I was born with the Clumsy gene - Corina's Marathon Blog

I seem to have a talent for finding ways of avoiding training at the beginning of the week. Last week it was the rain, this week I brought out my inner clumsy. On Sunday, my day off from training, I was wandering around out apartment and gently bumped into some furniture. I’m not sure what happened but I must have caught the corner just right and went down clutching my knee. 

By the following morning a deep bruise had developed at the top of my kneecap, it hurt to bend my leg and it was even sore having the weight of my trousers push on the bruise. Luckily I have a great therapist close at hand and he happily obliged when I asked him to tape up my knee, giving him the puppy dog eyes.

I’ve had tape on before when I have walked into objects and hurt myself. It is truly miraculous. The pain reduced immediately, I was able to bend my leg better and I could no longer feel the injury during normal activity. By the following day it had healed up enough for me to try a run, after carefully selecting an outfit that would complement the tape. Amazingly the tape gave it enough support that I could complete my 7 miles without problems (well, without problems to my knee, I did manage to get a sunburn…). 

I managed to catch up my missed run the rest of the week and completed my longest run so far, 10 miles.

Next week is recovery week where I cut back on my mileage and allow my body to recover. Hopefully I’ll be able to get through at least one week without any drama.

Corina

A Year in Review

It is a year since Corina and I boarded that plane which took us from the UK to the USA, so it seemed appropriate to write a blog post reviewing the year.

If we thought that getting the Visa to come into the USA was hard (and it was unbelievably hard) we were ill prepared for how hard things would be once we got here…

In the UK our business had grown organically over 10 years, we were accepted as experts in our field and we had an established base of wealthy influential clients. All of this gone could we survive? We thought so, but we were also aware that most businesses fail within the first year.

It took far longer to get the studio up and running than we thought. We made some poor choices, we took some bad advice and some people put their hands in our naive pockets… But we have ended up with a beautiful professional studio and most of our sanity...

Personally I have found my passion since arriving in the USA. Before I came over I was struggling to find my niche. Now I train every day with my sword, attending Iai class twice a week, I am an associate photographer (!) with KWD Photo, I have just taken up golf and signed up for a swimming event that will take me under the Golden Gate Bridge. Music has always been important to me and since coming over I have seen my favorite band Motley Crue, I have seen Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith and Sammy Hagar, what is not to love about the USA?

I now attend networking events in order to build our business. I call clients, Facebook, write blogs, newsletters anything to drive business towards us. This is all new and way outside of my comfort zone! I started the year as a personal trainer and massage therapist, I am now an exercise consultant and a business owner.

Now I love Starbucks coffee, I savor a good cup of Darjeeling, and I miss lamb. I have found out that I love the NFL and the UFC, and I have been surprised to find that some Americans actually have a sense of humor!

Americans love our accents. Many think that English, Scottish and Welsh are interchangeable titles… And for some reason Americans think that the Scottish and the Irish don’t get along, whereas in reality we are united by a loathing of the English!

We have been amazed at the generosity of some people we have met, and disappointed by others we thought were friends. Corina and I have made friends we know we will keep for life.

Overall this past year we have been on a roller-coaster, we have had more low points than high points. Corina and I have both shed far too many tears and lost far too much sleep worrying about the business and about money. If I had any hair left it would be grey for sure!

At the end of our first year we are still here, we know that in order for our business to be successful we will have to continue to go through growing pains, and we know that it will be all worth it.

We both love our adopted home, we gave up so much to be here, and we have found it hard. A year on there is nowhere else I would rather be.

Alan

Did Lance Armstrong take performance enhancing drugs and does it matter?

In the recent 60minutes TV show various riders, most prominently featured Tyler Hamilton, said that they saw Lance Armstrong taking banned performance enhancing products including the blood booster EPO and the steroid testosterone. 

I have a poster in the studio celebrating Lance Armstrong’s 7 Tour de France victories. Should I take it down? Should I take it down if Lance is convicted of defrauding the cycling community by taking banned substances?

Lance Armstrong has never tested positive (?). He was dominant in an era or cycling where doping was endemic, systematic and effective. Lance Armstrong has never tested positive.

