A Tuesday run

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Malin

I do love to read but I go through periods when I do not touch a book and this has been the case for the past few months but one of my swedish friends decided to start a book club and I was not far behind to join in. Anyhow the other day I went to the library to lend the “Rules of civility” by Amor Towles. I started reading and I am hooked and last night I ended up going to bed well past midnight so waking up to this crazy busy Tuesday I was very tired but with my mind already made up on running I went outside and what a morning!

One of the goals I have set for myself before I go back to Sweden is to run the distance of a half a marathon and with a slight breeze, sun and not to hot I went up to the woods and completed a 10k run. I have never even thought about trying to run a 1/2 marathon before so I’m not sure what pace I am supposed to keep but I guess it is all about trial and error. I had hoped that I would have run farther because coming back to the house I still had some juice left in the legs but at 10 am I had to rush over to Lifetime Fitness to meet Rebecca for our Pilates session and when the hour was done so was my legs ;).

Pilates Tuesday

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Malin

I love the Pilates with all the great “names” that comes with the different moves, somehow it almost takes me back to being a child. So last week I did not blog much but I met up with Rebecca as I do on Tuesdays and she taught us the “swan” and the “flamingo” moves and it is really interesting and I am loving it more and more after every session.

Later that afternoon Mira had her swimming lesson and I thought I would get a quick run in When I tell her Mira gets a little concerned and I had to promise her that I would be back in time. And I tell you I have never run so fast in my life and when I got back to “Big Blue” I had to give it a few minutes before I walked in because I was about to puke…haha that’s how I stay motivated to run fast 🙂

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Today I started my day with a 4.74 mile run, trying out a new track. Even tough it was a beautiful morning it was just a little bit to windy for my liking but I think I have decided that this will be my new “middle” distance that I will run at least once a week. When I got home I hurried to change into new workout clothes to make it more pleasant for anyone that had to be around me and as I was changing I realized I managed to get a tan line from my shorts and top…lol.

As always Rebecca didn’t disappoint as we climbed trees and stretched in the mermaid position. I was glad I had already completed my run because I left felt so relaxed when the hour was over but I will admit that I was tired in the afternoon, not sure if it was the workouts or the fact it has been very hot today…either way I will not complain 🙂

Run baby, run….

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Malin

So yesterday myself, mrsL and Lynn decided to meet up at one of the fields in Harms woods for some interval sprint training. At 9.13 MrsL called me to say she and Lynn just pulled up on the parking lot so I grabbed my sport drink, my phone and my keys and I ran down there. It turned out to be a nice warm up on just under 2 k.

Well at the field we measured the distant for our run and it turned out to be exactly 140 m using the runkeeper app. We Sprinted 10 times across the field and walked back, the sprints were manageable but I will say this is how it must feel having asthma because this cold of mine made it feel like I was breathing through a straw.

As soon as we were done we had to run back to MrsL car to make it for our Pilates session with Rebecca that started at 10am. When we walked into the gym MrsL said she needed to stretch her legs and I told her that Rebecca would give us a good stretch. But before we did we worked the legs on the reformer and when we went up into the bridge and really working the hamstrings we cramped on the same leg at the exactly the very same time…haha, we’re synced!

Rebecca taught us some new moves and it is amazing ow the tiniest movements can have such an incredible impact and I do believe it helped me feel it because my entire upper body is quite tender today.

I am really trying to get my breath flow with my movement and I think I am getting a little bit better at it although it is hard…I guess I can only get better 😉

I love it even if it turns me into a frog…

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Malin

One week ago my legs were light and I was running like I never done anything else, today on the other hand was a completely different story. I only had about 20 minutes before I was going to meet Rebecca for my thirds Pilates session and even though my legs felt like they were made out of rocks I push through my quick run and managed to squeeze in 3 miles in exactly 23 minutes.

Very sweaty I walked into the Pilates room exactly at 10 am, Rebecca was already there ready to pick up where we left off last week. Being new to this type of exercise it is very hard to explain what we were doing and for me it takes a lot of focus to concentrate on the breathing and it is really a luxury to have Rebecca there to coach me through the exercise.

It was only me today, so I got even more attention (L normally comes with me) and there was no room for cheating. I have to say some of the movements are both very hard and very challenging so even if my intention was not to “cheat” I ended up doing it anyway and as soon as I did Rebecca was there to correct me.

I do believe that I am fairly strong and although the resistance was not like doing a 120 pound deadlift it was really doing the trick in a totally different way and I am now officially hooked.

Being a former gymnast I was very agile but the more I have been lifting weights and since I started to run I have become stiff as an elephant. So the combination of working the muscle and actually stretching effectively hopefully will help me to get back the my former flexibility.

Anger management…Pilates might actually do the trick

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Malin

So after my very angry morning with my equally angry run I still had a little bit more fume to get rid of and matter of fact we had our second Pilates lesson today with Rebecca. Last week she was teaching me over at her house but today she had booked the studio at LifeTime Fitness were they have 4 Pilates Reformer, but honestly I think they looked like something taken out of 50 shades of Grey…lol

I think when you are angry and running you can get great results because when you keep on playing the situation over and over in your head it sort of makes you more angry and the angrier you get and faster you run. The thing was though when I was coming off the treadmill I was probably even more angry than before!

So for me coming into the Pilates Studio having to focus on the movement and the breading left me with no thoughts in the head. I was 100% focused on what I was doing and working with the reformer is very interesting indeed. I have to say that some movements we did were similar to some movement we do on the TRX but the result were totally different, I discovered muscles I didn’t knew I had!!

Rebecca is a very good teacher and she is very thoroughly when she give us the instructions as well she makes sure that we are moving the right way and if we don’t she will come and adjust us. I would not be surprised if I will add Pilates to my junkie list 🙂

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Change it up…

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Malin

Today I had made an appointment with a friend of mine that is becoming a Pilates instructor but she needs a “bunny” to practice on before she is certified. Still I did not want to miss out on my cardio so I went to Lifetime Fitness for a quick run before I drove over to her house.

I had already made up my mind last night on what I was going to do and I knew I had limited time at the disposal. I started running at a speed of 7.0 and every minute I increased with 0.1 and I finished 2 miles on 15.38 but I will admit that my legs were heavy and I felt very far from a gazelle :). Still I did not give up at I sprinted for 6 intervals before I rushed over to Rebecca’s.

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I have never ever done Pilates before and I guess I never really giving it much thought either and the first thing Rebecca had me doing was figure out my breathing. When I had that figured out (sort of) we started working the core and yes they are sore from yesterday. I do believe that my abs are fairly strong but with the type of movements we were doing this was completely different, especially when Rebecca corrects the posture.

I know have only done this once but I do think I like it. It really teaches you to control your body and reckon this could be another piece in order to achieve a more holistic perspective to my workouts and lifestyle. Next week we are doing it over at lifetime and it sounds like we are using more “tools” then just the mat and I’m really looking forward to it!