A Pink Pixie Princess - Complete!

[ZellyB]

And the tights (hey look, @ZellyB! ).

With all InB bottoms (the women's ones, at least), you can fold the waistband down. I never do...I like the waistband higher. Keeps the midsection in place (hey, keeping it real).

YAY!!! I cannot wait for these to arrive. And I'm totally with you on keeping that waistband high. That was actually one of the things I loved the most about those tights when I got them (aside from the awesome design).

 

[Ariel484]

YAY!!! I cannot wait for these to arrive. And I'm totally with you on keeping that waistband high. That was actually one of the things I loved the most about those tights when I got them (aside from the awesome design).

Seriously though, with the waistband. I can't see myself ever folding it down.

 

[SarahDisney]

I love the new INKnBURN stuff! That Drifting Petals shirt is gorgeous!

(I promise, I have more to say than just that, but finding more than 2 minutes for DIS has been difficult for me lately, so I'm sticking with the important stuff (AKA clothes) for now and I'll comment on the training and whatnot if I ever have more time)

 

[Ariel484]

I love the new INKnBURN stuff! That Drifting Petals shirt is gorgeous!

(I promise, I have more to say than just that, but finding more than 2 minutes for DIS has been difficult for me lately, so I'm sticking with the important stuff (AKA clothes) for now and I'll comment on the training and whatnot if I ever have more time)

Yes! I love that one. It's much prettier in person than I was expected...I actually got that design as a mystery camisole and am set up to trade it with someone (since I knew I had the pullover coming), but now I'm sort of hoping to get it in a tech shirt or something else.

Also, I like your priorities (aka clothes over everything else).

 

[emilyindisney]

Reallllyyyy liking those Healing Mandala leggings! I've never worn InkNBurn- do you (or anyone else who uses the leggings specifically) find they stay up nice? So sick of that downward creep my leggings have been doing during my runs. Nothing more attractive than hiking your pants up at the crosswalk, I'm sure!

I was reading the Amazon description for the Hansons marathon book. Has anyone here used the entire plan for the marathon distance? @DopeyBadger ? Wondering what your thoughts are on the longest run being 16 miles. Did you feel well prepared? This book sounds like an interesting read- think I'm going to order it now!

@ZellyB, since you also asked about yoga I thought I'd share that a coworker recommended the 'Yoga Studio by Gaiam' app for a beginner yogi. She uses the app and attends studio classes and says she thinks the app is simple, and just as easy to follow as a live instructor. She says it's $3ish in the app store. I haven't tried it yet but I might give it a go! Maybe they have a free preview?

 

[DopeyBadger]

Reallllyyyy liking those Healing Mandala leggings! I've never worn InkNBurn- do you (or anyone else who uses the leggings specifically) find they stay up nice? So sick of that downward creep my leggings have been doing during my runs. Nothing more attractive than hiking your pants up at the crosswalk, I'm sure!

I was reading the Amazon description for the Hansons marathon book. Has anyone here used the entire plan for the marathon distance? @DopeyBadger ? Wondering what your thoughts are on the longest run being 16 miles. Did you feel well prepared? This book sounds like an interesting read- think I'm going to order it now!

@ZellyB, since you also asked about yoga I thought I'd share that a coworker recommended the 'Yoga Studio by Gaiam' app for a beginner yogi. She uses the app and attends studio classes and says she thinks the app is simple, and just as easy to follow as a live instructor. She says it's $3ish in the app store. I haven't tried it yet but I might give it a go! Maybe they have a free preview?

I have used the Hansons plan for the full marathon. I made a custom plan between their Beginner and Advanced (dubbed Intermediate, so clever). I was leery of the 16 miles being the longest distanced run as well. But since my racing hadn't been going as well as I wanted I was willing to give it a try. I never really worried during all of the training about only going to 16 miles. My mindset was someone else used to tell me "you had to do 20 miles" or "you had to do 20 miles multiple times" or "you had to do X'. I trusted those plans and ran with it and didn't run as I was hoping. I went into the Hansons plan trusting their philosophy like I had trusted others. When it came to the end of the training cycle right before the taper I wondered still, was 16 miles going to be enough? The proof was during the taper to me. I got soooo much stronger in those last 10 days. I never felt overly tired during the 18 weeks of training, but when I started to taper in the last 10 days I was like "OMG, THIS is what I used to feel like before the 18 week training!" I had gotten so used to this medium level fatigue that it had become my new normal, but when the taper started and I was finally 100% recovered from training it was SUCH a different feeling.

