Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / Episode 28: Robin Arzon, VP Fitness Programming & Head Instructor Peloton

Transcript

Episode 28: Robin Arzon, VP Fitness Programming & Head Instructor Peloton · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome back to episode twenty eight of Hurdle, a podcast
0:04
Speaker 1: that talks to top CEOs and entrepreneurs about how they
0:07
Speaker 1: got through tough times hurdles of sorts by leaning into wellness.
0:11
Speaker 1: My name's Emily Body, and today I'm chatting with Robin Arzon,
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Speaker 1: badass marathoner and Peloton's vice president of fitness Programming and
0:19
Speaker 1: head instructor. Before we get to that, a shout out
0:22
Speaker 1: to the sponsor of today's episode, Athletic Greens, complete with
0:25
Speaker 1: twelve servings of fruits and vegetables. Having the Greens powder
0:28
Speaker 1: first thing in the morning before I head out the
0:30
Speaker 1: door makes me feel like a better me. They're offering
0:33
Speaker 1: a special deal just for Hurdle listeners. It's twenty free
0:37
Speaker 1: travel packs valued at ninety nine dollars with your first purchase.
0:40
Speaker 1: Just go on over to Athleticgreens dot com slash hurdle
0:43
Speaker 1: to claim it. No code necessary. Again, that's Athleticgreens dot
0:46
Speaker 1: com slash Hurdle. Now let's talk about Robin and I've
0:50
Speaker 1: got to throw this out there into the universe.
0:52
Speaker 2: A lot of you have been.
0:53
Speaker 1: Asking for this interview via email, so I am so
0:56
Speaker 1: so happy that we can make it happen if you
0:58
Speaker 1: follow along with her on Intae at robin NYC. It's
1:02
Speaker 1: hard to imagine a time when regular exercise wasn't part
1:05
Speaker 1: of her routine. After a life or death experience at
1:09
Speaker 1: age twenty, when Arizon was held hostage at gunpoint in
1:11
Speaker 1: the East Village, she leaned into movement and running for
1:14
Speaker 1: the first time to help her process the trauma. Soon enough,
1:18
Speaker 1: the then lawyer turned away from her conventional nine to
1:20
Speaker 1: five in hopes to make her passion for sweat her career,
1:23
Speaker 1: and that's when she found Peloton. If you don't know
1:26
Speaker 1: about Peloton, I'll sum it up for you. It's essentially
1:29
Speaker 1: live and on demand boutique studio Classes filmed that their
1:32
Speaker 1: New York City studio is available anytime for users across
1:36
Speaker 1: the country via the Peloton bike and.
1:38
Speaker 2: The Peloton tread. And these pieces of.
1:40
Speaker 1: Equipment are really, like, absolutely gorgeous, the best of the best.
1:44
Speaker 2: The Cadillac if.
1:45
Speaker 1: You will, complete with big, beautiful monitors to watch the
1:49
Speaker 1: brand's top instructors get after it. They also offer their
1:52
Speaker 1: Peloton Digital service, So maybe if you don't want to
1:55
Speaker 1: splurge for the bike or the tread or just don't
1:57
Speaker 1: have the room for that kind of thing at your home.
1:59
Speaker 1: You can dream that content anywhere you want, at any
2:02
Speaker 1: time you want. So anyway, Robin, She's come a long
2:05
Speaker 1: way and today she's making a living doing what she loves.
2:09
Speaker 1: She's also a published author with her twenty sixteen book
2:11
Speaker 1: Shut Up and Run, and now has more than twenty
2:14
Speaker 1: six marathons twenty six under her bell. I'm telling you,
2:18
Speaker 1: this woman's story is loaded with crazy amounts of inspiration
2:22
Speaker 1: that'll hopefully motivate you.
2:24
Speaker 2: As she would say, to do quote epic shit.
2:28
Speaker 1: As always, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, at Hurdle Podcast, keep on
2:32
Speaker 1: tagging me with those Instagram stories.
2:34
Speaker 2: I love connecting with.
2:35
Speaker 1: You over there, and shoot me an email if you
2:37
Speaker 1: have any questions or a hurdle moment of your own
2:39
Speaker 1: to share over at Emily at Hurdle.
2:42
Speaker 2: Dot us quick.
2:44
Speaker 1: Thank you again to girl Boss and SmartWater for having
2:47
Speaker 1: me at the rally this weekend. At an absolute blast
2:50
Speaker 1: with last week's guest Kirstigato on stage talking about all
2:54
Speaker 1: things mind, body connection, that room that vibe all of you,
2:59
Speaker 1: you were alike and that's it. Let's get to hurdling
3:11
Speaker 1: in the studio today with Robin Arson. She is the
3:15
Speaker 1: best selling author of Shut Up and Run, also the
3:18
Speaker 1: head instructor and VP of fitness Programming at Peloton.
3:22
Speaker 2: Hey Robin, what's up? What's up girl? Thanks for coming
3:24
Speaker 2: in today.
3:25
Speaker 1: I feel like the first thing we need to do
3:27
Speaker 1: is like address the enseo that's happening in front of me.
3:31
Speaker 1: Robin's got on like the silver Doc Martins, a pretty
3:35
Speaker 1: dope leather and like a sports bra, some shiny leggings.
3:38
Speaker 2: This is regular for you, this kind of shick it is.
3:42
Speaker 3: I'm glad at leisure is in fashion because that's the
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Speaker 3: only way I rock these days.
3:46
Speaker 1: Well, and I mean it kind of has to be
3:48
Speaker 1: when you're going from workout to workout, to work out
3:51
Speaker 1: to work out.
3:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you.
3:53
Speaker 3: Know some precevent sandwiched in between, and it's kind of
3:55
Speaker 3: like I like that, the fact that.
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Speaker 2: This is a lifestyle and we live it, we live it,
4:00
Speaker 2: we do.
4:01
Speaker 1: So what I'd love to get into right from the
4:04
Speaker 1: get go talking a little bit about your every day
4:06
Speaker 1: because today you're here recording a podcast. I know Peloton
4:10
Speaker 1: is doing a huge launch downtown that I'll be checking out.
4:12
Speaker 2: Later with the new tread.
4:14
Speaker 1: So give me a snippet of maybe, quote unquote, a
4:18
Speaker 1: normal New York City day for you.
4:22
Speaker 3: I love when other people answer these questions, and I'm
4:25
Speaker 3: riveted by like morning routines and how people spend their time,
4:28
Speaker 3: and I always wonder how I can answer that accurately.
4:31
Speaker 3: I would say it's at least two to three hours
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Speaker 3: of fitness a day, whether that's my own workout, a
4:37
Speaker 3: long run, and or instructing two to three one to
4:40
Speaker 3: two classes a day at peloton, tread and cycling.
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Speaker 2: My morning routine is really important.
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Speaker 3: I would say, like green smoothie and Macha are essentials
4:48
Speaker 3: before I can even.
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Speaker 2: Walk out the door. What time is that for you?
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Speaker 3: Depends on what I'm teaching, Like Tuesday morning, that might
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Speaker 3: happen at four point thirty in the morning. On another day,
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Speaker 3: optimally it wouldn't happen before before seven. I'm not like
5:01
Speaker 3: a rooster like like a lot of people think I've
5:03
Speaker 3: made myself into someone who prioritizes movement early in the morning,
5:07
Speaker 3: but I'm that's not naturally my cadence.
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Speaker 2: I would sleep. I would sleep till seven if I
5:10
Speaker 2: had my brothers.
5:11
Speaker 1: So you're the kind of person that could, like work
5:13
Speaker 1: out at nine o'clock at night one hundred percent.
5:16
Speaker 2: I actually have my most effective lifting sessions are at night. Wow. Yeah,
5:21
Speaker 2: I don't.
5:22
Speaker 3: But then you're adrenaline is going and you're all screwed up.
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Speaker 3: So I understand the need to move and prime yourself
5:29
Speaker 3: in the morning.