Lance Armstrong came back from testicular cancer that nearly killed him, this is not in question. Lance Armstrong is the greatest cyclist of his generation, this is not in question. All of his competitors have been busted for taking performance enhancing products. Nearly all the cyclists that he had to beat to win his 7 victories in France have tested positive. He won when everyone else was dirty, if he was dirty did this just level the playing field?

Regardless of what Lance did or did not take, he is the face of modern road cycling. Lance Armstrong promoted the sport of road cycling beyond what anyone has ever done or will ever do. His story is that of true survivorship.

Does it matter? Yes, because it does tarnish his reputation. This however does not diminish his achievements in surviving cancer, winning those Tour victories, popularizing cycling, inspiring millions and setting up his charitable foundation.

Lance Armstrong is the greatest endurance athlete of his generation and maybe ever. He has inspired millions of people, helped millions of cancer sufferers an survivors, he co-wrote the greatest sports biography ever “It’s not about the bike.”, he is a true legend.

I will not take be taking down my Lance Armstrong poster.

Alan

I don’t like the rain! - Corina's Marathon Blog

Week 2 of my marathon adventure didn’t start quite as planned. We moved to a new apartment over the weekend, so I had 2 days of carrying furniture and boxes up and down stairs. I’d like to say it was a great workout but I can think of more fun ways to get fit! Anyway, my legs were still toast on Monday so I kept delaying my scheduled run hoping to feel better later. Predictably as the afternoon and evening rolled in I was not in the mood to run and just wanted to curl up on the sofa. I’ll do the run tomorrow…

Tuesday and my make-up run didn’t happen either, this time because of the rain. I could say that I am a complete wimp not wanting to go out when it’s raining but instead I’ll take it as a sign of how well I have adapted to the California lifestyle! In Scotland if you don’t go out training when it rains you wouldn’t get much training done at all. I was used to just slinging on an extra layer and heading out into whatever the weather had in store. Over here you know it will be beautiful again later in the day so it doesn’t seem as urgent to head out when its nasty. 

Wednesday and I had the alarm set early to head out for the 8 mile run I was nervous about. I haven’t run this far in a few months and wasn’t completely convinced I was up to the challenge. But… I could hear the rain pelting down whilst I was still lying in bed, so I stayed there and told myself I would definitely do it later. This time Alan helped and reorganized my schedule for me so he could push me out of the door at 3pm. Off I went with my Garmin GPS watch dusted off and freshly out of retirement. I explored some new routes, took some wrong turns and managed to find just about every hill in Rancho Santa Fe! But 8 miles later I was still going strong, confident that I was stronger than I had given myself credit for and looking forward to the rest of the week that didn’t contain any more drama or inconvenient rain.

Sharkfest

I have a small obsession with the Golden Gate Bridge, I am from Newcastle Upon Tyne and we have quite a famous bridge there: The Tyne Bridge, but the Golden Gate Bridge has always held a unique fascination for me. It has been over 12 years since I first saw that wonderful red structure spanning the bay in San Francisco, Corina and I were on honeymoon, it was my first time in the USA and I remember being awestruck by this bridge that I had seen a million times on TV. On a recent trip to San Francisco to celebrate our anniversary I took over 1000 images of the bridge… trust me I am obsessed, and I think that it is one of the most beautiful and iconic sights in the world. 

I studied geology at university, I graduated with an honors degree and in my final year I spent a great deal of time studying the fault patterns on the West Coast of the USA and the infamous San Andreas Fault. Maybe it is because I know that San Francisco will suffer a catastrophic earthquake, maybe it is the history of Alcatraz and Angel Island or the beautiful vibrant city overlooking the bay, there is something magical about that bridge. When I first started to date Corina she had this sweatshirt from a trip to San Francisco that had the Alcatraz Triathlon motif on, I always thought swimming from Alcatraz was insane! 

There are dozens of triathlon races that start from Alcatraz and race through San Francisco, and I have often thought about doing them. I have always wanted to swim in San Francisco Bay and when Corina and I wrote down our lifelong ambitions this was one of mine. We have researched the various races and accompanied swims that take place in the bay but never really got down to actually doing it. Most of the swims go from Alcatraz to the presidio but don’t go under the bridge. Then last week I saw the email from envirosports which announced the inaugural Golden Gate Sharkfest a 1.6mile swim from the South Tower of the bridge to Sausalito…

The plan is that myself and a bunch of other nutters will be dropped off by ferry into the water and then will swim under the bridge to Horseshoe Cove on the north side of the headland. The cut off time is 80mins, this should be achievable but I have not been in the water for 2 years! 

