Let’s get back to Ayurveda again. Simply because I love it. Let’s look at Sara. Maybe you’ve been doing live yoga classes with her at one of her workshops and retreats in Italy, or maybe you’ve been doing yoga with her on our La Scimmia Yoga platform. Maybe you can guess, maybe not. Sara is a Pitta-Kapha.
As I’ve told you in my blog post; What type of runner are you?, there are 7 body types (doshas) in Ayurveda. Three of them we call mono type: Vata, Pitta, Kapha. Three we call dual type: Vata-Pitta, Pitta-Kapha, Kapha-Vata. The last one is a triple type: Vata-Pitta-Kapha. Sara is a dual type.
Worst case scenario
Pittas are sprinters, Kaphas are the ones with the most stamina. So what is Sara? Well, she’s definitely not a sprinter. Maybe she is the worst case scenario, instead of having the speed of a Pitta (fast) and the endurance of a Kapha (a lot), she has the speed of a Kapha (non) and the endurance of a Pitta (non).
Just kidding. She’s doing good on the long runs. Slow, but good, which means she might have the stamina of a Kapha. How good she can do, we have to see. So far the longest distance she has been running was the 12,5 kilometers at the Eindejaarstrail. Over the next couple of months we’re slowly going to increase that to 15, maybe even 20 kilometers.
When it comes down to food, Sara is a typical Pitta. When she gets hungry, she has to eat otherwise she has no energy and feels light headed. For long runs, that’s going to be a challenge.
Low heart rate training
But first things first; low heart rate training. The lower you can keep your heart rate, the easier it is to run long distances. So in the next couple of weeks we’re going to focus on that. As soon as she can control her heart rate, we will increase the distance. And when she’s able to run longer distances, we will focus on speed.
I know, some people prefer to focus on speed first, but the faster you run, the bigger the impact on your body. Our muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints and bones all have to get used to running. That’s why I prefer distance above speed.
