I get all pumped up every Tuesday night before the 5:28 a.m. Wednesday morning November Project NYC workout. As a somewhat introverted person, I tend to enjoy solo activities, including training. I imagine this contributes to my interest in endurance sports: I like the mental battle as the body gets tired.

NP_NYC opens me up, and I feel comfortable hugging strangers and giving out high fives like air. The workouts are hard but manageable, and everyone’s encouraging words keep the group pushing forward. At the end, people tell you, “Thanks for the push back there!” and you tell them the same. Encouragement mixed with smiles and a non-judgmental attitude: I can’t think of a better way to spend a Wednesday morning before the sun rises.

This morning’s workout was a RAD workout (“running and dancing”), and included the following:

Everyone partnered up. To start, one partner ran down the John Finley Walk to a wall approximately 200 yards from the start point, and back. The other partner ran a loop of the grotto, the area adjacent to 86^th Street and below the Walk. Whichever partner arrived at the start first got into the plank position and waited for her partner to arrive. Once her partner arrived, the partners would do five hoistees (partners interlock hands, squat, and explode upward), five “fuck yeah!” pushups (partners face each other, do a pushup, slap five, and repeat with the opposite hand; yelling “fuck yeah!” optional but encouraged), and five “compliment squats” (partners face each other, hands touching, squat, and give each other a compliment). Then, the partners would run whichever loop they did not run before, and repeat the exercises.

Clearly a dance party, right? There was music playing and people were bouncing a bit, and we got sweaty really fast. So, basically the same thing as a club, minus Ed Hardy t-shirts and hair gel.

My partner and I did eight or nine loops, which equaled 40 to 45 hoistees, “fuck yeah!” pushups, and compliment squats. We ran out of compliments around loop 5, so we just high-fived a lot and encouraged each other to keep up the good work. Around loop six I started to feel the strain of the planks, as I did p90x ab ripper X the previous night and felt the burn. But, as the party don’t stop until the 35-minute workout ends, I grabbed some water every three to four loops and kept going, shouting encouragement at everyone else and nearly running people over to deliver high fives.

Overall, I enjoyed the workout, and feel good about incorporating some higher intensity days into my schedule as the TCS NYC Marathon approaches. As I wrote about yesterday, I have developed a strong aerobic base over the past few months, and am excited to keep building on that base.

I also learned how to whip and nae nae, so yeah, a full morning for sure!

Happy running, everyone!