A small team from our Store Support Centre in Vancouver went and met the Specialized-lululemon women’s cycling team in Portugal for their pre-season training camp. Santa Monica-based yoga ambassador Mary Beth LaRue came along with the purpose of sharing a daily practice with these high performance athletes. Mary Beth shares her experience here.

My first morning teaching the specialized-lululemon cycling team, I was a bit nervous.

Who was I, Mary Beth LaRue, to be teaching these superhero-like athletes? What if they hated yoga? What if the practice was too early?

I couldn't have been more wrong.

These past ten days have taught me many things, both about myself and others, but the most profound has been the power of "showing up" and by showing up, I don't necessarily mean just rolling into class and sitting on your mat but showing up in a way that inspires those around you and continually reveals your commitment to bettering yourself.

Class was at 7 a.m. and the athletes were tired. The room was a little small. And yet there was not one single audible complaint from any of them.

Healthy. Strong. Committed. Vibrant. Open.

These weren't exactly the words that came to my mind when I thought of pro athletes. Sure, I anticipated that they would be strong, healthy and very committed…but totally down to practice crow pose in light rain? I didn't see that coming.

The Specialized-lululemon team are a unique bunch. There was no sizing each other up, as we females sometimes do; instead there was a sense of playfulness and joy, both on the mat and on the bike.

my yoga vs. your yoga

If you wish to define "yoga" as a series of poses then yes, there's a difference between my practice and the person on the mat next to me. Instead, what if you (just try it on for a moment and see if it fits) saw yoga as a framework for staying fully present. I am certainly no cyclist, but I know how it feels to be "in it" - fully connected to your breath and fully present. It's a beautiful thing.

Later in the week, we all completed a quiz - a series of questions that highlights your strengths with the idea that you work on what you're brilliant at 80 percent of the time, and what's hard for you/what you aren't naturally gifted at the other 20. My strengths? Connector first, followed by teacher.

Of course.

What I love about yoga - teaching it, practicing it, writing about it - is how often I get to connect to others. Pretty quickly here in Portugal, I recognized that we were all made of the same stuff.

Health. Strength. Commitment. Vibrancy. Openness.

And whether that came out singing "Gangster's Paradise" during karaoke (yes, that happened!) or laughing our way through crow pose in the rain, we approached every step of the way with an open heart.

I'm not going to end this with a "I really hope their season goes well" because that's already in the bag. These women blow "successful" right out of the water.

Healthy. Strong. Committed. Vibrant. Open.

They have already made it. They know what being a part of a team means in the most intimate sense of the word and they operate wins and losses with grace and grounded-ness.

I am leaving inspired. I am heading back to Venice Beach with more confidence in my inner superhero than I came with.

If you're ever in Santa Monica and want to check out one of Mary Beth's classes, take a peek here...and while you're on her site, be sure to read her personal blog. We love it!

When one of our writers, Ella, isn't making magic happen with her words you can almost always count on finding her on her bike. GranFondos, spin class, road biking - if it involves two wheels Ella's there. We caught up with her to learn a bit more about her cycling habits and more specifically, why she loves hitting the studio to cross-train for cyclocross. 

My main sport is cyclocross. I happen to think that ‘cross is the soggiest, silliest, smelliest (and some would say toughest) form of bike racing that exists. It involves sprinting around a circular obstacle course in the mud and rain, keeping your speed up while dismounting from your bike to jump over logs and run up hills with the bike thrown over your shoulder (and trying not to throw up). Basically, super fun. My teammates (the fellows especially) pride themselves on their toughness and have a great time poking fun at each other when someone does something deemed un-tough.

tough guys have secrets too

One of the things deemed un-tough? Spinning (obviously they’ve never tried it before because it ain’t no cake walk). The first time I ran into a teammate at spin class, he darted his eyes to make sure I was alone, then sidled up to me and whispered, “Please don’t tell anyone you saw me here. I’m, uh, secret training.”

Why the secrecy? Aside from the fact that these tough guys didn’t want it to be known that they enjoyed Top 40’s, spinning as cross-training for bike racing makes you fit. And fitness makes you fast. “Fast Patty” wanted to get secretly fitter during our off-season so his competitors wouldn’t know he was putting in a little extra-extra. He was going to take his competitors by surprise and win some races during the upcoming season.

2 reasons why ella loves spinning for cyclocross:

1. target zone training
If you already use a heart-rate monitor and do zone training, you know that having control over your heart rate for an hour allows you to maximize your workout. As opposed to a “regular” ride of 2-4 hours where your heart rate is all over the board, during spin class it’s possible to target specific zones and stay there, allowing you to get more out of one hour on a spin bike than during an hour outdoors on a road bike (plus, the music is great).