The race happens on October 22nd this is the Saturday following the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco that Corina is running and two days after my 37th birthday! So the timing couldn’t be any more perfect, we took this as fate and a good omen. I get to watch my wife pick up a Tiffany’s necklace finishing the Nike Women’s, I get to spend my birthday in one of my favorite places and then I get to fulfill a lifetime ambition by swimming under the bridge HOW FANTASTIC IS THAT?

I will be Blogging about my journey towards Sharkfest, so please sit back in the warm and dry and enjoy the trip with me!

Alan

My Final Guinea Pig Summary - by Carrie Adamson

I am done with my job as the guinea pig for the Wolf Studio in Solana Beach, CA. It has been experience that is unforgettable. I was selected over other applicants by Corina and Alan Lunn to receive an evaluation, personal training, and weekly massage therapy for six weeks. I entered at the last minute on a whim, not sure I would even be considered. I was already following the Wolf Studio on Facebook because I knew Corina from a weekly group run we attended and saw the post the weekend before the entries were due. I felt like I was already in pretty good shape from weight training three days a week and running 5-6 times a week. Why would they pick someone who was already doing well on her own? Well because there is always room for improvement. The weekend prior I ran a half marathon and set a new PR, that is when Alan was first able to assess my fitness level. I remember him saying that I was already looking like I was in pretty good shape, but when he saw my rear view he saw that he could make some improvements to my physique. My first two appointments were a client assessment and then a lactate test. The first is just a bunch of measurements and the second was a real workout. On an early Monday Morning I ran in four minute intervals having my finger poked for a blood sample and the speed increasing each time until I couldn’t take it (the speed) anymore. Apparently I did well and my chart was exactly what it should have looked like. Now my training can begin.

It is agreed that my workout days will be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6 AM and I alternated between upper and lower body workouts. I was used to going to the gym three times a week and doing the same routine each time for almost two years. I used almost exclusively machines and figured it was working because between that and my running I had managed to lose almost 100 lbs in a year. In the studio I worked mostly with Alan. Corina was there almost every day and helped spot me for some exercises to Alan could take photos tracking my progress. For every exercise I did, there was four sets of about 8-10 reps. The weight seemed to progress quickly. They joke that I made it look too easy, so the weight had to go up. On the lower body days some of my favorites were squats and lunges. I feel that they had the biggest impact on the shape of my legs and with the squats it was always nice to go around bragging how much weight I had on the bar (I got up to 205). On the upper body for the same reason that I like seeing the changes I liked the bent over row and squat thrust. I remember one morning looking in the mirror during the bent over row workout and seeing how shapely my shoulders and arms were, I couldn’t believe that was my body changing so quickly right before my eyes. Two of my least favorites were the hamstring exercise with the swiss ball because it will really get that burning feeling and the prone cobra because it was at the end of the workout and my arms were already dead. 

Music accompanied all my training sessions and I must say Alan’s library is vast. I am not sure I ever heard the same set, he plays mostly rock from the 80’s and 90’s I think. It is not my style so while I knew some of the more popular tunes I didn’t know them all.

Prior to working out with the Wolf Studio I was only doing two sets of every machine in the rotation and with no workout buddy. Now I am doing four sets, sometimes with heavy weight and having someone behind me strongly encouraging me to keep going because I only have one or two reps is helpful. I already miss that, so I just pretend when I am tired and don’t want to push out one more that they are behind me saying to keep going. 

Part of my job as guinea pig was to get a weekly massage. That sounds so rough I know. Through my experience though I have learned that massage isn’t just for relaxation, but also for thearapy and that it can be used to fix any minor aches and pains (or niggles in Alan and Corina speak) before they become major issues and take out of training. I would come in on Saturday after my long runs and let them know what parts of my body was feeling the beat up. Most occasions the entire sessions were spent working on my legs since I was the hardest on them for my marathon training. While I did enjoy the soft tissue massage work (who wouldn’t?) I have learned the value in using it to keep me healthy. I did have some minor aches that were treated with massage and Kinesio tape. Both Alan and Corina have areas and specialties that they work on best, so my body got the best treatments every time. 