I went into the race with the mindset of "run the first 10 miles as if they are easy". You haven't felt this good in 18 weeks so let's just take it easy. Once I hit the 10 mile mark, I thought to myself "Alright, NOW the marathon really starts!" I have trained for these last 16 miles and now its time to attack it. I've posted this before but my last half of my marathon was FASTER than any sole half-marathon I had EVER run (I had run 11 halfs at that point). It was proof to me that their plan worked. I always like to post this graph which shows my finishing times of marathon and half-marathon over time. So if you use the same mindset "I'm training for the last 16 miles of the marathon, and not I made it to 16 miles now I have to run 10 more that I've ever done", I think it makes a world of a difference. I've since used their philosophy and others to start creating my own training ideas (a hybrid of sorts).

There are two main keys to Hansons working for others. The pacing is stringent. You must adhere to trying to run the prescribed pace at every interval. If you are running 8 miles at TEMPO, that doesn't mean run 4 of them 1 minute faster than TEMPO and 4 of them 1 minute slower than TEMPO. It means run as close as you can to the prescribed pace every time. Secondly, consistency is king. For the concept of cumulative fatigue to work, you need to be consistently running the distances, paces, and days the plan requests. This consistency over time pays huge dividends. Boiled down, their plan can be summarized like this: "Run enough each day that you are tired but could have done more, but not so much in any day that it prevents you from meeting tomorrow's running goals."

 

[emilyindisney]

I have used the Hansons plan for the full marathon. I made a custom plan between their Beginner and Advanced (dubbed Intermediate, so clever). I was leery of the 16 miles being the longest distanced run as well. But since my racing hadn't been going as well as I wanted I was willing to give it a try. I never really worried during all of the training about only going to 16 miles. My mindset was someone else used to tell me "you had to do 20 miles" or "you had to do 20 miles multiple times" or "you had to do X'. I trusted those plans and ran with it and didn't run as I was hoping. I went into the Hansons plan trusting their philosophy like I had trusted others. When it came to the end of the training cycle right before the taper I wondered still, was 16 miles going to be enough? The proof was during the taper to me. I got soooo much stronger in those last 10 days. I never felt overly tired during the 18 weeks of training, but when I started to taper in the last 10 days I was like "OMG, THIS is what I used to feel like before the 18 week training!" I had gotten so used to this medium level fatigue that it had become my new normal, but when the taper started and I was finally 100% recovered from training it was SUCH a different feeling.

I went into the race with the mindset of "run the first 10 miles as if they are easy". You haven't felt this good in 18 weeks so let's just take it easy. Once I hit the 10 mile mark, I thought to myself "Alright, NOW the marathon really starts!" I have trained for these last 16 miles and now its time to attack it. I've posted this before but my last half of my marathon was FASTER than any sole half-marathon I had EVER run (I had run 11 halfs at that point). It was proof to me that their plan worked. I always like to post this graph which shows my finishing times of marathon and half-marathon over time. So if you use the same mindset "I'm training for the last 16 miles of the marathon, and not I made it to 16 miles now I have to run 10 more that I've ever done", I think it makes a world of a difference. I've since used their philosophy and others to start creating my own training ideas (a hybrid of sorts).

There are two main keys to Hansons working for others. The pacing is stringent. You must adhere to trying to run the prescribed pace at every interval. If you are running 8 miles at TEMPO, that doesn't mean run 4 of them 1 minute faster than TEMPO and 4 of them 1 minute slower than TEMPO. It means run as close as you can to the prescribed pace every time. Secondly, consistency is king. For the concept of cumulative fatigue to work, you need to be consistently running the distances, paces, and days the plan requests. This consistency over time pays huge dividends. Boiled down, their plan can be summarized like this: "Run enough each day that you are tired but could have done more, but not so much in any day that it prevents you from meeting tomorrow's running goals."

View attachment 139379

First off, thank you for such a detailed response- very intersting!

Holy moly! What a drop in pace after using Hansons- congrats!

