Water Therapy - Stand Up Paddleboard Yoga

Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham of Women TIES and the Women’s Athletic Network trying out SUP Yoga

Lying flat on a board, a little wider than my body, I stared up at the deep blue sky with cotton clouds and put my hands in the warm Bay Creek river. Listening to the calming voice of our instructor, the ever-positive Lynne Boucher, five of us settled into the calm of a late August afternoon. Listening carefully the creek reeds jostled in the late summer breeze, the water rippled, birds chirping in the wild, and even far away traffic on the road leading to our destination tickled my eardrums. “Ah!” it was so worth the wait.

Hope Breen leading the way!

In business, as in life, you have to be patient sometimes. Due to bad weather, this was our third attempt trying Stand Up Paddleboard Yoga for my lifetime sports goal. Bobbing on SUP boards next to me were four willing women, all of whom were entrepreneurs ending their summer office hours in peace. We were all hesitant paddling out to the perfect spot in the creek until we got our feet under us and natural instincts took over.

I tried Stand Up Paddle board for the first time on St. John’s Island last year on much wilder waves. I fell in a few times but like a good sport got right back up and tried again until I felt comfortable on it. SUP isn’t a hard sport; it just takes time to settle your legs and knees into a balanced stance so you can comfortably paddle forward as waves move you along. It is like riding a bicycle in many ways, once you understand the balance, you can do it confidently.

The harder part of this SUP experience was anchoring your board and slowly doing yoga poses on this moveable floor. If yoga is one thing, it is slow movements, which lends itself to moving on a board in the water. Our instructor allowed us to do the poses we wanted at the degree of hardness we wanted to try. Almost all of us were able to do harder poses and none of us fell in the water.

Downward Doggin’ it during SUP Yoga.

My favorite time doing this sport was “playtime” when we could do anything we wanted including jumping up and down on the board if we dared. Oh, don’t dare me! I saw one of my members do it and the next thing I knew I launched myself in the air a number of times, again not falling in. I would have never thought I could do that when I first stepped off the dock onto the board. Confidence climbs.

As our beautiful, tranquil, and yet sometimes challenging time, came to an end all my guests and I thought it was such a wonderful experience.  A few of them said,

Christina Breen-Hale rocking SUP Yoga

Stacey Murphy readying herself for tree pose

“I was stressed thinking about trying this sport today, but it was so relaxing.”
“It was easier than I thought”
“Once you get your balance, it becomes second nature”

All quotes from the women who came and conquered.

Trial Runs

Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham - “Try A Tri” Training - 1 mile run timed at 15 minutes.

The weekend long runs leading up to the Boston Marathon were trial periods as well as training runs for me.  It’s impossible to think you can do something physically, like running a marathon, by just thinking you can; instead you need to prove to yourself you can.

It isn’t so different in entrepreneurship when the idea to start a business, grow it successfully, and reap in the profits can be dreamed about, but not realized unless you test run the idea through a business plan, with advisors, and tweaking the specifics of the plan a year into running it. What we envision isn’t always what we face when we begin and try.

3 miles in 15 minutes was the biking time for today’s trial

As I jumped on my bike in 35 degrees, cool, sunny, but very windy conditions this Saturday to test a combination biking and running sequence before next week’s first ever mini-triathlon, I knew I had to try my hardest while timing myself in 15-minute increments to see the mileage I biked and ran individually for some comparison for myself for the upcoming race. I bike. I run. I don’t bike and then run after each other, so it was a test.

Since the mini triathlon is based on timing and not distance since it was a created event by RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) to give people a taste of what a triathlon is like, I needed to put the sports back-to-back to see how my body responded. Since my pool is closed this time of year due to snow, the 15-minute swim portion will be a mystery until I get in their pool. As a long time swimmer, I know I can do it but adding a third and different sport to the other two might test me a bit but, I’m ready.

No training for the swim portion of the Triathlon with the pool closed!

When I think back to launching my two company websites in a span of ten years, I remember needing to have the websites tested before they went live. I invited friends and business associates to “test” it out and tell me what they thought. I ended up tweaking the pages based on their experiences.

Similar to today when I only ran 1 mile in 15 minutes, I know to improve my distance for the event, I need to run more 1-milers this week to get more speed down. I wouldn’t have had that feeling if I waited until the actual event to see I needed more training in the run portion of the event.

Even though I’m not going for a medal (or am I for my age group at least?), it is still wise to put in the miles, tests, and trails to get a sense of where you stand, what you need to improve, and to help guide you the day of the event or launch. When you put in the miles, your mind knows you’ve done your best to prepare for what is ahead. It is then only up to you to do your best and succeed. Wish me luck next week!