Corina and Alan went above and beyond on what I was supposed to receive as the Guinea Pig. The offer was originally for six weeks, but they extended to me for 10 weeks. The same time I was beginning my training sessions at the Wolf Studio I was also training for my first Boston Marathon. Corina told me at one of our weekly fun runs that they were going to see me through to Boston so I wasn’t dropped with a month out and no training. On top of getting the extra training, Corina revamped my running schedule. I saw a few new workouts I had never tried before and was asked to push myself to faster paces I hadn’t tried. The first weeks took some getting used to, between the weight training and the new running program I was wore out. I enjoyed the physical challenge of it all and kept up with my workouts and runs. My least favorite run was probably hill for two reasons, because it left me out of breath and I had to do it before work in the winter in the dark to fit it in my schedule. 

The Boston Marathon has come and gone. I trained hard to run a 3:20 race and was ready to set a new personal record with my best being a 3:28. Race day I was a bunch of nerves and my morning didn’t start off well. I spilled coffee all over my running outfit, spilled my breakfast all over the subway, took a big fall getting onto the bus, and couldn’t imagine what else would go wrong. I tied my shoes too tight and had to stop twice to readjust them, but it wasn’t until mile 14 that I really started to fall off pace. I felt dehydrated and getting water wasn’t seeming to help. It took me about six miles to feel better, but by then my PR was out the window. I didn’t have my best race time wise, but I had the most fun at a race. I will say it is very disappointing knowing that I worked so hard, put all I had into the last few months to get ready for one race and then had an off day. I know my 3:20 is in me and I will get it, hopefully within the year. 

After the marathon I took a couple weeks off from running and weight training. I am back to the gym and slowly adding runs back to my daily activities. I the gym I did not go back to using the machines, but I am doing the exercises that I learned working with Corina and Alan. The photos from my sessions have come in handy as I used them to help remember most of the exercises I was doing in my training at Wolf. Through this process I have learned some new things: I like my body looking strong and healthy, that sit-ups do not equal core work, massage is an important part of training and therapy, and that Corina and Alan are great trainers, know their professions, and love their work.

Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to be the guinea pig!

Carrie

Yikes, I’m going to run a Marathon

I have been racing for many years now. I have done lots of triathlons, swim and running races. The longest race I have ever run was a half-marathon. I always thought this was a good thing, a half marathon is a good challenge, but it is manageable. After close to 2 hours of running I always felt that I was ready to stop and didn’t feel the need to turn around and run the same course again to complete the full marathon. I am an average runner and in triathlon my skills get weaker with each subsequent event; swim, bike, run.

Since we started living in San Diego I have begun to hang out with a lot of girls that run marathons and seem to enjoy running them. Although some of these ladies are crazy fast, some are not, and run at my pace. So I thought, if they can do it, why can’t I?

I wasn’t looking for a marathon to run. I was planning my schedule for the coming year and deciding which races, running or triathlon, I wanted to do later in the year. Lots of people had told me about the Nike Womens Marathon, a notoriously difficult race to get into as it is so oversubscribed because the lucky ones that finish it get a Tiffany’s necklace on the finishing line. I debated whether I should enter the full or half marathon when I put my name into the drawing. Knowing it was unlikely I would be selected, I decided to let fate decide and entered the marathon. To my complete surprise my name came out of the drawing and now I was signed up to run a marathon in October! I had to re-read the email from Nike several times just to make sure it wasn’t a hoax. 

After a weekend to digest the news and discuss my new venture with Alan (he has an amused grin on his face whenever we talk about me doing a marathon) I sat down to write myself a training plan. I haven’t been running much for the last 2 months, only 1-2 runs a week and those were short at 3-4 miles. It will be a long way to the 26.2 miles in October.

My training started officially on Monday. The first month is about increasing my mileage, getting an endurance base and getting my legs used to regular running again. So far, so good. The runs have felt good so far, very slow but my body is happy and so am I. My appetite has increased back up and I think my tummy is already getting flatter (I know that is probably my imagination but it makes me feel good anyway!).

