Tag Archives: pilates

Hour by Hour

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So… today. I’m owning the crap out of it. I never really know what to do with myself on Mondays. I don’t teach, so basically I feel like an utterly useless member of society.

I did a few loads of laundry, caught up with a high school friend over lunch, ran 7.5 miles with Lauren in the AM, watched more episodes of Pretty Little Liars than I care to admit on Netflix (the acting is borderline painful but the storyline is so damn addicting I can’t stop watching – seriously WHO IS A?!), had a DOH-mestic fail (Colleen I feel you) at twice-baked sweet potatoes that turned into mashed potatoes once I demolished/shredded the “shells” (not my fault they’re so “fragile”), and passed out on the couch at approximately 10:17pm last night.

Today I was determined to be more productive. (ie: Less Pretty Little Liars, more get off the couch and out from under the fluffy blanket and contribute to society.)

6am – Boyfriend has a conference call. Takes it from home. I sleep through it.

7:48am – Begrudgingly get out of bed. Prep French Press for coffee. Try out Newman’s Own Organic Almond Biscotti coffee with my morning yogurt bowl (0% Chobani – cheaper than Fage yesterday, raspberries, Cinnamon Roll Granola (replaced the oil with applesauce), 1T almond butter).

Look at all that delicious, crunchy, Peanut Buttery goodness!

(Far too hungry this morning to take a photo. Just replace the blueberries with raspberries and we’re in business.)

I’m not usually a huge fan of flavored coffees, but this one knocked it out of the park. (Although I may mix French Roast with the Almond Biscotti to get a milder flavor as an everyday thing.)

8:48am - Drop boyfriend at work. Spare him the perils and horrors of the MUNI system.

9:07am – Arrive at gym. Plan to run 7 miles. Get really, really into the latest Runner’s World and By Invitation Only. Run 10 miles. At an 8:25 average pace.

11am - Hit Safeway for baking supplies

12-2:30pm - Catch up on e-mails, make a massive green smoothie for post-run fuel (original almond milk, frozen mangos, lots of spinach, 1T chia seeds, 1T almond butter). Top with far too much Cinnamon Chex to admit on this blog (they taste eerily exactly like Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and are GF!). Gag at the thought of store-bought almond butter. Not even close to the good stuff.

Bake the ish out of the afternoon. Brown Butter White Chocolate Pretzel Blondies (Cassie these were such a hit last time they were requested for this weekend’s travels!), Banana White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, (I’ve now made these somewhere around 87 times), and Toasted Cinnamon Agave Almond Butter.

Sample about 11 of each of the above. Lunch has never tasted so good. Balanced it out with a veggie burger and some leftover quinoa mixed with mushrooms, scallions and a soy sauce/olive oil/toasted sesame oil “dressing”.

Bathe. (You’re welcome.)

3:30pm - Head out to teach. 4 classes in 4 hours. Grande iced coffee becomes a necessary survival tactic.

4:15-8:15pm - Teach Pilates. Make them sweaty. Really sweaty. Sweat marks on the shirts sweaty.

8:48pm - Quick dinner of rotisserie chicken quinoa bowls (cooked it in chicken broth, added in fresh rosemary, red pepper flakes, shallot, salt/pepper, goat cheese, balsamic/olive oil). It’s occurred to me I ate too much quinoa today.

Oh. Does that sound too healthy?

Ben and Jerry’s Greek Fro Yo for dessert. Balance right?

10:39pm - Crash into bed before waking up far, far too early for teaching at 6 and 7 am tomorrow morning. (This hasn’t exactly happened yet, but being that it’s 9:44pm already, I really don’t foresee myself lasting more than another hour.)

Last great thing you baked/cooked/ate? Tell me tell me tell me. (I’m clearly still hungry.)

Hope your Tuesday went well! Enjoy your evening! :)

Peanut Butter Without the Fat. Um, What?

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Happy Tuesday! Hope you’re having a great week so far.

My day started off with a piping hot mug of black coffee, and a date with the treadmill. After yesterday’s 11 miles, I didn’t really go into today’s run with a plan – I told myself to run at least 5 miles, and I could stop anytime after that.

7 miles – the first 5 at an 8:34 pace, the last 2 at 8:20. 

I felt pretty great about it… and extremely sweaty afterwards. I’m reading a new Kindle book (Gone Girl - and it’s right on par with The Expats), and so far it’s really good, keeps my attention, and has just the right amount of suspense.

