Fairy tales can come true, you got to make 'em happen... it all depends on you. (comments welcome!)

[Naomeri]

Thank you! That's what I use so I just tried it out. So easy!

I like to use it during races to compare what my watch measures as each mile and when I actually hit the mile markers (that’s the example I shared)

 

[superchime]

Signed up for my first Dopey! And my son is running the 5k with me.

I'm excited and nervous. I know this is a stretch for me, so I'm trying to be optimistic but not overconfident.

I've got a lot of work to do but this is something I really want so I'm willing to do it. Someone please remind me of this in about 7 months!

 

[Naomeri]

View attachment 849858


Signed up for my first Dopey! And my son is running the 5k with me.

I'm excited and nervous. I know this is a stretch for me, so I'm trying to be optimistic but not overconfident.

I've got a lot of work to do but this is something I really want so I'm willing to do it. Someone please remind me of this in about 7 months!

I’ll remind you if you remind me

 

[superchime]

I’ll remind you if you remind me

It's a deal!

 

[nancipants]

Woo-hoo! I'll drag you along the marathon with me if you'll drag me with you.

 

[superchime]

Woo-hoo! I'll drag you along the marathon with me if you'll drag me with you.

Absolutely! We can take turns! You can fall apart on the even numbered miles and I'll take the odds.

 

[Herding_Cats]

One of us. One of us.

 

[superchime]

Ok, help me out hive mind! I'm trying to figure out a good schedule for the summer and there are a lot of moving parts to fit together. I'm trying to get stronger and faster without hurting myself.

The non-changeable events are:
Mon - Kung Fu
Wed - upper body strength
Thurs - Kung Fu
Fri - lower body strength

Following the "make your hard days hard" philosophy, I am thinking of doing speed work on my strength days (run in the mornings, lift in the evenings). For now I'm using "speed work" as a general term for harder/shorter runs. The specifics will come down to whatever DopeyBadger tells me to do on these days!

I'm really new to strength training and my first leg day wiped me out. I'm hoping that will improve as my body adjusts to the new training load, but I'm not sure where to put my long run. Mondays or Sundays? I've typically done my long run on Saturdays, then rest on Sundays, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to do that if leg day is Fridays.

Mon - long run? - Kung Fu
Tues - rest
Wed - speed work/upper body day
Thurs - Kung Fu
Fri - speed work/ leg day
Sat - recovery run? or long run?
Sun - or long run here? or rest?

It's not going to make my teacher super happy, but I have decided I'm going to treat Kung Fu as "extra" for now. I'll go if I feel up to it, but I won't feel bad about skipping a class or holding back in class if I need to. Getting ready for Dopey is my priority now.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Following the "make your hard days hard" philosophy, I am thinking of doing speed work on my strength days (run in the mornings, lift in the evenings).

This is what I do. When you get to the lower body strength, just keep in mind that you'll be starting with tired legs if you have speedwork in the morning. You might not be able to do as much as you would going into it fresh.

I'm really new to strength training and my first leg day wiped me out.

That's normal! It will get better. Just make sure you're building up slowly - if you're ever so sore you can barely walk, that means you did too much and you need to dial it back.

I'm not sure where to put my long run. Mondays or Sundays? I've typically done my long run on Saturdays, then rest on Sundays, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to do that if leg day is Fridays.

Mon - long run? - Kung Fu
Tues - rest
Wed - speed work/upper body day
Thurs - Kung Fu
Fri - speed work/ leg day
Sat - recovery run? or long run?
Sun - or long run here? or rest?

I would say you're probably better off not doing a long run the day after speedwork/lower body strength. I would think either Sunday or Monday would be okay, but see how your runs feel once you start getting used to those strength days and that will give you a better idea of what works for you.

Example of what I'm doing currently:

Mon - easy run/upper body strength
Tues - easy run/lower body strength + HIIT
Wed - easy run/core
Thurs - rest
Fri - speedwork/total body strength
Sat - easy run/core
Sun - long run/yoga

I consider Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday to be my hard days. I basically replaced a running workout with harder strength/HIIT, keeping in mind that supplemental training is also part of the 80/20 balance you're aiming for overall. I wouldn't necessarily move upper body strength days automatically into the "hard" category, but I've also been doing strength training for a long time, and I'm generally not lifting so heavy that I'm sore the next day.

When I had karate classes, those were more likely to make me sore, so I would have tried to line up harder runs with karate rather than strength and probably kept the strength a little lighter. I think it's really particular to your own experience - when do you feel the most tired the next day?