2. convenience equals consistency
Another benefit of spin class as cross-training is that you can ride more than you might normally during the winter. Waking up at 5am to get in a solid 2-hour ride (in the dark, cold, rain) before work can be a challenge in itself. Hitting up a spin class at a studio after work with colleagues requires much less motivation. Convenience equals consistency and consistency in training means a kickass you.

Oh and for the record, Fast Patty, the friend I saw at spin class? He killed it that race season.

This meditation moment was brought to you by SeaWheeze – incorporate it into your training routine for balance, centeredness and relaxation or into your life just because.

Rest, relax, recover and revel in your accomplishment! You have trained hard for the past four months, so it's time to let your body repair. This is often hard for many runners, as a marathon brings not only peak physical fitness, but a phenomenon called "runner's high," which makes you feel so good after a run that you can’t wait to run again.

Along with all of these wonderful feelings, post-marathon can also bring about feelings of depression. A lululemon run club guest recently came to me a couple of weeks after her first marathon and told me that she was feeling depressed. She asked if it was crazy to feel that way. The answer? Not at all. Post-marathon depression is very real and is often accompanied by a sense of loss. You spend four months training, you structure much of your life around your training, you look forward to race day, and then in a matter of hours, it is done.

Rest is vital. Your body needs a few weeks to repair itself and recover before you begin your next training cycle.

a game plan

For me, I set out a post-marathon game plan. This season, my race is the Philadelphia Marathon. After the marathon, I am taking five weeks off from hard training to allow my body to repair and recover. Besides lululemon run club, I will not be running, but will be replacing my hard runs with yoga classes, core work, and strength training to let my body recover and to lay a foundation for my next training cycle. In terms of beating post-marathon blues, I always host and cook Thanksgiving dinner (this year for 14) to give me something immediate to look forward to and focus on once my fall racing season is over.

after you cross the finish line

Once you cross the finish line, start rehydrating immediately. Before your post-run celebration beer or wine, make sure you have had plenty of water -- after all, that is what your body needs. Replenish yourself with some carbs and protein, stretch, and put on a layer of clothes over what you raced in for your walk back to the hotel to keep you warm.

the morning after

The morning after the race, jog 10-20 minutes to get your legs moving a little bit.

the next month

Following that, the next month should be about easing off of running to let your muscles repair. If you're going to run, take it very, very easy, don’t race, and don’t do speed workouts. I recommend cross training. While I pick-up yoga (and cooking), try a racquet sport or something different that keeps you moving, but not training at full capacity. This will not only be good for your body, but you will start your next season feeling fresh and eager to be running again, and will help you keep your post-race emotions in check.

how you spend your post-marathon time

How you spend your month post-marathon is important. As runners, we are sometimes greedy about our fitness, and we want to stay in peak form all year round. This is impossible to do, and trying will often lead to injuries and feeling of burnout.

Are you just starting to run? Read Elyse's other blog post about The Run Date!

A lot of athletes want to add swimming to their cross training, but have a difficult time developing a good workout for their level. If you've decided to get back in the pool for the first time in a while, remember one thing when designing your workout: Swim for distance, not for speed. What I mean is, if you're swimming for endurance it's best not to swim as fast as you can without stopping. This will leave you feeling out of breath, and you'll most likely get out of the pool completely exhausted very early in the workout.

Instead, you can practice swimming each lap at a consistent interval. For example, if you can comfortably swim 50 yards* in 1 minute, give yourself 15 seconds to recover after each 50 and swim 6 consecutive 50s on a 1:15 interval. With practice, you will get faster and be able to reduce your interval times. You can also play with the times and work up to 100 yards on a 2:15 interval, or 200 yards on a 4:15 interval.

If you don't know how fast you swim, you'll want to figure out the right interval for your workout. Give yourself 15 seconds to recover after each 50, and time yourself to see how long it takes you to swim 50 yards five or six times. You can simply take the average of that 50 time, add 15 or 20 seconds of recovery to it, and use that time for your interval.

Here is a sample beginner workout. Take it with you the next time you go to the pool:

Warm up: 4 x 50 (easy pace)
Main set: 4 x 50 on 1:15
2 x 100 on 2:20
4 x 50 on 1:15
Cooldown: 1 x 75, 1 x 50, 1 x 25

Total: 950 yards

*Note to Canadians: 1 yard = 0.9144 metres

Happy swimming!

Billie (above) is a blur of black/disco in our Fastlane Suit Too.