Hanging up my running shoes

[ZellyB]

What Happens in Vegas

Training Report 9/3 - 9/9
​

This week ended up a bit of a bust because of our weekend trip to Vegas, but it was a blast, so all worth it!

Sunday 9/3 - Rest day
Monday 9/4 - Track work and we are still building up on our 800m repeats. 4 cadence drills/4 acceleration gliders/6x800 (half-marathon pace). Once again too fast on the 800m repeats. But, given our general pace seems to be improving, maybe the calculated HM pace is realistically a bit slow. Who knows?
Tuesday 9/5 - 6 mile run with 2:00/:30 intervals. Good run and felt pretty comfortable. Overall pace 9:50. We seem to be more consistently hitting at the 10:00 m/m pace or below on these runs. We are pushing it some, but not so much that I feel exhausted at the end, so I'm guessing the strong training season is just starting to pay some dividends in improved pace.

Wednesday 9/6 - Rest day
Thursday 9/7 - 6 mile run with 2:00/:30 intervals. Took it easier today and had an overall pace of 10:13. Felt great at the end of it and this pace would comfortably get me to my A goal for the half in a few weeks, so keeping my fingers crossed all feels good on that day!
Friday 9/8 - We debated doing a long run today since we'll be in Vegas for the weekend, but I worried about a 4:30 AM wakeup and then a late flight into Vegas and just being exhausted, so no run. Flight was a bit delayed into Vegas, but we arrived to let the fun begin!
Saturday 9/9 - We did bring running stuff with us to Vegas, but after some walking on Friday night, it was going to be very difficult to run on the strip near our hotel. Lots of detours up and around stairs and through shopping venues, so just bagged it and decided we'd just get back to normal next week.

As for Vegas...

We had a fantastic time!! The Aria was great. Our room was really big and beautifully appointed. It was a smart room too, so you could control everything from buttons on the walls or a tablet on the bedside. It had a "Goodnight" button that would turn down all the lights and close the curtains with one touch. I need one of those at home! Speaking of curtains, they opened to reveal a lovely view!
Vegas by giseleb2, on Flickr
Vegas by giseleb2, on Flickr

We went to see the Absinthe show on Saturday night and I HIGHLY recommend it. But - it is not for the easily offended. It was crude and offensive at times but also hilarious! The acts were incredible as well. It's a tiny little theater with miserably hard, folding chairs to sit on, but you are on top of the stage practically.
Vegas by giseleb2, on Flickr
That's the stage with the green curtain hanging over it. It's probably no more than 12 feet across and circular and the seats surround it. I don't know if anyone has watched America's Got Talent this year, but there was a rolling skating brother/sister duo on it that made it to the semi-finals. They were in this show! There were also acrobatic type acts, a high-wire act, tap dancers and a semi-burlesque act. Totally unique and totally entertaining.

We spent Sunday at the pool in our cabana!
Vegas by giseleb2, on Flickr

It was completely amazing and we were utterly pampered. We stayed there for 8 hours and had a blast. I won't tell you what our bar tab ended up being for the 8 of us.

Anyway, we flew home on Monday, exhausted, but happy. And now back to reality.

 

[dancingtodisney]

VEGAS BABY!!!!!

How exciting??!!! I've always wanted to go!

Well done on your mid-week runs and hey Vegas is a pretty good excuse for missing your weekend run!

 

[roxymama]

Very jealous of that cabana!!!!!!!!!

Also super impressed with your paces, you guys are killing it right now!

 

[Anisum]

Wow! That cabana is so cool. I'm glad you guys had a great time. Absinthe sounds like a show I would be interested in checking out if I ever end up in Vegas while it's still on.

 

[Ariel484]

Sounds like an amazing weekend, glad you had a great trip!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Monday 9/4 - Track work and we are still building up on our 800m repeats. 4 cadence drills/4 acceleration gliders/6x800 (half-marathon pace). Once again too fast on the 800m repeats. But, given our general pace seems to be improving, maybe the calculated HM pace is realistically a bit slow. Who knows?

