I never thought I was an athlete

I never thought I was an athlete.
I have been working out since the end of college.  Weight training, martial arts, yoga, P90X, boot camp classes.  But I had never trained for anything remotely competitive.  The routine of taking classes and staying generally fit wasn't exciting to me anymore.  I turned 40 last June so I thought it was time for new challenges.

I decided ten weeks ago to train for the Jersey City Challenge Race.  For the last two years, I have been a fervent member of CKO Kickboxing Jersey City.  I signed up for a ten-week Saturday training class to prepare for the race.  
About four weeks into my training, I realized my body wasn't where it needed to be.  My left knee was achy, my running was inconsistent, and my endurance was struggling.  I'm SUPER competitive so knew I needed more resources to support my training.

I first went to Knead Massage to see Ceallaigh Pender to get some kinks out of my muscles.  I got MUCH more than that.  Cea is a master of understanding how muscles work systematically, how to assess where issues are, and focusing on muscle (and fascia) relief to relieve/rejuvenate the body.  I got customized massages to help me recover and perform better each week.  I also got advice on how I should stretch and take better care of my body. 

Cea then referred to see her boyfriend Andres Lorenz for personal training.  She mentioned that he could help me on my muscle weaknesses (underdeveloped hamstrings and adductors and tight hip flexors) while giving me race specific training. I had always known personal trainers but hearing that he had specific expertise (and with Cea's glowing referral) we scheduled our first training session.

Andres kicked my butt. I thought I was in shape from taking hour-long kickboxing classes 4 times a week, but I was WRONG.  Training for a 5K with over 20 obstacles meant I had to do specific things to get my body in shape for the race.  I joked with him that our 10-minute warm-up felt like a full workout!  He had me working plyometrics, specific exercises to strengthen my hamstrings, shoulders and other muscles.  We even did some interval training and running gait assessment to ensure I could be more explosive come race time.

Three weeks ago, Andres started our training sessions at Hudson Play in the Village area of downtown Jersey City.  He wanted me to get focus on race-specific obstacles in the form of a Ninja Warrior course!  To say I was excited to train like a maniac was an understatement.

I met Pat, the manager at Hudson Play (and former hockey player), and he was very gracious and helpful each time I trained there.  Hudson Play has an incredible space for adults to train in a fun, structured way that is VERY different than the typical gym workout.  I flashed back to Channel 5 NYC martial arts movies as Andres had me jump over obstacles, climb cargo nets, and do box jumps onto a stage.  

I feel stronger than I've ever been athletically.  

Some things I have learned:

- You need a personal trainer who can give you targeted specific training based on an understanding of your body and what you're training for (too many trainers do what works for them and don't really know the body or listen to their client's needs).  

- The power of massage therapy gets your body to recover and rejuvenate properly.  It's worth paying for if you're truly serious about your athletic training.

- Training with a team at CKO every week fosters healthy, supportive competition.  I got to run a 5K several times (which I had NEVER done before) and got to time myself vs. mini-obstacle course races.

There are tons of great fitness and health resources in Jersey City to leverage!  I named a couple that I love but there's so much more.  Investing in your health is the best thing you can do for yourself

My goal is to finish first in my age group. Regardless of the result, I feel more alive, more efficient and more aware.  That's a gift you can't place a dollar sign on.   

UPDATE: I finished at 33:06 minutes.  Not bad, not great.  I did finish below my goal of 35 minutes. Definitely need to continue to improve my endurance and to master the battle rope!  I'm ready for my next obstacle course race.  Who's with me?