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Speaker 1: I mean, obviously the muscles they say, I mean all
5:32
Speaker 1: the research says that getting active in the morning, like
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Speaker 1: your body's not ready for it. You're tired, your muscles
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Speaker 1: just like rested for twelve hours, not twelve hours, but
5:39
Speaker 1: seven hours.
5:40
Speaker 2: I wish twelve hours.
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Speaker 1: A girl, shit same, I wish twelve hours. But so
5:45
Speaker 1: you're you're you know, you're lazy in the morning. But
5:47
Speaker 1: for me, it's like I feel sluggish if I don't
5:49
Speaker 1: do it. Yeah, one hundred yeah, So okay, step button,
5:52
Speaker 1: all right, you get up in the morning, green juice, Macha,
5:55
Speaker 1: you're out the door and then.
5:57
Speaker 2: Out the door, probably teaching a class.
5:59
Speaker 3: And then I My day is from sun up to
6:03
Speaker 3: sundown jam packed. So I will schedule like a fifteen
6:07
Speaker 3: minute conference call when I know I'm going to be
6:09
Speaker 3: in an uber on the way to the next press thing.
6:12
Speaker 3: I will, you know, have millions that I have all
6:14
Speaker 3: the snacks if you ever run into me and you
6:16
Speaker 3: need a snack, I got you because I literally I
6:20
Speaker 3: have at least three workout clothes, probably two sets of shoes,
6:23
Speaker 3: lifters and running shoes, as well as all the snacks.
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Speaker 3: And that is to enable me to really leave in
6:28
Speaker 3: the morning and not come back. You know, probably usually
6:30
Speaker 3: twelve to fourteen hour days.
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Speaker 2: You know.
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Speaker 3: I have days, you know, filled with workouts, press events,
6:36
Speaker 3: you know, writing articles, doing stuff with my publisher based
6:40
Speaker 3: for my book, doing things like this podcast for a
6:42
Speaker 3: peloton or not. And I'm the head instructor, so I
6:46
Speaker 3: have a lot of meetings that involve not only recruiting
6:50
Speaker 3: our amazing talent, but also working with our talent and
6:52
Speaker 3: making sure that they have the resources and the skill
6:54
Speaker 3: sets that they need to shine on our platforms and
6:58
Speaker 3: you know, not to be taken lightly, working very collaboratively
7:01
Speaker 3: with our production team to produce the amazing fourteen hours
7:05
Speaker 3: of live content that we I am now more than that, Wow,
7:07
Speaker 3: over twenty four hours of live content now with the tread.
7:09
Speaker 2: That we send to the world every day. Wow, that's
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Speaker 2: a lot of content. That's a lot.
7:14
Speaker 1: It's kind of crazy. I mean, let's flash back for
7:17
Speaker 1: a second. And talk a little bit about how different
7:19
Speaker 1: things were you fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years ago.
7:22
Speaker 2: You were on track to become a lawyer.
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Speaker 1: So talk to me a little bit about what life
7:26
Speaker 1: was like then and where you thought you would end up.
7:30
Speaker 2: Yeah.
7:31
Speaker 3: Well, my father was an attorney, and I always kind
7:35
Speaker 3: of loved the idea of wrestling with the law and facts,
7:39
Speaker 3: and I was drawn to that natural storytelling that now
7:44
Speaker 3: I do as a writer. But back then, I thought, oh, man, law,
7:48
Speaker 3: that's my bag. I was at NYU really thinking, Okay,
7:55
Speaker 3: I'm going to become a partner at a law firm.
7:58
Speaker 3: I'm going to become like some thing in the legal
8:00
Speaker 3: fields that will make my family proud.
8:02
Speaker 2: And I was on track to do that.
8:04
Speaker 3: I was heading into my senior year at NYU and
8:08
Speaker 3: I had already been accepted to Villanova Law School. I
8:10
Speaker 3: knew where I was going the next year, and that
8:12
Speaker 3: felt really good. But then things, I mean, life.
8:16
Speaker 2: Happens, right.
8:17
Speaker 3: It's just the when you think of yourself as an
8:23
Speaker 3: actor or a hero in your own story, sometimes life
8:26
Speaker 3: gives you the opportunity to really make choice of victim
8:29
Speaker 3: or victor. And for me, that happened one night in
8:32
Speaker 3: the East Village when I was held hostage by a
8:35
Speaker 3: complete stranger who really just wanted to inflict pain on people,
8:39
Speaker 3: and he had guns and swords and it was crazy town,
8:44
Speaker 3: Like it was truly when time slows down and you're
8:48
Speaker 3: you are looking at yourself as as an actor in
8:51
Speaker 3: a play like it's wild and you you were.
8:53
Speaker 2: Twenty when this happened. I was twenty, and so who
8:56
Speaker 2: were you there with? What were you doing? I was
8:58
Speaker 2: there with friends under her birthday. I realized, I just
9:04
Speaker 2: like completely called you out time. No, it's cool.
9:06
Speaker 3: I've talked about it before, but honestly, if that's what
9:08
Speaker 3: you're focused on, you're not You're not listening. Yeah, So
9:13
Speaker 3: I was just out at a wine bar with friends.
9:15
Speaker 3: I was working, as apparently goal at a law firm
9:17
Speaker 3: at the time, really trying to like cut my.
9:19
Speaker 2: Teeth on this new, you know, venture of law.
9:22
Speaker 3: And I mean, you want to talk about bright eyed
9:25
Speaker 3: and bushytail, Like I was entering my senior year at NYU.
9:27
Speaker 3: I already had my law acceptance locked in, I had
9:31
Speaker 3: I had a job, I had friends in the city,
9:33
Speaker 3: and it was like summer in the city, like that
9:35
Speaker 3: vibe is the best and at any moment, things can
9:40
Speaker 3: be taken away from you, and for me in that moment, thankfully,
9:43
Speaker 3: I survived. Obviously everybody survived that situation, actually, but I
9:48
Speaker 3: lost my ability to be naive to my own agency
9:52
Speaker 3: and how I am in control of how I react
9:55
Speaker 3: to the world. And it ended up being a huge
9:58
Speaker 3: blessing because I had to wake up the next morning
10:01
Speaker 3: and be like, okay, am I a victim.
10:02
Speaker 2: Or a hero of this story? Very long story short.
10:05
Speaker 3: This man ended up taking about twenty people in the
10:07
Speaker 3: bar hostage, and the NYPD outside were called, of course
10:13
Speaker 3: Mayhem on Second Avenue in the East village, and I
10:16
Speaker 3: became student negotiator between this man and the NYPD outside.
10:20
Speaker 2: I had no idea what I was doing.
10:21
Speaker 3: My entire purpose in that moment was to humanize the
10:25
Speaker 3: situation and just to remind him that these people had siblings, parents,
10:30
Speaker 3: loved ones that wanted to hear from them tomorrow. And
10:34
Speaker 3: my refrain, back to the storytelling piece of it was,
10:39
Speaker 3: this is not the end of my story. My mother
10:41
Speaker 3: is not getting a call tomorrow that I died in
10:42
Speaker 3: these village, and that somehow allowed me to make a
10:46
Speaker 3: connection with this guy long enough for the NYPD to
10:50
Speaker 3: intercede and this really brave woman and Margaret ended.
10:53
Speaker 2: Up jumping him from behind.
10:55
Speaker 3: So that moment gave the NYPD enough time to kind
10:59
Speaker 3: of I'm in and thankfully the situation came to a close.
11:03
Speaker 3: But I mean, it feels like years when somebody has
11:04
Speaker 3: a gun to your head. You don't wake up the.
11:06
Speaker 1: Next morning the same, And it's kind of crazy because
11:08
Speaker 1: you think about like you can always anticipate or I
11:11
Speaker 1: mean hopefully you don't have to, but an justicipit how
11:13
Speaker 1: you might react in that moment. Yeah, but that moment happened,
11:16
Speaker 1: and the fact that you had the mental clarity instead
11:19
Speaker 1: of just totally freaking out to stop and think, okay,
11:25
Speaker 1: what's my step? Like what am I going to do here?
11:27
Speaker 1: How are we going to get out of this? And
11:29
Speaker 1: act almost clear or clearheadedly.
