Tag Archives: pilates

Back, Calves, Core, Fitness, Plank, Recovery, Running, Shoulders, Squats, Treadmill

Heavy Running Week (1/18 – 1/24)

January 24, 2015 Kim 31 Comments

This week I more than doubled my total miles for the month – a mega long run will do that I guess!!

Sunday 1/18 – 45 arm lifts (elbows bent) to side while in elbow plank.

Return to plank –

I counted a right and left lift as one rep – this was HARD!!!

Monday 1/19 – 45 shoulder work – extend arms straight up in front – open them to the sides – lower – repeat. I only used 5 pound DB because my shoulders are weak!!!

Slowly lower the weights back down to complete the move.

This was a running day – 6 miles (47:10) + 2.1 easy miles. I wanted to see how much sweating would burn my face – it wasn’t too bad!!

Tuesday 1/20 – 45 plie – jump to squat – jump back to plie – stay low the entire time.

From plie, jump to get into a squat (point toes forward) –

Obviously I kept the squat fairly wide!!! From the squat – jump back to a plie position. Since you stay low the entire time, your legs will definitely start to feel the burn!!

I did a DVD that I hadn’t done in awhile – Jari Love’s Get Extremely Ripped 1000 Hardcore. This was about 70-75 minutes of hard work. I liked the mix of cardio and weights. Because Jari Love uses high reps for all moves, my heart rate stayed high the entire time!!!

Wednesday 1/21 – 45 miles of running!!!

This took 6 hours, 35 minutes, 18 seconds!! Normally I do this on my actual birthday but this year I figured as long as I did it while I was 45 it would count!

Thursday 1/22 – 45 single leg calf raises.

I thought this would be a nice stretch after Wednesday’s run. Ummm….it was hard to do 45!!! And, of course, I had to switch legs.

Friday 1/23 – 45 heel taps while in a prone position.

lift legs and squeeze (nice photo bomb – Jordan!!)

This is a great move for your lower back since you are working to keep your legs up the entire time!!!

Saturday 1/24 – 45 shin strengtheners.

lay on back - legs up - point toes — lay on back – legs up – point toes

I used to do this move a lot more to help prevent shin splints. You can also turn your toes out to the sides or in. Another option is to vary the speed that you use for this move.

I decided to do an easy workout to try and workout the residual soreness in my quads from the long run so I did – Fat Burning Pilates. I think that is was a good way to get a little movement today!!!

Happy Saturday!!

Kim

Biceps, Chest, Fitness, Shoulders

A Week of Ups and Downs

January 10, 2014 Kim 86 Comments

Today for the 44 I did a move that is always tough for me – the W (you know, your arms and head make a W.

This move wasn’t too bad for the first 28 or 30 but the last 15-16 were rough!!! (and I only used 5 pound dumbbells!!)

I decided to do a fairly simple workout to see how it felt so I did Burn & Firm Pilates. This was a nice way to get some movement and strength training without pulling on my legs a lot.

This week has been one of those roller coaster weeks!! I know that all weeks have some good and some not so good but his one has been all over the place!!

The boys got an extra day of winter break!!! And, they spent part of it helping me put up the Christmas decorations!

The weather has been awful – besides the extreme cold, the snow on the ground (especially the roads) is not my favorite!

Even without a huge grocery shopping trip this weekend, I have gotten back on track with cooking dinner again!!!

The heater for 2 of our apartment units (above our venue) went out on Monday night – the motor blew – coldest night of the year!!! And then the pipes froze – so no heat or water!

We got the motor replaced (for the heater) Tuesday before lunch time (I still haven’t seen the bill!!).

I ended up having 10 more injections in my legs on Wednesday at a simple follow-up appointment!

The recovery/down-time for the injections is just a few days.

Our dishwasher quit/the motor in it blew out last week. I bought a new one the day after and set it up for delivery. It was supposed to come Monday – as of 3:00 yesterday we still didn’t have a new dishwasher. I had already made 4 phone calls about it and finally got a response of next Monday (with another 4 hour window on my part).

