As they dive into a rigorous race training program, two first-time marathoners share their motivations, goals, and hurdles standing in their way.
In Pursuit of 26.2 is a series following two Equinox members as they train for the New York City Marathon, from their first long-distance runs to the finish line. Since early August, our athletes have been following a new personalized training program created by an Equinox Personal Run Coach, powered by Precision Run, and utilizing Equinox services to strengthen, stretch, and stabilize. Check back each week for a new installment.
Lift weights and perform cardio regularly. Eat a balanced diet. Recover fully. To a relatively experienced athlete, those three measures may seem to be all that’s necessary to complete a marathon — especially when social media influencers without a lick of formal training appear to comfortably finish the race.
But being fit in the weight room or cycling studio doesn’t mean you’re capable of running 26.2 miles in a single go, says Elizabeth Corkum (aka Coach Corky), a Precision Run Coach with more than half a dozen certifications under her belt. While the strength and cardiovascular endurance built from those spaces certainly come into play on race day, you also need to be able to pace yourself and acknowledge the challenges and importance of specificity of training, among other skills. Also essential: a humble attitude, she adds.
“Confidence is great, but the marathon will knock anybody down if they start going into it cocky,” says Corky. “It's never a slam dunk, but that's what I love about it.”
Despite the brutal nature of the event, two Equinox members have decided to face it head-on: On November 5, 2023, they’ll be running the New York City Marathon, their first race of this distance. To get the runners ready for race day, Equinox has partnered them with Corky, who will be serving as their Personal Run Coach, powered by Precision Run. Over the weeks, she’ll guide each member through a personalized training program, equip them with essential recovery tools and fueling techniques, and motivate them when the miles get tough.
Here, meet the two runners exploring their edges and get an inside look at the first few weeks of their intensive training — the successes, injuries, and all.
Meet the Runner: Luis
Luis Colón was just a teenager on his high school’s crew team when he began running. At the time, it was just as much of an endurance-building tool for his sport as it was a punishment for fooling around during practice. As he got older, he stuck with the activity, using it to keep his cardiorespiratory health in check. Then, a few years ago, Luis began taking Precision Run classes, which helped him find a training style that synced with his goals of staying healthy and feeling energized, he says. He was hooked — and not just for the workout’s physical benefits.
Today, the 32-year-old VERB creative director and PHASES bodycare founder finds running to be therapeutic. “It's the one place I go to where I get my mind back into shape and I have the time to process everything,” he says. “Especially in New York, you're constantly surrounded by people — you can hear your neighbors in your apartment building, at the office, and on a train. So runs are the one time where I feel like I [have] a single thought in my head.”
Driven by the fuel of runner’s high, Luis reached a point where he was taking near-daily running classes and participating in half-marathons. The next logical step in his journey: testing his skills at the New York City Marathon. “It’s for personal achievement,” he adds. “I'm really dedicated to configuring my time — I want a very speedy time overall — but it's something that I really want it to feel empowered by.”
Meet the Runner: Aurora
Despite growing up with a mother obsessed with running, so much so that she raced the New York City Marathon, Aurora Straus never took the sport all too seriously. She ran cross country in high school. But it wasn’t until she became a professional race car driver that she realized running needed to be a staple in her fitness routine. “It's more physical than people think it is, and race car driving in particular requires a lot of endurance,” the 24-year-old explains. “The most analogous way you can train for motorsports outside of physically being in the car is through running. You want your heart rate to be high and you want to be in a high-heat environment.”
As Aurora progressively increased her distance to train for her motorsports races, running the city’s marathon seemed more and more like a realistic endeavor. She already understood the importance of properly hydrating and continuously refueling her body — elements crucial to finishing a 26.2-mile run — during her four-plus-hour endurance races. Not to mention, she clearly had the ambition and tenacity required to see the training through to the end; she’s a Harvard University graduate, holds down a demanding, travel-heavy management consultant job at Bain & Company, and still finds the energy to race part-time.
“This [city] has felt like home for a while to me, and I've always wanted to run the New York City Marathon to follow in my mom's footsteps,” Aurora says. “I was in good shape. I had been going to Equinox a lot. It felt like, if not now, then when?”
Meet the Equinox Personal Run Coach: Corky
A late bloomer in the running world, Corky first picked up the sport in her mid-twenties and competed in her first marathon in 2010. Over the years, as she began participating in more and more races, friends and colleagues began picking her brain for running advice. “My degree is in musical theater — I have a Bachelor of Music. I was working in film sets and auditioning and doing commercials,” Corky recalls. “I had no business giving people advice on running other than ‘This is what worked for me’ or ‘This is what was in the most recent article of Runner's World.’”
Still, she was falling deeper in love with the sport and growing more curious about the science behind it. So she took a few certification courses, grew more confident counseling others, and became an assistant coach for various marathon programs, she says. By 2014, Corky had established her own coaching business — and ran multiple ultra-marathons and 24-hour races along the way. A self-described workaholic, she also picked up a coaching position at Mile High Run Club.