Post-gym I quickly hit Trader Joe’s for some essentials for the week, and sped home (kidding, I drove the speed limit) to put the groceries away, and put the fresh flowers (peonies and hydrangeas!) in water before booking it up to Pilates for the noon class.

source

A fellow new instructor was teaching today’s class and I was so excited to take her class. Natalie did an amazing job! I’m already sore. Scratch that, I was sore the moment I walked out of the studio. I judge a class (and teach my own this way!) on whether my legs feel like jello at the end as I walk out – this one definitely did the trick.

After class, I had plans to meet one of my good friends Kathleen for lunch on Union Street so I headed over to La Boulange and got there just in time. Yes it was past 1PM, and yes we both ordered coffee (I’ve been as into iced coffee with soy milk as Miley Cyrus is into teenage marriage lately), and omelettes. La Boulange has the best coffee. Starbucks if you’re going to pay $100M to buy them, do yourself a favor and just start serving La Boulange coffee exclusively. The world will thank you.

PB2

I’ve been seeing this PB2 pop up on blogs since… forever, and I’d always written it off as some weird diet food. I don’t do diet foods. If you’re going to eat something, just eat the real thing. Only eat less of it. I prefer to only eat foods that I can pronounce all of the ingredients, and food that is made out of real food. No chemicals.

I was at Lunardi’s the other day and randomly walked by a giant PB2 display. Once I saw the ingredients, I was officially intrigued. Roasted Peanuts, Cocoa Powder, Sugar, Salt

Once I saw the Chocolate variety? I was sold.

But still suspicious.

According to the genius’ behind PB2, they first slow roast the peanuts, then press them to remove the fat and oil (who knew this was even possible?). They then blend cocoa beans for a natural roasted peanut butter and chocolate flavor.

Sounds reasonable enough, right?

Still a little skeptical (we all know I love my peanut and almond butters like Lindsay Lohan loves breaking the law), I tried it out. 2 spoonfuls of the good stuff, 1 spoonful of water.

Stir for 5 seconds. Peanut Butter.

I toasted a piece of Banana Bread and eagerly spread the entire serving’s worth onto it.

Ridiculous.

And 45 calories. With 1g of fat.

Seriously?!

I’m still trying to figure out how they make this stuff so damn delicious. I really don’t understand.

I’ve since had it on apple slices, toast, and mixed into my Greek Yogurt bowl and I’m totally sold. (Let’s be clear – this will not and could not replace my beloved homemade almond butter. Ever. But it will be added into the rotation.) I will now eat my words (preferably with PB2 spread on top).

Have you ever tried PB2? (You can get it on Amazon, at Whole Foods, Lunardis, etc)

The Weekend, Briefly

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Hello hello. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! What was the best part?

Ours started off pretty relaxing – pizza, beer and movies. (Let it be known I made it about 17 minutes into the movie before I was out like a light on the couch.) We picked up a 4-pack (apparently they make those?) of gluten-free beer, and I have to say, I was a fan. If you try it – don’t go into it thinking it’s going to taste as prefect as a Corona- because it won’t. At all. But for a beer made with zero wheat? I’d buy the (so very overpriced) 4-pack again!

What was not GF? The pizza. We had a Whole Wheat Trader Joe’s dough, and I didn’t feel like making a seperate trip for some GF dough. So I ate it. (Also let it be known this was my absolute, hands-down, best homemade pizza of my career.) The key (we think) was letting the dough sit out for an hour, using a 4-cheese blend, and spreading pesto on the crust. Perfection my friends.

My taste buds were all “YEAH! Gluten! This crust is so darn good”, and my stomach was like “Eff you, I will destroy you tomorrow”. The taste buds won the battle, but the stomach won the war. I’ll just leave it at that.

Saturday morning started early with Jaime on our favorite 7.5 trail loop (the weather was gorgeous in SF that day), and then boyfriend and I helped his mom move some boxes (my shoulders were feeling it the next day!), walked to Crissy Field for a graduation BBQ (congrats Nurse April!), and I, shockingly enough, crashed out on the couch around 10pm.

Yesterday we slept in, I taught two classes (hope you people are sore today!) and then we headed to the ‘burbs to celebrate my dad with some US Open/NBA Finals/Red Sox game viewing.

But I should add there were not one, but two perfect pups at the studio this morning.

We enjoyed a grilled father’s day spread – grilled corn, tri-tip, wild salmon, and a spinach/strawberry/almond/goat cheese salad with a homemade strawberry dressing. I scraped my plate clean it was so darn good. Well done (as always!) mom.

