Running Renaissance: 2024 Disney Marathon

Week 7: Wait! Where did Spring go??? (Mar 5-11)
After enjoying the above average temperatures the week before, the below average temps last week were a rude wake up call. It all evens out I guess, no wonder they call them averages. It’s supposed to be right around average temperatures this week which I’m looking forward to. As long as it’s nice for St. Patrick’s Day, I’ll be a happy runner. Right now, it’s forecasted to be a low of 36 on Friday with a high of 58 on Saturday. All in all, a good forecast. I just have to hope those showers stay away. In preparation for St. Pat’s, I went to Target to buy some shamrock leggings this weekend. Somehow left with these socks as well….Target traps are the worst (or maybe the best?).
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Sorry about all the complaining last week. There’s been a lot going on locally and nationally that’s gotten under my skin. I’ll try to stick to more happy topics and running this week.


Speaking of running topics, I’m still trying to figure out my race calendar to meet my goal of one race a month in 2018. June and August are the biggest question marks. August is particularly difficult because I’ll be on vacation the last two weekends, so my choices are pretty limited. Actually, right now, there’s only one local race that works and it’s on a Thursday the week after my big July race…so I’m not so sure. Hopefully something else will pop up. There is a local race in June that I’ve been debating. I ran the 6K version a few years ago but if I run this year I think I’ll go for the 1 mile. I haven’t raced a mile ever really. Once upon a time, I ran the 1600 for my junior high track team, but that was a long time ago. The biggest downside is that it’s an afternoon race. The year I ran it was incredibly warm (as you might expect for June) and there was only one water stop. I swore the race off after that but I’m thinking for a mile race, that won’t be as big of a deal. Registration prices go up the end of April, so I have some time to decide. Anyone got any pros or cons of trying to race a mile? Particularly how it might affect my fall marathon training? That training won’t start until August-ish so there isn’t a direct conflict just might affect my fitness heading into the training.

M – EA 5mi
After a week of running outside in fairly nice conditions, Monday came in with a bang. It was sleeting when I woke up. Thankfully by the time I left for work, it had turned into a light drizzle. The precipitation continued for the rest of the day and was at its worst during the commute home. I made it home without much issue but a coworker spent an extra hour trying to get home.

I was not keen on running in the rain/snow/ice mixture so I headed for the treadmill. By some miracle, the DVR was just magically working again so I got to catch up on some TV. Now that the Olympics are over though, I really need some new options. What’s good guys?

Tu – 10 x 400m @ I
It was snowing again and I didn’t want to be running on any slippery surfaces for these repeats. The conundrum I found myself in was running on the indoor track or the treadmill. To help myself learn to pace, I took to the indoor track. The downside of the track is that my watch doesn’t get GPS indoors so I knew it’d be of no use knowing my speed or distance. The other downside is the crowding that can take place. There are several people who either can’t read or think rules don’t apply to them. In particular this time, there were two walkers taking up the two outside lanes, despite the large signs overhead telling them that walkers needed to stay on the inside. When I got close I would yell out that I wanted to pass on the left or right but it didn’t faze them at all. Later on in the run, there were some middle schoolers doing some sort of circuit training who literally just repeatedly ran right into them because they left no room to pass…that also seemed to go unnoticed by the walkers who were too busy gossiping to be bothered by anyone else.

I made a little impromptu change to my workout based on what I had available to me. The workout was meant to be 10x2min and I went for 10x400m. Based on my calculation, 2min @ I should have been around .28 miles so 400 meters seemed reasonably close. The indoor track is 200m to a lap so it was easy to know the distance and elapsed time. From there I could calculate the pace after the fact. My goal was to run 400m in 1:47…hopefully my math skills didn’t fail me because for all the problems I have with tempo pacing, I actually did quite well at these.

  1. 1:47
  2. 1:46
  3. 1:46
  4. 1:46
  5. 1:51
  6. 1:51
  7. 1:48
  8. 1:47
  9. 1:46
  10. 1:48
Only two segments more than 1 second off! It was a tough workout, and I was worried about keeping it up at the halfway point when I had a couple of slow times. In the end, I survived and really enjoyed running at that pace. Someone please remind me that in a couple of weeks when the distance will increase…

Going forward, I’m not sure if I’ll continue these workouts on the track or outside with GPS. Billy, please let me know if I’m majorly messing something up by going for distance vs. time. Obviously, I cut about .3 miles off and maybe I should have done an extra repeat to make up for it? It wasn’t on my mind at the time, so I didn’t.

