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Ready Runners Workshop

 Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with a delightful group of thirteen New York runners, readers, and bloggers along with my personal trainer, Lauren. As part of our partnership, Equinox and I are working to plan a few events throughout the year that can help area readers get in touch with their bodies and improve their workouts. 

This month’s event, Ready Runners Workshop, was focused on an aspect of running that many of us don’t focus enough time on: repair and adjustment. Lauren broke the class up into four parts:

  • foam rolling
  • adjustment and stretching work
  • agility
  • body part specific relaxation

The great thing about the class was that each person was able to spend the time doing each exercise on their own with their personal foam roller and mat while Lauren and I helped with adjustments.

 This meant that when they get home hopefully there will be some muscle memory that will help ensure these are exercises become a regular part of their workout routine. In addition, Lauren took time to answer questions during the workshop and provided helpful handouts!

 Foam Rolling General Tips

  • Foam rollers are inexpensive and can be stored in almost any size apartment or home and can quickly become one of your most important pieces of workout equipment or gear. (Here is the one Equinox uses in their gyms.)
  • Foam rollers aren’t just for your legs. They can be used for the entire body.
  • When you find a tender spot in the area you are working on, don’t fear. Keep the roller on this spot and wait to feel a release or diminished discomfort.
  • Foam rolling can be used before and after exercise, both weight bearing workouts and cardio to help activate the muscles and release tension.
  • The most common areas to work are the thorasic spine, piriformis, itBand, hamstrings, and qauds. However, yesterday many of us found that the calves and adductors were the most painful.

You can find more information regarding foam rolling here. In addition, Lauren highly recommends this site for great exercise information and low price gear.

Adjustments and Stretching

During the stretching and adjustments portion Lauren led us through a few workouts to help stretch our tight hip flexors and strengthen and engage our glute muscles for more balanced running.

We started with multi plane hip stretches as you can see below. There are three which help stretch all aspects of your hip muscles and allow you to get deeper than a static stretch.

We moved from the hips to the glutes focusing on bridge work both one legged and two legged to strengthen these muscles which tend to be weak for female runners. Due to our anatomy, women naturally engage their quads more than their glutes when running which can lead to injury.

Next we used bands to help build these muscles further through simple side step exercises which can be taken to the next level by adding squats in between. These bands, which can also be purchased on her favorite site, Perform Better, are only $2 and can be great tools to bring with you anywhere! Yesterday we used yellow (light) and green (medium) resistance bands due to the upcoming MORE Half Marathon many of the ladies were running today. 

Agility

For our final movement portion, we broke into groups to go through agility drills which can be used the day before or of a race to help loosen and shakeout leg muscles. The cone drill was a sidestep and sprinting exercise which forced you to move in all directions. The ladder exercise is a traditional agility drill combined with quick movements. The last station combines a hip opener exercise with a follow through movement.

 After all this movement we ended with relaxation. Lauren led us through guided progressive muscle relaxation which allowed us to focus on individual areas of our body while laying in a dark room. Similar to the savasana in yoga, this ten minute exercise left each of us completely relaxed and calm. By focusing on certain areas (clench and release your hands, then clench your feet, followed by your face, etc) it is easier to stay in the practice and not find your mind wandering. While she suggested this for right before bed or a big race, I think this can be a great exercise to use anywhere at anytime, even if you’re not lying down.

After the relaxation portion, the Equinox spa manager, Tim, joined us for some massage therapy education. While some of us, ahem Emily, were lucky enough to enjoy his touch during the demonstration, he reminded us that there is no point in pushing your muscles through constant workouts and training if you don’t allow time for repair. He should know as he is a former football and baseball athlete! His portion left me craving a massage even though I know I won’t be having one anytime soon since I just had one down at Sea Island.

Question: Are you a foam roller? Stick user? None of the above?

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Ashley D /

This Week’s Superlatives

This week has been a bit more relaxed than most. I was able to work from home part of today and I balanced a busy work week with plenty of sleep and some great workouts and meals. I thought it’d be fun to round up some of my favorite things from this week in a little superlative post.

My hardest workout this week was definitely yesterday morning’s spur of the moment workout class. My personal trainer is pregnant and unfortunately sleep hasn’t come easy for her lately. When she texted me that she was exhausted and needed more sleep, I turned to Equinox’s group fitness schedule in hopes of finding a substitution. The 45 minute Cardio Sculpt class with Caitlin McGowan was a perfect substitute. The cardio bursts were intense and some of the lunges and step ups challenged my legs. My only wish was that the chest and arm section had been a bit longer.