No trip home is complete without a reference/mention/viewing of/talking about the Red Sox.

Speaking of teaching - I LOVE IT. Seriously, I look forward to my classes. I love putting together choreography, and leading people through a kick-ass workout. I can’t wait for my classes this week.

Which are:

Thursday AM - 6:20, 7:10 (there are showers/blowdryers at the studio if you want to come in before work and head to work straight after!)

Sunday AM- 11am, 12pm – Marina

Come in for a class!

Run

This morning I headed to the gym and ran 11 miles at an 8:20 average pace.  (I had 2 People Magazines to get through, and a very big interest in both Drew Barrymore and Matthew McConaghey’s weddings. Also it appears that Reese Witherspoon is the most popular person in Hollywood since she got the invites to both of these festivities. In case you’re wondering yes I do ponder things like this. In your face Ryan Phillipe).

I felt fantastic. I ran the first few miles at an 8:34 pace and then once I was warmed up, I felt confident and strong… so I decided to push my limits a bit. I ran the last mile and a half at 8:03 and bumped the last quarter-mile to a 7:44 pace. I swear my legs have probably been able to do this all along and it really was my stubborn, you-can’t-run-fast mind that was holding me back. Push your limits friends… you are capable of more than you think. Maybe it feels uncomfortable (and yes, it probably will at least the first couple of times), but once you feel everything begin to click and fall into place – the overwhelming feeling of satisfaction, and that “I DID IT” is more-than-worth any excess huffing and puffing and “holy sh!t this pace hurts and I want to slow down to make it more comfortable.”

Just try it. (Then tell me how it went – I’m right there with you… telling my mind to STFU so my legs can just run.)

At the end of my run I still felt strong, and my legs definitely had something left in them. I decided not to push it, since I want to run hard and strong all week, and to leave it at that. Still though, I couldn’t help but be both impressed/proud of myself for holding a pace I never would have imagined I could hold… for 11 miles. Watch your back CIM.

On the way home, “You Gotta Be” by Desree came on the radio. Am I the only one that loved the movie “The Object of My Affection” starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd and thinks of that movie every time I hear that song?

Also the little girl who plays Jennifer Aniston’s daughter/sings the song? Haley Dunphee from Modern Family. Tell me that didn’t just blow your mind. (Link to the video is here)

Anyway.

I refueled after my run with one of my homemade veggie burgers on brown rice bread (dense consistency but I actually really liked it toasted with goat cheese!), and my favorite salad ever – Trader Joe’s Super Spinach. Highly recommended for an on-the-go, bring-to-work lunch. Or if you just like convenience. Like me. It’s got spinach, pumpkin seeds, edamame, garbanzo beans, dried cranberries, shredded carrots (like so thin you don’t know they’re there), and quinoa with a seriously addictive ginger carrot miso dressing. Oh it also has cherry tomatoes but I (obviously) pick those out and forget they exist.

Hit the spot.

I don’t teach today so I took the afternoon to clean the entire apartment top-to-bottom (I contemplated eating my snack off the floors they are sparkling), run errands, and organize myself for the week ahead. I teach Thurs-Sunday this week, and I know it’s going to get busy.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Do you have any Father’s Day traditions?

Did you race this weekend? Workout? What’d you do?

Ever try gluten-free beer?

Hour-By-Hour

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HAPPY THURSDAY! :) I’m not sure why I felt that necessitated all caps, but we’re one day away from the weekend, SF is still experiencing this freak heat wave that I wish would stay forever, Matt Cain pitched a PERFECT GAME for the Giants last night, and I’m riding quite the endorphin high right now so let’s just go with it.

Today started out early. And just kept on going. Allow me to explain.

5:15 am - Alarm #1 goes off. Luckily I’ve been up since about 4:27am having nightmares about opening up the Pilates studio by myself. (They ranged from – I forgot where I parked my car, the studio getting raided by police, me teaching the class outdoors because I forgot my keys, and so on and so forth.) Snooze gets hit.

5:18 am - Boyfriend: Didn’t your alarm just go off? Me: Mmmm Hmmm, I’ll get up in a minute. Boyfriend: You don’t want to be late… (AKA the nicest way possible to say “I got into bed around midnight, it’s now 5 hours later, let me sleep woman.”)

5:21 am - Second alarm goes off. OK I get it, I’m up. Stumble blindly into kitchen, heat up water for coffee.

