Preppy Runner – Theodora Blanchfield

Yesterday at work, my colleague Alex posted on Facebook she was contemplating ClassPass and wanted to know if anyone she knew did it.

OH HAI.

Although I have definitely used it less since the holidays and I started half training, it’s still a good deal so I haven’t quit yet. Alex lives in Brooklyn and she was saying she was happy to see there were a decent amount of BK studios on there.

I told her I’d been dying to try Brooklyn Body Burn. In 2013, ClassPass called it the hardest class in NYC. (Quite a few studios have come on the scene since then, but I digress.) I told Alex I was terrified to try it. I’d seen Felicia do a challenge there and consistently post about how hard and humbling it is.

“But that’s not like you to be afraid of a challenge,” my little ginger friend said to me.

“I’m not! I just haven’t been there yet.”

SO, people of the Internet: it is on. I would like to get my butt to BBB to be handed a world of hurt sometime between now and April 1. (I’m giving myself some time to do this because I have several busy weekends between now and quite honestly do not see myself going out there during the week.)

Speaking of challenges, I had the opportunity to try out the Equinox Pursuit class at their Soho location. I have a serious love-hate relationship with indoor cycling. I love Soul, mostly because I can forget about how bad I am at any kind of cycling and have a yoga-like experience while still getting a decent workout. I like Peloton just because 1. it’s close. 2. They have fab instructors.

This Pursuit class though? It is PERFECT for someone who is a little competitive and a little ADD. They have two classes – Burn and Endurance. We did the burn class, which was 45 minutes of high-intensity intervals, starting with a warm-up and including five “games” (otherwise known as intervals.) The games included things like “tabata” (tabata in quotes because these were 6 and 7 intervals instead of 8) intervals, splitting the class into two teams and racing each other, and pairing you with another rider so you can race against other teams. Each of these intervals was about 3 minutes long and made the class go by really quickly. The on-screen artwork and effects were gorgeous, and you can tell they put a lot of time and thought into this. Gamification can appear so cheesy, but they nailed it.

On some of the intervals, I felt my left quad getting a little twingey and immediately backed down a bit.

Maybe this is a runner thing, but sometimes (especially if I’m training for something) I get a little peeved when instructors tell you to give it their all: you can’t actually do that for every workout. Some need to be easy. Especially, as a runner, if you’re doing some cross-training. You want a good workout, sure, but you want to save the all-out workouts for your runs.

When do you back off from challenging yourself? NYC friends, what do you think is the hardest class in the city?