W – Rest Day
Doing your workouts when scheduled, means enjoying your rest days. We also had tickets to see the Broadway Cinderella. I was a little nervous about it. Would the musical be as good as the Disney movie? Turns out, the musical isn’t like the Disney movie at all, and that’s a good thing! I thought it was outstanding. Highly recommend if you get the chance. We saw Wizard of Oz earlier this year and I couldn’t keep myself awake it was so boring. I think I was just too familiar with the story and there was nothing particularly engaging about the performance. Of course, I know the Cinderella story but this was different enough to keep my interest.

Th – 2 x 2mi @ T

I was very nervous about this run. T at 7:46 happens to be very close at Tempo at 7:58 which I majorly biffed the week before. Following the advice for the tempo, I decided to just go for it. I still needed a plan to guess at the effort. 7:46 seemed fairly close to my 5K pace, so I tried to just keep telling myself to hit 5K pace.

I somehow managed to not notice my cue to start and ended up with 2.1 miles of warm-up with 1.9 miles of T. That first mile was an 8:00 mm. A little bit slow, but it was nice knowing I was physically capable of hitting my tempo pace in training, if only for a mile. Second mile was 7:47! Yay! Right on track! After two minutes of rest, I went after it again. 7:46 and 7:47. A very successful T workout. It was a really tough go, but I was thrilled to make it. Telling myself to keep 5K pace seemed to work, even though my actual race day 5K pace is a tad faster. Now I just need to figure out what a tempo pace “feels” like…maybe 10K?
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F – EA 5mi
Friday was another easy day with Bucky. I live in a pretty isolated subdivision and there’s only about 5 miles of road in it so I have to get a bit creative with my routes. It’s a lot of running down the main road, heading down the dead end, back out, then continue down the road. I try to mix up the order I run the streets but it still gets a bit repetitive. Still less repetitive than the treadmill or indoor track though, so I guess beggars can’t be choosers.

Sa – LR 9mi
Guys, I was doing so well. I battled the Doubt Gremlins on Thursday and nailed that run but the IG Monkey was back at it again on Saturday. We ran some errands in the morning/early afternoon and didn’t get home until after 1. We were also going to a basketball game at 3:30 so I pretty much needed to get out the door right when we got home to fit in the 9 miler.
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That is basically what my mind decided. Luckily, I had no plans for Sunday other than pretending DST isn’t a thing so I was able to do the work-out a day late. The actual temperature was in the 40s, but you would have thought it was 60s or nicer with all of the people out. It was nice to see. I ran the same bike path that I ran on Thursday when I literally saw no one. Nothing too exciting about the run itself, the average pace was 9:05. As usual, I started out a bit slow but easily found the pace easily once I got warmed up. My fastest miles were 6 and 7 but I distinctly remember them feeling a lot easier than miles 1 and 2. Further proving that the first mile is a liar!
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Weekly Time: 4:53:56
Weekly Miles: 31.33
Yearly Miles: 208.1/1254 (16.6%)
Weight Progress: Down ½ lb! I actually tracked my meals and it paid off. I’m almost back to where I was to start the year. 10lbs to ‘ideal’ racing weight…


This week’s schedule:
M – EA 6mi
Tu – Tempo 6 mi (I think I can…I think I can…)
Th – EA 6mi
F – EB 3mi
Sa – Race Day!!!!
 
Great week! Yes the duration and pace of the I runs are super important. Not a huge difference between 1:45 and 2:00. But a big difference between 2:00 and 2:15. Right at 2 min is the true beginning of the I paced workout as it takes roughly 2 min to hit VO2max at that pace. The real workload starts right after that. So preferably not on a track and stick closely to the assigned duration/pace. It'll maximize the benefits received. But no, on this past run you would not have wanted to add an 11th interval. Not the same thing. You've got this!
 
I'll keep that in mind. Glad I didn't shoot myself in the foot. Hopefully the weather next week for my I session will cooperate with being outside. If it doesn't, am I correct that indoor track > treadmill?
 


Great week of training!

