It will be what you want it to be!

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Malin

This week has been a little slow and it seems like a lot of people is sick or feeling sluggish and I would guess it’s the weather change. This will only give excuse to the unwell but for the rust of us, we don’t have one!

As you probably have figures out by now I am training for 1/2 a marathon but this doesn’t mean I given up on weight lifting. I like to “feel” that I worked out the day before, yes I sort of thrive on being sore. The thing is, trying to get all the miles in we have planned for every week and being tight and sore is not necessarily a good combination. But to every problem there is a solution, right? And mine is called YOGA!

This hour gives me the opportunity to center myself, release all the tension in my muscles but also focus on the goals I have ahead of me. So yesterday when I was doing my first run of the week, 6 miles. 2 miles warm up then 20 sprints a 30 seconds then running normal pace and legging it the last 1/2 mile and it was tough. The wind was gusting in my face and my heart pounding at 185-190 beats/minute and I’m not lying, it felt like I was running in syrup. That is when I came back to that place I go to when I’m doing yoga. Again it doesn’t mean it stopped hurting but I knew that I could do it and so I did!

LowCarb Crepe filled with garlic and mushroom

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Malin

I have never been a big fan of pancakes or Crepe as they always given me a tummy ache, not even as a child. Today I was in the mood to make something fast and easy and I thought Garlic and mushroom filled Crepe would be a perfect dinner and without the wheat I don’t feel nauseous.

Low-carb Pancake

2 Eggs

1/2 a cup and a bit of Almond Flour

1/4 Water

Pinch of Salt

Garlic and Mushroom Filling

Button Mushroom

1 Clove of Garlic

Pinch of salt

Dijon Mustard

A slice of cheese

Direction: Whisk everything together and use half of the batter to make a “pancake” and fry it until it is slightly brown. Sauté the mushrooms and the garlic in butter and season with salt. Spread the Dijon mustard on the pancake, add the cheese and top off with the garlic mushroom before “closing”.

If you want it more creamy or if you need more fat because of your diet, add mayonnaise.

This was a very quick and easy dinner that filled me up and I still have half the batter left to use for lunch for tomorrow!

This is why I’m running the Chicago 1/2 marathon!

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Malin

I will never forget when my friend told me that she was suffering from Lam or its real name “Lymphangioleiomyomatosis”

We stood on the shore of Lake Michigan a warm summer evening of 2010. I was about to travel back to Sweden for 4 weeks when she explained she suffered from LAM, a rare type of lung cancer that destroys the lungs and makes it harder for the oxygen to enter into the blood stream. Oxygen therapy will help stabilizing the oxygen-blood levels although eventually a lung transplant is evident.

I was heartbroken, confused and angry and there was nothing I could do so this is why I am running the 1/2 marathon…I’m running for my friend and her life!

This is her story!

The year was 2004 and she just had her first son and had decide to get back to exercising. This was nothing new to her as she had always played soccer and always been living a healthy lifestyle. You know, that comes with being an athlete.

So when she started working-out she noticed a strange cough during exertion, she dismissed it as being out of shape after the pregnancy and went along with her normal life. Shortly after, she was excited to learn that she was pregnant again. When she tried to return to normal activity after the birth of her second son, she developed shortness of breath, coughing that produced blood, and severe abdominal pain just like a knife was stabbing her over and over again. One of these episodes landed her in the Emergency Room six months after her second son was born.

She was told she had LAM and leaving the doctor’s office, the first thing she did was google LAM. She learned that her “new disease – LAM” had a life expectancy of 8-10 years with no treatment or cure and she had a new born and a toddler at home! It was then that she was faced with the fact that she had a rare disease and that it would be a rough road ahead.

I’ve seen my friend doing really well but I have also seen her really sick and this is nothing I would wish upon anyone. The LAM foundation has done an amazing job researching and have come a long way since I met my her. They have found a drug that stabilizes LAM but it is not a treatment.

As scientists continue to find similarities between unconnected diseases, we know that successful research in LAM has led to discoveries that impact diabetes, heart disease and other cancers. I am raising money to increase awareness for LAM and to support the successful and tireless efforts of the LAM Foundation. I am running this marathon for my friend and for the over 3,000 women worldwide who have LAM and can’t run their own race.

Here is the link to support the cause every penny, krona, pesos counts, thank you!

http://thelamfoundation.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=1103979

Sometimes we need a little magic!

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Malin

I sleep really well last night but I woke up a few times because my lower back was killing me, not in a bad way but from yesterdays sweet workout with Frank. Soreness from a workout will never stop me so with 2 Advil later and some tiger balm rubbed into my back and I was as good as new.