We found the same dishwasher at a different store (in stock), bought it, brought it home and Chris put it in. Full refund on the first one – and we ended up saving a few dollars!!!

Chris is off today and going to help me clean the Governor’s Row House for tomorrow’s event (and put up the Christmas decorations).

We are supposed to be get close to 50 degrees tomorrow and close to 60 on Sunday!!!

It’s Fun Friday!!!!

And – the good outweighed the bad!!!

I hope that in the ups & downs of your week the good won!!!

Happy Fun Friday!!

Kim

Core, Fitness

Scared, Nervous, Excited, Scared

October 11, 2013 Kim 65 Comments

Today’s 44 was a Pilates based move – the single leg stretch. Just because the name of it has the word stretch, don’t think it wasn’t a challenge!!!

A right leg up and left leg up counted as 1 rep. I tried to keep my toes pointed and my legs straight. Keeping the bottom leg off the ground the entire time and my head and shoulders up made this a great core workout!!!

This week I’ve been ~~slightly~~ completely obsessing about my race this weekend. Not gonna lie – I’m ready for it to be Monday and the race behind me (is that bad?)!!!

The emotions that I’ve felt this week have ranged from excitement to complete fear of failure!!!

I think that the things I’m the most scared about are

Don’t get me wrong – I love a good rain storm but I do NOT want to run in rain all night long. I think it is supposed to be a little on the cool side which I can handle as long as I’m not wet! Remember – I’m a treadmill runner most of the time!!!

My other biggest fear is my stomach! Running makes my stomach hurt a lot these days!!! Hopefully it won’t be a huge issue!

I would have liked to rest my legs a little more this week – I’m not sure that being on them from 6 am till 4 pm a couple of days (boot camp, cleaning, set-up, ironing…..) was the best plan but it’s what it is these days!!!

I do have a couple of goals – I have thought all week about whether or not to share them and I might as well – I’m pretty much an open book!!!

1. Finish!!!
2. Be the first female.
3. Break 10 hours.

#1 is my main goal but I figure I might as well go big with my other goals!!!

I’m already planning to utilize a run/walk plan during the race – and, for the record, Jordan told me the other day –

“It doesn’t count if you don’t run it all!!!”

Nice!!! Then Chris said he could probably complete 50 miles, too (on foot?!).

Today I’m going to try and make sure that I have everything I need and hopefully get a good night’s sleep before my all-nighter (way to old to lose a night of sleep!!!).

Happy Friday!!!

Kim

Core, Fitness, Shoulders

Spreading Sunshine

September 18, 2013 Kim 50 Comments

Pilates was the theme of the 44 for the day!! I did a standing mermaid (pilates move) with 4 knees across the body to complete each rep.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbVm8td_28o’]

Besides being great for the core, this was really tough for my shoulders – holding my arms out to the side for the time required to complete all 44 reps was HARD!!! And, after I finished the first side I still had another set of 44 the other direction. My shoulders are still burning!

I also did a pilates DVD today – Burn & Firm Pilates. I really like the fact that even though it is pilates, the first 40 minutes or so is standing work and is a pretty decent cardio workout!

This Sunshine Award has been making rounds and 2 super sweet bloggers nominated me (even though I am so bad at this kind of thing!). I’m going to answer the questions because they are fun but I am not nominating anyone – I choose all of y’all!!!

Brooke @ Wrecking Routine (check out her blog if you don’t already read – she shares some great workout challenges plus she is just super cute!!) nominated me last week so I will start with her questions.

1. What are you too afraid to pursue right now, whether in your dreams, work or relationships? I’m really doubting my ability to run the 50 mile race in less than 4 weeks.

2. Why did you start your blog? to document my daily 43s!!

3. What is your Zodiac sign? Virgo but don’t ask me what that says about me because I don’t have a clue!!

4. What’s your favorite thing about blogging? Hands down, the wonderful bloggers that I have gotten to know!!

5. If money wasn’t an option, what country/island would you explore for a week? Australia

6. What do you love about your body? I love how strong my body is!!!

7. Tell me your favorite season and give me 2 reasons why. Summer – sun and fun!!

8. Do you believe in love at first sight? YES!! Chris and I drove to Austin, TX (from Lubbock, TX – 7 hours) for our first date (to a concert). He told me later that he knew on the way to Austin that I was the person he was going to marry – 17.5 years of marriage later still very much in love!!