11:32
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, well, you know people always say, like,
11:35
Speaker 3: you know, you look, you look at at someone as
11:37
Speaker 3: other and think I could never do that, And it
11:40
Speaker 3: might be, you know, an act of bravery, or it
11:42
Speaker 3: might be you know, a marathon or attending a spin class,
11:46
Speaker 3: and it's like, well you can if you have to,
11:48
Speaker 3: you have to. What if you had to? What if
11:50
Speaker 3: you don't have a choice. The human spirit is so
11:52
Speaker 3: incredibly resilient. We hear amazing stories of people dealing with
11:56
Speaker 3: far worse than I ever have every single day and
11:59
Speaker 3: living to tell the tale and living to unify and
12:01
Speaker 3: really really just rise above.
12:04
Speaker 1: So obviously a heartle moment of sorts. You're going into
12:07
Speaker 1: your senior year. You make it out of this horrific situation.
12:12
Speaker 1: At this point, you're still pretty on track and excited
12:14
Speaker 1: to go to law school and continue on, maybe with
12:17
Speaker 1: a renewed sense of purpose.
12:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely felt like, Okay, I'm here.
12:21
Speaker 3: I'm alive for a reason, Like let's have that zest
12:24
Speaker 3: for life that seems like a cliche until you almost
12:26
Speaker 3: die and then it's not right, and then like I
12:28
Speaker 3: will take every Hallmark card, you know, copy piece of
12:31
Speaker 3: copy that seems hyperbolic.
12:34
Speaker 2: It's like, no, we're here. I'm happy, really really happy
12:36
Speaker 2: to be alive. So I answered law.
12:39
Speaker 3: School and it was cool, but I had no idea
12:42
Speaker 3: how much trauma my body had actually absorbed. And I
12:45
Speaker 3: went to talk therapy, They're like, oh, you're good. I'm like, okay,
12:47
Speaker 3: I seem to be pretty stable. Let's rock this law
12:50
Speaker 3: school thing and it was one day I was called
12:56
Speaker 3: to just lace up and run. Never had run a
12:59
Speaker 3: mile in my little life. I was allergic to exercise.
13:02
Speaker 3: I completely did not identify as an athlete. The thought
13:05
Speaker 3: of participating in any type of sport or any type
13:08
Speaker 3: of workout truly intimidated me, like gave me you know
13:12
Speaker 3: that that tension in the in the.
13:14
Speaker 2: Middle of your chest.
13:16
Speaker 3: And it's really crazy that now that is my life's
13:18
Speaker 3: work and it gets me out of bed in the morning.
13:21
Speaker 3: But back then it was it was really terrifying. But
13:24
Speaker 3: I felt the need to move. And I think the
13:27
Speaker 3: trigger was obviously, you know, this traumatic experience that happened
13:31
Speaker 3: and I had done enough talking.
13:33
Speaker 2: Now I needed to start moving.
13:35
Speaker 3: And it was it was the running shoes that helped
13:37
Speaker 3: me really like run it out.
13:39
Speaker 2: So when you say call, it is a call from within, call.
13:43
Speaker 3: From within absolutely like it was almost like something was
13:45
Speaker 3: tethered to my chest and was like, you are going
13:47
Speaker 3: out to run today, girl. And when I say I
13:49
Speaker 3: should say run in air quotes, I mean it might
13:51
Speaker 3: have been like a very brisk walk. You know. I
13:55
Speaker 3: had no endurance at that point. Literally I was completely deconditioned,
13:58
Speaker 3: but I did it. Up again, and I did it
14:01
Speaker 3: the next day, and then I signed up for races
14:03
Speaker 3: and it.
14:03
Speaker 2: Was a very slow, iterative process. Oh, I totally here you.
14:06
Speaker 1: I mean when I started running, it was like a
14:08
Speaker 1: half mile every day for a summer, and then slowly,
14:11
Speaker 1: in the same kind of storyline, it's like half mile
14:14
Speaker 1: becomes a five k, you sign up for a race,
14:16
Speaker 1: you feel like you suck, but you do it. Then
14:18
Speaker 1: the five k becomes a half marathon, and then we're
14:20
Speaker 1: running everywhere and everywhere all the time, all the races,
14:25
Speaker 1: all the time. All the time. You're running New York
14:27
Speaker 1: this year, I am same, same, I'm excited.
14:30
Speaker 2: I uh.
14:30
Speaker 1: Okay, So you start running and around this time in
14:34
Speaker 1: your life, you're also getting maybe your first job at
14:37
Speaker 1: a law firm.
14:38
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I was at my one law for my
14:41
Speaker 2: entire career.
14:42
Speaker 3: I was a summer associated at Paul Hastings and then
14:43
Speaker 3: I ended up practicing there for seven years after I graduated,
14:47
Speaker 3: or I left in my seventh year.
14:48
Speaker 1: Okay, and talk to me about what it was like
14:52
Speaker 1: when you were leaving, Like why were you leaving? What
14:55
Speaker 1: was the mental thought process You're you're running, You're like,
14:58
Speaker 1: I'm a lawyer, I'm also really identifying with this running thing.
15:02
Speaker 2: I like activity, so what I ran at her lack.
15:08
Speaker 3: Career like literally, as I picked up my mileage and
15:11
Speaker 3: my passion for running, I became much more immersed in
15:14
Speaker 3: the running.
15:14
Speaker 2: Community, which is incredible and truly enveloping.
15:18
Speaker 3: And it was at a time when there was a
15:21
Speaker 3: confluence of like social media and a buzziness around urban running. However,
15:26
Speaker 3: folks wanted to find that I was running with the
15:28
Speaker 3: New York City Bridge Runners at the time and still do,
15:31
Speaker 3: an amazing group.
15:32
Speaker 2: I didn't hate.
15:35
Speaker 3: Law, so it would be much easier if the story
15:37
Speaker 3: were I hated I was miserable. It was like no,
15:40
Speaker 3: I actually liked the intellectual rigor of law, and the
15:42
Speaker 3: partners who I worked with were badass. But I felt
15:45
Speaker 3: like I was leading a divorced existence, almost like like
15:48
Speaker 3: the superhero, Like you hang up the cape and then
15:50
Speaker 3: you go to the office, and then you lead this
15:52
Speaker 3: other life at night. And I would count down the
15:55
Speaker 3: hours until I could move, till I could sweat so
15:56
Speaker 3: I could go to spin class, so I could run
15:58
Speaker 3: with my crew, and I thought, monetize this sweat thing,
16:03
Speaker 3: then I would be golden.
16:04
Speaker 2: I would be living in that flow, like.
16:06
Speaker 1: An ex boyfriend that you like wish he did something
16:09
Speaker 1: really bad, so you can just tell him that, like
16:11
Speaker 1: he's not worth your energy.
16:13
Speaker 2: But when like it just kind of ends, you're like, oh,
16:15
Speaker 2: this is so much worse. Yeah, so much worse.
16:17
Speaker 3: Well, people live at that in that malaise and that
16:20
Speaker 3: like just okay, yeah, but it's not okay to feel
16:24
Speaker 3: just okay, and people aren't told that enough, right, And
16:27
Speaker 3: it's and it is to use that relationship analogy, it's
16:29
Speaker 3: like then when you're in the right relationship, you're like, oh,
16:32
Speaker 3: this is what it's supposed to be like and crazy
16:34
Speaker 3: and it's so crazy. And so that is how I
16:36
Speaker 3: felt about about my departure from laws. That I didn't
16:41
Speaker 3: hate law, but I loved this other thing, and I
16:44
Speaker 3: needed to figure out if I failed, I failed on
16:48
Speaker 3: my own terms at least and doing something I love,
16:50
Speaker 3: doing something that I loved. So two weeks before the
16:52
Speaker 3: London twenty twelve Olympics, with a crafts iPhone and a
16:56
Speaker 3: and a tumbler blog, I decided, you know, I'm gonna
17:00
Speaker 3: just report from the games. I'm gonna quit my job,
17:02
Speaker 3: and I'm gonna go and interview athletes and I'm just
17:03
Speaker 3: gonna be where the stuff is happening.