5:27 am - Pour scalding hot water into French Press. Refuse to think about anything aside from getting coffee into my system as quickly as possible. Proceed to burn the ish out of my tongue.

5:43 am - Dressed, teeth brushed, face washed, coffee in to-go tumbler. Quadruple check for keys.

5:57 am - Get in car. Take note that it’s deceptively light outside these days. Praise the gods of summertime.

6:10 am - Arrive at Pilates Studio. Find parking right out front (duh it’s 6am). March empty coffee tumbler across the street to Peets. Demand refill. (Nicely). Pay for refill.

6:14 am - Sigh with great relief when keys work and actually open the doors. Stomp foot on ground when you realize the iPad is dead. Plug in iPad and give a self-five for remembering to make an awesome playlist for occasions like this.

6:20 am - Teach first Pilates class of day. Make them sweat.

7:06 am - Inhale banana (that I paid $1.25 for at Peets – really?) and Two Degrees bar for breakfast.

7:10 am - Teach second Pilates class of day. Make them sweatier.

8:36 am - Head to gym. Start new Kindle book. Tell myself I’ll run until I feel tired. 3 miles turns into 7, which turns into 11 beautiful, sweaty miles. At an 8:34 pace the entire time. Self-five x2.

10:36am - Leave gym. Receive text asking for a sub for 6pm class tonight. Um, duh.

11:07 am - Head home. Get cut off by three Muni buses. Rage inside my car. Running endorphins take over. Happy happy happy Kristine.

12 pm - Take Pilates Community Class. Get ideas for tonight’s class.

1:45 – 5:23 pm - Inhale Green Smoothie and TJ’s Black Bean and Corn Enchiladas. (Surprisingly delicious together, but also I was too hungry to really notice anything.) Shower. Clean apartment. Sit on couch zoning out to television for an hour. Eat again. Choreograph tonight’s class. Goal – make them cry. (Kidding. Just their muscles.)

5:30 pm - Arrive to Pilates obnoxiously early. Over-analyze the class I spent an hour creating. Internal dialogue – “was it 1 red spring or 1 blue?” THE HORROR.

6pm – 7pm - Teach the most fun class I’ve taught yet. Make them sweat. A lot. Play “Call Me Maybe.” Make them smile. A lot. Catch myself humming under my breath. Stop this behavior before anyone notices.

8pm – bedtime – Pick boyfriend up from gym. Eat dinner (prosciutto, sliced Dubliner chedder, berries, apples, hummus, chips, steamed edamame). Watch TV and relax. For once do the dishes before my “nap” on the couch. Sleep is coming next.

Quite the busy day but I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I’m so darn happy teaching and being around all of these awesome people all day long, I probably have this giddy and obnoxious smile on my face 24/7… and I’m probably starting to creep some people out. (Sorry, I’m not sorry.)

With that – it’s time for bed. My legs are snug in their compression sleeves, and it’s time for me to catch some Z’s.

Hope you have a wonderful night! When we wake up (which for me, will not be in the 5am hour)- it’s FRIDAY! :)

A Little of This, A Little of That

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It’s officially Wednesday – halfway there my friends, halfway there. :)

Today started out extremely early, and kept on going from there. Meeting, running, bussing, teaching, driving, meeting. I didn’t get a chance to breathe until around 2pm. Then I relaxed. Ohhh did I relax. (In my defense this was during load 3 of 4 laundry wise.)

Pilates!

To start, I wanted to thank all of you for all of your words, tweets, messages, emails, comments and hugs of encouragement and congratulations on my career change. It truly means so much to have that much support (even if I’ve never met you!). I haven’t looked back once and honestly don’t think I ever will. I get giddy excited when I think about teaching my classes.

Last night’s class went SO GREAT! I was admittedly a little nervous but the class flowed just right, and everyone left sweaty, red-faced and smiling. Success!

This morning I was up bright and early for a meeting at 7:30am in the Financial District. I figured afterwards I would just hit the treadmill at the gym and bust out a few miles (I even got ambitious on my three cups of French Press coffee and contemplated double-digits.) I just downloaded a new book on the Kindle that I’m dying to get into, so I settled into an 8:34 pace and started to run.

About 3 miles in, I got a call from the Pilates studio in the Marina letting me know that the instructor for the 10am class was sick, and could I sub? Um, duh. I LOVE Cardio Sculpt Pilates (the 10am class). I checked the clock – 9:16am. Oh boy.