 

[superchime]

Thanks! This helps a lot!

This is what I do. When you get to the lower body strength, just keep in mind that you'll be starting with tired legs if you have speedwork in the morning. You might not be able to do as much as you would going into it fresh.

This is good to keep in mind. My knees are delicate flowers, so I already have to be super careful with the weights. This might be too much for one day then. Maybe I could move that speedwork to Mondays.

I think it's really particular to your own experience - when do you feel the most tired the next day?

Kung Fu is so unpredictable. Some classes we go super hard, and some classes are more stretching and material work, and there's no way to predict what's going to happen when. So I'll just have to go into class with whatever energy level I have for that day (and what I know is on my schedule for the next day) and dial my participation up or down as needed. Luckily I've been in this class for a couple of years now so I have a pretty good idea about what is going to be too much for me, and my teacher is used to me modifying or sitting out on certain moves now.

Mon - speed work - Kung Fu
Tues - rest
Wed - speed work/upper body day
Thurs - Kung Fu
Fri - leg day
Sat - recovery run
Sun - long run

Hm. Sunday and Monday back to back might not be ideal with this schedule.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Your legs will get better/used to lifting in probably 2 weeks. At least that's been my experience with going back to lifting after a long break. The first week especially always makes me really sore, and it's usually not much of a problem after that.

We've done a fair amount of talking in the group about what to do first on lift (legs) and running days, and the general consensus is to do whichever is more important to you first. If lifting heavier is more important, do that in the morning. If speedwork is more important, do that in the morning. Speed work once a week might be enough for you too while you settle into the routine of all of the new things/new focuses. And once you've adjusted, you can see where a 2nd session would fit best into your routine.

 

[superchime]

Your legs will get better/used to lifting in probably 2 weeks. At least that's been my experience with going back to lifting after a long break. The first week especially always makes me really sore, and it's usually not much of a problem after that.

This is very good news because I was dying last weekend!

We've done a fair amount of talking in the group about what to do first on lift (legs) and running days, and the general consensus is to do whichever is more important to you first. If lifting heavier is more important, do that in the morning. If speedwork is more important, do that in the morning. Speed work once a week might be enough for you too while you settle into the routine of all of the new things/new focuses. And once you've adjusted, you can see where a 2nd session would fit best into your routine.

I have to work around the lifting days/times because I'm working with a group (which has been great because I absolutely was not doing it on my own). But it's good to hear maybe one day of speedwork might be enough. I've also got a month break from Kung Fu coming up because my teacher will be out of town, so that will help with the transition too.

 

[superchime]

Weekly Summary
April 8 - 14

Mon - plan: Kung Fu
I was still a little sore from the weekend so I was glad that tonight’s class was a lot of stretching and mobility, then straight into our material.

Tues - plan: register for Dopey
Success! What have I done?!

Wed - plan: Kung Fu, upper body strength
Oof, this was a long night. I’m doing my strength training with a group and we decided it would be best to go after Kung Fu. Probably the right move but we ended up closing down the Y and it was 10:00 before I had dinner.

I'm also having trouble with my neck hurting during my upper body strength training, because I have basically no upper body strength at all so the neck tries to help out.

Thurs - plan: Kung Fu
This was our last class before we break for a month, so it was a hard one. My right elbow and shoulder are a little angry from yesterday’s strength training. I think it’s similar to the situation with my knees, where I don’t have much muscular strength so I’m putting too much pressure on the joints. The pain isn’t terrible, but now I know I need to be careful.

Fri - plan: easy run
2 miles in 38:02

Sat - plan: lower body strength
Not as bad as last week, although I was definitely ready to be done. I'm really enjoying my little weightlifting group, though.

Sun - plan: recovery run
1.06 miles in 33:41

My son’s activity this morning ran later than expected to I wasn’t able to get out until afternoon and the temperature had climbed (which was fine, it was a beautiful day). So my recovery run turned into a recovery walk and I’m ok with that.

However, I am nowhere near as sore as I was after my first leg day last week. Knees are feeling a little irritated, but no sharp pain. Oddly enough, my upper back is more sore today than it was after my upper body workout earlier in the week. One of the exercises we do at the end of lower body day is this thing where we dangle and pull up our knees. I was having trouble getting my back muscles to activate on Wednesday, but apparently they were willing to participate in this move.

Trying hard to cram in all the protein. Ugh.