17:05
Speaker 2: How'd you get that access? Oh? I hustled. I knew
17:09
Speaker 2: some guy who were on track.
17:10
Speaker 3: He introduced me to the PR people for the US
17:13
Speaker 3: Olympic team.
17:14
Speaker 2: Pure hustle. Nobody kne who I was.
17:17
Speaker 3: I was standing next to like you know, the network
17:19
Speaker 3: great CBS, NBC, and it was like I was just
17:22
Speaker 3: this kid, but you know what, like you gotta fake
17:25
Speaker 3: it till you make it. And I ended up having
17:26
Speaker 3: really cool like interviews and Carra Gascher, who now I'm
17:29
Speaker 3: a contributor to her book, and other athletes who have
17:32
Speaker 3: no reason to give me an interview, you know, somehow
17:36
Speaker 3: gave me the time of day, and that gave me
17:39
Speaker 3: insight into even more true storytelling and the and the
17:44
Speaker 3: fabric that were weaving in being these storytellers.
17:47
Speaker 1: So it sounds like at the beginning, you're kind of
17:49
Speaker 1: thinking of getting into fitness and wellness, like from maybe
17:53
Speaker 1: like a writer journalistic side.
17:55
Speaker 3: It's the only box that I had available to me.
17:58
Speaker 3: Right So I when I give people advice, now career advice,
18:00
Speaker 3: I say, unchuck all the boxes. Take a true, true
18:05
Speaker 3: inventory of your skill set and where you want to
18:08
Speaker 3: get to and then bridge that gap. But I was
18:10
Speaker 3: inserting myself into the box that I had already created. So,
18:14
Speaker 3: you know, editors that you know, like Rosen Fresher for example,
18:18
Speaker 3: like was nice enough to meet me for coffee one day, and.
18:20
Speaker 2: I was like, what's it like to be an editor
18:22
Speaker 2: at a magazine? You know?
18:22
Speaker 3: I had no fucking clue, right, So it was like
18:25
Speaker 3: figuring it out within the parameters that I perceived, right,
18:29
Speaker 3: And then I realized, after thinking, the only way I
18:32
Speaker 3: can leave law and not be a professional athlete is
18:35
Speaker 3: to be a journalist. Social media really helped me kind
18:38
Speaker 3: of just establish my own voice and then establish a
18:40
Speaker 3: brand which would have been unheard of, you know, ten,
18:43
Speaker 3: ten to twenty years ago.
18:44
Speaker 2: So talk to me about what that looked like then.
18:46
Speaker 1: So you're at the Games, you come back, what are
18:49
Speaker 1: you doing with this content?
18:50
Speaker 2: Where are you putting it?
18:51
Speaker 1: And then what's your next step into kind of creating content?
18:54
Speaker 1: Still but not really thinking like, okay, I've got to
18:57
Speaker 1: be on this like journalist path right now.
18:59
Speaker 3: So while I was at the Games, I actually I
19:02
Speaker 3: had my Tumbler account and honestly I created my Tumblr,
19:05
Speaker 3: shot up and run which later became the name for
19:07
Speaker 3: my book simply to document my New York City marathon
19:10
Speaker 3: training journey in twenty ten.
19:12
Speaker 2: It was just like my own scrap book. And then
19:14
Speaker 2: that kind of you know, to create, had a life
19:16
Speaker 2: of its own. Was that your first? My first? Yeah,
19:19
Speaker 2: New York City, New York City, twenty ten.
19:21
Speaker 3: I was raising money for MS research and because my
19:24
Speaker 3: mom has MSS, and that became that.
19:26
Speaker 2: That was it, That was that was the game.
19:27
Speaker 3: That was the game changing race. I crossed that finished line.
19:29
Speaker 3: I was like, Okay, this is what I'm meant to
19:31
Speaker 3: do forever. Yeah, truly. So while I was while I
19:34
Speaker 3: was in London at the Games, I ended up receiving
19:36
Speaker 3: a job opportunity to work on the agency side for
19:40
Speaker 3: Nike Women. So Nike Women was the client of the
19:42
Speaker 3: agency and I was going to be working on that team,
19:44
Speaker 3: working on their social media accounts. And it was I mean,
19:48
Speaker 3: I thought like, oh my gosh, this is a few
19:49
Speaker 3: big excepts when I left my law job, I'm actually
19:51
Speaker 3: going to get some kind of paycheck doing something that
19:53
Speaker 3: I find it interesting. But then about six months later,
19:56
Speaker 3: six months into it, I thought, oh, man, like I'm
19:59
Speaker 3: still not telling my story as an athlete. I really
20:02
Speaker 3: feel like I have a point of view that it's
20:04
Speaker 3: not being told, you know, this unapologetic voice of a
20:08
Speaker 3: female athlete who was not always an athlete, and I
20:10
Speaker 3: wasn't necessarily seeing people like us represented in that story.
20:15
Speaker 3: And so I had to pivot again. And the second
20:18
Speaker 3: pivot was scarier than the first because the first one
20:20
Speaker 3: was like, all right, I'm jumping off the cliff, and
20:22
Speaker 3: then the second is like, well, you haven't even built
20:24
Speaker 3: your wrings yet and you're about to jump off the
20:25
Speaker 3: other one.
20:25
Speaker 2: Yeah.
20:26
Speaker 3: So but that was the right choice because I was
20:30
Speaker 3: forced situationally to kind of really think hard about what
20:36
Speaker 3: my dream job would be. It'd be like, what kind
20:38
Speaker 3: of partnerships and collaborations would be your dream job? And
20:41
Speaker 3: on my vision board, I had that I wanted to
20:44
Speaker 3: work with a modern company with like amazing hardware and
20:48
Speaker 3: technology first, and literally a year later Peloton. You know,
20:52
Speaker 3: I read about Pelton and John Polly, So this is like,
20:55
Speaker 3: none of this is accidental, but I had to create.
20:58
Speaker 3: I had to exercise right no in order for the
21:01
Speaker 3: right yes to appear.
21:02
Speaker 2: Right.
21:02
Speaker 1: I think there's a I think there's a lot of
21:03
Speaker 1: things I want to jump into. First of all, I
21:05
Speaker 1: think a lot of people struggle with this idea and
21:08
Speaker 1: do I want to pursue my personal brand or do
21:11
Speaker 1: I want to put my skill set into another brand.
21:13
Speaker 1: You obviously felt super passionate about telling your story. Do
21:17
Speaker 1: you think that was kind of the jumping off point.
21:19
Speaker 2: Like that was why you knew you had to do it?
21:22
Speaker 3: Yeah? Well, I mean I think coming off the heels
21:24
Speaker 3: of wrestling existentially honestly with like why am I here?
21:28
Speaker 3: Why do I survive? This is having a gun to
21:30
Speaker 3: my head? So I was still wrestling with that kind
21:33
Speaker 3: of spiritual thing. And I started telling my story on
21:37
Speaker 3: social media and people, you know, handfuls of the time
21:40
Speaker 3: started paying attention on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook whatever,
21:44
Speaker 3: and that community really felt like a community. Man. I
21:47
Speaker 3: was like, wow, Like, there are people in this world
21:48
Speaker 3: who who also want to show up to you know,
21:52
Speaker 3: a race, wearing whatever they want to wear. And they
21:54
Speaker 3: might have like lipstick or rings, or they might work
21:57
Speaker 3: in a band, or they might be in fashion, and
21:59
Speaker 3: there's still doing this thing and we can uncheck all
22:03
Speaker 3: of these other ways that we've been siloed and come
22:06
Speaker 3: together and creator a movement, right, And.
22:08
Speaker 1: Did you know at the time that you could monetize
22:10
Speaker 1: that girl. The day I stopped accepting free shoes, my
22:14
Speaker 1: life changed. I said, no, my this meeting is now
22:18
Speaker 1: now comes with a consultant fee.
22:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, this pick your brain moment is no longer a
22:23
Speaker 3: pick your brain moment. I will be invoicing you for
22:25
Speaker 3: this talk, because then my ideas would be taken and
22:28
Speaker 3: used for photo shooes and used for campaigns and use
22:30
Speaker 3: for marketing pitches.
22:31
Speaker 2: And I'm like, nah, that's not how this is working.
22:34
Speaker 3: So I had to snatch my power back in that moment,
22:36
Speaker 3: and a lot of people said no. A lot of
22:39
Speaker 3: people said no, and I just had to accept that
22:41
Speaker 3: and know that within time it would come.
22:45
Speaker 1: Did you get did you ask other I guess maybe
22:47
Speaker 1: people in similar positions or other consultants to get a
22:51
Speaker 1: better idea of like what you should be charging for
22:53
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff?
22:54
Speaker 2: Completely made, completely made it up.
22:58
Speaker 1: I love hearing that and me laugh because I sat
23:01
Speaker 1: down Aiden Slater from Press Juicery was on the podcast
23:04
Speaker 1: and he was on a phone call and he tells
23:06
Speaker 1: me that the web developer is like, so, how much
23:08
Speaker 1: is the juice? And he's like, one second, let me
23:10
Speaker 1: check my notes and he puts the mute button on.
23:12
Speaker 1: He looks to his co founder. He's like, how much
23:14
Speaker 1: is the juice? He's like, maybe seven to fifty. He
23:16
Speaker 1: goes that sounds too expensive. He's like, how about five dollars?
23:18
Speaker 1: She goes, no, they're like six fifty sounds good. It's
23:21
Speaker 1: six fifty And like, I feel like that's such a
23:23
Speaker 1: common theme with with young entrepreneurs, or I mean old
23:27
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs in general. It's like when you start
23:30
Speaker 1: understanding what your true worth is, that's when people are
23:33
Speaker 1: gonna offer you your true worth. When you're gonna when
23:35
Speaker 1: you're gonna speak up and say it, and sometimes you
23:37
Speaker 1: know you're gonna have to be okay with being told no.
23:40
Speaker 1: But those aren't the people that you want to mess
23:42
Speaker 1: with anyway, exactly. Oh, curate, curate the collaborations that you
23:46
Speaker 1: want to work with. Don't just say yes any old
23:49
Speaker 1: client who comes to the door or any old person
23:51
Speaker 1: who's willing to sign a check for you, Like that
23:53
Speaker 1: could be like I really believe the energy is is
23:57
Speaker 1: frequency right, and I really give energy and with Pelton
24:02
Speaker 1: collaboratively like sell my energy on the bike and content
24:05
Speaker 1: in classes and in instruction, and that needs to be
24:10
Speaker 1: in order for it to feel real.
24:13
Speaker 2: Got to You've gotta find the right partners, you got it.
24:16
Speaker 3: It's just like a radio frequency, like not that that
24:18
Speaker 3: that radio frequency doesn't rock with me.
24:20
Speaker 2: I gotta keep it moving. And there's no shame in
24:22
Speaker 2: saying no.
24:23
Speaker 3: It's very very good opportunities that other people would be like,
24:26
Speaker 3: how could.
24:27
Speaker 2: You not take that? No, I don't know. That wasn't
24:29
Speaker 2: my vibe.
24:38
Speaker 1: Quick break from today's episode to give the sponsor Athletic
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24:49
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24:53
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Speaker 1: to claim it. No code necessary Again, that's Athleticgreens dot
25:24
Speaker 1: com slash hurdle. Let's get back to it. I'm back
25:37
Speaker 1: here sitting with Robin Arzon. What I would love to
25:40
Speaker 1: hear about is now you getting started with Peloton. So
25:43
Speaker 1: you also you mentioned that you have this vision board
25:46
Speaker 1: something else I want to talk about. Lets talk about
25:48
Speaker 1: your vision board before you even get to Peloton. A
25:49
Speaker 1: lot of people talk about having a vision board and
25:52
Speaker 1: it feels so daunting to create it.
25:54
Speaker 2: How long have you had it? What's on it? What
25:57
Speaker 2: was on it?
25:57
Speaker 1: Then?
25:57
Speaker 2: What's on it now? Talk about this? This is actually
26:00
Speaker 2: this conversation is inspiring me to to do a new one.
26:03
Speaker 3: But the vision boards that I had when I was
26:05
Speaker 3: really having that post agency, pre any other any other
26:10
Speaker 3: income coming in moment, was really just like I needed
26:16
Speaker 3: to see, not just think about or talk about.
26:19
Speaker 2: I needed to physically see on paper.
26:21
Speaker 3: This might be also the analytical lawyer in me a plan,
26:25
Speaker 3: And so I just went through magazines and kind of
26:28
Speaker 3: pulled out whatever jumped out at me and then specific
26:31
Speaker 3: things like, for example, like I loved how modern and
26:36
Speaker 3: sleep Apple products looked, so I literally just put up
26:39
Speaker 3: like the Apple logo, like little things like that, like
26:42
Speaker 3: what kind of brand partnerships would make me feel proud?
26:45
Speaker 3: Like what kind of like Oprah's obviously on there? Still,
26:48
Speaker 3: hey girl, you know, Beyonce is on there, like people
26:51
Speaker 3: who I admire and respect, people I want to work with. Words,
26:55
Speaker 3: words that I feel like are my brand values. It
26:57
Speaker 3: really is just like the visual conversation and then it up.
27:00
Speaker 3: And of course you can do this digitally, but for me,
27:02
Speaker 3: the tactile feeling of like writing things out and and
27:05
Speaker 3: cutting things out was very cathartic for me. I really
27:08
Speaker 3: do believe I manifested things that I have in my
27:10
Speaker 3: life now because I was able to fine tune, you know,
27:14
Speaker 3: speaking of radio frequency, like that was fine tuning my
27:16
Speaker 3: antenna so people could find me.
27:18
Speaker 2: I know, and I mean and shut up and run.
27:20
Speaker 1: One of your tips for getting out the door is
27:22
Speaker 1: surround yourself with inspiration. So you're saying that this is
27:26
Speaker 1: how you surround yourself with inspiration on a regular basis.
27:29
Speaker 3: I still do my alarm clock, says do epic shit, my,
27:34
Speaker 3: I have post its on my mirror.
27:35
Speaker 2: I've got I mean, I am covered, I am wearing.
27:38
Speaker 3: If I could wear, you know, inspiration like a cloak,
27:41
Speaker 3: I would because I believe that that that.
27:43
Speaker 2: Keeps that keeps my intentions pure.
27:47
Speaker 1: So Peloton, how does it happen?
27:51
Speaker 2: Happen? Is like how does it happen? Like how do
27:53
Speaker 2: you like?
27:53
Speaker 1: One day you're just like on the street, You're wearing
27:56
Speaker 1: like some Doc Martins, and someone's like, I think you
27:58
Speaker 1: should probably get on a bike.
28:01
Speaker 3: So I I read about John Foley and I thought
28:07
Speaker 3: this company is about And this was like when John
28:10
Speaker 3: Foley's articles were a blurb, not you know, front page right, So,
28:14
Speaker 3: but you know the company, the company was formed and
28:17
Speaker 3: they definitely had some money and they were going to
28:19
Speaker 3: be opening up the New York City studio. And I
28:22
Speaker 3: emailed him directly and I was like, hmmm, pretty sure
28:25
Speaker 3: our visions are aligned.
28:27
Speaker 2: Let me work for you. What were you doing at
28:30
Speaker 2: this point?
28:30
Speaker 3: At this point, I was teaching at a very small
28:33
Speaker 3: studio in Union Square called Revolve, and I was writing,
28:36
Speaker 3: you know, I was just writing like blog content and
28:39
Speaker 3: pitching articles that nobody ever read and you know, just
28:42
Speaker 3: rarely trying to like hustle his journalists and for the
28:45
Speaker 3: and of course running a ton and running coaching, but
28:48
Speaker 3: that never really made any money. You know, it was
28:49
Speaker 3: just more like I had I had passions, but if
28:52
Speaker 3: you're not getting paid, it's not a job. So you know,
28:56
Speaker 3: I was really in this wrestling with like, how the
28:58
Speaker 3: hell am I going to make this work?
