Two weeks ago we introduced our new Zodiac Collection, last week we (re-)highlighted our Ragnar Collection, and this week we introduce yet another new collection: Our Women Rock! Collection. Like its sibling Ragnar collection, our Women Rock! collection is aimed at both yogis and runners (a group of athletes who probably need yoga more than any other.)
Yoga is not just for “yogis” — it’s beneficial and complementary to nearly every athletic endeavor, but especially to runners. You might think “sure, I can see how doing yoga before a big race would loosen up a runner’s leg muscles”, but the importance of yoga actually comes after the run. Yoga after a run helps to prevent muscles and ligaments and tendons from stiffening as soon as they stop moving. Runners… you know exactly what I mean. You finish your run, sit down for 15 minutes, and then get back up again — you feel that rigor mortis setting in already, and it takes a while to kick it back to the curb.
Furthermore, post-run yoga shouldn’t only come after The Big Race, but after every run to prevent long-term repetitive-use injuries to muscles and joints, many — if not most — of which are brought on by stiffening of the tissue after your run. Even a few minutes of yoga following your cooldown will help prevent stiffness from setting in.
All of this is part of the reason our running-themed yoga mats have proven so popular with runners: once they try post-run yoga, they immediately understand why it’s so helpful, and it makes getting out on the road again the next day so much easier. Furthermore, it helps alleviate some of the risk from injury due to overuse. Nothing is more depressing to a dedicated athlete than being sidelined because you pushed your body too hard for too long. You wish you could take it back, wish you hadn’t done that extra few miles even though your body was telling you to back off, but now all you can do is get to physical therapy and hope your body eventually heals itself, a process that seems to take longer every year. It’s better to avoid the injury in the first place than to try to repair it after it happens.
TLDR: yoga and stretching is good for runners both before and after a run, and we at Big Raven Yoga make really great yoga mats. Part of what makes our microfiber suede mats so awesome is that they’re machine-washable, which makes them easy to bring along to your race without worrying about dirt and sweat. Our mats are rugged and are designed to stand up to abuse and neglect! (Besides, who wants to sit directly on the damp ground to stretch or recover when you can sit on a soft, cushiony mat instead?!)
In case you’re wondering how this collaboration came to be… we were approached by the Women Rock organizers, who learned about us from our friends and fans at the Ragnar Relay Series. Women Rock really loved our work with Ragnar and wondered whether we’d be interested in partnering with them to design an exclusive collection of yoga/stretching/recovery mats for their runners too? We were all too excited to jump at the chance to design more mats. We have waaaay more ideas for yoga mats than we can ever justify putting on the site all at once, so we’re always a bit giddy when we have an opportunity to design a whole new collection!
And, not coincidentally, the 8th Annual Women Rock race series is taking place at 7:30 AM this Saturday morning at the Upper Landing in St. Paul, Minnesota. With distances ranging from 2.5K (1.5 miles) all the way up to a half-marathon, there’s something accessible to nearly everyone at every fitness level. It’s not too late to register! (Includes mimosas!🥂)
In celebration of our new-found collaborators/co-conspirators, take $30 OFF any design in our Women Rock collection until midnight on Sunday, September 1 using the promo code WOMENROCK at checkout. We hope to see you at our booth on Saturday morning, where you can check out our new designs in person!
— Joleen