When's the last time you've done a Magic Mile? When's the goal HM? How much were you too fast by?

 

[ZellyB]

VEGAS BABY!!!!!

How exciting??!!! I've always wanted to go!

Well done on your mid-week runs and hey Vegas is a pretty good excuse for missing your weekend run!

You should totally go to Vegas some time. It's just one of those things I think people should experience at least once.

Very jealous of that cabana!!!!!!!!!

Also super impressed with your paces, you guys are killing it right now!

That cabana was insane! It was very pricey, but split between all 8 of us it wasn't too bad. I'm pretty happy with training right now!

Wow! That cabana is so cool. I'm glad you guys had a great time. Absinthe sounds like a show I would be interested in checking out if I ever end up in Vegas while it's still on.

Absinthe was so much fun. If you end up there, be sure to go and see it!

Sounds like an amazing weekend, glad you had a great trip!

Thanks. It really was great. I had definitely reached Vegas saturation by Monday, so for me, a long weekend is really perfect. More than that and it just becomes too much for me. But, for those few days it was great.

When's the last time you've done a Magic Mile? When's the goal HM? How much were you too fast by?

We haven't done a Magic Mile since like May. Our group leader is supposed to do another one before our target race, but she hasn't so far. We should probably do our own one day on the track. When we did it back in May, I think my time was right at a 9:00 minute pace. My A goal for the half is a 2:15. Current PR from a race back in 2015 is a 2:19:07. That race is October 1. The way we are doing our 800 is to do them in 5:09 (so a 10:18 m/m pace). We are typically finishing the 800 though about 20 seconds too fast, so that would equate to a 9:38 m/m pace. Right? If I did my math right. We really do try to deliberately slow down our running pace just a bit but still seem to wind up too fast. I do find the whole thing a little bit confusing still since we don't just run the whole time when we do long runs or races, but after we discussed this last time, we thought that since we don't want to do these at race pace, that it was okay doing the 800s at the overall pace. We take a 45 second walk break in between the 800s (that was Galloway's suggested walk break.

I'm planning a 10-miler I think for Saturday. We don't have a Galloway group run. The last long run I did with the group was a couple of weeks ago and it was the 20-miler which I finished with an 11:00 m/m pace. The week right before the race is a 23-mile group run, so I'll only do probably 7-8 miles that week (although Chris is going to run the whole thing).

 

[run.minnie.miles]

So glad you have a fun weekend in Vegas! We are thinking of going in November (and de-touring to CA for a few days) and will have to remember that show. Your cabana day sounds wonderful! How great would that be the day after a big race? I am excited for your upcoming HM- I think your stellar training is going to pay off big!

 

[DopeyBadger]

We haven't done a Magic Mile since like May. Our group leader is supposed to do another one before our target race, but she hasn't so far. We should probably do our own one day on the track. When we did it back in May, I think my time was right at a 9:00 minute pace.

I'd venture to guess you're ahead of that with a 2:15 HM goal time. Since you're 17 days out, I'd say next week Tuesday is probably the last day I'd attempt something like that. But honestly, this close to race day, I wouldn't even risk it. It's not like you'd change training pace this far into the plan and all it would do is give a mild indication about race day performance. Better served just saving that energy for race day in my opinion.

The way we are doing our 800 is to do them in 5:09 (so a 10:18 m/m pace). We are typically finishing the 800 though about 20 seconds too fast, so that would equate to a 9:38 m/m pace. Right? If I did my math right. We really do try to deliberately slow down our running pace just a bit but still seem to wind up too fast. I do find the whole thing a little bit confusing still since we don't just run the whole time when we do long runs or races, but after we discussed this last time, we thought that since we don't want to do these at race pace, that it was okay doing the 800s at the overall pace. We take a 45 second walk break in between the 800s (that was Galloway's suggested walk break.

What does the 9:38 min/mile pace feel like to you? Does it feel like an easy run, marathon tempo, hm tempo, 10k pace? Do you have labored breathing? When you finish the run portion are you thankful you get the rest interval? Do you ever put your hands above your head to catch your breath? And you do 6 intervals with 45 sec rest breaks? Is there a time threshold during the 4:48 that it starts to suddenly feel harder?

