What Grace Clarke Wears to Work Out
On being high maintenance to be low maintenance, cozy workout clothes and more...
What I love about brand consultant Grace Clarke is her obsession with detail. Grace has built a career working with companies like Graza, Madewell, and Loftie, finessing the all-too-often-overlooked elements that make truly unique brands shine. This extends to her personal life too. Her annual planning template is a master class for anyone looking for a framework to design the life they want to live. Whether she’s hosting retreats for founders in Scotland, leading Black Friday strategy sessions for Klaviyo, talking to her GenZ board of directors, making vision boards with M.M. LaFleur, chatting about blush tattoos in Vogue, or training for a half marathon, Grace goes all in. She’s a gal after my own heart. I think you’ll enjoy this one.
The Road is My Runway
In Conversation with Grace Clarke
What are your earliest sports memories? Do you remember what you wore?
My first sports memory is shoving my face into a gallon of ice cream in first grade because I knocked out my two front teeth in gym class, and the cafeteria freezer didn’t have an ice pack readily available. I am positive I was wearing a tie-dye t-shirt my dad and I made and Umbros. It’s all I wore for a year!
Since then, I’ve (mostly) avoided team sports and throw-up-in-the-gym physicality. I’d bet that formative injury is why I work out and run my way: always alone, slow-ish, and in sweats.
You're a runner and train in the gym. How do you dress for these activities? What's important to you when dressing for performance?
I dress so I don’t hate my workouts. I dress so I don’t resent them — and thusly risk going less. I want to be extremely comfortable because that lets me “perform”. My clothes need to be soft (no tags, no zippers, no snaps or buttons) and easy to care for. And style-wise, I like looking a little weird! I’m not a matching set gal.
I will wear anything to the gym, zero shame, and I go to a fancypants spot where everyone seems accomplished, stylish, and older than me. I usually wear sweatpants and rubber Birkenstocks or sometimes my bejeweled Crocs. I mostly weight train with slow compound movements, so I don’t really need “performance fabric” or lace-up footwear. I love nothing more than being balled up in Nike Club Fleece on the leg press listening to a podcast. Or in the summer, wearing as little as possible. I hate sweating. Hate!
If I ever have kids, I want them to see a healthy and completely personal relationship to their physical body. For me, wearing what I want even if it isn’t cool is a tiny silent protest.
Is there any gear you find yourself reaching for over and over?
Yes, yes yes. I feel like a cartoon character who just has one outfit in every episode. I’m such a creature of habit in so many ways, and over the last four or five years, I’ve started to only want to wear the same stuff when I work out. I have a cold weather outfit and a warm weather one.
When it’s cold, I wear Nike Club Fleece sweatpants or their Phoenix sweatpants, a Uniqlo long-sleeved Heattech shirt, and a Nike oversized sweatshirt. If it’s very cold, I’ll wear Lululemon Wunder Trains with pockets under the sweatpants. I wear Smartwool Hike Classic socks though sometimes I just get too hot.
When it’s warm out, I wear Alo Yoga’s Aura Short and I’m just learning they’re now discontinued? I am buying all the used ones up tonight, after I send this to you, Lee.
When it’s dark, I wear a Noxgear harness. Safety is so overlooked and taken for granted.
In any weather, I wear Lululemon’s Fast Paced visor, their Energy Bra, Elta MD SPF, and a Bauerfeind ankle brace. My favorite shoes right now are On Cloud Surfers with Fleet Feet semi-custom insoles. I love running in them. Love love love. Maybe I need a little more ankle stability? But they’re the best.
I love all of this stuff and have had it forever and want to keep it, so I stopped tossing them in the dryer. I think Claire Cerulo explained it perfectly — when you have things you love wearing, you’re more likely to take care of them and make them last.
I know you're a big believer in being "high maintenance routines to be low maintenance." How does this manifest in running or the gym?