The mindset of this plan sounds quite different, but, I say that in a positive way. The 6 days a week they prescribe to sounds intimidating but I like that they use more balanced distances (vs the high mileage long runs that are such a large percentage of the weeks miles.)

 

[Ariel484]

Reallllyyyy liking those Healing Mandala leggings! I've never worn InkNBurn- do you (or anyone else who uses the leggings specifically) find they stay up nice? So sick of that downward creep my leggings have been doing during my runs. Nothing more attractive than hiking your pants up at the crosswalk, I'm sure!

At first they did not stay up very well...and then recently I figured out that I'd bought the wrong size. Went down 1 size and they stay up much better now. They have a drawstring, which definitely helps! I'm with you, that downward creep is no good.

 

[ZellyB]

Reallllyyyy liking those Healing Mandala leggings! I've never worn InkNBurn- do you (or anyone else who uses the leggings specifically) find they stay up nice? So sick of that downward creep my leggings have been doing during my runs. Nothing more attractive than hiking your pants up at the crosswalk, I'm sure!

I was reading the Amazon description for the Hansons marathon book. Has anyone here used the entire plan for the marathon distance? @DopeyBadger ? Wondering what your thoughts are on the longest run being 16 miles. Did you feel well prepared? This book sounds like an interesting read- think I'm going to order it now!

@ZellyB, since you also asked about yoga I thought I'd share that a coworker recommended the 'Yoga Studio by Gaiam' app for a beginner yogi. She uses the app and attends studio classes and says she thinks the app is simple, and just as easy to follow as a live instructor. She says it's $3ish in the app store. I haven't tried it yet but I might give it a go! Maybe they have a free preview?

Thanks for the app suggestion. I never even thought about looking for an app! I'll check it out.

I had good luck with the InB tights staying up. One thing that's nice about them is they are actually sized (6,8,10 etc) rather than just small, medium, large. So, I think that allows you to dial in the size better and not fight to fit into a size designed to fit a wider range of shapes. I think I was just fortunate to pick the right size out of the gate.

 

[Ariel484]

Thanks for the app suggestion. I never even thought about looking for an app! I'll check it out.

I had good luck with the InB tights staying up. One thing that's nice about them is they are actually sized (6,8,10 etc) rather than just small, medium, large. So, I think that allows you to dial in the size better and not fight to fit into a size designed to fit a wider range of shapes. I think I was just fortunate to pick the right size out of the gate.

You're lucky you were right on the first guess. I was not!

 

[Ariel484]

Goodbye Money! INKnBURN Mystery Classics from the Vault (Camisoles and Short-Sleeved Tech Shirts)

I mentioned INKnBURN’s new promotion in celebration of their 5-year anniversary - they are opening "the vault" and releasing some classic, retired designs (YAY!!) - the catch being that while you know what type of piece you're ordering (tank, tights, etc.), you don't know what design(s) you'll get.

So far they have done mystery camisoles, men's short-sleeved tech shirts, and women's short-sleeved tech shirts. I took advantage of the camisoles and tech shirts!

The camisoles were first. These have thin straps, really silky outer fabric and a built-in bra (which, for me, is pointless). I ordered 3 and got 2 that I REALLY wanted, so I was happy! Also, I ordered the right size - big victory!

First up, one of my #1 favorite patterns - Current!

I was SO excited to get this pattern - I have been wanting it for quite awhile now! They also have it in a short-sleeved tech and a pullover, so I was hoping to get it in those at some point as well (see below for half an update on that).

Second, Flutter. This was another one that I was hoping for!

Third was Drifting Petals. I like this pattern, but not enough to have 2 pieces with it (I'd just bought the pullover I posted about the other day on Facebook before receiving this camisole):

I put this one up for trade, listing a few camisoles that I was interested in. Someone posted back wanting to trade with me, and it just so happened that the person offering the trade lives about 15 minutes from me...we've corresponded before so I somewhat "know" her. We made plans to meet up to trade in person and did so earlier today at a local outdoor mall - hooray for saving on postage and hooray for meeting a fellow local INKnBURN fan! We talked a bit about INKnBURN and SparkleSkirts, which was fun.

Here’s what I traded for...the Denim camisole:

Looks like denim, but it's tech fabric! Very pleased with this trade since they don't do the denim-type fabric in any other tops.

