Nov 16, 2006

pilates and running in the sun

So a recap of yesterday I wound up just doing a series of leg exercises focusing on the ones from pt. Then work got in the way so I took it easy the rest of the day.
Bright and early this morning I had my intro lesson to Pilate's with Beth in the studio that reminds me of a jungle gym or something. We started by going over my goals - which are very simply add Pilate's into my training to help target and balance my core and other muscle while helping to prevent injury. She approved :) Then she looked at my standing posture and where it looked like I needed to focus - bring my shoulders down and back, relax my traps, strengthen my lower abs and lastly to balance out my left and right sides. All of which I complete agreed with... Then we started doing some "exercises" - all very slow and controlled while pulling in my lower abs (with out squeezing my bottom). The exercises were so different from things I have done before that I have hard time remembering them or even describing them. lol Even yoga is a lot different. There was a lot of targeting the core, lower abs and pulling my shoulders back.. Afterwards I felt great - way more energy than what I woke up with even. Beth said that I would probably progress very quickly because I am very aware of my body, my strength may get in the way some because I'm so used to using larger muscles to compensate and that at the end my shoulders did look further back :) I signed up for another class on Tuesday of next week with her. I figure it would not hurt esp since if nothing else it might help my form for next Sunday.. Soo I would say I'm on my way to becoming addicted to another form of working out (like I'm not addicted to enough forms of exercises already).
Then I went for a 4 mile run in 35 min- I had 5 easy miles planned - but instead I found a good 4 mile loop with 1 mile gradual hill up and a 200 yrds steep hill. First off it was a gorgeous morning with the sun and kind of crisp. Just made me smile lol So I had a 1 mile warm up of rather flat running on 148th - really trying not to start to fast, keep an even pace through out.. Oh yeah and keep my shoulders back :) Then started up old Redmond road which is a gradual incline up to 140th then I took a left and it flattened out so I could recover until I took a left on 40th and went straight up a big hill (pretty equal to the one by the zoo that Colleen always makes me do). I did this hill twice - recovering on the way down. Then I headed back to the club for about a mile cool down (well trying to stay at the same pace as I started with). Then stretched out a bit. All in all I like the route - super convenient and a good variety of inclines (vs the trail which is just flat and boring now). To bad I had to go to work and could not just spend the whole day outside doing something - anything while the sun is out :) Luckily it is Thursday - one more day maybe the rain will hold off ;)

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