As far as TV recommendations, do you have access to Netflix. I'm completely obsessed with Stranger Things. I binged it last weekend and am now impatiently waiting for the next season MONTHS from now.
 
Breaking News!
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My husband got tricked into running the St. Patrick's Day 5K this weekend. Well, it wasn't really a trick, but somehow he got persuaded and not by me. For weeks I had been asking him if he wanted to register for the race. He didn't. His running career consists mostly of races with the best after party and last year we didn't stay very long for the "free" beer and he wasn't willing to pay or run for a beer or two.

After picking up my packet on Friday, we met up with a group of friends to watch March Madness. A handful of them were running and trying to convince the husband. He still wasn't sold until we had another friend who just so happened to register but couldn't make it. Then another friend who also only runs for the free beer somehow sweet talked my husband into running with him. The plan was to run/walk the race.

Flash forward to Sunday. We're in the car and he exclaims "I'm going to be a runner." I had to try really hard to maintain my composure, but on the inside, I was doing this:
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"I actually enjoyed the running part. Just need some more practice."

I've been trying to get my husband back into running for years! Any tips on how to be supportive but not over zealous? I'm really nervous to scare him away.

I'll have my journal update and race recap up shortly, but I just couldn't contain my excitement any longer and knew if anyone understood, it would be my fellow runners.

 
Great news about your husband running! My husband tried for years to get me to run and I was a firm NO...until I wasn't.

Honestly, there wasn't probably anything Chris could have done to persuade me to start running. I just had to come around to it myself. The biggest thing for me was just wanting to do something with him and then my own internal desire to give it a try. I never imagined when I first started that I'd still be running 6 years later. I'd just be supportive and excited and see if you can find a time to go running together. Chris readily slowed down his own pace to run with me and I so appreciated that. Just running with him and the bonding we did over that was all it took to keep me going.
 


Hey guys, long time no see. Life and running sort of got away from me for a few months. I managed to keep up my running…sorta. I’ve been running enough that I would still consider myself a runner but nowhere near as much as I intended. With that, most of my goals for 2018 are a wash. However, the new year officially starts tomorrow!
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Oh, you guys don’t start your year on Nov 1? My bad. My work fiscal calendar is Nov 1-Oct 31 and all things work related in my life restart, so why not running? This has actually been in the books for a while. I registered for the GO! St. Louis Marathon back in early September and have been keeping my eye on the training calendar since then. Initially, I thought I would run a late fall half marathon but I couldn’t find one that worked with my schedule.


Flash forward to the future and my training officially starts Monday. To gear up for it, I’ve brought my weekly mileage all the way to 0.
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Don't panic! This was part of my plan and it
might be a bit crazy but I really wanted to make strength training a habit and build that base before running kicked into full gear. For the past three weeks, I’ve been completing the Jillian Michaels Body Revolution every morning before work. This has gone much better than expected. I’ve found working out in the morning gives me an energy boost and it’s usually too early for my brain to try to argue its way out of exercising. Plus, I’ve been doing these exercises in my basement so it’s not as noticeable that the sun isn’t even up yet.

It’s a 90 day program that includes weights and cardio. Instead of upper vs lower, the workouts are split into front or back of the body. My week goes something like Monday: chest, shoulders, quads, core; Tuesday: back, biceps, glutes, core; Wednesday: cardio, Thursday: chest, shoulders, quads, core; Friday: back, biceps, glutes, core; Saturday: cardio. My first few workouts were a real wake-up call. I consider myself a fairly fit person but I could barely do a push-up. By day 3, I couldn’t walk around without waddling like a penguin. I had no idea I was so out of shape. Luckily, by the end of the week I could already see progress in my strength. I haven’t noticed any visible results, but that’s not the primary reason I’m doing this. Unexpectedly, I’ve also noticed some improvements in my cardio so I’m excited to see how this positively impacts my running.
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So, what is my training plan? I’m going to continue with the JM program but substitute running in for the cardio days. I’ve taken the Hanson Marathon Method and made a few tweaks to lengthen it from 18 to 22 weeks. I’ve given myself a couple more weeks early to get back into running as well as one repeat week each in the Strength and Speed sections. Of course, I intend to do all of the workouts but those extras are thrown in for when life inevitably throws a wrench my direction.
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Okay, enough Muppet images. Here’s the stitch for training next week.
Monday: Workout 3 (front)
Tuesday: 2 Easy Miles
Wednesday: Workout 4 (back)
Thursday: 3 Easy Miles
Friday: Workout 3 (front)
Saturday: 2 Easy Miles + Workout 4 (back)
Sunday: 4 Easy Miles


I’m excited to get back to it and have another big goal race on the calendar. More about my goal for the race next time!
 
