http://www.lululemon.com/community/blog/five-pre-run-poses/

Many of you already know about our partnership with LUNA Bar—you’ve probably already enjoyed a few bars after class…

But we’re psyched to announce our new partnership with LUNA Chix. Now in their eighth season, LUNA Chix brings together women interested in learning new sports and provides training plans and ongoing support to help them succeed.

The current focus? Triathlon! Now through October the Chix will be dishing out weekly workouts, skills clinics, and mini triathlons to help you swim–bike–run your best—regardless of your experience in the sport.

Our instructors will be leading monthly pre- and post-workout mini Jasyoga sessions to help prevent injuries, recover for workouts, and improve performance overall. Remember, yoga will make you a better athlete so supplementing your training with yoga is the way to go.

Join us for pre-workout Jasyoga—

• May 15 at Discovery Park
• June 26 at Green Lake
• September 25 TBD

To learn more about LUNA Chix, check out http://teamlunachix.com/seattle_triathlon and find them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/159890007400320/.

Heart-rate monitors, pedometers, barefoot sneakers — there are countless products on the market to help runners like you stay on track while pounding the pavement. But one of the best tools to improve your form and help you run as efficiently as possible may also be one of the least expected — a yoga mat.

Yoga is a great way for runners to become more aware of inefficiencies, such as misalignments and places where we unnecessarily hold tension. By practicing using what we need and relaxing what we don’t on the mat, we can move with greater ease, run harder, and last longer out on the road. More importantly, that awareness is a powerful tool for injury prevention. So lace up your sneakers, roll out your yoga mat, and go!

Check it out: Runner’s Lunge

This pose trains the knees to stabilize, strengthens and lengthens your stride, and helps you perfect your form.

• Make sure your stride is long—just slightly out of your comfort zone so that you can gain some flexibility and cover more ground.
• Keep the front knee bent at 90 degrees, tracking directly over the ankle.
• Soften common tension spots like your shoulders, neck, and jaw.
• Breathe deeply to help your body relax, as it works hard to stabilize.

On the first Tuesday of the month, Jasyoga stops by Nike+ Run Club to teach runners yoga skills to help them find their flow. Join us next week to learn more about aligning your stride—

Tuesday, May 1, 6pm at Niketown Seattle

20-minutes of Jasyoga followed by Nike+ Run

Jasyoga is running back to Niketown Seattle—come find your flow with us…

Nike loves running and Jasyoga loves yoga. Since yoga will help make you a better runner, sounds like a match made in heaven to us.

We’ll be in the house on the first Tuesday of each month to lead pre-run Jasyoga Athletica, covering a variety of topics to help you strengthen your stride and prevent injuries.

Pre-run session is 6 – 6:20pm, then we’ll hit the road. Join us—

May 1 align your stride

June 5 relieve your IT bands

July 3 mobilize your hips

August 7 breathe deeper and run better

September 4 increase your pliability and cover ground

October 2 warm-up your core to warm up your engine

Be sure to check back here the last week of each month, when we’ll post dets about class the following week, including how each of these classes and themes will help you run your best.

Run Cub is for everyone—Routes range from a 2-mile power run to a long 8-miler around Lake Union. There’s no better way to hit the pavement on a Seattle eve than with the support of Nike’s pacers and local fellow runners, and no better way to take your running to another level.

Follw Niketown Seattle @NikeSeattle for updates and more…

Nina Ellen Keaney, triathlete

how long have you been sweating—

I have been running competitively since junior high, which is now thirty years ago! I started participating in triathlons in 2006.

initial impression of yoga…be honest—

Yoga was never something that was going to be for me. I am VERY inflexible, and thought of yoga as something only people who could reach their toes should even attempt.

what have you observed in your jasyoga athletica practice—

As a forty-something-year-old endurance athlete, I seem to always be struggling with injury. The recovery time that yoga offers has definitely been good for me, and I have gone from viewing it as “my forced hour of stretching” to an active recovery time that will help me prepare for that next tough workout.

what’s found its way off the mat and into your sport and life—

It has encouraged me to think about my breathing when I’m working out, and to make sure that I am using full inhales and exhales to support my effort. Focusing on that helps me maintain my intensity for longer periods of time.

so now what do you think of yoga—

Jasyoga has made it clear that yoga is accessible to all different athletes (and non-athletes). I understand that yoga starts and ends with what I can do at that given point in time, and that as long as I am engaged and pushing myself in that moment, then I can be successful. The same lesson extends to my triathlon goals.

Yoga is very calming for me. It has also pushed me to work on tight areas of my body that I had never tried to change before—I just assumed that I was a “tight” person and that could not be changed. Erin and Alison have encouraged me to try new things and to push beyond where I was comfortable. The breathing techniques and other ways to think about what my body is doing when it is active have been very helpful in my workouts. I hear Erin’s voice telling me to “cinch up my waist” when I am swimming and it helps me keep my core strong and my legs supported in the water!

favorite pose—

Reclined bridge, hands down. Feels so good for my lower back.

As Cicely stepped away from athletics, yoga stayed. It became a place to explore movement and focus in a completely new way. It offered consistency, challenge, and ease for a body that needed more balance between work and rest.

Cicely has been teaching yoga professionally since 2005. Her yoga classes are grounded in the ideas of cause and effect—unique posture work and physical challenge. She aims to teach accurate, anatomically intelligent movements that can be catered to the individual,  and likes a few laughs along the way.

In addition to teaching yoga, Cicely is a Licensed Massage Practitioner who specializes in injury treatment, deep tissue, prenatal/postnatal, and wellness/relaxation bodywork sessions. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Acupuncture at the Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine.

Learn more about Cicely’s massage practice at cicelyandree.com.