Competing in the Brussels marathon reminded me just how tough a marathon is.
Duh, I hear you cry, but to be honest, I think I had fallen in to a bit of a false sense of security, knowing that I'd run a marathon before had made me self-assured and cocky.
Monday's muscle tightness, sore knee and general fatigue quickly saw to that, and as well as concentrating on my diet and water intake, I decided to explore the benefits of yoga. Something had to loosen these damn muscles!
Running is a great workout for the heart and lungs, but breeds lower body strength and upper body instability because it works a certain set of muscles and has a limited range of motion, often leading to tightness and overworked joints.
That, according to my book, Run for Life, is where cross training, like yoga or swimming can come in. Yoga helps with balance, muscle stretching, breathing and flexibility. It also gets blood pumping around the body, aiding the healing of injuries and the meditative aspect is good for the mind.
With this in mind, I trotted off to the Yoga College of India.
If it's good enough for Jennifer Aniston, it's good enough for me!
Bikram Yoga is a series of 27 postures and two breathing exercises, which take place during a 90 minute class held in a room heated to around 36 degrees C. To me - the lay-person - most of the exercises seemed to be advanced stretches, and there were some incredibly flexible people in my class!
Some of the poses were difficult to bend in to, but I managed to have a go at each one and the instructor was very helpful, highlighting the benefits of each move.
Afterwards I felt great: relaxed and well stretched. I will definitely be going again as the NYC Marathon draws ever nearer.
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