Week 1: Done!
I am thrilled to say I made it through Week 1 without any major setbacks! There was one minor blip, but I’m doing my best to move on. I have a history of letting one skipped workout really mess with me. While I know it’s about the long run (ha, I’m so funny), I often have trouble seeing the forest among the trees. I have the type of personality that can really dwell on things and missing a workout is one of those things that will play with my mind to no end if I let it. So…moving on, week 2 is already under way and there’s no reason to brood over what wasn’t to be.

Monday: Workout 3
This was a lot of pushups, planks, and squats. Strength training isn’t really my favorite which is probably why I have such trouble sticking with it. I like the idea of having toned muscles but actually doing the work is ROUGH. On the bright side, I went from being able to do 0 pushup, to 10 without collapsing. Yay progress!


Tuesday: 2 Easy Miles
I had really been looking forward to getting back on the road but when I woke up at 5:30 on Tuesday and it sounded like my house was about to blow over, I wasn’t so sure. However, I reminded myself that this week’s focus was No Excuses so I knew what I had to do. Bucky and I headed out with our night gear (hers looked more like rave gear with the flashing pink) and we got it done. There were a few moments when the wind really cut through me, but I survived.
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Wednesday: Workout 4
Again, not my favorite thing. Today was a lot of squats and lunges so I tried to tell myself these muscles were important for running.

Thursday: 3 Easy Miles
A major cold front was making its way in, but at least the wind was gone. I could really feel my legs after the first mile, most likely because of all the squats the day before. In any case, it felt good to get out and the running was probably good to help stretch them out.

Friday: Workout 3
Another tough strength session. It was my last time doing workout 3 and I was happy for that but I was hoping it’d get a bit easier. On the bright side, I think I’m starting to get actual bicep muscles.

Saturday: 2 Easy Miles
I was supposed to do another strength workout but I was nervous with my long run of the week coming up and how tired my legs felt earlier this week. I know 4 miles isn’t exactly looooooooooong, but when you take a hiatus off running, it can seem long. So I skipped it. I’m still a little upset at myself for doing this but I do think it helped my run on Sunday, so this week I’m going to adjust the schedule a bit to avoid this.

Took the 2 miles on the treadmill and watched Holiday Baking Championship. The treadmill is a bit boring for me so we spent the evening shopping for a balaclava so I’d be prepared next time it was so cold it hurt my face to be outside.

Sunday: 4 Easy Miles
Sunday was mentally tough. I didn’t have anything scheduled so there was plenty of time to fit in the run, but there was also no extra motivation that I have to run now, or I won’t have time to later. I spent the morning hours avoiding running by organizing my craft room and then took a break for lunch. After lunch, I knew I needed to take it easy, let my lunch settle and then go out for the run so the craft room is still slightly a disaster zone, but at least the middle of the floor is clean.

Once lunch was settled, Bucky and I headed outside. Compared to Saturday, Sunday was really nice out! It was at least 20 degrees warmer and the sun was shining. It took a lot for me to convince myself to get out the door, but once I did, I was so happy to be out there. I need to find a way to remind myself how much better I feel after my run. Any tips out there?

I also left my neighborhood for the first time in a while. Last time I went running, I really spooked myself with some of the current events, and never felt safe out on the road alone. This time it didn’t even cross my mind until I got home and realized. I also had Bucky this time, so I wasn’t really alone, but I feel better knowing I won’t be limited to the same 3 streets in my neighborhood all winter.


Week 2:
Monday: Workout 5
Tuesday: 3 Easy Miles + Workout 6
Wednesday: Workout 5
Thursday: 4 Easy Miles
Friday: Workout 6
Saturday: 3 Easy Miles
Sunday: 5 Easy Miles



I know I promised you all goals, but I think I’ll save those for next time… Promise!
 
