Today for my scheduled three mile run I chose to make it a hill day. Apparently training on hills is necessary, especially if your marathon is hilly (which the Burlington City Marathon is). I decided to take on Runyon Canyon in West Hollywood (view from the top in the photo).
After two weeks of rain in Los Angeles, Runyon Canyon was lush and green - almost tropical feeling. I jogged very slowly on the steady incline, trudging past weimeraners and pit bulls with well-groomed owners. While running uphill it seems especially easy to lose one's form. As exertion sets in, in an effort to just keep going sometimes I notice myself starting to flail around a little bit and sink into my hips. Today when this began happening I focused my attention on the alignment of Tadasana, or Mountain Pose, in yoga.
In Tadasana you are standing straight upright with your arms at your sides. Tailbone draws down, while the inner thighs rotate back (these opposing actions stabilize the pelvis). Shoulder blades melt down and into the back, while the front ribs soften. Collar bones are wide, and the crown of the head elongates straight up towards the heavens. With proper alignment, all the joints work correctly and the breath has the clearest passage and most space possible. Focusing on the alignment helped to keep my mind off the exertion. Also, it was nice to have the dual experience of running up a small mountain, while trying to find the mountain pose in my body.
While jogging back down I was filled with gratitude for the beautiful morning and greenness all around and the unfolding day. After the run I went to a fairly intense vinyasa flow class at Golden Bridge Yoga with my new favorite teacher Kate and I must say, that hill training made my asana practice way more bad-ass. And all the hip and hamstring stretching/opening was exceptionally delicious after their hard work on the run. 2 down, 69 to go.
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