I knew what I had to do today because Megan told and I am sticking to the game plan. So with 5 miles to run today I started as planned but in the middle of the run the treadmill came to a stop and I had to start all over and some personal stuff came up that was completely out of my control and all the sudden it felt like I was running in a storm.

Everything was hurting and I had one mile to go and I was going to crank the speed up from 8.06 minute mile to 7.54 minute mile and with the darkness in my mind it felt…hmmm, not impossible but close.

So when Tarik, a fellow trainer walked through the doors I begged him to stand next to me and help me push and so he did. He made sure I did not give up and when I told him I was puking he just told me to keep running and stop making a mess. I came in on 24.14 at three miles and then I already had over two miles under my belt.

Sometime we just need to use some magic to turn the negative into something positive and the storm that might have been ahead is all of a sudden less threatening!

Thank you Tarik for pushing me to the end!

Practise what you preach

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Malin

Today we had a guest appearance from the City. It was Laura’s friend and I’ve been told she is just like me “a gym junky” so the pressure was totally on. I knew the girls was going to be sore from the drop sets we did on Monday so arms was more or less off-limits. So coming in I had to try the workout to see if it was descent or not. As I did Frank, on of the trainers at Lifestyle Fitness decided to join in. It is so much more fun when you have a workout pal because if I every thought about giving up when working alone, having a partner it never even crosses my mind.

So there we were, Frank and I slightly rushed for time when we started to crank out the first set of wood chops, body weighted side bridge, burpee with push up and last but not least shoulder extensions from a medicine ball. Although this was a core circuit the shoulders had to stabilize a fair bit so coming into the last move me and my shoulders had a very private conversation 😉

As we are having a bit of a drop-set week this week what would be more appropriate than carry it over to the legs as well. So with a barbell squats, dropping the weight twice followed by 20 walking lunges with at least 20 lbs weight did the trick…

…but to every frontside there is also a backside. This time around we did the drop set last and started with 15 Barbell “good mornings” followed by Romanian deadlifts. I was coming into my third set and I was glad I was seeing the silver lining of the workout. We topped the day off combining the weight training into 6 minutes cardio blast. I could with an ease to my mind let the girls do the same because I knew I pushed myself and how could I ever give them a workout that would not be challenging enough?!!

Thanks for coming Michelle!

Leftovers comes from a lot of love and so does this lasagna!

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Malin

I spend a fair amount of time planning, preparing and cooking and I think the more love you give the better the outcome and sometimes leftover just gets better with time. But be warned, they may have joined the dark forces if they start moving around on their own in the fridge 😉

So even we had a lot going on this afternoon we still had a lot of love on our plates from the Sunday leftover Lasagna.

Meat Sauce

1 lb Minced Beef

1 Yellow Onion

1-2 Garlic Clove

Chopped Mushrooms

6 oz Tomato Paste

6 oz Water

Soy Sauce (by taste)

1 tbsp Kale Fond or Beef Bullion

Oregano

Tarragon

Thyme

Basil

Salt and Pepper

Directions: Cook the minced beef, add the chopped onion, garlic and mushroom and fry together for an additional couple of minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes and meanwhile prepare the lasagna plates.

Homemade non wheat lasagna plates

2 eggs

1/4 cup Farmers Cheese

2 tbsp Psyllium Husk

1/4 water

Direction: Add everything together in a bowl and whisk it together and let it stand for 5 minutes until its a think paste. Between two sheets of parchment spread the paste evenly and bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes at 350-400 F. (My never know the exact temperature in my oven that is why I have approximately time and temp)

Mix cheese, cream and sour cream.

In a ovenproof dish layer the mince sauce, the cheese mix and the lasagna plate x2.

Bake in the oven until the lasagna is thoroughly warm and the cheese as melted.

Sometimes you think you will die…

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Malin

Slowly but surly I’m preparing for the 1/2 marathon that is coming up in May and I have the best coach one can wish for. Not only is she great to hang with but she also won the iron man and has run a numerous marathons and I am all about learning from the best. Every monday at the bus stop we plan my week ahead and now it is starting to get intense or I am more out of shape than what I like to admit!

Anyhow I made into the gym not realizing it was actually still nice outside but I had my mind-set on running my first 4 miles of the week on the treadmill and had already planned on increasing the speed by 0.1 every minute for 6 minutes then to bring it back down to 7.0.