Week 2: Made it Through!
Yesterday marked 20 weeks until my next marathon! I’ve set reminders on calendar every four weeks to help me keep the end goal in mind. Speaking of goals, I promised you all a glimpse of my goals. For the race itself, I’ve set three time-oriented goals.

1. Under 4 hours - My current PR is 4:08:56 at WDW this past January and that included several photo stops. Assuming training goes well, I see this as an easy win.
2. Under 3:50 - This is the pace my training plan is currently built to support. I ran a 10K in September in 50:18 and this goal aligns with that result.
3. Sub 3:40 - My most recent 5K time indicates this is possible. But, I last ran a 5K in March so I don’t know that it really reflects
current fitness. Of course, that 10K was ran after several months of not really training so that’s likely an underestimate of what’s possible.

I’ll probably decide between 2&3 sometime in the next month or so. Since all my miles are scheduled to be easy runs until December 25th, I don’t really need to figure it out right now (my Christmas present to myself looks like it’ll be 400m repeats!). Of course, I could always change my mind depending how training goes. I’m registered for a Turkey Trot this week and the results of that may play a factor. All this is to say, stay tuned! Changes are inevitable.


Week 2 of training went really well. I kind of surprised myself by it. I mentioned last time I was in a bit of a funk for missing one of my strength training sessions, but I managed to use the new week as a fresh start and completed every scheduled workout. I have learned a few things along the way as well…
1. Single leg squats are no joke.
2. No more than 2 strength days in a row.
3. Taking the stairs 5 flights after 2 days of single leg squats will leave me gasping for air.


Monday: Workout 5
This was my first time doing workout 5 and the first time always seems to be a wakeup call. To give you an idea of just how rough it was, I kept reciting the phrase “But, did you die?” to keep myself motivated. Wowzers.

On the bright side, I won’t be moving up to workouts 7 & 8 until the middle of next week so I have a few more days to enjoy not dying.

Tuesday: Workout 6 + 3 Easy Miles
First, I completed the 3 easy miles. The “feel like” temperature was only 5 so I decided the treadmill would do. Workout 6 was also rough with a lot of similar exercises to Workout 5, see number 1 above.

Wednesday: Easy 4 Miles
Wednesday morning the temp “feel like” was 18 and that seemed really warm compared to the day before, so Bucky and I headed outside. News flash, 18 still isn’t very warm. My legs never really warmed up until the final mile when the sun started rising. Regardless, after the two tough strength sessions in the days before, my legs appreciated the chance to shake out.

Thursday: Workout 5
Second time was slightly better than the first, but I still felt like my arms might fall off.

Friday: Workout 6
It was a bit weird going two days in a row without running but I had moved by Thursday run to Wednesday to give my muscles a bit of a break. Workout 6 was tough again but I could tell my muscles were adapting. Yay progress!

Saturday: 3 Easy Miles
I prefer to run in the daylight if possible, so I postponed my 3 miles from the morning to afternoon. This worked out fine, but I still cut it really close since I didn’t get out the door until after 4. I may need to rethink this strategy in the coming weeks.

Sunday: 5 Easy Miles
5 miles is my longest run since early October. I delayed my run too long to safely run outside. We got some snow on Saturday and it started melting on Sunday. Running in snow isn’t a big deal to me, but I didn’t want to run on any of the snow melt that was refreezing itself into ice. Took to the treadmill for the second time this week. Was actually surprised at how easy the 5 miles went by.

Week 3: We’ll be travelling to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving so the strength training will have to wait, but I’ll still get my runs in.

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Monday: Workout 5
Tuesday: 4 Easy Miles
Wednesday: Workout 6
Thursday: Turkey Trot 5K
Friday: 4 Easy Miles
Saturday: 4 Easy Miles
Sunday: 5 Easy Miles


Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Hope you enjoy some delicious feasts and time with family!
 
Week 3: Weeeeeeeeee!
Last week was an awesome training week and I’m trying my dearest to hold on to that feeling. If there was a way to bottle it up and sell it, I would. Then I'd be a millionaire and could afford a lot more race vacations.
The strength training was still tough, but I didn’t feel like dying so that seems like good progress. I also completed all my runs. What more could I ask?


Monday: Workout 5
Not nearly as bad as last week, feeling stronger by the day!