Refusing to take a cab, and being really cheap, I hopped on the 12 which dropped me on top of a hill in Pacific Heights. Time? 9:48am. I booked it down the very steep hill, flew by some very startled/alarmed tourists, and flew through the doors of the studio. 9:56am.

The class was AWESOME. Everyone worked their booties off – cardio-ing, pilates-ing, planking, crunching, and lunging to their heart’s content. (Or probably discontent.) They left sweaty, red-faced, and smiling… I will just start to consider that The 3, and take it as a successful class. Until someone lets me know otherwise. (But really, please don’t.) ;-)

I also found out I’ll be teaching the 11am and 12pm Sunday Marina class! Let me know if you feel like getting your Pilates on – perfect for post-brunch/pre-lunch! :)

(In completely unrelated news I also found out I can actually French Braid my own hair. Without a mirror. I used to beg/plead/cry for my mom to braid my hair for soccer games when I was younger. And in high school. Mom you’re officially off the hook. You’re welcome.)

Presents!

Yesterday as I arrived home from the gym, famished and ready for lunch, a package with my name on it in the lobby caught my eye. I knew exactly what it was and I tore into it excitedly.

I found out that I had won a giveaway on Erin’s blog, and was more excited than most rational people would be because I love Two Moms in the Raw products. You’ve probably seen them at Starbucks, and probably passed them over in favor of the Spinach Feta Wrap (am I right?) but seriously, next time – get the granola bar. They are delicious, healthy, vegan, gluten-free and deceptively filling.

The first time I tried one was a few months back on the way to Pilates one Sunday morning. I typically get famished about half-way through the class but his bar filled me right up without giving me that full feeling that we all love so much when wearing tight fitting spandex.

Along with the delicious assortment (Tomato Basil Sea Crackers, Cranberry Granola, and what I am already deeming my personal favorite- the Blueberry Granola bar), Erin sent me the most adorable card.

It’s like we’re best friends already. I go nuts for dog cards. If you haven’t already, check out Erin’s blog – I love that she balances real life with healthy recipes (um homemade Luna Bars? Yes please) and awesome workouts.

I Can Cook?

So having some added free time this month has added up to some amazing things happening in the kitchen. It’s like Giada and Ina invaded my brain and I’m suddenly not setting the smoke alarm off every time I turn on the stove. (Although truth me told I still lack most basic kitchen skills I’m sure.)

For example last Thursday? I made Ina’s Roasted Tomato Basil Soup with open-face grilled cheese sandwiches for boyfriend and I. Full disclosure? Tomatoes scare me. I hate them. I won’t get near them. They are too dainty and they have weird not-quite-liquid juices and seeds everywhere and make me anxious. But this girl sliced 2 lbs of tomatoes (with her bare hands), roasted them, and made them into a delectable soup. (Along with quite a few other ingredients, I promise the soup was amazing). Try this – you will not be disappointed. I liken it to drinking a semi-spicy pasta sauce. Is that ever a bad thing?

I also decided that I was going to make veggie burgers. Gluten-free veggie burgers at that.

I followed this recipe from Skinny Taste exactly. And the end result was amazing. Just a hint of spicy, delicious flavor, and perfect texture. I toasted a gluten-free hamburger bun, added some goat cheese and dug right in after today’s run. The ingredients are simple enough that you probably already have them all on hand.

Make these. They probably take about 7 minutes start to finish. Then you freeze them and throw on a skillet once you’re ready to eat. $6 for a box of Gardenburgers? Never again my friends, never again.

Workout

Running wise this week has started out really strong. I almost feel like I’ve been (for lack of a better word) scared to push myself to run this fast before. I guess it could be that I didn’t think I could do it, or simply thought of myself as a runner that maxed out at a certain pace but I was definitely wrong. Call it gaining mental confidence, or finally realizing that every run shouldn’t always be a walk in the park and might be – GASP! – a little bit taxing physically, but that’s how you get faster I guess. To run faster… run faster. Noted.

Monday – 7 miles

Tuesday – 8 miles, Pilates reformer class

Wednesday – 3 miles

With that (I apologize for how darn long this post ended up being, thanks for sticking around. Oh you bounced about 500 words ago? I don’t even blame you), it’s time to relax and watch the rest of the Giants game. It was 7-0 Giants when I started writing this post, and it’s now 10-0 GIANTS! Go Cain go! 

Have a lovely night :)