I Told You So (Yoga w/ Bob Harper Revisited)

So, remember how I told you that I knew the photographer was taking pictures of my feet during yoga with Bob Harper on Wednesday?  Well, I was right and my feet are on Facebook.  Exhibit A:

  

Here are a few others just so this isn't a whole post about my feet:

 

 

Yoga with Biggest Loser's Bob Harper

I don't watch much television.  I like TV quite a bit, but between working, working out, blogging, playing with my dog, occasionally sleeping and, you know, having a life, my days are pretty full.  And I'm a bookworm.  Anyway, I had seen snipits of Biggest Loser over the years, but, truth be told, I had never watched a full two-hour episode until last night.* 

Nevertheless, when the lovely Fitarella invited me to join her at a special yoga class taught by Biggest Loser's Bob Harper, I tweeted back "yes!" as fast as I could.  I really like what I've seen of Biggest Loser, and I love the message it sends about what people are capable of when they put their minds to something.   And Bob is awesome.   On Biggest Loser, Bob yells and he pushes, but it seems to come from such a genuine place; you can see that he cares and that he's passionate about what he does.  I was very excited to meet him, and I hoped that seeing him in person wouldn't spoil my impression of him.

The event was organized by Filter for Good, Brita's philanthropic endeavor (Bob's one of their spokespeople) and hosted at the 21st Street NY Health & Raquet Club.  Thanks to both for the awesome swag, and particularly for my new Brita filter!  They even sent a car to pick me up this morning.  I felt as much like a princess as I could at 6 am, before coffee, in the most minimal amount of makeup I could stand to be photographed in.  

I was still pretty out of it when we stumbled into the yoga studio, which is the only way I can explain how I ended up in the front row, directly facing Bob.  I'm a front row kinda gal for everything except yoga, and I'm pretty strict about that exception.  I try, but yoga's not my thing.  I had even toyed with the idea of squeezing in some extra yoga practice this week so that I wouldn't embarass myself infront of Bob, but it didn't happen.  To make matters worse, right next to Bob was a photographer who just kept snapping away.  I'm sure she's a lovely person, but, I swear, at one point she was taking pictures of my feet.  I'm just glad I had a fresh pedicure!

"A storm is brewing." - Bob HarperBob was an awesome yoga instructor.  He even managed to throw in some push-ups.  (I knew he was my kind of guy!)  At one point, I down-dogged when I should have up-dogged.  And there was a minor spider mishap (props to the girl in the orange top next to me for killing my spider!).  Other than that, class passed without incident and was really, really fun.  Bob has great taste in music.

After class, Bob answered our questions and graciously posed for a bazillion pictures.  Bob was everything he is on TV and more.  He spoke passionately about Biggest Loser and about fitness in general.  When asked where the line is between "feeling the burn" and "pushing too hard," he questioned whether there is such a thing as pushing too hard, and urged us all to push.  That said, he advocated finding exercise options, such as yoga, that work at any age and warned that ego can get in the way of fitness.  Bob addressed the recent study that found that women need to exercise more as they get older just to maintain (you knew that, right?  same for men, too.) and ragged on the media for some of the sensationalist and confusing stories that have run lately about exercise not being good for you.  As Bob put it, anyone can eat their way out of the benefits of exercise, and those kinds of stories just give that woman in Omaha one more excuse to skip the gym today.  Bob is also a fan of Jamie Oliver's new show, Food Revolution.  "A storm is brewing," he said.  People are realizing that most of what they eat isn't good for them; people are talking about food and health and fitness, and this is a good thing.

I left class happy and inspired.  To cap off a fabulous morning, I joined Fitarella and new friends Alison from Foster Fitness (check out her post and cute pics from yoga, too!) and Jodi from Model Per4mance and Jodiojo for a well-deserved breakfast at L'Express.  We gabbed about workouts and blogging and life in general, and, amazingly, when we left the restaurant, the sun was actually (finally) (kind of) shining.  Thank you, Bob!

-Gym Belle-  

*In my defense, I've been following Bob and Jillian on Twitter since I joined.

Run, Baby, Run!

I know you're all anxiously awaiting my Physique 57 v. Exhale post and, I swear, it's coming soon. In the meantime, though, my awesome l'il sis - let's call her Little Belle - ran the San Diego Marathon on May 31 and qualified for the Boston Marathon in April. Woohoo! Here's the scoop:

GB: Generally speaking, how did the San Diego Marathon compare to the New York Marathon? Any major differences?
LB: I think the San Diego Marathon is typically known as a faster marathon than NY. San Diego has a few noticeable hills, but the end of the race is mostly flat. NY, on the other hand, has hills pretty much throughout (bridges are tricky!) and a difficult finish. San Diego definitely felt faster to me, but I also trained much harder this time around. On a side note, runners that prefer the cold should be wary of San Diego. We lucked out with a cloudy day, but it can get hot there.

GB: Your goal was to qualify for Boston, and you made it. Did you know throughout the race that you were on pace to qualify?
LB: My (incredibly awesome) coach gave me a race plan with goals for the 5, 10, 15 and 20 mile markers. Because of the pre-established goals, I knew I was pretty much on target the whole race. The "scary" thing was that the race plan was counting on a negative split (meaning faster splits as the race progresses). So, while I knew I was on target at any given point, I also knew I had to go faster make the next goal. By mile 23, I was fairly confident that I was going to make it.

GB: Were there any points where you got nervous about the time?
LB: At the half, my time was 1:50:25, which seemed fairly frightening. But I decided that since it was within the goal markers my coach had provided I was ok, and just concentrated on the plan instead.

GB: Did you do anything differently to prepare this time?
LB: This time around I trained with a team, which I think made all the difference. Without the team, I definitely would not have done all the speed workouts and the hill workouts. At the end of the day, those are what make you faster. I also ran several more 'long runs' this time. Last time I did one 18 miler and one 20 miler. This time I did 2 18s, 1 19 and 2 20s. I wouldn't necessarily suggest this tactic, as it definitely puts you at risk for injury more often. However, it was definitely a confidence booster and confidence approaching the race is nearly as important as training.

GB: What are your goals now for Philly and Boston?
LB: I haven't really established any time goals for the Half Marathons I'm running this year (NY, Philly and Disney). My only real goal is to get you to run one! As for Boston, it's far enough away that I'm not thinking about it yet. But knowing my competitive side, I'll probably go for a PR. (That's a Personal Record).

GB: Any advice for wannabe marathoners?
LB: If you want to run a marathon, but are nervous or doubtful, I'd suggest training with a team. I've trained with and without a team and it really helps to have coaches who really know what they're talking about, as well as teammates who are in the same boat as you. Personally, I've had great experiences with Team in Training, so I'd definitely recommend that to anyone who is interested.

Congratulations again, Little Belle! As for me running a marathon, I've got my eye on the half marathon in Disney... I'll keep you posted.

-Gym Belle-