Hi everyone! Great news: after posting this blog post about starting Pilates and how hard it is, I have made some big improvements! I am finally starting to feel engagement in my lower abs and I’m learning proper alignment for every exercise. It appears that my Pilates Boot Camp repeats itself each week – Monday is about learning neutral position and proper breathing technique, Wednesday is about learning how to get foot strength, and Friday is about using our core to balance on the bosu and the reformer. It’s super helpful to get the chance to improve on the basic stuff each week and build on what I already know. Each class, we spend time doing the most common ab exercises and through some miracle my hips aren’t the star of the show anymore! Yay for getting better!
Overall, I had a pretty awesome week of workouts:
Monday: Pilates Boot Camp
Tuesday: Running team practice – 4.5 miles doing farleks
Wednesday: Pilates Boot Camp
Thursday: I had a run planned, but needed a rest day because I could feel myself coming down with something 😦
Friday: Pilates Boot Camp
Saturday: Pilates Barre Class even though I felt pretty awful
Sunday: I was full-on sick by this point and spent the day napping and blowing my nose. Yay.
On Saturday I had the awesome opportunity to try out a free Pilates Barre class at my Pilates studio! It was very similar to Barre3 which you all know I’ve been missing like crazy. One thing that I really liked about the class was that there was a much heavier focus on the ballet aspect than in Barre3. We learned the ballet names for the moves we were doing and I felt like a ballerina-in-training while also getting in a great workout. I’ve always wished I’d taken ballet so this was really fun for me! If I want to take the Pilates Barre classes I have to pay a little extra per month so I’m not sure if my wallet is up for it right now, but I’m so happy I got to take a barre class at least once! My legs and glutes are definitely still hurting today.
On the menu for this week: more Pilates, my second week on the running team, and hopefully more runs once I’m not sick anymore!
Did you try any fun workouts last week? Do you give up on running when you’re sick or do you just bring lots of tissues and cough drops along?
Mom in the Mtns 
Aw sorry to hear that you weren’t feeling well. Hopefully you are on the mend by now! I’m so glad Pilates has been going well. To answer your response to my comment last week, yes it most certainly helps my running and so does yoga. I go 50/50 on running when I’m sick. It depends on what the weather is like outside… cold? no way. Warmer? sure thing! Enjoy your week!
I’m definitely dragging at work today! I have no idea what I have right now but it needs to go away ASAP! It’s still in the low 40s here so I didn’t think cold air on my throat would be a good idea, but if this keeps up I may need to use the treadmill or something. Pilates I’m able to do though because I don’t need to change my breathing at all and I’m laying down most of the time anyways so I don’t feel too dizzy. I hate being sick!
I love Pilates too!! I use the PiYo dvd workouts. They are super tough but I love the challenge.
PiYo sounds like so much fun! The Pilates I do is super slow paced with no music or fun stuff, but I really like my studio and the people there.
No music?! That must be really quiet. I’m surprised they don’t even play yoga type music even.
Haha I actually prefer no music so I’m down with it. I have stopped going to certain yoga studios because the music they played was so distracting! I’m weird though and don’t even listen to music when I run so that might be why 🙂
That is so interesting. Is it awkward quiet or no??
I don’t listen to music when I run either but in a yoga class, I think the music sets the mood. I’d hate to hear a bunch of breathing. lol
Haha yeah there is a lot of breathing! But in Pilates we all breathe at the same time so I guess it’s good so I know I’m doing it right!
There you go!! Haha!
I started back with P90X abs…NOT fun, but definitely works! Have a great week!!
That’s awesome! I’ve always been tempted by P90X but I know I’d probably wimp out after day 1. Good luck with your ab workouts!
Thanks!!!
How is your running team going? I am looking for one to join soon so I’m kind of starting to look into the ones here in Anchorage. Have you ever done the Wednesday runs with the Anchorage Running Club?
I haven’t! I’m currently going to Exceed and I really like it. There’s a set workout that the coaches run us through and I like that I can just follow along without having to plan anything. I’ve given up on pub runs because it’s basically me running alone. It’s so hard to meet people there!
Hmmmm… I heard they were kind of on the fast side. Are there any runners in the 9-10 min/mile range?
Haha most are pretty fast, but I’m like 10-11 and I haven’t been the slowest one yet! They tell you the percentage of effort to run so you can push yourself at your own pace. The coaches are so nice!
I really need to do some more pilates!
As far as running while sick is concerned, I go with the “above the neck” rule. Pretty gross to carry wads of tissues around with me, but not enough to stop me. 🙂
You know, my instructor is always saying how good it is for your back. If you can take a class like the one I’m in (lots of cuing and adjustments to make sure you’re doing it right) you can definitely help your back and core! I say go for it 🙂
Pilates is tough! I have a couple pilates workouts on DVD, and those always kill my abs. I’m guessing your studio classes are even tougher! I’m a total baby about running when I’m sick – I absolutely hate it. I feel like I can’t breathe if I’m stuffed up, and mentally I just can’t handle it haha. Props to you for a great workout week even when you weren’t feeling well!
Okay I’m glad someone else feels the same way about running while sick! My body was so tired but I couldn’t tell if I was just wimping out or if I really did need a rest day. I swear I’m running today though!
Glad you’re sticking with Pilates and seeing some improvement–that must feel so good 🙂
It does! Sadly I’m not seeing improvement as quickly as I want to, but I guess I’ll get there eventually! 🙂