I'm planning a 10-miler I think for Saturday. We don't have a Galloway group run. The last long run I did with the group was a couple of weeks ago and it was the 20-miler which I finished with an 11:00 m/m pace. The week right before the race is a 23-mile group run, so I'll only do probably 7-8 miles that week (although Chris is going to run the whole thing).

Sounds about right to me. I'm excited to see how it goes!

 

[ZellyB]

So glad you have a fun weekend in Vegas! We are thinking of going in November (and de-touring to CA for a few days) and will have to remember that show. Your cabana day sounds wonderful! How great would that be the day after a big race? I am excited for your upcoming HM- I think your stellar training is going to pay off big!

A cabana after a race would be spectacular. Maybe I need to plan a Vegas race just so I can try it out!!

I'd venture to guess you're ahead of that with a 2:15 HM goal time. Since you're 17 days out, I'd say next week Tuesday is probably the last day I'd attempt something like that. But honestly, this close to race day, I wouldn't even risk it. It's not like you'd change training pace this far into the plan and all it would do is give a mild indication about race day performance. Better served just saving that energy for race day in my opinion.

Agreed. We might do one after the race to see where we are though. It's really just been over the last few weeks that I feel like I've transitioned to a new threshold.

What does the 9:38 min/mile pace feel like to you? Does it feel like an easy run, marathon tempo, hm tempo, 10k pace? Do you have labored breathing? When you finish the run portion are you thankful you get the rest interval? Do you ever put your hands above your head to catch your breath? And you do 6 intervals with 45 sec rest breaks? Is there a time threshold during the 4:48 that it starts to suddenly feel harder?

It feels like a pretty easy run to me. My breathing is not labored at all, although I'm always thankful for rest intervals. I'd say that I'm certainly ready for a rest interval, but that's probably just more because that's what my body is accustomed to do rather than true fatigue. I've never had to put my hands above my head to catch my breath. Our normal intervals when we do runs are not more than 2 minutes, so with these being close to 5 minute intervals, certainly my body is thinking it's time for a walk, but I can't say it's because I'm overly tired. We've built up to 6 intervals for the 800s and yes a 45 second rest interval in between each 800m. We should have gone to 8 intervals this week, but missed our run on Monday since we were flying back from Vegas. Thinking we'll just jump on up to 10 800s next week to stay on my training schedule. I'm lazy about reworking my spreadsheet. After that we are supposed to skip to 1 mile intervals at marathon pace.

Sounds about right to me. I'm excited to see how it goes!

Me too. Hoping my current training success will be a good indicator for race day performance.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

A cabana after a race would be spectacular. Maybe I need to plan a Vegas race just so I can try it out!!

I've heard the RNR Vegas is fun!! It's a night race, which really appeals to me.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Yay! Glad you guys had a fun weekend! I've never done a cabana, but that certainly sounds like a wonderful way to spend pool day!! I'll have to ask my sister-in-law if she has seen that show- it sounds cool! Congratulations on your continued strong training! It's awesome to see that hard work in nutrition and training pay off!!

 

[ZellyB]

Yay! Glad you guys had a fun weekend! I've never done a cabana, but that certainly sounds like a wonderful way to spend pool day!! I'll have to ask my sister-in-law if she has seen that show- it sounds cool! Congratulations on your continued strong training! It's awesome to see that hard work in nutrition and training pay off!!

Thank you. That cabana was great. It was pricey, but with 8 of us splitting it, it made it manageable (although I'd stop short of saying affordable ). Still if you are ever there and can swing it, go for it! Just brace yourself for the bar tab.

 

[SarahDisney]

Nice job with those paces!!

Sounds like you had a wonderful time in Vegas. As painful as those bar tabs can be ... sometimes it's worth it if you have a good time. I'm glad you enjoyed!

 

[ZellyB]

Nice job with those paces!!