28:59
Speaker 2: I know what I love and I don't know how
29:00
Speaker 2: to get paid for it yet.
29:02
Speaker 3: And the consultancies were great, but they were not consistent,
29:05
Speaker 3: so you know, it was it was how how do
29:08
Speaker 3: I really like have an income stream that makes it?
29:11
Speaker 3: And things kind of hit all at the same time.
29:13
Speaker 3: I started getting like modeling gigs, I got an agent
29:15
Speaker 3: at WMA. You know, Peloton happened, and like it was
29:19
Speaker 3: all the seeds I had planted for about a decade
29:21
Speaker 3: were finally sprouting. So you know, you got to plan
29:24
Speaker 3: all those seeds, even if you don't know what's going
29:26
Speaker 3: to come from it. Because literally people aren't calling me.
29:28
Speaker 3: Now who I met in London? Who didn't you know,
29:32
Speaker 3: they were very nice, but they didn't know who I was.
29:34
Speaker 3: And now now I'm getting the phone calls.
29:35
Speaker 1: So what happened after He's on the email, and also
29:37
Speaker 1: like how many times did you read the email before
29:39
Speaker 1: you sent it? Because sometimes I do like a twelve,
29:42
Speaker 1: like a cycle of twelve, and then.
29:43
Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, this is good to go forgot you know,
29:46
Speaker 2: I think I.
29:46
Speaker 3: Remember being so sure that this was the right marriage
29:51
Speaker 3: of sorts, you know, Pelton, myself in Pelton that I
29:54
Speaker 3: just sent.
29:55
Speaker 2: I was brazen.
29:56
Speaker 3: I was just like, this is my these these are
29:58
Speaker 3: my people, or at least this is my vision. Like wow,
30:02
Speaker 3: like on a global scale, I can be involved in
30:06
Speaker 3: the technology company that produces fitness.
30:07
Speaker 2: This is amazing. So yeah, it happened pretty quickly.
30:10
Speaker 3: I emailed John Pollie and I was in the office
30:13
Speaker 3: what we used to call the closet.
30:14
Speaker 2: Where we produce.
30:15
Speaker 3: We produce our very first cycling episodes. Within five days,
30:19
Speaker 3: I was the third instructor hired.
30:20
Speaker 1: Wow, and you are hired within five days. Like it
30:23
Speaker 1: was like, hey, nice to meet you. Let's do this, yes, wow,
30:27
Speaker 1: yeah it pinch me moment.
30:31
Speaker 2: Pinch me, yeah for sure.
30:32
Speaker 3: But also it was still it was very scrappy, so
30:35
Speaker 3: it wasn't like walking into this glossy thing and I
30:38
Speaker 3: felt everyone anyone who's who's still the company who was
30:42
Speaker 3: with us then believed and still believes. And I was
30:46
Speaker 3: literally just telling John this morning when we were at
30:48
Speaker 3: the Trede Experiential event.
30:49
Speaker 2: I'm like, not only.
30:51
Speaker 3: Do we like drink the kool Aid, we like we're
30:53
Speaker 3: making the kool aid. Like we believe in this stuff.
30:55
Speaker 3: And I do believe that Pealtine is going to be
30:57
Speaker 3: the greatest fitness brand in the world.
30:59
Speaker 2: All right.
30:59
Speaker 1: So at that time, we're like so far away from
31:03
Speaker 1: where the brand is now. So what I would love
31:05
Speaker 1: for you to do, just for people that might not
31:07
Speaker 1: be familiar with the Peloton brand, is talk a little
31:09
Speaker 1: bit about what the Peloton brand used to offer and
31:13
Speaker 1: what they've added to the brand since. So when you
31:15
Speaker 1: signed on, it was cycling.
31:18
Speaker 2: Yes, so it's a cycling So we sell hardware, which.
31:20
Speaker 3: Is a bike equipped with a beautiful screen that streams
31:25
Speaker 3: live and on demand classes from our New York City
31:27
Speaker 3: studio fourteen hours a day of live programming and tunnel
31:31
Speaker 3: to gosh ten thousand plus classes on demand of Spin
31:35
Speaker 3: of Spin classes. And we've now since launched our tread
31:39
Speaker 3: which has boot camp classes running only classes a combination
31:43
Speaker 3: of the two, and we have floor, we have stretching.
31:45
Speaker 3: We have warm Upe, we have cool Down, we have Yoga,
31:47
Speaker 3: we have it's a one step shop at this point.
31:50
Speaker 3: And on digital, Peloton Digital also launched and now with
31:54
Speaker 3: the Peloton app, our members can access that content from anywhere.
31:58
Speaker 1: And so can you have just a Peloton Digital membership
32:02
Speaker 1: without owning any of the Peloton equipment.
32:05
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and a lot of a lot of It's it's
32:07
Speaker 3: cool for now, Like people who do not have either
32:10
Speaker 3: the financial means or access to a bike or a tread,
32:13
Speaker 3: they can still work out with me around the world.
32:15
Speaker 3: And I'm I'm happy that that digital family is being
32:19
Speaker 3: built because that's that's access. You can just jump on
32:23
Speaker 3: the app and you don't you don't ever have to
32:24
Speaker 3: buy the hardware.
32:25
Speaker 2: Although we'd love you too. I'm sure. I'm sure.
32:29
Speaker 1: So when you started, like, did you have any concept
32:32
Speaker 1: of exactly like how big that this brand was going
32:36
Speaker 1: to grow? I mean, you knew obviously that eventually you
32:39
Speaker 1: would be in homes quote unquote around the country, But
32:42
Speaker 1: did you anticipate this?
32:45
Speaker 2: I gotta be honest, yes I did.
32:48
Speaker 3: Because I'm a dreamer and a hustler, and this company
32:52
Speaker 3: is comprised of dreamers who are willing to work their
32:56
Speaker 3: asses off, So I knew not in the ways. You know,
32:59
Speaker 3: you never know the past. The path to success is
33:01
Speaker 3: absolutely circuitous. But you know, if you're climbing a mountain,
33:05
Speaker 3: you'll get up to that mountaintop. And the analogy I
33:08
Speaker 3: use is that we are we're building, We're literally building
33:12
Speaker 3: the path to the Emerald City as we're walking to
33:15
Speaker 3: the Emerald City, and.
33:16
Speaker 2: Then people join us.
33:16
Speaker 3: And truly, like that Wizard of Oz analogy is like
33:19
Speaker 3: I'm building the yellow brick Road, and I'm okay with that.
33:22
Speaker 3: I'm okay with building the yellow brick road because my
33:24
Speaker 3: we are getting there. So yeah, I did believe that
33:27
Speaker 3: we would get to this point, and I believe we're gonna.
33:28
Speaker 2: Get far, far, further, far further.
33:31
Speaker 1: Can you remember some of those early interactions you had
33:34
Speaker 1: with at home writers and for people that are following along,
33:37
Speaker 1: obviously to know is that there is the New York
33:39
Speaker 1: City Studio on twenty third Street for the bike and
33:42
Speaker 1: then the Tread Studio which is down in the West
33:45
Speaker 1: Village technically the West Village yep, chryst Okay, So there's
33:48
Speaker 1: the Tread Studio in the West Village, and so there
33:51
Speaker 1: are writers and runners in the studio, but then there
33:54
Speaker 1: are also the people at home. It's probably a lot
33:57
Speaker 1: to handle, like handling and managing that class by making
34:01
Speaker 1: sure that you feel like no one's neglected at home.
34:03
Speaker 2: Was that did that take you a little while to
34:05
Speaker 2: kind of figure out like how to balance the two
34:07
Speaker 2: of them?