Sometimes when I wake up I just know that the body is not how I would like it to be and today was that day. My legs were heavy almost like I had added extra weight to my wrists and it was a 33.41 agonizing minutes of pounding but I knew I was not going to die so I pushed and I pushed and you know what…I was right, I did not die this time either!

It doesn’t have to be “Chicken Fried” to be fast food…or a friday night!

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Malin

What a gorgeous day it was yesterday and when I got back from the gym I had my lunch and drank my coffee in the sun while watching Gary running around in the deep wet snow having the time of his life. After getting some stuff done around the house life happened and the kids came back from school with homework and activities to attend. So being a little rushed between figure skating and making it to my “new passion” I had to come up with something quick and fast for dinner and that was not a bucket of fried chicken from KFC!

4 Chicken Tenderloin cut into smaller pieces to shorten the time spent on the bbq.

Grated fresh Ginger

Minced Garlic

Splash of Soy Sauce (gluten-free)

1-2 tbsp Sesame Oil

Salt and Pepper

I threw everything in a big bowl to marinate while I cut the vegetables and that was what I could find in the fridge. A good way to make them roast beautifully in the oven is to mix a little canola oil, garlic and salt together and blend in with the vegetables and not overcooking them.

Normally I make my own mayonnaise but yesterday I was just a little to rushed so I used the ready-made and mix it with chili sauce and sesame oil.

Dinner was ready in 20 minutes, delicious, yummy and healthy and I made it to class!

Gary, my Co-Pilot!

A new week with new possibilities

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Malin

Finally I think spring is coming our way and what more do you need to get inspired to push that little bit extra and I know for sure that the ladies used it at their advantage.

It was meant to be a total body workout but sometimes it feels like we always working against the clock trying to squeeze in as much as possible in 60 minutes. So first out today was walking lunges with shoulder a press and tubing while “driving” with a medicine ball also working the shoulders. The girls really cracked me up because they were so unsynchronized that Anna was almost squashed between Elli and Lynne. This two moves are very good for the obvious reasons, working the legs (and shoulders) but the tubing is so good for toning the outer thigh.

These two moves was accompanied by single leg squats and bridge keeping the feet on the medicine ball for a more challenge and I will confess as soon as i went outside today I knew they had to run for the first time this year in the cul-de-sac!

As much as I wanted to stay outside we are not really there yet so we went back inside and worked the upper part of the body. We focused on biceps, triceps, lats and the pecs doing drop sets to build some muscles. Starting at the heaviest weight they did 10 reps, dropped the weight and did another 10 and then dropped the weight one last time and finished off another 10 reps.

I hear this all the time that “I don’t want to get bulky” but girls don’t have to worry about it because we don’t produce that much testosterone that is required to start looking like the incredible hulk. I believe that the stronger you are the better you will feel so start lifting and get strong girls!

Teriyaki salmon and Asian Ceviche

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Malin

Yesterday was Knuts “end of the year” hockey party, the kids vs. the parents and as much I wanted to go I knew it was not happening as we were expecting dinner guests. So Knut and Freddie went along bringing their skates and stick and I told them to get home at 6.30 because I was taught a good host should be home when the guests arrive. I know sometimes its hard to leave a good party so I thought I give Freddie a call and sure enough he is not picking up. I call again and get straight to voicemail so after some angry faced texts messages the two of them rocks up 15 minutes after Laura and her family arrived. I am not the one to hold grudges so after a peck on the cheek we were good to enjoy the Asian Ceviche before we got to the Teriyaki salmon served with a pinot noir… but most of all, enjoying the company of very good friends.

Teriyaki Salmon

1 lb. salmon filet
¼ cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
1 inch fresh ginger
1 clove minced garlic
2 Tbsp. agave nectar
2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. sriracha hot sauce

Make the teriyaki marinade by whisking together the soy sauce, water, sesame oil, minced garlic, grated ginger, nectar, white wine vinegar.
Cut the salmon filet into four equal sized portions and place in a large zip top bag. Pour the marinade over top, remove as much air as possible and close up the bag. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, mixing the bag occasionally to redistribute the marinade.
Grill it but make sure not to over cook it.
In a small bowl, mix together the sriracha hot sauce and mayonnaise. Serve the fish with a dollop of sriracha mayo on top!
I served this with oven garlic roasted vegetables.

Asian Ceviche

Prawns
1 Mango
1 avocado
red Onion
1 lime
Chiliflakes
1 tablespoon sesame oil
cilantro

Chop mango, avocado and onion and mix together with the prawns.
Squeeze the lime juice and blend together with sesame oil, chili and cilantro and keep cool until serving.