9. If you could use only 1 beauty product for the rest of your life what would your choose? Hmmm…..I’m fairly low maintenance with stuff like that – probably my favorite lotion from Bath & Body (white tea & ginger).

10. Describe your perfect day from start to finish. Wake up naturally (no alarm!!), go for a run on the beach, hang out with my family on the the beach, watch the sunset over the water – so, it needs to include my family, the beach and running – simple!!!

Kristen @ 31 Million Seconds (love her blog – sometimes funny, sometimes serious, always great) nominated me on Monday and had another fun set of questions so here are some more random facts about me.

1. Night owl or early bird? Well, since I get up at 5:00 am I guess I have to say early bird.

2. Would you rather be hot or cold? HOT!! Being cold makes me cranky!!

3. If you could only eat one thing, every meal, for the rest of your life, what would it be? Pizza – still meeting all the food groups and there are lots of different kinds!!!

4. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? the ability to go without sleep – I could get so much more done every day!!

5. What did you want to be when you grew up? I thought I would go to med school and be an orthopedic surgeon. After Chris & I got married I took the MCAT but never really pursued it beyond that and then we had kids and that was the end of that!

6. What do you miss most about being a kid right now? school – I’m a nerd!!

7. If you had one hour of free time right now what would you do with it? probably read more blogs

8. What’s the most played song on your iPod? Zac Brown Band – Toes

9. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? HAWAII!!!

10. If you could time travel, either into the past or into the future, where would you go? Hmmm….not sure that I would do either!

Even though I’m super lame and not nominating other bloggers, feel free to pick a question or 10 and share your answers – I love learning random facts about all of y’all!!

Happy Wednesday!

Kim

Core, Fitness, Running, Thighs

When you Make a Mistake, Make a Good One!!

August 14, 2013 Kim 64 Comments

Both boys seemed to have a good first day of school yesterday!! Thank you for your happy thoughts!!!

Today for my 43 I did a standing pilates leg circle. It is a slow controlled movement that is about control as much as anything.

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-Nh-T55gFw’]

I felt this in my standing hip as much as in the leg that was moving. And, of course this was a 43 that I did 2x – so that I could get each leg.

I did round 2 of The Race Is On (challenge workout of the week from Taylor). This is a fast moving workout and the person who you are racing is yourself. I love trying to beat my time each time I do a workout – makes me really push hard.

I also ran again today!! This time I went outside and it was a perfect morning for a run – 64 degrees with just a slight breeze!!! I tend to run slower when I run in my neighborhood because of all the hills. I need the hill training!! I did 5.5 miles in 45:50 (about 8:20 pace) + 0.50 mile walking for my cool down.

Last night was the band camp exhibition on the football field.

It was very cool because we saw a mini version of everything they have been doing the past couple of weeks. They start with a great warm-up: jumping jacks, push-ups, up-downs, high knees and stretching. It was fun to watch them follow all the different commands. And they actually sound really good!!

This year the marching program is all Styx songs – pretty cool!!

They have just started working on marching in formation and playing at the same time (they have about 3 weeks until the first football game!).

Last night they only marched for one song and did the rest in place.

The band director said they were still in the beginning stages and mistakes were fine. He said –
If you make a mistake make a good one – a confident one! And not the same one you made yesterday!!

I love that idea – we all make mistakes but we should own it and be confident even in our mistakes!! The only time that a mistake becomes a problem is when you repeat the same mistake over and over!!!

A lot of times I think we have a tendency to want to hide our mistakes but the only way we can really learn from them and move on is to admit that we made a mistake and correct it.

I’m going to really work on making sure that my mistakes are good (or at least made with confidence!) and hopefully not repeat mistakes!!!

Are you confident even when you mess up?

Happy Wednesday!!!

Kim

Day With KT