Back when I was a personal trainer and came up with the remarkably creative name of “Trink Fitness” for my business, I gave all of my clients a black branded t-shirt.
On the back was my logo. A sort of 1950s-gas-station-sign-meets-Soviet-propaganda-era poster with an upraised fist and my company name in bold, block letters.
The front featured a two-word phrase that epitomized one of the core tenets of my training philosophy:
Cardio Blows.
To be honest, the only reason I chose that particular phrase was that “Running Sucks” was already being popularized by a small, little-known brand called Nike.
Needless to say, I wasn’t the biggest advocate of cardiovascular training. For a meathead like me "cardio" was any back squat set that went above six reps.
So no one was as surprised as me when I recently signed up for a running program led by my colleague Jess Movold.
For those of you who don’t know, Jess has run about 12,000 marathons and other races, nine of those being the NYC marathon. She’s been featured in campaigns for New Balance and Asics, she raced with The Speed Project through the desert from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and has been the head coach for Runner’s World Magazine (where she has been featured on the cover multiple times).
Jess was also one of our first members at The Fort. She joined in the hopes of improving her running performance by adding meaningful and targeted strength training.
In one of our very first conversations I remember asking her what she was hoping to get out of training. Her answer was as simple and clear as any I’ve ever gotten:
“I want to be faster,” she said at the time.
Six months later she ran the NYC marathon and PR’d her time by 20 minutes.
So, if I was going to trust anyone to take me from zero-to-hero when it came to running (or, more appropriately, zero-to-not-the-last-person-picked-for-gym-class), Jess was the only option for me.
Full transparency: Jess is in charge of The Fort Squad, a group runners focused on getting stronger, faster and being part of a supportive community. And while Fort Squad is entirely her creation, it is a part of my business. And I don’t feel great about having clients do something that I wouldn’t also do myself.
I also had a Hyrox event coming up (I’ve written about how the running program really helped me in surviving Hyrox) and the thought of getting out of the basement gym a few times per week while working on my tan and increasing my Vitamin D levels was appealing. If running was part of that formula, so be it.
Jess enthusiastically welcomed me into the group (honestly, I’m not sure if I know anyone else who is as welcoming and genuinely wants to help people as much as Jess) and got me all set up with the schedule and technology that would be delivering my workouts and customized paces right to my phone.
I pulled on an old pair of weightlifting tights, cued up a Dad Rock playlist on Spotify and set out for my first run - a 25 minute “easy run” on a beautiful afternoon in late March.
Boy, it was humbling.
It’s rare that I am the top performer at the gym but I can hold my own when it comes to squats, deadlifts and overhead presses. Even workouts on the rower and fan bike are things that I can manage.
Running was a completely different animal.
My legs felt heavy within blocks. The amount of sweat running down my bald head directly into my eyes was blinding. The slightest gust of wind had me feeling like I was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz trying to wrangle Toto during the tornado scene.
Adding insult to injury, Claire and Cody, two trainers from our staff who left the gym about 10 minutes after I did, passed me like, well, like two young trainers who are good at running.
But as the 25 minutes came to an end and I made a pit stop at Just Salad for a celebratory post-run lunch (PRO TIP: take the time to towel off and change after a run and before you grab food if you don’t want to look like a psychopath while you are waiting for Summer BBQ Backyard salad to be expertly made) I couldn’t help but feel accomplished and slightly exhilarated.
I trained with Jess through the entire Summer, getting out for a few runs per week while balancing my in-gym strength training. And, I’ll break the suspense here, I didn’t become some world-class runner in that time.
But the runs did get easier almost every time I laced up the sneakers (even though some days felt harder than others). I PR’d my mile multiple times. I ran over 5 miles without stopping. I had intervals where my mile average was in the 5 minute mile zone.
And, perhaps most importantly, it felt good to tackle something new and novel.
As someone who has been training consistently for decades, finding an unturned rock in the gym is not easy. It was really great to feel like a beginner again and find something to improve at. Plus having a great coach like Jess and a community of other supportive runners in my corner helped me get through it on days when I doubted whether or not I could.
Just as it is in the gym, it felt great to be a part of a team. I highly recommend you give it a try.
Plus, and this can’t be emphasized enough, I ended up with a righteous tan.
FULL DISCLOSURE (again!): Jess is opening up a few spots in her FORT SQUAD in the coming weeks and we wanted to give you - our loyal readership - the first opportunity to grab those coveted spots. Over the next couple of days I’m going to send out two additional emails detailing how the program works and how you can sign up for a free discovery call with Jess to find out if the program could be right for you.
If you have absolutely no interest in finding out more, simply delete those emails and we’ll be back with another blog post next week.
But if you are thinking about adding running to your fitness routine or adding strength into your running program I highly recommend you stay tuned over the next couple of days.