Tuesday: 4 Easy Miles
Early morning run before the sunrise. Bucky is doing pretty good at practicing her patience while I got ready for our run.

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I wear a really cool headlamp but I still manage to trip on the uneven sidewalks at least once every run in the dark. I get in the zone and stop paying attention to every step, then BAM! Hello Sidewalk! So far, no injuries, but I’m over this whole falling thing.


Wednesday: Workout 6
I got a little bit cocky with this one. Circuit 1 felt really easy and then the next 3 circuits showed me who was boss…not me.

Thursday: MKE Turkey Trot
I’m not going to do a full on race review because, quite frankly, I don’t think the race was worth it. There are lots of options around the Milwaukee area and I don’t plan on doing this one again. It was fine, but nothing really great.

My plan was to try to hit 7:30 pace for the first two miles and see how that went. I didn’t see the time after my first mile then at mile 2 my total time was at 15:30. I knew I was just a tad slower than goal but I also felt like dying. Seriously, 5Ks are the worst. They seem so easy and short, but then I’m just miserable for 80% of the race because running (sorta) fast is not my forte. I ended up finishing in 24:13 which I was happy about. Definitely not a PR, but since I’ve only been running for 2.5 weeks, seems reasonable.

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My husband is the real champion anyway. He woke up early and then stood around in the cold like a crazy person. I think my nose would have frozen off if I was just standing around.

Friday: 4 Easy Miles
This was a great run. Taking the miles nice and slow was a great refresher after the 5K the day before.

Saturday: 4 Easy Miles
It was raining when I woke up so I waited a bit before heading out. It was supposed to be on and off raining. Fortunately, I managed to find enough dry time that I wasn’t impacted too much. There was a light drizzle toward the end but my body was already nice and toasty by then so it didn’t matter too much.

Sunday: 5 Easy Miles
We got 14 inches of snow on Sunday and it was amazing! I waited a bit until the actual snow started and then took Bucky out. It was a lot of fun and I felt like a kid chasing snowflakes. I took it a bit slow and really just enjoyed the overall calmness of the snowfall. Plus, I felt like a total hardcore runner for being outside pre-blizzard.

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Week 4: Should be a solid week of running. I’m flying to Houston on Saturday for work so I’m hoping there’s some good routes near my hotel, otherwise there’s going to be a lot of treadmill miles in my future.

Monday: Workout 5
Tuesday: 5 Easy Miles
Wednesday: Workout 6
Thursday: 3 Easy Miles
Friday: 3 Easy Miles
Saturday: 5 Easy Miles
Sunday: 5 Easy Miles
 
Week 4: Get off the Floor
Overall, I’d give this week a B. I missed one run early in the week but recovered nicely. Looking at the bigger picture, my month of November was just outstanding. I’m kind of similar to a 5 year old, in that I get motivated by stickers. I earn a sticker each day I exercise.

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WHOOOAAA, only two days I didn’t do something! I don’t have a picture of October handy, but I can guarantee you it was more like half the days with no exercise.


I also set myself a goal to run at least 50 miles every month starting November 1. For those who have been following a while, you may remember I had a goal to reach 2018 km this year. I don’t know what my totals were but I know it isn’t even close. For those periods where I’m really training hard for something, those 100+ mile months tick off easy. But I’ve learned that I need a few down months to prevent burnout and recover, so 50 miles seems like a sustainable goal. Anyway, this month I reached 52 miles! December should be even more as I work up my training load

Monday: Workout 5
Workout went well and then I went and shoveled snow for an hour which is definitely a workout in itself!

Tuesday: 0 Easy Miles
I tripped on the steps Monday afternoon and my knee hurt like something fierce. I could barely use the steps the rest of the day. I was really nervous I had injured myself and decided I would sleep in Tuesday morning and see how the knee felt in the afternoon. Strangely it felt a bit better after lunch but immediately when I got outside after work it started hurting again. I don’t know if it was the cold weather or my body looking for excuses not to run 5 miles, but either way, I took a rest day.

Wednesday: Workout 6
It was a bit tough for me to wake up for this one. My exercising follows Newton’s First Law of Motion very well. Once I’m at rest, it’s really hard to get me moving and when I’m really in a groove, I just keep going. Thankfully, I did manage to talk myself into this one and put myself back in motion.