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My favorite lunch salad concoction was a protein filled salad with a few new flavors: arugula and romaine mix, egg whites, 1 egg, grapes, beets, red onions, tomatoes, celery, half serving of blue cheese, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It was delicious and the extra protein really made it stick while the hard boiled yolk gave it a creamier consistency since it mixed throughout when they chopped the salad.

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I’ve fallen head over heels for juices, which is bad for my wallet but great for my skin and body. The winner of this week’s juices was the green monster: kale, spinach, ginger, apple, lemon, and pineapple!

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Last but not least, the thing that left me with the biggest smile this week was last night’s Junior League social event with my committee. Our social sub-committee is making a concerted effort to provide activities which bring our group together outside of our volunteer commitments and monthly meeting. While we’ve tried the normal happy hours or dinner outings, last night’s pottery painting at Little Shop of Crafts was more fun than any of us expected! While some of us are more talented than others, I can’t wait to use my University of Georgia mug for my morning office coffee.

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What left you smiling this week?

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Personal Training Reflections: One Year Later

Happy Thursday! I’m really looking forward to this weekend after a long work week. The weekend hasn’t begun but it’s already filled with some fun workouts (Soul Cycle, Strala Yoga) and a fun double date! After this weekend’s workouts I’ll be scaling back my workouts Monday-Friday in preparation of Saturday’s half marathon.

Today’s post is the first part in a reflection on my one year relationship with Lauren, my personal trainer at Equinox.

On March 23rd, 2011 I walked into Equinox unhappy with my body and esteem. While I successfully crossed the finish line of my first marathon just 4 months earlier, I wasn’t feeling like myself. I’d lost my workout mojo, gained weight during marathon training due to too much eating, and was discouraged that my running wasn’t improving.

I didn’t go into my first training session with the intention of investing in a personal trainer. I decided to use my complimentary training session as a way to improve my workouts, introduce weight training, and motivate myself. By the end of our hour session, which included 5 minutes of dynamic warm-ups, 45 minutes of high intensity training, and 10 minutes of stretching, I was sold!

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The session left me feeling exhausted and weak but like there was hope. Lauren, a fellow runner, was the perfect mix of intimidating and inspirational. She listened to my goals and helped me outline a way to achieve them. Most importantly, she already felt like someone I could see myself looking forward to seeing each week.

One of my biggest learnings about personal training is that you need to mesh with your trainer. Write down what you THINK you want in a trainer and then share this with your gym. For example, I knew I wanted a female who would push me.

Once I decided to make the investment in personal training, Bo and I had to have a long discussion. Personal training is an investment. It was an even longer discussion since we both were hooked on personal training after our respective training sessions. Personal training sessions at our Equinox location range from $79-$105 per session, depending on your package and the trainer’s tier. Equinox has trainers who are Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 based on their expertise. Yes, we can both do math. This personal health choice of ours cost approximately $320 per week or $600 per month for each of us or $1200 per month total. In order to afford this, we had to make some tough decisions. Remember that trip to Paris we didn’t take last year? Notice my lack of Friday Fashion posts lately? How about the Exhale, Soul Cycle, or Physique classes? We both made certain sacrifices so we could afford this investment. I also had a discussion with Equinox about partnering with them during the year through posts, awareness campaigns, tweets, and reader/blogger events. In exchange, they were willing to provide a modest discount.

But, a year later, it has still been a hefty investment. Hell, I could have had cosmetic surgery in certain cities for this price. But, one year later I’m proud of how far I’ve come and the results I get to feel each day. I’ve played frisbee on a beach in my bikini without trying to cover myself. I can rock out 35 full pushups and have improved my pace in almost every race this year! But, beyond the way I feel or the strength improvements, I’ve also seen weight and measurement improvements.

Below is a chart that shows my progress along the way. Unfortunately, I didn’t take true “before and after” pictures but these caliper numbers speak for themselves.

  3/20/2011 9/6/2011 3/3/2012
Weight 172 169 164
Triceps 19.5 mm 17.5 13.5 mm
Abdomen 20.5 mm 19 mm 12.5 mm
Illium 17.5 mm 17.5 mm 17 mm
Thigh 10 mm 9.5 mm 11 mm
Body Fat % 23% 19.6 18.5

Below are a few pictures that illustrate the progress as well. A year later, I’m done cringing at pictures of me.

March 2011

March 2012

Part 2 of this post will discuss some of my favorite workouts, how the workouts have evolved and more about finding a trainer within your personal budget.

Feel free to leave any questions in the comments and I hope you appreciate my honesty on this topic.

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