running

Five Best Exercises for Runners

In honor of the Hartford Marathon this Saturday all our blogs this week will be about running.

Today we are posting two videos for runners. The first is a how-to of five different exercises and the second is less than five minutes long and I do the same exercises without explaining them so that you can do them with me as a routine.

These five exercises are fabulous for runners—they stretch your quads and hams and work your glutes and abs. It’s like a runners dream all in five minutes or less.

For information on our upcoming runner’s workshop click here.

Personal Euphoria

Five Best Exercises for RunnersMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:41-04:00

Run to Health

Nick Miller and I went to high school together. Since then we have found each other on Facebook, and he has been such an inspiration to me. I’ve been debating whether or not to run the Hartford Half Marathon based on how I feel. And then I read this article on Nick and once again he inspired me. I have no excuse.

I was interested in what Nick said at the end of the article in the New London Day about change and challenge. At first I was stunned because I spend a good portion of my life trying to convince people that starting small is worth it. I’ve even tried to convince people to start smaller because sometimes if you take on too much at once you can get injured or it will be so overwhelming you won’t stick with it. Small steps really can make a big difference. And if you go from doing nothing to walking even 20-minutes a day, you will start to lose weight, assuming you don’t change anything […]

Run to HealthMaggie Downie2017-10-25T14:30:14-04:00

Challenge Two Done–The Half Marathon

When I was 25 I ran a marathon. I’m proud of that, but I foolishly ran it without training, so training properly for a half marathon, while a much shorter distance, was a whole new experience for me. I didn’t know what to expect. I wanted to set a goal that was more than “just finish the race,” like I said when I ran the marathon, but I had no idea how to guess what my pace would be. I wished that I could run it in under 2 hours, but thought that was unrealistic. I hoped to do 10-minute miles, but thought that was highly unlikely. I wanted to at least to 10-minunte, 30 second miles. I thought that would be doable but hard.

I ran the race in 2 hours and 6 minutes (a 9-minute, 39-second mile). I was so proud. Luckily for most of the race I was running with people I had been training with all along—good conversation serves as a great distraction.

Challenge Two Done–The Half MarathonMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:46-04:00

Run Your Butt Off

When you run, you should run your butt off—literally. It is the largest muscle in your body: USE IT. That muscle should give you the burst on each step. It should be what springboards you into your stride, especially going up a hill.

For information on Personal Euphoria & Evolution Pilates upcoming runner’s workshop click here.

Run Your Butt OffMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:46-04:00

Challenge Two: Running Buddies Make A Difference

So I figured it’s about time I gave you an update on my preparation for Challenge Number Two: The Surftown Half Marathon in Rhode Island. It’s a little over a month away and I think I’m on track. On Friday I ran 11.6 miles and I felt pretty good afterwards—only had a mild headache which tells me I need to hydrate better the day before.

I’m feeling good in general. I’d like to work on some drills to improve my pace. I think a ten minute mile is a realistic goal for me even though I’d like to do a 9.5 minute mile. I definitely want to do better than an eleven minute mile.

I invested in a water belt, which I ran with on Friday and really liked.

What has been really helpful is having running buddies. I can say with certainty that I would not have stuck to this on my own. When I was younger I used to look forward to running for an hour by myself. Now I don’t even want to go on a thirty minute run by myself. And I don’t see myself doing anything more than 3.5 miles alone. I […]

Challenge Two: Running Buddies Make A DifferenceMaggie Downie2014-08-04T18:02:43-04:00