Bethesda Rookie

Bethesda Pool

Montgomery County runs four indoor pools year-round. They also run seven outdoor pools during the summer, one of them being the Bethesda Pool on Little Falls Parkway. (It's nice to get away from the thundering echoes of the natatorium for a few months.)

The facilities include a large pool with a diving well, a tot pool, a 6-lane 25-meter lap pool, and a junior pool that I've yet to see open. There are also two diving boards and a short water slide (nothing like the one at Montgomery Aquatic). Pool hours vary over the summer, but they are open afternoons only, generally from around noon to 6:00 or 8:00 pm. Check schedules each year, as they open for weekend swimming a little before (and after) they open for their full weekday summer hours.

Even at it's most crowded, there's plenty of room to sit and/or swim, including the lap pool. Best of all, there's shade over half of the tot pool, so you don't have to fry as your toddler gets accustomed to chlorine fumes. They have a snack bar open with hot dogs, pizza, ice cream, etc. And they have outdoor showers to rinse off after your swim. The biggest challenge, at times, is the parking. But they're right by the Capital Crescent Trail, so you could always ride over.

One other thing: On the hottest days of the summer, they waived the admission fee from 6:00 to 8:00. It's not all day, or even peak heat, but it's still pretty damn nice of them.

Bethesda Pool • Little Falls Parkway & Hillandale Road, Chevy Chase • 301.652.1598

Metro Run & Walk

If there were a television network for selling shoes, Mary Beth at Metro Run & Walk would be on prime time. I went there one night instead of going to my track workout (it was cold out!) and I was lucky enough to get her help picking out a new pair of running shoes. In fact, she started helping me while she was helping somebody else, and she managed to do so without leaving either of us feeling neglected.

I went in on a Tuesday at around 7:00 p.m. and it was very quiet. There were two high school kids there when I got there, each with a parent, and one more came in a little before they closed at 8:00. Every one of us was helped to countless shoes and helpful advice, and nobody was rushed in the least.

While Mary Beth was lacing up some shoes for the girl next to me, she asked me some questions about what the shoes were for, how much I run, any injuries, any preferences. Then she asked me to take of my shoes and roll up my pants a couple of inches so she could get a look at my feet, and she kind of nodded and said she had some ideas. Ideas. How cool is that.

I've been wearing Nikes since 1988 and I told her I'd like to try something new as well, so she brought out stability shoes by Nike, Asics and Brooks. She checked each shoe as I tried them and asked how they were, and brought out more as I ruled them out and never seemed to forget her other customers. She talked me up to a size 9, and into this racey orange version of my shoe, which I think has actually made me a little faster. She was by far the most knowledgable and attentive salesperson I've ever bought running shoes from, and that seems to be typical of Metro staff, who appear to be active, entusiastic and well-treated.

Metro Run & Walk has a newsletter, where they promote clinics and races, and tell you how to select shoes and even training socks; they have four locations; they have a great inventory; and best of all they have charisma.

BTW, of the four of us buying shoes that night, three of us were female, and two of us were girls. Go Title IX.

Metro Run & Walk, 1776 East Jefferson Street, Rockville, MD, 301.984.2900, M-F 10a-8p, Sat 10a-6p, Sun 12p-5p

TGIF - Restorative

Even when you work part time, and from home, it's nice to put a little distance between the week and the weekend. One way to do that is with a slightly dirty Grey Goose martini. Another, arguably "better," way to do that is with a yoga class. Not the sit bones kicking, spine wringing, thigh burning kind, but a gentle restorative class that reminds your body (and you) how much you respect it, temporary home though it may be.

Restorative classes are a surprisingly effective way relax and rejuvinate the body. The idea is to nurture the cells and organs and muscles in supported poses while the muscles and nervous system are in an extremely relaxed stated. With the body and mind entirely passive, you might open more deeply to the benefits of the poses. You might also learn to bring this receptive state to your more active classes.

A good restorative class can send you off feeling rested, invigorated and open, both physically and emotionally. Of course this is great thing to do for yourself any day of the week, but I'm particularly fond of Fridays and Sundays—to clean my palate, shift gears, and shore up mindfulness and grace for whatever lies ahead.

Tranquil Space Bethesda (on Wisconsin at East-West Hwy) has a restorative class on Friday, 4:30-5:45. (At least they used to. It's on their printer-friendly schedule, but not their live schedule.) Siobhan Troy leads the class with a gentle but muscle-warming asana practice before settling you into the sustained supported poses. $17 for one class.