34:08
Speaker 3: I mean absolutely, I would probably cringe if if I
34:11
Speaker 3: saw footage by very first classes. I mean, we were
34:13
Speaker 3: all evolving if we If we didn't, we wouldn't be
34:17
Speaker 3: where we are. Teaching at Peloton is truly the hardest
34:21
Speaker 3: job of instruction within the fitness industry period and that's
34:25
Speaker 3: why it's a very small bulls eye. And recruiting our
34:27
Speaker 3: team and I really feel like we recruit, we're recruiting
34:30
Speaker 3: like a team of the Avengers or like superheroes, you know,
34:33
Speaker 3: where each person is kind of bringing their own flavor
34:36
Speaker 3: and their own point of view and then their own
34:38
Speaker 3: training style and esthetic conversation and musical stylings. And that
34:42
Speaker 3: I'm very, very proud of that because it's super hard
34:45
Speaker 3: to find people who can negotiate not only the fitness
34:48
Speaker 3: credibility and authenticity, but look amazing doing and working out
34:51
Speaker 3: the entire time that we walk the walk, we run
34:54
Speaker 3: the run, we cycle, we bike the bike. You know,
34:57
Speaker 3: it's it's real what we're doing up there, but it's
35:00
Speaker 3: what's even more real are the relationships that we have
35:02
Speaker 3: with our members, you know, hundreds of thousands around world.
35:05
Speaker 1: You said something that I think is really interesting in
35:08
Speaker 1: the like we look great doing it.
35:10
Speaker 2: I think it's stressful.
35:12
Speaker 1: As someone who was for a long time and instructor
35:15
Speaker 1: herself and kind of took a step back recently, I
35:18
Speaker 1: was stressed out a little bit, feeling like I maybe
35:21
Speaker 1: had to look a certain way or wanted to present
35:23
Speaker 1: myself in a certain way for the people that were
35:24
Speaker 1: coming to take my class.
35:26
Speaker 2: Does that ever weigh on you when you're up there.
35:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, honestly, I would be lying if I
35:32
Speaker 3: didn't have a constant awareness of the visual conversation I
35:36
Speaker 3: am having with the world. I mean when you are
35:39
Speaker 3: in and I think honestly a lot of people are
35:42
Speaker 3: feeling this simply just because you always have a camera
35:45
Speaker 3: in your face, whether you're literally in front of five
35:48
Speaker 3: cameras like you are at Pelton, or whether it's just
35:50
Speaker 3: your iPhone or your cell phone or your camera or
35:52
Speaker 3: you know, your your computer, I wrestle with that too.
35:55
Speaker 3: I think everybody does. And I'm happy that you bring
35:57
Speaker 3: that up, because it's tough. I want to be honest
36:01
Speaker 3: with people who then will go to my Instagram and
36:02
Speaker 3: be like, comment, how do I get those abs?
36:05
Speaker 2: How do I get that?
36:05
Speaker 3: And say, I work out four hours a day and
36:07
Speaker 3: my job is literally to be healthy and.
36:12
Speaker 2: Lead by example.
36:14
Speaker 3: I don't expect everyone to have the same results if
36:16
Speaker 3: they're not putting in the same amount of time. That's
36:18
Speaker 3: important for people to understand is that we can unlock
36:21
Speaker 3: potential in you, but you can't expect the same results
36:24
Speaker 3: as someone who's literally just putting in their entire life's
36:27
Speaker 3: work into this.
36:27
Speaker 2: How do you keep that mental conversation healthy?
36:31
Speaker 1: And I guess also I mean, like wall working out
36:33
Speaker 1: four hours a day, like keeping like a reasonable expectation
36:36
Speaker 1: of what your performance should be because recovery has to
36:39
Speaker 1: be a big piece of this.
36:39
Speaker 2: So I guess there's two questions here.
36:41
Speaker 1: The first part is how do you keep the mental
36:43
Speaker 1: dialogue and like, maybe body positivity a part of your
36:46
Speaker 1: whole stick here, because it's got to be a big
36:49
Speaker 1: part of the conversation.
36:50
Speaker 2: Well, thankfully there's been such it's been so buzzy.
36:54
Speaker 3: Like thankfully that conversation has been buzzy at the time
36:57
Speaker 3: when I selfishly have needed it, you know. So I
36:59
Speaker 3: look at p people who I really admire, like Shane.
37:01
Speaker 3: We were just talking about Shane Alexander, you know, like
37:04
Speaker 3: people like that, like people who I get to work
37:07
Speaker 3: with on the Adidas Women and Creator Network, who are
37:10
Speaker 3: just standing in their power in whatever like way that
37:14
Speaker 3: means and whatever shape, size story that unfolds. And it's
37:20
Speaker 3: important for me to see examples of that because we
37:24
Speaker 3: all have that little inner hater and it's so loud.
37:29
Speaker 3: But thankfully, my biggest way to exercise that muscle of
37:35
Speaker 3: willpower and discipline and self love has always been movement.
37:40
Speaker 3: So I usually I can quiet it by joining a
37:45
Speaker 3: class or having a run, where that's my reset button.
37:49
Speaker 3: So when I'm running, I'm not thinking about how I'm looking.
37:51
Speaker 3: When I'm running, I'm feeling the run, right, So when
37:53
Speaker 3: I'm lifting, I'm thinking, gosh, I'm so strong.
37:56
Speaker 2: I don't care how big my thighs are.
37:57
Speaker 3: They are powerful, and so that that really really helps.
38:01
Speaker 2: That's my tool for sure.
38:02
Speaker 1: An interesting thought that I've been having a lot lately
38:04
Speaker 1: as we are the people that talk to ourselves the
38:06
Speaker 1: most every single day. So like, would I talk to
38:10
Speaker 1: you the way that I talk to myself? Like sometimes yeah,
38:13
Speaker 1: but sometimes no, Like I wouldn't say like what the
38:16
Speaker 1: hell are you wearing right now?
38:17
Speaker 2: Or what? Like I would never say that to someone else.
38:19
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
38:20
Speaker 3: Yeah. I tell people, you know, when they ask what's
38:22
Speaker 3: your biggest race day what's your biggest piece of race
38:24
Speaker 3: day advice?
38:25
Speaker 2: I say, talk to yourself like you would have loved one.
38:28
Speaker 3: I asked somebody in class the other day or asked
38:30
Speaker 3: the members if your inner thoughts were on a loud
38:33
Speaker 3: speaker right now, would you be proud of them? That
38:36
Speaker 3: ability to coach yourself is so important, and I think
38:42
Speaker 3: especially when you have young young eyes and young ears
38:46
Speaker 3: paying attention, Like parents really need to pay attention what
38:48
Speaker 3: they're saying to the saying out loud about themselves when
38:52
Speaker 3: their kids are watching. Thankfully, my mother and father showed
38:55
Speaker 3: such amazing examples of strength and confidence and resilience growing
38:59
Speaker 3: up that that has been a through line throughout my
39:02
Speaker 3: entire life. But like, we can really be leading examples
39:05
Speaker 3: of positivity, and it all starts with the voice in our.
39:08
Speaker 2: Head for sure.
39:09
Speaker 1: So what is your go to piece of advice for
39:12
Speaker 1: someone who's ready to get started but doesn't even know
39:14
Speaker 1: how to begin.
39:15
Speaker 2: I would say two things. No goal is too small.
39:19
Speaker 3: We tend to hear or perceive overnight success stories like
39:23
Speaker 3: the person who lost three hundred pounds or like there's amazing,
39:26
Speaker 3: and it's like amazing, They're incredibly inspiring, But it's daunting
39:30
Speaker 3: to look at someone who's already who started their race
39:33
Speaker 3: at a different start line and now you're looking at
39:35
Speaker 3: their finish line and you're.
39:35
Speaker 2: Thinking, damn, how do I do that?
39:37
Speaker 3: Right? So I would say no goal was too small.
39:39
Speaker 3: I think keeping keeping goals like specific and measurable. You
39:43
Speaker 3: know that acronym smart, specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound.
39:47
Speaker 3: That that is essential And honestly, that is how I
39:50
Speaker 3: live my life.
39:51
Speaker 2: Like it's not just I'll have like weekly.
39:54
Speaker 3: Goals, monthly goals, six month goals, five year goals, and that.
