Yoga – I can’t live with out it. I’m a firm believer that yoga has helped me in all aspects physically and mentally. I started going to MountainGoat Yoga Centre in Barrhaven four years ago. I was looking for an “athletic” style of yoga that would give my strengthening and stretching. At the time I wasn’t too interested in the “spiritual” aspects of yoga. But now after four years of fairly steady practice – I’ve come to appreciate the full-body benefits of yoga. My body is leaner, stronger, more flexible and my crazy brain has learned how to relax and live in the moment. I fully believe that yoga has helped me rebound from injury more quickly, prevented injuries, and has definitely strengthened my upper body and core.

There are a lot of yoga studios in the Ottawa-area. I’ve tried quite a few. But MountainGoat is it for me. The environment is very welcoming, the teachers are top-notch, the other students are super friendly. Just what I want – a healthy and friendly environment where I can take some time to develop my body and brain. MountainGoat Yoga Centre has helped me out so much this year – promoting my sponsorship package and providing me with free yoga classes.

Top Ten Reasons to Start Yoga

As yoga grows ever more popular, athletes of all types are incorporating the practice of yoga into their training. Athletes know that flexibility is a key aspect of healthy muscle and therefore better overall performance within their sport.

Athletes of all sorts tend to over develop certain muscle groups, while at the same time within other muscle groups there is an underdevelopment. Ultimately muscles that are continuously overdeveloped become tight and inflexible causing an imbalance in the body that will eventually lead to injury.
Runners tend to have tight hamstrings; cyclists often have tight quadriceps. Those engaged in throwing sports or swimming may complain of tired or aching shoulders; golfers and tennis players may have more freedom of rotation in one direction than the other.

Yoga is one way to manage the demands on an athletes body and bring back a sense of limberness to an already strong body!

Here’s 10 reasons to begin your yoga practice today:

FLEXIBILITY: Yoga helps to improve flexibility and mobility, increasing range of movement. With an increase in ROM muscles move faster and further giving the athlete an extra edge. Many people can’t touch their toes during their first yoga class. Over time, the muscles lengthen, increasing elasticity, making more poses possible and enjoyable. Yoga also helps to improve body alignment resulting in better posture.

DECREASES RISK OF INJURY: A flexible muscle is a healthy muscle. A muscle that can respond to the lightning fast demands of quick movement within sports is essential. Athletes require that muscles lengthen when required without putting undue stress on the joints to decrease any risk of injury…..this is where a flexible muscle becomes an indispensable requirement.

PAIN RELIEF: Yoga can ease pain. Studies have demonstrated that practicing yoga asanas (postures), combined with deeper breathing, reduced pain for people with conditions such as muscles spasns/cramping, arthritis, back and neck pain and other chronic conditions. Some practitioners report that even emotional pain can be eased through the practice of yoga.

INCREASED STRENGTH: Yoga asanas (postures) use every muscle in the body, helping to increase strength literally from head to toe. Holding your own body weight for the duration of the yoga posture sculpts strong muscles but also builds stamina.

STRESS RELIEF: Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress on the body. By encouraging relaxation, yoga helps to lower the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Related benefits include lowering blood pressure and heart rate, improving digestion and boosting the immune system as well as easing symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma and insomnia.

BETTER BREATHING: Yoga teaches people to take slower, deeper breaths. This helps to improve lung function, trigger the body’s relaxation response and increase the amount of oxygen available to the body. The more oxygen available to the muscles the better overall performance.

WEIGHT MANAGEMENT: Yoga (even less vigorous styles) can aid weight control efforts by reducing the cortisol levels as well as by burning excess calories and reducing stress. Yoga also encourages healthy eating habits and provides a heightened sense of well being and self esteem.

IMPROVED CIRCULATION: Yoga helps to improve circulation and, as a result of various poses, more efficiently moves oxygenated blood to the body’s cells.

CARDIOVASCULAR CONDITIONING: Even gentle yoga practice can provide cardio-vascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate, increasing endurance and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.

FOCUS ON THE PRESENT: Yoga helps us to focus on the present, to become more aware and to help create mind body health. It opens the way to improved concentration, coordination, reaction time and memory. Yoga gives you time to get to know your body better.