Thrive Yoga (on Rockville Pike) has Candlelight Restorative on Friday, 6:30-8:00. They alternate teachers, so you won't know who you get until you're there (we're not supposed to care, that's raga), but you can always count on candles, music, props and a warm, dark room-womb. Oh, and parking too. $17 for a single class.

Willow Street Yoga (in Takoma Park) has Gentle Yoga on Friday, 5:30-7:00. This is a nice way to take a less vigorous class class without enduring Yoga I explanations of how to do the poses. Willow wants you to sign up for their 13-week sessions ($195-$208), and penalizes you for not doing so with a $20 drop-in fee, if there's room.

Spiral Flight (on Wisconsin in/near Georgetown) offers Gentle Yoga on Friday, 12:15-1:15, in case you can start your weekend a little early, or need a quick fix before your Friday afternoon.

Of course you can always hit up Georgetown Yoga or Downdog Yoga if you prefer to sweat it out.

Yoga Journal on restorative yoga; Yoga Barn on restorative yoga; Yoga for Living on restorative yoga

Balance Studio

In the interest of full disclosure, my experience with Pilates is limited to a handful of private sessions in  1999, and zero mat classes, and whatever of the method has crept in to yoga over the last decade. My first exposure to it was when my dancer roommates at NYU were studying with Kathy Grant as part of their intense regimen. Its origins are fascinating, with Joseph Pilates developing it not for dancers or affluent yuppies and housewives, but for WW I internees and officers, and later as a method of rehabilitation for influenza patients and veterans. (His personal life is equally fascinating, as he’s rumored to have convinced his wife and one of his assistants to sleep with him and tolerate his indiscretions for no short period of time.)

While I did love the discipline, and even considered buying a Reformer and getting certified, I could never justify the cost of privates, and never was convinced that the less expensive mat classes were as effective, so I cut bait after about $500. This year, for the holidays, my parents treated me to a couple of sessions, so I happily made an appointment at Balance Studio.

The physical studio itself doesn't have a whole lot of charm (nor did the woman at the front desk), but it is spacious, and it has a large window in front that lets in a lot of pleasant natural light, and it's stocked with enough equipment to accommodate their group Equipment classes of up to 4 people. They recommend 5 privates before you join those classes, and they have a couple of very attractive beginner’s packages that combine private sessions and group classes to get you on your way.

I had to wait twenty minutes for my instructor, which I found incredibly irritating, but once she got there she was apologetic and even offered me a free session. And our 50-minute workout was thoroughly enjoyable. I also found out that mat classes are in fact a very important complement to working on the machines. I think it's great to get the one-on-one attention of a private session, and it really does do wonders for your form, and probably your motivation, so even if you can only splurge on those first five, the payoff is huge and you can write it off as more of a long-term investment than a mere indulgence.

Balance has another, smaller studio in Rockville, and both locations offer yoga as well as Pilates. Both also, thankfully, have parking.

Balance Studio, 4719 Rosedale Avenue, Bethesda, 301.986.1730

Spiral Flight

Spiral Flight touts itself as Georgetown's first yoga and healing arts center; "yoga from within." It's hard to believe that it took Georgetown until 1997 to get a yoga center, but they're lucky to have one that, albeit young, seems to be imbued with a passion for the centuries old tradition of yoga. Their schedule of 5 to 7 classes a day, with prenatal and children's classes, and their extensive online descriptions of the various styles of yoga and their benefits, are clues that this studio has more than exercise in mind.

Their offerings include four styles of yoga, Feldenkrais, Pilates, meditation, massage, accupuncture, Reiki, Trager, hotstone therapy, and workshops in the healing arts. There are six 'therapists' listed on Spiral Flight's website, and twenty-nine(!) teachers, all "hand-picked, spiritual, open-minded and intelligent people." And I don't doubt. I've been to two classes so far and both were taught by incredibly knowledgable and dedicated teachers. In a field where you often run into people who fall in love with yoga and decide to get certified and teach over a span of 1 or 2 years, it's heartening to encounter people who have been practicing and teaching for decades, and who understand how powerful and transformative the practice can be.

Jane Fryer taught a class the day after thanksgiving, and it was packed. It was her Friday "Anusara for Women" class. John Friend is there in her teaching, but her knowledge preceeds him and comes from an old-school tradition, where yoga can liberate and empower and ground the spirit, and the practice is not merely physical and energetic, with spirals and grace and energy, but also has a deep psychic openness to it that should be recognized and honored. "We are half heaven and half earth; cosmic centaurs" is a far cry from John's "Take it to the mat!"

