Saturday halfway point!

Our hardy Saturday group gathered under cloudy skies for our three repeats of 4 minute walking / 5 minute jogging. Our route was about 2.6 miles.

It's hard to believe we are halfway through our six week program. It's exciting to see the consistency and improvement. Rahnelle has already taken a minute off her treadmill mile - we love to hear it. And Sally, Tina and Brian win gold stars for perfect attendance. :) We look forward to Wednesday's group - see you there!

If you missed today's session and have any questions about nutrition and hydration, please feel free to contact me or Jenny or ask us at the next class. We talked a little bit about the "glycogen window" which occurs in the 20 to 30 minutes following a run and how it is a prime opportunity to refuel your body, making it ready for the next workout. As our workouts start taking closer to an hour, and/or increasing in intensity, it might also be time to think about experimenting with consuming a "gel" type product during the workout (about 100 calories). Consuming a pre-workout snack 1 1/2 to 2 hours before the workout (such as cereal with fruit and nuts, or a yogurt with fruit and nuts) is also something to try. And remember to record what you ate before, during and after, in your running log so that if you have a good or bad experience, you'll know what might have contributed to it. And, of course, nothing is as important as paying attention to your nutrition around the clock. The handout you received at the beginning of the course has some great tips such as how to avoid snacking pitfalls at work. I have more nutrition handouts if anyone needs one.

See you soon!

Pre Lunar Eclipse Run

Our three sets of 10 minute walks followed by 7 minute jogs took us on an approximately 4.25 mile loop (seen here). The evening was gentle and still light until the end, and it was as if the world was holding its breath in anticipation of the lunar eclipse to happen later that night.

Thanks for a great group effort – progress is very visible in you guys to me and Jenny. You can be quite proud.

Hope to see all of you on Saturday!

Spring is Near

We ran/walked 2.2 miles today in 30 minutes with temperatures in the 40's, what a good way to start the day! Enjoy the rest of the weekend and we'll see you on Wednesday. 

Happy Heart Day

Happy Valentime's Day, everyone. Jenny is right on (below) - with the 3.8 mile distance we did yesterday. Here is the route which only shows a shade under that because I didn't make the line go exactly along every nook and cranny. Good job yesterday and sorry if I scared anyone with my lovely cough. Everyone and I mean every one of you is making big investments in your fitness and can expect things to get not only easier but more pleasant as we move on down the road.

Thanks to Jenny for covering for me on Saturday. I'll be thinking of you all. Have a great workout and I'm sorry I'll miss the plyometrics - they're a lot more fun in a group!

Unfortunately my being gone means you're going to miss the results of my stellar photography skills. Ha! Like the below, which was taken just in the nick of time... as we stretched after our workout...Say cheese!

Happy Valentine's Day

Just a quick note to let you know how many miles we got in yesterday: 3.8 miles! Nice job, I thought the slush and ice would slow us down but I was wrong! 

Good luck to Kendra this weekend!

Picking it up!

Today we had the pleasure of several more intrepid souls joining our group, just in time for some core strengthening exercises following our walk/run. Such lucky ducks!

We kept our walk/run to 20 minutes total today in order to include these important exercises and stretches. If you feel some soreness after these first few sessions, just know that it means you are getting stronger!


Practically balmy temperatures of mid 30s greeted us as we made our way to the ever dependable Kim Williams / river trail. Here is the route we took, about 1.75 miles, which included a warm up walk, then:

7 minute brisk walk
5 minute jog
5 minute brisk walk
3 minute jog

Jenny explained the importance of strengthening the core, after which, motivated and virtually chomping at the bit, we performed push ups, crunches, plank (front and side), lunges, toe taps (for the shin muscles) and hip/leg extensions, plus some hamstring and IT band stretches. Have I forgotten anything?

For Reading: Here is an article (one among tons on the internet) which gives a good synopsis of why it is vital to give yourself a solid core if you want to bear running fruit (okay, the cheesy metaphor was mine). No, there will not be a test. ;)

Please feel free to email us at kendra dot borgmann at gmail dot com or jenny dot newton at gmail dot com (aren't we spammer savvy?) with any questions or pose it right here for all to benefit from.

Looking forward to Wednesday! We will spend more of the hour doing aerobic walk/running. Woo hoo!

And here are some more long awaited glam shots! You're lookin' good! Some of them are blurry because you were moving too fast!


Bring it on home, Sue!


Jenny & Patricia sensing the barn is near!


Get used to seeing this side of Tina and Sally!


Barb & Brian from the back...


Aah, that's better. B & B from the front and Sally caught in the crossfire!

Timed Mile a Breeze

What a great second day with our troopers toughing out a timed mile around the snowy track off the Kim Williams trail. Here is the route (with the walk to the track and back being roughly 1.3 miles, and the timed mile... you guessed it, a mile! Or, a shade longer, actually).

It was fun to welcome a few new members and on Saturday we may pick up a few more for an even merrier bunch.

Jenny and I were excited to see you all do the mile with such great attitudes, and no walking even (although that would have been perfectly acceptable)! We will see what 6 weeks brings in terms of improved time or just greatly improved comfort at that level of output.
If nothing else, the conditions around the track might be better. Wink wink.

The glowing faces and talk of endorphin highs after the workout were awesome.

Kendra remembered to take a picture this time, but, doh! forgot the camera. On Saturday surely both things will happen at once and we'll finally have some evidence that our class really does exist (although granted, it must sound too good to be true!).

On the slate for Saturday:

7 minutes walk
5 minutes jog
5 minutes walk
3 minutes jog
cool down and strength exercises

See you all at 9:00 AM at the warm and cozy massage school (thanks again to Joe Beatty!).

First class a success!

Welcome, new runners! It was great to meet you and the first session went really well. Our first walk/jog was 2 miles exactly (see this link for our route) - great job!

Although Kendra brought her camera, she forgot to snap a picture of us braving the brisk wind along the Clark Fork. Next time! However, the camera did capture this shot of Kendra and Jenny in the School of Massage along with Mr. Bones.

Have fun on your in-between-class workouts and we look forward to seeing you on Wednesday evening!

If you missed the first class, please still free to join us! It's not too late to get in on the camaraderie and fitness ride.

Thanks again!