I didn't order any of the men’s shirts. It seems obvious that I wouldn't (since I'm, you know, not a man), but some ladies in the fan group do wear the men's shirts. I tried one on once and it REALLY did not work on me - way too boxy, and the arm holes were too big.

And now...I vent.

I did order the women's short-sleeved shirts...4 of them, actually. This was riskier than the camisoles mystery pack, since I do have some of the classic short-sleeved designs.

Those came today, and while I got a great package with the camisoles...I'm not gonna mince words. The shirts I got are not at all what I was hoping for and I am sooo disappointed.

Top row L-R is Chick'd (shudder) and Los Pintos 50K. Bottom row L-R is Buddha Tech and Silly Boys (shudder) or something.

I HATE HATE HATE the Chick'd and Silly Boys shirts. Someone got their mystery shirts before I did and posted a picture of those and I thought to myself, "man I hope I don't get those." In fact I said as much to the person I met up with earlier today when we were trading camisoles. And here they are. And WHAT THE WHAT with the 50K shirt?! I am not going to keep a shirt for a race I didn't run! I didn't realize that race shirts were even a remote possibility in this promotion. I like the Buddha shirt, but I already have that one in another style, so that's disappointing.

Part of the promotion is that nothing is returnable, so I'm stuck with these shirts until I can trade or sell them. I have someone potentially interested in Los Pintos and Buddha (depending on what they offer me to trade) but I think I'm going to have a hard time unloading the other two since they, you know, are terrible. I realize this is not a real, legit problem to have at all, just disappointed. I was so excited to get these! I feel like I shouldn't complain since I got great camisoles, but still...woof.

Uh, happy Friday?!

Continued in Next Post

 

[Ariel484]

Goodbye Money! Garmin Forerunner 230 and Brooks Adrenalines GTS 16

Last week I mentioned scoring a deal on the Garmin vivoactive, and then promptly returning it. Despite the fact that the vivoactive didn't work out for me, the seed had been planted for me to look into upgrading my trusty Forerunner 220.

Here's what I was looking for in a new watch...

1. Had to be a stand-alone GPS watch (not like the Apple Watch, where you need to take your phone with you on a run)
2. Had to have step tracking that was compatible with my employer's Employee Wellness program (if I track 100,000 steps per month - stupidly easy for a runner to do - I save a good chunk of change on my health insurance premium)

These were the two must-haves. The vivoactive checked those boxes, so I bought it. It also had smartwatch features (notifications pushed from my phone), which wasn't something I had really been looking for in a watch - just a bonus, I guess. I unexpectedly ended up really liking the notifications, though - at work we sit in cubes, so I keep my ringer off all day. This way I still don't miss calls or messages while still being able to keep the ringer off.

I had the vivoactive for a little less than a week before returning it. There were some small issues that I could look past (dim screen - which I knew about from reading reviews, not easy to see time of day while running, plus some other things I'm forgetting), but the biggest deal breaker (and really the only thing that annoys me about my Forerunner 220, besides it lacking step tracking capabilities) was how long it took to find GPS satellites - it was no better than my FR220. And beyond that, I couldn't easily tell when satellites were found (something the 220 is really good at).

I thought about it and realized that I'm pretty happy with my 220 - if it could find GPS quicker and track steps that could sync at work, it would be perfect (I was using a FitBit Charge to track steps, which I liked - but didn't like wearing both it AND my FR220 on runs). Smart notifications would be a bonus. And then I figured out that this watch (220 + activity tracking + smart watch features) actually DOES exist in the form of the Garmin Forerunner 230, the upgrade to the 220.

It looks almost exactly like my 220.

I did some research (there are limited reviews out since it's new) and realized that if I wanted this watch, I'd need to pay full price for it since it had just been released. But then I remembered getting an email from a local running store with their Black Friday deals - one of them was receiving a bonus $20 gift card for each $100 gift card purchased, and the deal was good through the end of December.

I headed to the running store and bought a few gift cards...then turned around and used them for my purchase right there on the spot. I had to pay tax, obviously (which I wouldn't have if I'd bought the watch online) but I still saved overall, since this watch isn't really on sale for a discount anywhere - I think I could have maybe gotten it for 10% off? So still a little more than what I ended up paying.

