A Runner's Journey: From Basketball to Bootcamp to a Brooklyn PR

Karlyn A

For most of my life, I was a basketball player. Then (what felt like suddenly), it was my last game in my senior year of college, and I was no longer a basketball player. It felt like a bit of an identity crisis, after basketball had been such an important part of who I was for the majority of my life. So, the summer after college, I didn’t know where to channel my athletic energy. I had always enjoyed running, so that became my new outlet.

I loved being pushed to my limit in my training for basketball, so I thought, “why not run a marathon?” I signed up for the Philadelphia Marathon in November 2011. I got a training plan, started running and thought I was all set. While I missed so much of what basketball had given me, the one thing I didn’t miss was weight training. This was a part of our team workout regimen that I never looked forward to, as we did heavy Olympic lifting. Therefore, I decided to just focus on what I did enjoy, running, and figured that was all I needed. As many of us know, however, that was a perfect recipe for injury. And alas, a little less than 2 months later, I had bursitis in my hip, and running a marathon that fall was out of the question.

I moved into the city during this time, and my hip was still not better even though I was weeks into physical therapy. I decided to try to a new doctor, and am so thankful I ended up going to see Dr. Jordan Metzl at the Hospital for Special Surgery. He told me about his workout, the IronStrength Workout, and said that I needed to come to his class that weekend. He told me that if I strengthened my kinetic chain by doing this a few times a week, my hip would get better and I would be back to running. To be honest, I was skeptical, but since nothing else was working I gave it a try. Well, it was hard to walk for a few days after that first class, but I did what he told me and completed the workout twice a week. Three weeks later, my hip felt great and I was running without any problem!

The reason I’m telling this story is this: the silver lining of my injury is that I fell back in love with cross-training. For basketball, I never had to think about cross-training. Not only were my workouts planned for me by my coaches, but there are so many different aspects of basketball that cross-training is essential for success. Turns out, for me (and I think many others), this is true for running as well. I continued to do Ironstrength, as well as other cardio-strength classes at Equinox, and started to do indoor cycling as well. Not only was I enjoying my workouts, but I felt stronger, all of which helped me to become a better runner.

Since then, I’ve gotten certified to teach cycling, and I teach an IronStrength-inspired workout to other teachers at my school (where I am a Kindergarten teacher). It is so fun to teach exercise classes, and has become something that I love to do! While I sub for adult cycling classes, I regularly teach a ‘tween’ class at the JCC. I have a great group of kids, and I feel so lucky to be able to share my passion for exercise with them, and hopefully inspire them to love working out as well.

I have also come to believe that cross-training can really help to improve running. Recently, I signed up for a progressive bootcamp that met 3 times a week. I found myself sore most of the time, and I had to cut back on my running for recovery. I loved how hard I was pushed though, so figured if I was running fewer miles for a few weeks it was no big deal. The AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) method that has become popularized by CrossFit was a big part of this bootcamp -- we worked up to do 2.5 minutes of straight work. For instance, in the last week, we did as many rounds of 20 jump squats, 15 skaters, 10 chest-to-floor burpees, and 5 tuck jumps as possible in 2:30. 

Going into the Brooklyn Half in May, I didn’t know how it would go. I hadn’t run that much, but figured I would push for as long as I could and then see how I felt. Turns out all of those burpees were worth it -- I PR’d by more than a minute! While I plan on doing much more running to train for the NYC Marathon, this has proven to me just how effective strength-training and cross-training in general can be.

Triumphant at the Brooklyn Half
Thank You Bootcamp!

So in the past three years, I have redefined the athletic part of my identity. I am no longer a basketball player, but I am an indoor cyclist, a burpee loving strength trainer, and a runner. Turns out, the part I missed most about basketball was the team, but now I have a new team. Go Flyers!

-Karlyn A