Stretch Your Limits

 Add yoga to get faster and sidestep injuries.

- Cindy Kuzma

THOUGH YOU’D NEVER GUESS it from her perfectly arched wheel pose, Ann Mazur wasn’t always bendy. She grew up running and swimming, while her sister appeared to inherit her mother’s flexible genes (both of them were competitive gymnasts). Midway through Mazur’s time running for the University of Notre Dame in the US, she developed severe IT band pain. In search of a cure, she tried practising yoga more consistently, which improved her injury – and her performance. She dropped her 5-K time from 20.16 to 17.11. “That experience really solidified it for me,” she says.

FLEXIBILITY 

Research hasn’t yet settled the question of exactly how flexible runners should be or how much stretching is required to get there. But if tightness in your hips, ankles, trunk, or hamstrings affects your gait, your risk of injury may increase as you pile on the kilometres.

BREATH CONTROL 

Yoga’s deep-breathing techniques teach you to inhale and exhale from your diaphragm instead of your upper chest, perfusing your blood with more energising oxygen which then feeds your muscles while running. Deep breathing also improves the function of stabilising muscles in your core and pelvic floor, creating a more efficient stride.

MINDFULNESS