Convinced? Check out the schedules and class details for MountainGoat Yoga Centre. Your body and brain will thank you.

Massive thanks to Heather and all the other great teachers at MountainGoat. Your support this year has helped me so much – on and off the bike. I look forward to my yoga classes every week – a chance to recharge and refresh my body and mind.

Wow – for some reason the fatigue that hits on Monday after a weekend of racing is always a shocker. You’d think that by now, I’d be used to it. Nope. I’m good until about 3:00 – then I become pretty useless. Guess this is what a recovery day is for!

Not much happening really. Training wise, I’ve got a 90 minute recovery ride on deck. Me, the trainer, and the television. Don’t think I want to ride outside it is -3. But then again, it is better than riding the trainer. Ah, I don’t know….

I’ve posted some links to some photo pages from the Mercer Cup. Check out the photos page. Thanks to all the photographers who were out for the weekend. Not only does the cheering help, but the photos to look at after the race help as well.

Making a trip down the 401 again this weekend to Toronto. Racing in the Ontario Provincial Cyclo-Cross champs on Sunday. Looking forward to a short travel weekend and only one night away from home.

Can you believe that in three weeks we’ll be packed up and getting on a plane heading to Belgium? Talk about time flies. We are fairly organized. As organized as can be – considering the travel to Rhode Island beforehand.

So, the World Cups. I’ve made a decision. Thanks to some sage advice from Adam Myerson, Steve Weller, Marc, and Glen Rendall – I’ve decided to race in Nommay, Zolder, and Roubaix. Best to get the experience now this year, so that next year when I’ll be really ready to race with these girls, I’ll know what to expect and have the “first-time World Cup” jitters out of my system. Kind of like racing elite here – now it is routine and I know what to expect – this greatly reduces the stress and anxiety.

Speaking of races and World Cups – I’ve finally updated my race calendar. Lots of racing action going on. You’ll notice that there are quite a few “smaller” races on my schedule. My belief is that when I’m in Belgium I should race as much as possible. I don’t care what the race is. I’ll race with junior boys, master’s men, elite women – whoever. The more racing, the more experience, the more learning – equals more progress. Sure, a lot of these races are not “prestigious” and don’t get covered on the big cycling web sites. No problem with me. I’m not racing in Belgium for the glory or attention – I just want to get better.

One big day that is not on the race calendar – Jan. 24 – Masters World Cyclo-Cross Championships in Mol, Belgium. This day I’ll be in Mol, cheering on and supporting Marc. Really looking forward to this.

So, it was a chilly one on Sunday. I pinned up the short-sleeve skinsuit but caved and ended up wearing the long sleeve skinsuit. We had a chilled out Saturday night – watched a bit of the movie The Break-Up. This is one funny movie – I had that Yes song in my brain all night and most of Sunday.

Relaxed morning with a few laughs, some surfing, and then off to the race. After talking to Ben T., I elected to not pre-ride. The course was relatively unchanged – one long section was removed – other than that it was the same. I rolled around on my bike and cheered on Marc and Steve. I was thrilled to see Steve ride to a super amazing third place. Way to go Steve! Marc rode really well also. He had a tough hard crash on the pavement before the bridge that cost him a few spots and some skin. Marc rode to an impressive 13th place. Awesome Marc – so proud of you. I missed Steve’s podium – but rumor has it that no one sang “You are the wind beneath my wings”…

My race was up next. Not much to say here. Check out the race report. Suffice it to say – I left New Jersey muddy and not very satisfied…

Once again, we enlisted the help of Alex Sanna – this made the day much more simple and easy for both Marc and myself. It allowed me to warm-up sufficiently and Marc was able to watch my entire race. Thanks again Alex.

After quickly hosing off the bikes and my body we were in the van and on the way home. Trip home was fairly uneventful. I had one too many lattes – resulting in too much caffeine. (Note: I don’t drink coffee – only on long car drives.) Well, too lattes was too much. Lesson learned. Did discover the wonders of the Cold Stone Creamery in Binghamton, NY. Very tasty. Nasty blast of snow and hail slowed us down a bit but other than that we made it home without issue. In bed by 12:30. Asleep by 12:31.