The class had little vinyasa to it, but we covered a lot of ground. Our focus was gratitude, and we twisted to cleanse and we opened our shoulders and hearts to receive. Most importantly, we concentrated for 90 minutes on being in the present and how powerful that can be. Jane sent us off feeling inspired and open, and that is the best thing that can come a class.

Jane told us that Penelope Taylor would sub for her the following Friday, and while her yoga was less intense, she was not. Jane practices "Energy medicine" and her knowledge of the body was obvious. She used lavender to increase flexibility and pressure points to open our bodies. She demonstrated the life force of a pure lavender oil versus a commercial one. She stretched and reached us to a state of mindful relaxation.

It will take a while to get around to all of the teachers at Spiral Flight, but something tells me it's worth it.

Spiral Flight, 1826 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Georgetown, 202.965.1645, www.spiralflightyoga.com

Montgomery Aquatic Center

I'm not sure why, but $6 for anything seems like a bargain. Especially for admission, to almost anywhere. Montgomery County Department of Recreation operates three (soon to be four) indoor swimming pools year-round, and Montgomery County residents can go for the day for a mere $6.00 ($4 for minors, $4.50 for senior citzens). An individual Annual Pool Pass costs $330, and a family pass costs $465. The pass is good from September to August, and they pro-rate $10/month (i.e. don't join in June).

The Montgomery Aquatic Center is a beautiful facility, conveniently located near White Flint Mall, in case you find yourself in dire need of a new swimsuit. They're open Monday-Friday 6am-9pm, Saturday 8am-7pm, and Sunday from 10am-6pm. There are spacious locker rooms (bring a lock) with open showers and saunas, and there's an exercise/weight room, a large co-ed hot tub (is it called that at an Aquatic Center?), two hydrotherapy pools, and apparently, outside, they have a jogging trail and racquetball courts.

The natatorium itself huge and has tons of natural light. Here's a cool iPix virtual tour of the main pool (check out the water slide!)—8 lanes divided into two 25-meter swim areas. They have a pretty complicated schedule, but there are lap lanes open most of the time. The schedule says to "circle" swim from right to left, but thankfully everyone sharing lanes just stayed on their own sides. I went at 2:00 on a Monday and the place was buzzing, but not filled to capacity. There was a private diving lesson, what looked like a swim team practice, some hydro-cize, and plenty of lap swimmers (but always an open lane or two). I went without goggles, which I won't do again.

The leisure pool is tons of fun for kids. You need one adult per child, and you can use floaties, but no vests. It's a little crowded but the kids don't seem to mind and it's a great way to expend some energy in the winter. Swimming is always good for appetites and sleep.

The Recreation Department also operates 7 outdoor pools from Memorial Day to Labor Day, including one in Bethesda and two in Silver Spring.

Montgomery Aquatic Center, 5900 Executive Boulevard, N. Bethesda, 301.468.4211

Yoga Plus

Yoga Plus seems to be a vehicle for Maggie Wong to teach people to move, listen to their bodies, reflect on how they feel, and stay healthy. She doesn't offer much in the way of rigor; no Power Yoga classes or Vinyasa Flow. She just wants to make sure that your body moves the way it's supposed to. From what I can tell, her practice is geared toward an older set. She teaches Introductory Yoga, Experienced Beginner Yoga, Gentle Yoga and Vini Yoga.

I went to her Gentle Yoga class, held at the Carderock Springs Swimming and Tennis Club. There were 5 of us there, one gentleman who looked to be in his early sixties, and three Japanese women ranging from 45 to 55. Maggie explained that she advertises at the Tokyo Women's Club so she has a lot of Japanese students. I can't remember exactly how she put it, but she also explained that the class was not a very vigorous class. But I knew that from the name. And after that Tuesday's run, still taking stairs at an embarrassing pace, I was looking for some gentle.

But it was seriously gentle. And I would write it off as positively geriatric if it weren't for the "body massage ball" she used in the class. It was pretty damn cool. It's a 5-6 inch ball you use to massage your own muscles. We spent twenty-five minutes going up each side of our bodies, starting with the sit bones, hamstring, calf, and moving up again to the buttocks, back, shoulder, armpit, chest and neck. It's not the most graceful endeavor, but you really can get into your muscles with that ball, and I left there feeling an awful lot like I'd just gotten a massage.