Sounds like you had a wonderful time in Vegas. As painful as those bar tabs can be ... sometimes it's worth it if you have a good time. I'm glad you enjoyed!

Thank you! It's been a rough week here so far, so I'm ready to go back!

 

[ZellyB]

The Inevitable Doldroms have Arrived

Training Report 9/10/17 - 9/16(17)17

And so comes that time of year that happens every time for me in a training cycle when I just starting feeling OVER it all. I'll snap out of it, but MAN, this past week was tough. Maybe it was post-Vegas let down.

​

Sunday 9/10 - Rest - Vegas
Monday 9/11 - We were flying home on this day so no normal track work. We did happen to be going through security right at the time that the first tower fell, so they stopped all the security screening and a color guard came out with the flag and they observed a moment of silence.
Tuesday 9/12 - 6 mile run doing 2:00/:30 intervals. Overall pace was a speedy 9:47. I felt fine during the run, but also cranky and just tired of running.
Wednesday 9/13 - Rest
Thursday 9/14 - 6 mile run again with 2:00/:30 intervals. Overall pace 10:00. I was definitely feeling more sluggish on this run even though the overall pace was fine.
Friday 9/15 - Rest and then we drove up to Kansas City after work to help my in-laws with moving.
Saturday 9/16 - No run today as we were assisting with the in-laws move.
Sunday 9/17 - We opted to do our long run on Sunday since we couldn't run on Saturday. The plan was to run 10 miles, but there was a looming storm, so we kept checking radar and finally decided we needed to turn back a bit sooner than originally planned. We didn't quite make it back in time and the last mile or so was in a steady rain with the last half mile a downpour. Good times. We ended up just shy of 7.5 miles. We did run 2:00/:30 and ended up with a 10:17 pace overall, so not too bad considering I was really not feeling it.

I sure hope my attitude turns around before our PR attempt in a little over 1 week. sigh. Sorry for a downer report this time.

But to close on a better note - the medals for marathon weekend were revealed today. BEHOLD!!!!

Adorable, yes? I love the bright colors. Can't wait to earn my first Disney 5K medal!

Again, DARLING! I'm loving the bright colors and blingyness of the medals. I can't tell for sure from the picture, but I think the ribbon might have polka-dots. I hope so!

Love the yellow and red color scheme. After the disappointment of last year's half (medal and cancelled race), I'm excited to earn this one.

AMAZING!!! ADORE!!! SPINNER!! I'm a happy girl. Speculation from someone else on the Marathon or Running thread that the other side might say, "If you can dream it" which would be all kinds of awesome!

A bit disappointed in Goofy. I wish it were circular like the others, but it's better than the half from last year at least.

And, hello there, beautiful Dopey!! I cannot wait to earn that beauty.

Hopefully these will help spur me back into a better motivational place.

 

[Ariel484]

AMAZING!!! ADORE!!! SPINNER!! I'm a happy girl. Speculation from someone else on the Marathon or Running thread that the other side might say, "If you can dream it" which would be all kinds of awesome!​

I thought it was so odd that they put "you can do it" on the medal that you get....after you have done *it.* But if that quote is on the other side of the spinner, that would explain it and make it way better!

I agree, the big Goof is pretty random! That's just how he does life I guess.

Seems like these came out at a good time for you!! That pretty bling will be yours!

 

[ZellyB]

I thought it was so odd that they put "you can do it" on the medal that you get....after you have done *it.* But if that quote is on the other side of the spinner, that would explain it and make it way better!

I agree, the big Goof is pretty random! That's just how he does life I guess.

Seems like these came out at a good time for you!! That pretty bling will be yours!

Yes, excellent point on the "you can do it" phrase for the medal. Of course, now I REALLY want to see the other side of it! Good point on random Goofy. Maybe it is fitting after all.

and, yes they came at a very good time!

 

[DopeyBadger]

It's common for me to have some weird runs during the taper. The mind and body are focused elsewhere at the moment. Here's hoping things turn for you as your PR comes up. You've got this!

 

[rteetz]

Love the bling! Only 104 days until we start earning those!