39:57
Speaker 2: That makes it more palatable and digestible. So start with
40:00
Speaker 2: one small thing.
40:00
Speaker 3: You don't have to do an overhaul of your entire
40:02
Speaker 3: fridge and your schedule and your sleep time. And it's like,
40:05
Speaker 3: start with one thing, maybe tomorrow. You just go to
40:07
Speaker 3: bed a little earlier and then you do that in
40:09
Speaker 3: the next day. You know, like unpacked, how to set
40:11
Speaker 3: yourself up for success. We are so so tough on
40:15
Speaker 3: ourselves specific to running, and I would I would say,
40:17
Speaker 3: go out in minutes, not miles. Don't worry about like
40:20
Speaker 3: all the technology. Just get a pay of running shoes
40:24
Speaker 3: and a sports bra and like, go for ten minutes.
40:28
Speaker 3: You got this girl, people. That's why I wrote my book.
40:30
Speaker 3: I wanted to demystify the entire running experience. It's like,
40:34
Speaker 3: you can just shut up and run, just go do it.
40:36
Speaker 3: Not to say it is intimidating. I do get that,
40:39
Speaker 3: and I was intimidated at first as well. But if
40:41
Speaker 3: you lace up for five and then ten and then
40:44
Speaker 3: fifteen minutes, your.
40:45
Speaker 2: Life will change. You get that. I hear that. I
40:48
Speaker 2: totally hear that. I definitely do.
40:50
Speaker 1: I think the sheer act of starting is what prevents
40:54
Speaker 1: so many people from doing it in the first place.
40:57
Speaker 2: But you realize it's like a band aid.
40:58
Speaker 1: Whether it's a run, or it's asking for a meeting,
41:01
Speaker 1: or it's sending that email to John Foley, or whatever
41:04
Speaker 1: the case may be, it's today, I'm going to rip
41:05
Speaker 1: off the band aid, Yeah, and then look at all
41:07
Speaker 1: the other band aids you're able to rip off everywhere
41:09
Speaker 1: else in your life, and you'll see that It's it's magical, Yeah,
41:12
Speaker 1: truly magical.
41:13
Speaker 3: They're paralyzed by fear, and I always I think you
41:17
Speaker 3: have to act it out, not figure it out.
41:19
Speaker 2: All the time. There are only somebody lists in books
41:21
Speaker 2: and podcasts, and like.
41:22
Speaker 3: Let's not just do it, just go and do the thing,
41:26
Speaker 3: because there is only so much planning before action just
41:29
Speaker 3: has to take over.
41:30
Speaker 1: I've got to ask you, then, so what is one
41:32
Speaker 1: of the goals on like maybe your month list?
41:36
Speaker 3: Okay, so I'm trying to stay really committed to one
41:38
Speaker 3: day completely off a week.
41:41
Speaker 1: I love that goal. I think it's really hard. I
41:43
Speaker 1: think it's kind of intimidating. In the wellness industry, especially
41:47
Speaker 1: in New York City, it's like we all offer this
41:50
Speaker 1: advice for people like not to overtrain, and now, especially
41:53
Speaker 1: as recovery is becoming more and more buzzy, we're like,
41:56
Speaker 1: you've got to recover, You've got a fair gun, you've
41:57
Speaker 1: got a phone, rallh blah blah blah. But it's like
42:00
Speaker 1: I'm watching you on Instagram and You're on our four
42:02
Speaker 1: of your workout and I'm like, practice what you preach?
42:04
Speaker 2: Women? Like when do you do it?
42:06
Speaker 3: And I you know my name. My rhetoric is often
42:10
Speaker 3: like just go and more and hustle, and I believe
42:14
Speaker 3: that and I live that. But more is not always more,
42:16
Speaker 3: and I'll take and you know, and you know with
42:18
Speaker 3: the long runs for marathons and all this stuff. And
42:20
Speaker 3: I'm not complaining, but it's like, I definitely overtrained. I
42:24
Speaker 3: would not advise people to do necessarily when I do well.
42:26
Speaker 3: This is my job and I love it. But there
42:28
Speaker 3: are days when I'm like, ough, do I do what's
42:30
Speaker 3: in my training schedule? Or do I actually sleep and rest?
42:34
Speaker 3: Because I know that's the advice I would get to
42:36
Speaker 3: somebody else. So I'm trying to create very strict guardrails
42:40
Speaker 3: around my sundays.
42:43
Speaker 2: What are you doing?
42:44
Speaker 3: Hang out with my fiancee? Like planning my wedding, you know,
42:50
Speaker 3: just like little breathing.
42:53
Speaker 2: You know.
42:53
Speaker 3: I find that i can talk about wellness and ease
42:57
Speaker 3: and all these things, but I'm not necessarily always feeling that.
43:01
Speaker 3: So I know how to tune into the conversation verbally,
43:05
Speaker 3: but how the hell am I feeling physically? No, I'm
43:07
Speaker 3: probably like literally physically running from here to a spin class,
43:11
Speaker 3: which I am, and then it's going to my own
43:12
Speaker 3: training session, and then it's going to do another interview,
43:14
Speaker 3: and then it's teaching another class, and then I'm collapsing.
43:16
Speaker 2: I'm doing it against.
43:17
Speaker 3: Tomorrow, and it's like the adrenaline keeps me going, but
43:20
Speaker 3: I have to create the same guard rails around my
43:23
Speaker 3: rest that I would advise someone else to do.
43:25
Speaker 2: Usually people have issues ramping up. I have issues ramping down.
43:29
Speaker 2: I feel you. I'm the exact same way.
43:31
Speaker 1: You have an opportunity tomorrow. You here, you get the tip,
43:35
Speaker 1: the inside scoop. Instagram's going away tomorrow, and if it
43:39
Speaker 1: goes away, you have a chance to leave one more
43:43
Speaker 1: piece of epic shit on your Instagram, like one last
43:46
Speaker 1: thing that you want your community, your people to read
43:50
Speaker 1: every single day.
43:52
Speaker 2: What do you tell them? I would say to ask themselves,
43:56
Speaker 2: why not me? Why not me? Why not you?
43:59
Speaker 3: Why you to get that job? Why not you to
44:02
Speaker 3: have that amazing partner? Why not you to get paid
44:05
Speaker 3: what you should be worth?
44:06
Speaker 2: Why not you?
44:07
Speaker 3: I think we tend to see other people's success stories
44:10
Speaker 3: as somebody else's success story and the moment I started
44:15
Speaker 3: asking why not me? Is really when everything that was
44:19
Speaker 3: the tipping point. So that's what I would submit to
44:22
Speaker 3: your listeners.
44:23
Speaker 2: The last thing and then the last thing, real talk.
44:27
Speaker 1: You have a chance right now looking back on that
44:30
Speaker 1: twenty year old on Second Avenue and you get the
44:34
Speaker 1: opportunity to offer her at her hurdle moment one piece
44:38
Speaker 1: of advice. What is the thing that you tell your
44:42
Speaker 1: twenty year old self now looking back on it.
44:46
Speaker 2: I would say, trust your struggle because you will have
44:48
Speaker 2: the ability to turn pain into power. I love it. Robin.
44:52
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming in here today. This
44:53
Speaker 1: thank you so so fun, so fun. Please take a
44:56
Speaker 1: moment to leave a quick review by clicking the link
44:58
Speaker 1: with the description to this episode.
45:01
Speaker 2: We all face multiple hurdles in life. I want to
45:03
Speaker 2: hear about yours.
45:04
Speaker 1: Reach out to me at Emily at Hurdle dot us,
45:07
Speaker 1: connect with the podcast on Instagram and Twitter at Hurdle Podcast.
45:11
Speaker 2: Robin. Where do they find you? Where do they find Peloton?
45:14
Speaker 2: Give me the whole scoop.
45:15
Speaker 3: So at one Peloton one, Peloton dot com and at
45:19
Speaker 3: Robin NYC.
45:20
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me. Thank you so much.
45:22
Speaker 1: I am at Emily a body on Instagram. Another hurdle conquered.
45:26
Speaker 1: Catch you guys next time.