A friendly face in our adult group classes, Jackie had years of running experience, including one marathon and multiple 5Ks, under her belt before joining LbF! But what happened when she prioritized cross-training over extra mileage as part of her marathon training? In Jackie’s words, “my runs feel stronger, my cadence is increasing, my recovery window is shorter and my posture is better.”

Find out why a different approach may be exactly what she needed to crush her second marathon.

What was your fitness level before you joined LbF?

I joined LbF in May 2019, five days after I completed my first marathon. While I’ve been a runner for the past 14 years and ran my first 5K as a young adult, I didn’t become serious about endurance running until this past year.

For the past four years, I’ve been really active with HIIT and OCR style classes, including occasional drop-ins to LbF. Running was always supplemental to my fitness goals up until recently when completing races became a passion of mine!

What brought you into LbF initially?

I came to LbF because I needed to get strong again—full body strong! My training plan for my first marathon was intense. I sacrificed cross-training to get more mileage into my routine, but later realized it was only working against me.

I’ve followed LbF for many years and knew that the programming was exactly what I needed to supplement my runs as part of my marathon training. I needed a dynamic warm-up, a mix of strength workouts with progressive goals and, to be honest, I was itching to pick up a heavy kettlebell and move with it!

How has LbF complemented your current fitness goals?

My current goal is to finish my second marathon on October 27 and feel stronger than my first.

Since committing to the adult group classes at LbF just four months ago, my runs feel stronger, my cadence is increasing, my recovery window is shorter and my posture is better.

I consistently attend strength classes on Mondays and Fridays, but I also love the running intervals on Tuesday and Thursdays! I can see how every movement we do benefits my running—Bulgarian split squats focus on single leg strength and stability; deadlifts activate my hamstrings and glutes; and push presses have helped me gain upper body strength.

What would your advice be to other runners who are on the fence about incorporating other training styles into their regimen?

If you want to perform at your full potential, you need a comprehensive approach to running. Resistance training is an essential supplement to road training because it strengthens muscles and joints, which decreases the risk of injury. Plus, it’s important to target areas you may not always train, like flexibility, balance, mobility and strength. We do all of this at LbF. The warm-up and train your brain portion of the class really set you up for success to perform your best during the workout, plus who doesn’t love a good finisher?

LbF’s programming reflects a philosophy. The more books Ryan lends to me, the more I see on the connections between essential movement patterns and what we practice at LbF. At the end of each four-week block, I have tangible results that I can be proud of. Ryan and Eddie both have the natural ability to work with each individual in a group setting and motivate people to work outside of their comfort zone safely. Oh, and one more thing, the women here are so strong and fierce, and I dig that!