Extra note: I was talking about Dopey with my weightlifting group after Kung Fu class the other night and another student overheard and asked about it. When she heard the mileage she immediately started encouraging me to run a local 100 miler next! That’s the first time anyone (aside from you all) has encouraged me to run more. Turns out she used to run half marathons. She’s 70 now and doesn’t run any more but she’s still super active and exactly who I want to be when I’m her age.


It was a low mileage week as I'm still working on adjusting to my new weightlifting routine, which will go off the rails immediately because I leave for Springtime Surprise in a few days!

Total time for the week: 1:11
Total miles for the
Week 3.06 miles
Month 8.06
Year 206.66

 

[Scootin'By]

It's not going to make my teacher super happy, but I have decided I'm going to treat Kung Fu as "extra" for now. I'll go if I feel up to it, but I won't feel bad about skipping a class or holding back in class if I need to. Getting ready for Dopey is my priority now.

You have to take care of you!

Oof, this was a long night. I’m doing my strength training with a group and we decided it would be best to go after Kung Fu. Probably the right move but we ended up closing down the Y and it was 10:00 before I had dinner.

You're making me hungry just thinking about missing dinner until 10

 

[superchime]

You have to take care of you!

I'm working in it!

You're making me hungry just thinking about missing dinner until 10

It was not pretty, let me tell you. And I didn't eat much earlier in the day because I didn't want to be too full for class. Definitely need to get this figured out before next time!

 

[superchime]

Springtime Surprise Trip Report

Thurs April 18
Up at 6am for our flight at 10. My son and I were traveling this day and my husband would fly down Friday. My husband teases me because I have to get to the airport so early, but I'm just going to be pacing at home waiting for it to be time to go, so I may as well get all the airport stuff out of the way and pace at my gate instead.

I was bringing down all of my medals from the past season, so my backpack got some extra attention as we went through TSA. The flight was uneventful and we even had an empty middle seat! It's been a long time since that has happened. Our room was ready when we arrived so we unpacked a bit and then headed to Epcot.

We had a Swan resort view balcony room. I prefer the smaller size of the Swan, plus the newly renovated rooms have hard floors, which I love. But it's usually more expensive, so I often end up at the Dolphin instead. Which is fantastic too, don't get me wrong. You can't beat that location.



We had a tree next to our balcony and it had baby birds in it! They were old enough to be out of the nest but stayed pretty close to the tree most of the time. I really enjoyed watching them all weekend.


Ok, on to Epcot. My notes remind me that it was very hot outside, so I was pushing my son to remember to hydrate.

I love all of the Flower and Garden topiaries.


I tried a Kolsch style non-alcoholic beer from the Trowel & Trellis booth and thought it was good. I've mostly stopped drinking so I've been experimenting with mocktails and other non-alcoholic options lately.



We snacked our way around Epcot and rode a few rides: 3 Caballeros, Figment, Nemo, and my son rode Guardians, where the ride photo shows he continued his tradition of looking chill on thrill rides.

Then we hopped over to Magic Kingdom. We were wondering if we should eat more before we left Epcot because my son pointed out we were hopping to the park with the worst food.

He was right, we should have eaten more at Epcot. We had patty melts from Cosmic Rays for dinner and they would have been ok except the were wrapped in foil and soggy! At MK we rode Peoplemover and my son rode Tron. We watched the fireworks from behind the castle, then headed over to Haunted Mansion for our last ride of the day, where I was, yet again, not walked off the ride. *sigh*



This is such a great location for watching fireworks.

 

[Scootin'By]

We watched the fireworks from behind the castle, then headed over to Haunted Mansion for our last ride of the day, where I was, yet again, not walked off the ride. *sigh*

It's going to happen for you one of these days!

 

[superchime]

Friday April 19 - Expo Day

Normally I would have rope dropping Epcot this morning but I wasn't feeling it this morning (if this was a book, this would be foreshadowing!). Instead we took it slow in the morning and wandered over to the Boardwalk for breakfast then caught the first bus to the Expo.







We stopped in the merch area first and I picked up a few things. Was disappointed to see the passholder pins were sold out. That never happens! I have one from every race weekend I've done, so as much as I hate to reward a scalper I think I'll have to buy one on ebay. Luckily I had preordered our 10k pins. I wish they'd offer more things for preorder.