The rest of the class was too light for me, but that's not so much a reflection on Maggie as her students. If I were in my 50's, I have to say, I'd be damn grateful to find a yoga class that didn't include a bunch of surya namaskara and arm balances. She moves her students the way she knows they aren't moving themselves. And she tells them why. And she doesn't try to get them to do the things that won't necessarily injure them, but just might. I'm not a believer that you should be able to do in your 50's--or even 40's--what you do in you 20's. Hell, I'm slowing down in my 30's. 

MCRRC

Tonight M- and I went on a four mile run with the Montgomery County Road Runners Club. We got a family membership last week for $42.50. That gets us discounts at a variety of businesses, sports shops and health services providers, and allows us to participate in weekly runs, training programs, and races. 

I can't say much about MCRRC based on the one run, but they did seem like a nice group of people, and running with a group definitely feels less punishing than pushing oneself half a mile further or a half pace faster all by oneself. My normal two mile run generally leaves me feeling self-righteous and exhausted, while this was more humbling and invigorating.

The Tuesday/Thursday runs during the summer are at lake Needwood. In September the route moves to Rockville, where it's "better lit." I can't say that it was a well lit route, but it had benign hills and well trafficked streets and, best of all, a view of the sky that kept us inspired. The pack thins into disparate groups quickly, so it wasn't the social outlet we expected, but I was just as relieved as disappointed.

We claimed to run a 10 minute mile, which we don't, and we got paced with Sonny. Before she ditched us, we learned that she's been a member of MCRRC since 1989 and she's training for her 5th marathon. She came over to talk to us some more at the end of the run, and I guess any testimonial here comes from her. She knew most of the runs by heart, as well as the race and holiday schedule. She said that you do meet a lot of people at the weekly runs (they hold them 6 days a week, not including the 'informal runs'), and she said more than once how effective the winter speed clinic is.

Evidently you can go to dinner after the runs, on Tuesdays and Thursdays at least, but we opted out. So did Sonny, since they were going to Fudruckers and she's a vegetarian.

Anyway, it seems like something worth pursuing, despite my already aching joints. We'll see.

Thrive Yoga

[Unfortunately Kim Groark has moved on from Thrive, but that hasn't changed the quality of their classes. They continue to maintain a rich schedule and terrific workshop offerings... and day care.]

I took my first Bethesda yoga class yesterday at Thrive Yoga. I found them through YogaFinder, a useful if not comprehensive listing of yoga centers by city.

I chose Thrive because Kim Groark has a great pedigree (and they had a Sunday morning class). Kim has studied with, among others, Shiva Rea, Sharon Gannon and John Friend, and you can find each of them in her teaching. She combines Vinyasa flow, Anusara alignment and inspiration, and Kundalini energy in a challenging and rewarding 90-minute (actually 100-minute) Level 2/3 class. I was charged afterward.

The studio is located, sadly, in a strip mall (easy parking!), and as hard as they try, it's impossible to forget that. Both practice rooms have windows that scream, and reveal, strip mall, and the commercial, developed energy of the building is a formidable match for the spiritual energy of the studio. The space itself is cool, almost too cool. There's stone everywhere -- the floors, the bathrooms, the changing rooms -- and even the practice rooms are appointed with some high-tech slightly cushioned floor instead of the usual warm yoga-studio wood. Also in the practice room roars the heater, with all its ducts exposed and painted black. Cool, cool, cool.

The heat comes from the class, and from Kim. She's warm and energetic, and came up to my mat before class to introduce herself and welcome me and ask after any injuries I might have. Then she bounced back up to the front of the room, took her seat and asked us to follow suit.

She started us off with three rounds of kapalabhati (cleansing breath) with a kundalini hands-out seat during two rounds. That alone got the blood pumping, and Kim talks throughout, about energy and effort and stamina, and that encouragement increases the charge as well. The class was rigorous and inspired. There was music on the whole time, the usual world stuff (no rock, no jazz) and that warmed up the room even more. There's an element of flow, but never rushing through a pose. In fact, she holds many postures for a good four or five breaths, long enough to feel the burn, but never long enough to seem sadistic. She makes very few adjustments, physical or verbal, but of course that may be different with her lower level classes.

Overall it was a delightful experience, and I can't wait to get back. Kim is knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and seems to have a warm heart. She is a new mother and bopped out of class as soon as it was over to go see her daughter at the front desk. And Thrive set up day care at the space a few days a week ($5 for the first child, $2 thereafter), and seems to be building not just a studio, but a community.

Thrive Yoga, 1321 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 301.294.9642