I didn’t plan on ever showing this to anyone, but I don’t really know how else to emphasize just how far I take this:
This is where I keep track of every workout, but not to judge myself or to track progress — it’s how I choose my workouts. Knowing what I’ve done, and what worked, is like a menu to choose combinations of lifts from when I workout. It’s a hedge against decision fatigue. Plus, as humans, we all love a streak. I think having a track record increases the chances we continue to commit and to keep choosing ourselves.
A few other things I do:
I lay out my clothes the night before, a workout outfit and real-life clothes.
I invested in a personal trainer to get myself sorted out. I was making excuses, I half-assedly tracked my nutrition, and I was done playing with myself. He taught me: do it happy, do it sad, do it bored, do it energized. He was a professional soccer player, and he did his best to transfer his mindset grit onto me.
I pre-book all my workouts and have calendar invitations for them. My therapist’s idea, not mine, but they were the first thing to go when I felt busy at work. No offense to my clients who better be reading this (love you guys), but why is your P&L more important than my physical health? (Rhetorical, not seriously.) If I’m not healthy, there is no marketing consultant.
I meal prep a LOT. I am obsessed with soup and stew all year round, and I just learned you can freeze Barilla protein+ pasta, so I have lots of pre-portioned frozen meals that hit my macros ready to go. I don’t need more plastic in my life, so I haven’t gotten these perfect-portion soup freezing trays, but I sure do want them!
You split your time between Paris and NYC. Do you notice any differences or similarities in how people in each city work out and dress to work out?
Let me tell you this: in New York, we go run. We run. It’s a verb. In France, you faire du courir. You have a run. It’s coded into the language — we DO IT in New York. We have it in France. It just feels more…unserious there. And that isn’t a good or a bad thing. It’s just not for me.
This active vs passive approach applies to running, to fitness wardrobes, to gym amenities and hygiene. There are healthy and very driven people everywhere of course, but I think New York is more my speed :)
Where's your favorite place to run in Paris? What about NYC? Where should you snag a treat after?
I don’t like running in Paris! I think that’s because I love running in New York so much. When I’m in New York, or anywhere really in the states, I run in loops. My Strava history looks like I have actually lost my mind — just circles and circles. I love out-and-backs. I like running in familiar easy-to-navigate places so I can zone out.
I do usually end any run, wherever I am, at a coffee place. In Paris, end at Télescope Café and get banana bread. I went there last with Emily Sundberg and if you aren’t reading Feed Me, her newsletter, stop reading this and go subscribe.
In New York, go to a bodega. Get bodega coffee. I go to Gourmet Garage and I can’t tell you how intensely I crave it!
You speak regularly with your GenZ Board of Directors for insights. Have you heard anything interesting from them as relates to trends in fitness?
I love my Gen Z group — I’ve been building it since 2018 just out of curiosity and for fun, and now it’s powering reporting in Bloomberg, Nike, Google, an insurance company you all know of. I asked them what they think about fitness and any trends, and here’s what they had to say:
Weight training is in. Pilates is still in. Bafflingly, spinning isn’t out. But for the most part, pure cardio isn’t really the move.
Matching sets are over in big cities, but middle America hasn’t caught up yet. They are into flared leggings wherever they are.
They consider physical fitness a part of mental wellness. When I asked recently how much they spend on mental health each month, they included workout gear and gym memberships. Telling — and encouraging.
They think everyone will be on Ozempic soon (agree) and that gyms will have more weight training classes (agree).
They love fancy gyms and boutique studios and much like cord cutting, some prefer a constellation of studios over one gym. (I can’t relate!)
The vice grip pilates has on these women…I’ve never seen anything like it.
Run clubs are quite popular right now as both an accountability mechanism and a socializing excuse. They’re not sold they are helpful for dating off the apps.
Some Gen Z men I know use Zyn as a pre-workout (one even puts them between his toes when he plays hockey for an energy boost, what the actual). They keep it simple: lift heavy weights often, eat a lot of protein.