We got our bibs and shirts, I tried on some goodr sunglasses that are on my birthday wishlist, and of course we had to say hi to Jeff Galloway. I hadn't seen him since the Disneyland expo so I had to tell him about my PR that was thanks to his pacers. He was happy for me and liked my comment about how running with pacers let me turn off my brain. He told me he always says "just get on the pacing bus and don't get off until the end of the ride." He wished my son good luck on his first 10k and told him to not go out too fast!

As we were finishing up at the expo my husband texted that he had arrived. I was able to share the mobile room key with him, so he was waiting for us there when we got back. We dropped our stuff off in the room and headed to Epcot. No notes on what we rode so I don't really remember at this point, although I know I had bought an ILL for him and my son to ride Guardians.

We ate at Flower and Garden booths for dinner and headed back to the room for an early night. I've given up on trying to go to bed at 6pm on race nights, but I do try to be in the room and off my feet early.




I had always thought being alone on race nights was best so no one would disturb me trying to sleep, and I wouldn't disturb others when I get up at 2am, but when I'm alone before a big event my anxiety really ramps up and I end up not sleeping at all.

I'm working on the anxiety (that's one of the reasons I do these races) but in the meantime I've discovered that having my family with me really helps me to stay calm and I sleep so much better. Over 4 hours of sleep before a race felt amazing!

Sorry family, you're coming to Dopey with me.

 

[superchime]

Saturday April 20 - 10k day

Up dark and early. Luckily my son is a good sport about waking up at 2am. We had our bananas and made it on the second bus. There were so many busses lined up waiting at the Swan, the first one was pulling out just as we walked up. I got a little nervous when our driver asked the coordinator where to take us, but we made it to Epcot without incident.

Lines for the real bathrooms were so long, I decided to just wait. Dropped off my gear check bag and headed to the lightpost where I my son and I met up with the "strangers I met on the internet."
(As my grandmother-in-law would have said "I'm glad you think you're funny.")

After that we went to wait in line for Dug and Russel. There was quite a bit of discussion about whether or not we'd actually get to see them before they left, but we made it! Those photopass people run such a tight ship! I love how they have two people taking phones for photos. We passed our time in line with a RunDisney pro who told us how she used to run the 5ks twice if she missed some characters the first time.



My son had done very little training for this race and he's one who will push through and hurt himself, plus it was on the warm side, so I told him this was my last race of the year and I wanted to really enjoy it and take lots of photos and just take it easy. So we did just that, and we had a fantastic time!

We took pics with each mile marker, quite a few selfies, and did a couple of character stops, got in the Guardians virtual queue. During the last character stop I realized my throat was feeling a little scratchy. Weird. Must be the pollen in Florida. Yeah, that's probably it.





As we were finishing up our last character stop we heard that the balloon ladies were coming so we decided to run it in to have a little less of a crowd for finish line photos. They're still not great, but we did get some really good on-course photos.

I grabbed my bag and we made a couple of post-race character stops before walking through Epcot back to our room. It was Dapper Day in Epcot so we were almost not out of place walking back in our race costumes.




We both showered and I napped while my son and husband headed to Epcot for the morning. I woke up when they came back and we all headed to the pool for the afternoon. Stormalong Bay gets all the love, but the Swan/Dolphin pools are really nice, and there are so many of them! My son decided he'd had enough so he stayed in the room for the evening while I dragged my husband and all of my medals to Magic Kingdom for a photo shoot.

I loved Disney when my kids were little. It's so magical to see them get so excited about the rides and characters. But it's also really nice now that they're old enough to be independent there. I hope Disney is always a special place for our family. My older son doesn't love it so much right now. I'm hoping he'll come back around when he's older, but if not I've already promised to bring his kids so he won't have to.

A few pics from my photo shoot. We had a lot of fun coming up with ideas.





Look at me, all carefree and able to breathe without coughing. Those were the days.


As the night wore on I started to feel worse and by the next day it was obvious I was sick. I was really glad I wasn't running the 10 miler the next day. Such a bummer. I guess I picked something up at the airport, which has me feeling like I need to drive down for Dopey.

I did learn that there are CVS vending machines in both the Swan and the Dolphin, and that they sell Covid tests and cold medicine. Luckily it wasn't Covid, just a cold, but the rest of my trip wasn't a lot of fun. I think this means I get a do-over.


Total miles for the
Month of April 67.96
Year 266.66

 

[WillRunForPizza]

My son had done very little training for this race and he's one who will push through and hurt himself, plus it was on the warm side, so I told him this was my last race of the year and I wanted to really enjoy it and take lots of photos and just take it easy. So we did just that, and we had a fantastic time!

Sneaky

Great photos!