Mile High Run Club – Upper East Side

Whether you’re a seasoned marathon runner or never attempted a mile, Mile High Run Club will have something for you. For skeptics of the concept of running for pleasure (like some of us), this class may help you to finally understand how or why so many people do this as a hobby. From taking Melissa Wolfe’s Dash Core class we learned a lot and got our sweat on both on and off the treadmill. Besides the great workout though one of our biggest take-aways from class is that like Yoga, running really is a practice. There are so many tricks and skills to help make running easier and more enjoyable… and trust us, we need them all! Melissa’s class will having you working up a sweat and feeling like a pro.

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

Dash Core is a 45 minute class designed to build a strong foundation for running with a focus on toning an working your core. Melissa kicked off class off the treads, with a series of stretches and moves to get your heartbeat going. After about a 10 minute warmup of high knees, squats, jumping jacks and lunges we took to the treads to start the second section of class. Melissa lead us through intervals of jogs and runs coaching us through finding our baseline, medium and fast speeds. All running was done to a 1% incline to more accurately simulate an outdoor running experience. Throughout the 20 minutes of running Melissa continuously reminded us that everyone’s running abilities are different and our various speed ranges for each level of run would vary. We were given direction of speed ranges to help gage a speed that we should be running at for each interval. Between Melissa’s instructions and the music bumping the 20 minutes went fast and we were pleasantly surprised by the mileage we’d accomplished. Moving into the 3rd section we stepped back off the treads onto the turfed flooring of the studio grabbing our kettlebell weight of preference on the way down. We squatted, lunged and Russian twist holding the kettlebells to build strength and tone. Using the back of the treadmill, Melissa guided us through inclined push-ups and mountain climbers to close out the toning series, leaving us feeling sweaty, strong, and way ready for brunch!

INSTRUCTOR

Melissa was super friendly, welcoming and encouraging before and throughout class. She definitely set the tone throughout class that everyone’s levels of experience, speed and strength would vary while motivating us to push ourselves where possible. A seasoned runner herself training for a race she was traveling for in the coming weeks, it was clear Melissa is an expert in the field of running. Instructing us to tune into our breathing, rhythm and strides she helped us to get into the run with ease and build our endurance.

SPACE

The Upper East Side location is two floors: front desk and small apparel shop up top and the Studio, lockers, showers, and changing rooms downstairs. The Studio is set up to have several rows of treadmills, mirrored walls and was dimly lit. The treads were spread out throughout the room as well, not lined up like sardines as is typically the case. While the amenities were clean and spacious we felt like the set up was lacking in overall privacy. The showers are coed and aren’t really separated by a door or divider from the locker areas making it a little tricky to get changed and not flash anyone. There are however, a separate set of changing rooms in an alcove over from the showers. Overall, we thought the class was challenging in a great way, informative and we’d go back for more.