fine.  But keep these warm-up ideas in mind for next time.  

So I’d like to know! What kinds of things do you do to warm up for an event? Share in the comments section below and you could win a drop-in pass to checkout our upcoming Active Living Yoga series.

Active Living Yoga starts back up again on Monday, May 27th.  Make yoga a part of your effective cross-training plans and watch your strength and flexibility improve.  Translate improvements on the mat, to personal achievements off the mat.  Check the Services page for further details and Contact us to register.