I’m planning to keep a blog of my experiences for the next 5 months, hopefully I’ll have something more interesting to report than “went for another run today”, but there may be some of that too! See you next week!

Corina

An Ideal Client

An Austin Martin driver with a celebrity status who wants to lose his spare tyre, look more buff and is prepared to train 3 or 4 times per week.

This is the line that I use at networking meetings when I am asked to describe my ideal client or the type of clients that I am looking for. I am being a little flippant, but this actually describes two of my regular clients that I saw while in Scotland!

What we look for in a client is hard work and an open mind. Yes, training with us regularly is great for business and it is also the best way to get results but we live in the real world where spending $1000 per month on training can be unrealistic.

If you come in to see us to get an assessment, we can design a program that you can do in your own home or in your local gym, so you don’t even have to live locally. We actually work with a number of clients from out of State. 

All you have to do is the work necessary to make changes… This may mean you need to challenge some of the beliefs you previously held as fact, this means you may have to accept that what you did before didn’t produce the results you wanted and it means you need to accept some responsibility for where you are now and where want to be.

Our ideal client has lots of money, is ready to make changes, has the time and energy to train hard, eat right and get the correct rest. Money is not important, we can work with most budgets, but if there is an unwillingness to make change and move on from previous mistakes then all of our advice will fall on deaf ears.

If you want to make change and are willing to listen to our advice and work hard, both physically and mentally, you are an ideal client, give us a call today.

Model Behavior

Over the past couple of weeks I have had the pleasure of assisting professional photographer Ken Williams on some photo shoots. This arrangement is mutually beneficial because Ken gets someone to move his lights around and tell jokes to the models while he gets on with the serious work of shooting (I get to shoot a little).

For months Ken has been badgering me about setting up some sort of training regime aimed at models. I had been resisting because like most people I was under the impression that these girls don’t need a personal trainer as they all look so good already. Mistake…

When we get clients in for a consultation we need to get to the heart of their goals, they may say that they want to get fit and healthy buy if they don’t end up with a beach body they will be ultimately dissatisfied. This does not make them vain or narcissistic, just human, I specialize in working with humans…

What I know is that very few people are satisfied with their own body. Few people wouldn’t change something about themselves given the opportunity. For those who wouldn't change you are either a Buddha (not kidding) or in need of a great psychotherapist that I can recommend. 

In the week where I have had the new Sixx:AM Album “Lies of the Beautiful People” on repeat, I have been thinking a lot about our perception of beauty. Even the most beautiful people I have worked with this week were the most insecure about their bodies. The grass is always greener and everyone else is always doing more training…

It is a hard balance to strike between being overly critical about yourself and being self-aware. An external, impartial perspective is always useful that is why we like to measure people, the numbers don’t lie, they don’t intentionally hurt or sweeten the pill to save your blushes.

Beauty can be on the inside and the outside, I know which I would prefer if I had to choose only one, but I will continue to strive for both.

New Challenges

Corina got accepted to run The Nike Womens Marathon in San Francisco in October. She has never ran a marathon before and I was surprised when she suggested that she enter the lottery, I figure that if she got in I would get a vacation to one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and nothing lost if she didn’t. 

I love the fact that Corina is motivated by new challenges, I cannot imagine ever running a marathon, I did train for one once and then came to the realization that my body is just not suited for such an undertaking. People are motivated by different things and that is so wonderful. Personally I just love training, I love the physicality of training with my sword, the repetition, the formality and the strength of mind and body that it takes. I know that some people cannot understand why I love it, I just do.

When Corina decided that she would try and make the GB Age-group Triathlon team I understood the commitment that it would take and the sacrifices that both of us would have to make, and it was totally worth it! I know that in order for Corina to achieve her new goal we will both have to make sacrifices and that there will be a few tears shed along the way but I know it will be totally worth it. 

It is important that you find new challenges and that you strive forwards in whatever field of endeavor that you are involved in, whether that be running your first 5k, or taking photographs in a new and challenging environment. Pushing the envelope and taking yourself out of your comfort zone is a great way of growing and people respect it so much.

As an exercise professional I love working with people with specific goals, motivation is individual, goals are individual and if you strive to succeed you cannot fail in your endeavor no matter what the outcome. Roll on October 16th!