Nike Women's Training Journey: Week 1 — Aesthetically Athletic

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw my posts yesterday at On Your Mark West Side with Nike Chicago! I’m excited to announce that I’m starting an 8-week training journey with Nike and the Chicago Red Stars! This training is based around drills and strength training that pro soccer queens the Chicago Red Stars use, as we lead into the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France starting in June!

Starting off, Nike Chicago outfitted myself and (I believe) 8 other women with some of the latest gear! I got the Nike Free Metcon 2.0s in the grey/purple color as well as a teal/gold/light blue training outfit, a sick all black Pro training outfit with a light purple bra, and a cropped training sweatshirt. We also got some lifestyle gear, including the Pink Sky colorway of the Air Max 720s, a cape sweatshirt, sweatpants, and a cute coral crop top! I’ll break down all of it and how it performs below!

Working with Nike makes every day basically like Christmas. They also had the locker room/shower area STOCKED with Glossier, Living Proof, Hank Panky, Nike Socks, LaVanilla Deodorant, hair ties…EVERYTHING you could think of! Needless to say, I am PSYCHED to get rolling on this journey. I’ll be there every other week until our final session on June 17, and I plan to hit up On Your Mark as often as I can each week.

Training Session 1

Let’s talk session 1! It was our kickoff session, where we met three red stars players (who made the drills look easy!) and chatted about strength training basics with Nike Master Trainer Em Hutchins in her gym, On Your Mark (West Side). I was happy to see some familiar faces, like Hannah and Kaci from ColdSweat Podcast (and fellow aSweatLife ambassadors), Britt from the blog @brittlathrece, and Akisha from @shesgottashow (click those links to learn about them!).

We got started in our new Nike Free Metcons. This first session was kept fairly basic and broke down mobility and stabiloty. We did fast feet drills (lots of football shuffles, band work, and in-and-out drills with a trapezoid on the ground) leading into sprints. It was a lot of mobility and reaction time work, which I seriously love and appreciate. We finished it off with some Dark Matter coffee, foam rolling and recovery boots!

OH LOOK! It’s Britt and Brit! By Zoe Rain Photo

The Training Shoes

The shoes are a huge improvement on the classic Metcons (I have the Metcon 3 Flyknits). They have the stable, flat bottom of the classic Metcons, with more of a cushioned, supportive feel throughout the footbed. I can say with confidence I’ll be retiring my Metcon Flyknits in favor of these, because they feel so much better on my arches. These will be my new Barry’s shoes (I do double floor!), for an idea of the type of training they’re for. They are NOT for running! This is so important. If you’re looking for a Nike running shoe, I HIGHLY recommend the Pegasus 35 or the Pegasus Turbo.

The Training Gear

Outfit 1 (the Outfit I wore to Training Day 1) was a pair of Nike Pro Tights in black, a Mesh Medium Support Bra in Purple, and a Nike Graphic Training Tank in Black! I love the new, taller waistband on the Nike Pro Tights! If you, like me, have had issues with the previous versions of the Pro Tights giving you a bit of a muffin top or digging in, I think you’ll like this new version! I didn’t have any issues with the waistband digging in and it didn’t make me feel like I was spilling over the top. They also have a SUPER cute crisscross version with an even higher band that I hope to try soon!

Outfit 2 is currently Member Access only online, so you’ll need to login with your Nike+ account to purchase! It’s much more colorful and very spring/summer! We received the Hypercool tights in the pretty teal color, and the matching Hypercool Training top! Both were very comfortable and I look forward to training in them!

To top it off, they provided a chic yoga/training hoodie! It’s very soft and was perfect for the chilly morning!

We were also gifted an AWESOME Nike Vapor 2.0 Training backpack. It’s huge. It’s like a blackhole, seriously. It’s got a billion pockets and most importantly, a LARGE padded laptop pocket with its own zipper (it’s the back-most compartment). You can find it here, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s my new work-to-training or training-to-work backpack, and I will be using it as an overnight bag for the two days we spend in Charleston on our trip!

The Lifestyle Shoes

I discussed these extensively in my recap of Air Max Day, but I love the 720s! I was gifted the Pink Sea color, and I asked for a 6.5 instead of a 6 this time. The 6.5 fits much better in the toe! I absolutely loved them and wore them to work after the training! They’re exceptionally cushioned and comfortable, and I will be taking them on vacation to Charleston and Disney next month, where I’ll wear them with jean shorts, athletic shorts, and my t-shirt dress!

The Lifestyle Gear

Nike also provided us a chill outfit for post-training! We got a thick and well-pocketed pair of black Tech Sweatpants. They are very flattering—I walked Ollie in them last night and didn’t feel like I was dressed sloppily at all. They also provided the matching cape/sweatshirt, which I wore to work with jeans yesterday! It’s a nice, sleek and chic sweatshirt with a LOT of uses!

And in conclusion…

Phew! Okay! That’s my initial breakdown of the gear! I’m excited to keep training in it, especially the Free x Metcon 2.0s! It’s gonna be a wild 8 weeks and I can’t wait to share everything along the way! This training is coinciding with my Tone It Up 6-Week Summer Series, so I’m hoping to feel awesome once all of this is said and done!

Stay tuned for more!

—B