Thursday: 3 Easy Miles
With all the snow and melting and refreezing, I decided to stay on the treadmill for this one.


Friday: 3 Easy Miles
Ditto to Thursday.

Saturday: 5 Easy Miles
After two consecutive mornings on the treadmill, I was planning to get outside for this one. Mother nature had other plans for me. Cold + Wind + Pouring Rain = Treadmill.


Sunday: 5 Easy Miles
I arrived in Houston Saturday afternoon so Sunday’s weather was much different. It was 50s and lovely when I left my hotel as the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon. I ran towards Buffalo Bayou park on the recommendation of a friend. The mile through downtown was quite annoying with all the stoplights, but it was so worth it once I got to the trails!

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Week 5: This will be an interesting week. I’ll be in Houston through Saturday and I’m really not into running in the dark in unknown places. Depending on my schedule, I’m hoping to get some more runs outside but I may have to swap the days around to make it work. I also need to figure out some sort of body-weight strength training to do in my hotel room on those days.

Monday: Strength
Tuesday: 5 Easy Miles

Wednesday: Strength
Thursday: 4 Easy Miles
Friday: 5 Easy Miles
Saturday: 4 Easy Miles
Sunday: 6 Easy Miles
 
Sweet snow-covered Bucky! You are doing so great with your training. Loving that turkey hat too!
 
Week 5: Staying Alive
This week was a bit of A Tale of Two Cities. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…”

Details below, but the gist of it is I did a really great job at keeping up the workouts while I was away. Once I got home…not so good. Regardless, I’ve completed 77 of 92 planned miles (84%) and 20/23 runs (87%) since I started. That’s good for a B in most schools :).

Monday: Easy 5 Miles
Monday was supposed to be strength workout but I knew it would be tough to fit the run in on Tuesday so I swapped the days. It was awesome being in a place where I could enjoy some nice weather during my runs.


Tuesday: Strength
I found a Runner Stability workout from Nike+ so that seemed like a good choice. It didn’t require any weights so I was able to do the exercises in my hotel room. I won’t be replacing my current at home workouts with weights, but definitely a good option when traveling and weights are not easily available.

Wednesday: Easy 4 Miles
Wednesday was supposed to be a strength workout as well but my schedule was better for fitting in a run on Wed & Thurs instead of Friday. It was a bit chillier than the days before, but I’ll still gladly take 40 degrees!

Thursday: Easy 5 Miles
I had a bit of a time crunch and might have taken this run a bit fast. I didn’t worry about it too much since all my runs right now are easy paced, but will be something I need to keep an eye on in the future. Overall, all of my runs were a bit faster than normal. I thank the flat topography and no doggie stops for this :)

Friday: Strength
Did another Nike+ workout. This one had some pushups and lunges, pretty basic but important stuff.

Saturday & Sunday: Rest
I was supposed to run 4 and 6 miles on these days. My week away from work was really paying a toll on my body though. Starting Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon I was extremely nauseous with fatigue. This is a new thing my body does when it gets tired. It’s not very fun, but it’s definitely a sign I need to rest.

I probably could have ran on Sunday but wanted to take it easy. I did finish decorating for Christmas and was excited to put this gem up on my tree for this first time.

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Week 6: First week of 6 running days! AAAHHHHH!
Monday: 4 Easy Miles
Tuesday: 5 Easy Miles

Wednesday: Workout 7
Thursday: 3 Easy Miles
Friday: 3 Easy Miles + Workout 8
Saturday: 5 Easy Miles
Sunday: 5 Easy Miles
 
First of all, I love that you quoted that whole opening passage to A Tale of Two Cities. One of the best openings in all of literature as far as I'm concerned.

It seems smart that you listened to your body and took some time off. The ornament is adorable!
 
OMG I love that ornament!!! Great week of running and workouts!
Thanks! The one souvenir I really wanted was an ornament but all of them I found said "Marathon Weekend" and I wanted something specific to the marathon race. Really happy with how this customized one turned out!

First of all, I love that you quoted that whole opening passage to A Tale of Two Cities. One of the best openings in all of literature as far as I'm concerned.

It seems smart that you listened to your body and took some time off. The ornament is adorable!
That passage is just so relatable!

I hope I'm being smart. I'm worried it was a bit foolish. Gotta keep reminding myself that one workout will not make or break me.
 

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