Are there any activewear brands you think are nailing it right now?
On is so wonderful and stays in their lane. District Vision’s elevated styling and prices suggest their customer base experiences almost no financial sensitivity. Bandit Running freaks me out a bit, and I don’t want to publicly say why, but I think there’s a conversation to be had! With the exception of ditching Kiehl’s which feels like disowning a family member who did nothing wrong, Equinox continues to be a case study for me. And I know that’s not activewear, but they have a shop. Lululemon is the top for me. It works, it lasts, they mostly keep the same styles around.
What do you think is missing from the market in terms of running or gym apparel for women?
You know, I think there is quite a lot of stuff! What’s missing, maybe, is more education around safety, and what a privilege it is to feel safe enough to run freely. What a gift.1
Quick Thoughts
Things that Drew My Eye or Ire…
I didn’t have Chanel sponsoring the Boat Race on my bingo card. Apparently, the sponsorship is about highlighting their watches, which I guess makes sense? Still, rowing isn’t really a sport where time matters much, especially in the dual format where the racing is head-to-head. Time only ends up mattering if a course record is broken, which happens more rarely than you’d think given the Thames’ unpredictability in March. (Whoops, being a boat nerd again.) Anyway, this quote from BOF made me LOL: “Synchronicity in rowing is as crucial to the race as watchmaking craftsmanship to ensure accurate timing. Every rower, like every mechanism in a watch, must work together as one,” said Frédéric Grangié, president of Chanel Watches & Fine Jewellery.” To me, this metaphor (and sponsorship) makes more sense for Henley Regatta, where style is at a premium. But good for the Boat Race, I guess?
Guess I have competition…Carine Roitfeld and her son are launching a sports fashion publication this spring, per WWD. “Fashion and sport are two powerful forms of expression that inspire millions around the globe,” Roitfeld said in a statement shared exclusively with WWD. “We aim to create a space that celebrates this fusion and showcases the unique stories that emerge when these worlds collide.” Dwayne Wayde will guest edit the first issue. This feels like a missed opportunity center women’s sports from the jump. Serena Williams would have been such a layup. (Basketball puns intended!)
It’s New York City Marathon Week, and that means the brands are ACTIVATED (yes, that’s a Summer House reference.) Thanks to Reddit/R/RunningFashion I found this handy list of NYC Marathon Events & Activations. Getting a booth at the Expo is so passe. Over the past few years, brand activations at the NYC Marathon have exploded, to the extent that it’s now hard to keep up with who is doing what. The “what” of course has become standard fair: pop-ups, shakeout runs, panels, parties. It’s increasingly hard to stand out. I’ll keep an eye on the proceedings and report back next week.
Lyst released their Q3 list of hottest brands and Puma hit #3 thanks to their Speed Cat silhouette, which taps into the popularity of low-profile sneakers and, of course, F1. I am not an F1 fan, but my sister happens to be a prolific creator of F1 comedic commentary – if that sounds up your alley.
Grand Slam Track hosted the Racer’s Summit this week, and if the social media from the Summit is any indication, the team is seriously investing in professionalizing and stylizing the sport. I for one appreciated a closer look at Sydney McLaughlin’s custom cut-out, one-armed racing look.
“Liberty has a nice ring to it” is some of my favorite copy to date.
Thanks to the Sweat Lookbook reader who flagged this boxing-inspired Adidas-red carpet look from Julia Fox. I don’t hate it – but the themed red-carpet dressing trend is starting to feel a little desperate (no one can touch Zendaya’s work here.)
Grace wrote this before news of Alyssa Lotkis’ murder while running in Nashville became public. It’s worth underscoring her words – running is a gift. It’s a privilege to run safely and to feel safe on the run, but it shouldn’t be.
Graceeee
Immediately Googles “zyn between toes”
Also love the NYC marathon activation list.