Another weekend of racing is in the books. Some excellent performances from Marc, Steve and the other Canadians (Wendy, Natasha, and Derrick). Congrats guys on your great races. All of you make me want to do better and reach your level. The extra bonus was running into lots of friendly faces again and getting time to chill out with our cyclo-cross friends. Thanks for the cheering – it helps so much. The man in the gorilla suit was pretty cool – though I was relieved he did not chase me like he did to some other racers! Fantastic to see such a large elite women’s field lining up on both days. This field is getting deeper and stronger with every race. Just what we need.

Ah, what a day. A muddy one. But a good one. Solid sleep last night and a leisurely morning helped kick off a fine day of racing.

Got to the course today to warm-up with the guys. Due to the nature of the course – it was a slow warm-up lap. I got less than one lap in. But enough to see that it was going to be a slow one. And a muddy one. Overnight the course turned from a fast ridable course to a slow slogest that featured a lot of running.

I’ve written a race report. But suffice it to say – there is a reason I’m a bike racer and not a runner! This being said, I still had a lot of fun.

Marc and Steve were up at 12:30. I enlisted the support of Alex Sanna to work the pits for Marc’s race. This took a lot of pressure of both myself and Marc. Alex is a pro and he did an awesome job getting Marc’s bike ready for him each time he pitted (which was every half lap!). This also freed me up to warm-up on the dry roads and to cheer on Marc and Steve. Marc had an excellent race. Slogged through the mud and looked super strong. He has a massive bruise on his knee now – not sure how it happened. Steve rode super well as well. Both guys looked super smooth and very focused. Congrats guys!

My race was up next. I really wasn’t that nervous. Funny my race day nerves have really subsided. I guess because I’m that much more used to racing. This is a good thing. I think I wasted a lot of energy in the past by simply being nervous.

After my race, I got in some recovery drink and then went for a longish cool down ride. Did I mention how warm it was today? So warm that I wore a short sleeve skinsuit with out an undershirt. The only drawback to the short sleeves are the scratches on my right forearm from the grit and mud that got rubbed into my skin from shouldering the bike so much!

We made it back to the hotel really quickly and Marc got to fast work on the bikes. They are all sparkly clean and good to go for tomorrow. Thanks Marc. I got going on the laundry. Three loads later and the clothes are clean and ready. Took a driving adventure to Whole Foods to get some salad and food for tomorrow’s drive home. That was an adventure – lets just say I haven’t quite got the hang of the turning lanes here in New Jersey… Made it one piece and had a nice browse around. My Dopers Suck t-shirt raised a few eyebrows and started a few conversations. Cool.

Okay, time to go. Looking forward to racing tomorrow. No idea what tomorrow will hold. It is raining right now, so the chances of things drying up is looking pretty slim. Thanks for reading. Have a good one.

Just chillaxing here in the hotel in Princeton, N.J. Had a fairly smooth drive down. There was one incident involving me, a police officer and a speeding ticket in New York. But other than that it was pain-free.

Made it to the Mercer park for some laps of the course. Dudes – this course is awesome. If you do one travel weekend next season – make it to this race. The course is good for everyone. Basically flat (there are some false flat sections). Fast. Challenging but doable sand pit. Some fun twists and turns. An improved fly-over. This course has something for everyone.

Conditions are moist. The ground is quite saturated so by my race tomorrow it will be nice and greasy. I don’t mind this. I’ll definitely take mud and wet grass over hills and running. The sand pit is crazy – seems like they put a hose on it for days – one section is like riding in a sand bog.

Had a pretty uneventful evening. We did get sucked into the Whole Food vortex. But we set a 30 minute time limit. This helped. Got some basics – we came fairly well-prepared food-wise. Marc and I went over to the number pick-up. We thought it was from 6 – 9, turns out it was from 6 -8! We arrived at 8. Luckily Louise, a UCI official from Canada was there, so she gave us our numbers. Nice to have this done and not have to worry about it for tomorrow.

Had a smooth time riding the course today. Got some pointers from Marc. Checked the sections that will be “strong” for me and the sections where I’ll have to dig a little bit deeper and really focus. Saw lots of friendly faces. Pretty cool to see the little kids out riding with Ben Turner from Clif Bar.

I’ll post up tomorrow night. Stay tuned. Send me some speedy vibes at 1:45. My number is 20 – a lucky number.