"I plan to spend the first hour of my day bending over backwards as far as I can."
|That's me: the woman in the front in black. Exactly how I stood for one hour.|
This illicited no comment from SR other than perhaps a smirk.
In reality, I spent today writing a research article for our hospital's yearly report.
There is, in my house, and I believe many places in the world, the misconception that becoming more flexible makes you weaker or is otherwise dangerous.
I remember doing a physiology lab where we discussed the different factors that can contribute to muscle strength and... the longer the muscle, the more strength potential you have. I'm not saying that just because you have long muscles that they are strong, but the longer muscle is capable of becoming stronger than the shorter one. (please tell me if my logic is flawed!) It thus of course follows that if the weight carried is the same, speed will increase!
And the hotter the tendons and muscles - the more you can stretch them.
This is why Bikram Yoga works for improving running times. Or at least, this is my preception of it.
Runners (and cyclists) spend way too much time all cramped up in a ball. If they could stretch out their muscles more, they could unlock their potential.
I was swimming yesterday and had a neuromuscular epiphany. After hours the previous days of stretching my arms above my head and other arm stretching activities in yoga, I was finally able to REACH my arm WAY out in front of me, just as I have been told repeatedly to do. I didn't consciously try to do it. It just happened and my lap times improved dramatically. I think my body just did it because my shoulders and upper arms were no longer cramped like usual.
Don't believe this will also work for running? Fair enough.
But here is the website of Lene Hjelmsø, a Danish woman who just represented Denmark in the half marathon World Championships. She has a recently set a half marathon PR of 1:16:52. She was the fastest female Dane at the World Championships. And what does she practice regularly other than Bikram Yoga?
N of 1? Perhaps.
In other news, would you believe I haven't run since the marathon? I feel like someone is sticking a knife into my right calf. No running - none - until that knot is gone.
This is apparently not an injury I can "run through". But I honestly don't think any running overuse injuries can be run through.
And now, a Mattias Montage from our bike ride around Næstved this evening.