Flash forward to today, Corky is a top-tier running coach for Precision Run and Equinox+, has raced in 23 marathons (with a personal best of 2:58), and has remained largely injury-free, which she credits to her consistent strength training.
While working with athletes, Corky prioritizes personal connections: “I want to get to know my athletes because if I don't know them, it's very hard to understand how training fits into the big picture for them with their work life and their personal life,” she says. “As long as I know what it is they want and what they're capable or wanting to give, then we figure out expectations and how the training plan fits into that.” She’s there to answer late-night emails with questions about energy gels, provide insight into the realities of marathon weekend, and help new athletes feel like they belong.
The Training Kickoff
The idea of racing for 26.2 miles can make even the most experienced runners apprehensive. Prior to taking on a custom marathon training plan, Luis had been powering through about nine to 16 miles a week — a fraction of the distance he’d eventually have to cover in one go. “I was nervous about the training aspects: if my body would be capable of handling that big jump and how I would get from my current place to race day,” he explains.
Once armed with Corky’s training program, however, Luis hit the ground running — literally. In his first week, he logged six-, 10-, and 12-mile runs, with cycling, strength, and Precision Run classes sprinkled throughout. Early on, he worked with Corky to pinpoint the cause of his usual post-run soreness. Though he long believed the muscle aches were brought on by a lack of flexibility or poor breathing technique, the duo determined his symptoms were likely sparked by inadequate hydration and fuel, he says.
“When Corky was telling me to hydrate every 15 to 20 minutes, I would be like, ‘That's way too much. I don't need to drink that much water,’” Luis explains. “But, actually, you do…[It’s] crucial to your performance and how you feel after.” Since prioritizing mid-workout energy gels and water breaks, “I feel I've had drastically different runs,” he adds.
By the middle of his second training week, Luis had skipped one workout, a short run abandoned due to work commitments and birthday celebrations. But what may challenge Luis the most throughout the marathon training cycle is exercising too much. A MetCon and Tabata obsessive, he started his training determined to take Equinox classes at least five days a week on top of the runs. Unsurprisingly, Corky recommended scaling his routine down to prevent overtraining and injury.
Though Luis acknowledges the importance of recovery, actually following through on that plan may be easier said than done. “We’ve grouped [the classes] to two to three days and dialed back a little bit, but I did take another Tabata class today,” Luis admitted during his first week of training. “[My workout] was supposed to be a light bike ride, but I really wanted to take [Tabata]. I was feeling a little tired in the morning, and it wakes me up.”
While Luis’ struggles may slowly come to light throughout the 13-week program, Aurora’s training challenges were evident from the get-go. Between long runs, strength work, and barre classes, marathon training proved to be a significant time investment that, at times, clashed with her 14-hour workdays, she says. Despite her nutrition know-how, consuming enough calories and eating nutritionally balanced meals consistently throughout the day was also a struggle, she adds.
To top it off, Aurora’s recurring shin splints came back with vengeance, likely due to increasing her mileage quickly, she says. She struggled to finish her 12- to 14-mile runs. And mentally, she wasn’t in a healthy place, she recalls.
“It's shocking how early in the process it came on, and I honestly underestimated how difficult it would be physically and mentally,” Aurora said during the first official week of training. “I think there are lots of very fit people out there that want to do a marathon and are like, ‘Yeah, I think if I really set my mind to it, I could do that.’ But my body's telling me, ‘You can do it, but it's gonna be a lot harder.’”
Rather than calling it quits, Aurora and Corky collaborated to determine the best — and least damaging — path forward. Their game plan: switch to the treadmill or lower-impact cardio when the pain becomes unbearable and prioritize recovery. “I have always been of the mindset of, like, if you have enough determination, you can just get it done. And if you push through it, you'll end up on the other side and be happier for it,” says Aurora. “And that's not always what marathon training is."
Under Corky’s guidance, Aurora met with a physical therapist, who determined that her natural alignment prevents her lower body from absorbing shock well. The PT also found a lack of pelvic stability, both of which contribute to shin splints. After that consultation, Aurora began spending five to 10 minutes each day performing drills recommended by her provider, such as pressing her high arches down onto a towel to practice distributing load across her feet.
Despite their simplicity, Aurora says these movements have led to a major breakthrough. “I've been running faster than I was beforehand,” she said during her third week of training. “I've been able to run pretty long distances even on my short days, between four and seven miles for multiple days in a row, and I haven't felt any pain, which is a huge difference. I have not had a run without pain for weeks.”
With a bump in weekly mileage on the horizon, Aurora is feeling optimistic about the journey ahead. “It’s a learning process,” she says, “but I feel like I have a very solid team behind me, literally and metaphorically.”
Still, the next few months may not be completely smooth sailing for either runner. Cross-country and international travel plans, work commitments, and unexpected life events could all derail their progress; marathon training doesn’t take place in a vacuum, says Corky. But the odds are in their favor.
“Aurora and Luis are trusting their training and have been open and honest with me,” Corky adds. “As their coach, this is exciting — it means they are fully on board with the program. Running can feel like a solo and sometimes lonely journey, but our athletes have the best of Equinox supporting them. That has to give them a little extra confidence.”