I'm really liking it so far. I downloaded the above watch face (for free) which changes with the time of day (sun and clouds during the day, stars at night), so that's kind of fun. No Mickey watch faces available, unfortunately, but there are a decent number of Star Wars offerings.

The smart notifications have been working well and are easy to read (and are making me realize that I need to get off of some email lists - I get so much junk mail!)...I actually think they show up a little better on the 230 than they did on the vivoactive.

LivingSocial is one of the worst junk mail offenders for me...I get 3 emails from them per day. Unnecessary.

And I found that I didn't really like the touchscreen function on the vivoactive, so I'm glad to have the buttons and NO touchscreen on the 230. I think I'll especially appreciate that when it starts getting REALLY cold out and I don't have to remove gloves to use the touchscreen (which I also found didn't work super well when I was sweaty).

I was fooling around customizing the running portion of the watch (there are screens where you can pick what data fields to display) the day I got it - the GPS beeped to let me know it found satellites within 30 seconds, and there was an indicator saying as much on the main screen, so obviously that's a big bonus for me.

See those little bars in the top left of the screen?! You couldn’t have given me those, vivoactive?!

Another big bonus of this watch that I found in my research (and by "research" I mean "reading DCRainmaker's website") is that you can customize the data screens while running with 4 fields! This must be proof of my gigantic running nerd-ness because I was pretty excited to have this feature back - this is something I haven't had on a watch since my Garmin 305 (my first-ever GPS running watch - that thing was a tank. It's what I’m wearing in my 2011 Princess Half Marathon trip report). I customized my first screen with Overall Distance, Overall Time, Overall Average Pace and Time of Day (!!):

And my second screen has Lap Distance, Lap Time, Lap Pace and Overall Average Cadence (which I am supposed to be working on, so this is super helpful - assuming it's accurate):

Mr. A is impressed and basically was just like, "I guess you get what you pay for." Don't get me wrong, I still think the vivoactive is a great watch, but the FR230 is better FOR ME in almost every way - the only thing I'm missing on the vivoactive is how thin it was. That's literally it - everything else is better, in my opinion, on the FR230. I've found 2 quirks so far...

1. How it shows how full the battery is - I had to download a widget (free, like the watch face) to show me what percentage of the battery is left (I don't like just relying on the picture). Now that I have that, I have it set up so that I just scroll up once from my home watch screen to see the battery percentage. Sort of weird that I had to download that (maybe it's an included feature that I just haven't found yet?), but whatever. I'll be curious to see how the battery performs with regular use
2. I haven't figured out how to tell the watch when I want it to find GPS. Whenever I use it just as a regular watch/step tracker, it doesn't search for GPS...which is good because the battery doesn't drain as quickly that way. Then I'm supposed to press the top right button to tell it I want to run, and for the two runs I have done with this watch, pressing that button doesn't seem to make it understand that it's time to find GPS. I've gotten around that by turning the watch off and back on, but I feel like there's something I'm missing. Seems like it shouldn't need to be powered on/off?

The activity tracker screen (big reason why I wanted to upgrade my watch)...if I don't move for an hour it'll yell at me (in the form of a vibration). I thought this would annoy me, but since I sit at a desk all day for my job I guess being reminded to get up and walk around once in awhile isn't the worst thing in the world. The vivoactive did buzz at me once in a meeting (which actually WAS annoying), but I recently figured out that Garmin has some sort of "do not disturb" feature one can use to turn the vibrations off (which explains a lot since this thing also tracks sleep - something I’m not sure I'll ever use it for - but I have wondered what people do when they sleep - sleep through the watch buzzing at them?!). I assume the vivoactive has this feature as well, but I hadn't found it in the few days that I owned mine.

Right now the FR230 is calculating daily goals for me, but there is an option to just set 1 constant daily goal (i.e. 10,000 steps per day) so I need to decide if I want to change that.

And like I mentioned above, I've run with the watch twice. The accuracy seems similar to my FR220, and the first time I used the watch (after turning it off and back on), it found GPS satellites in just over a minute. Today it was more like 15 seconds - crazy fast.

The battery has been good so far. It was at 100% the day I bought it (Sunday) and after wearing it as a normal watch all week and doing 2 runs with it (90ish minutes of running) my widget is telling me the battery still has 54% left yet. Not bad.

Overall, very pleased with the switch...and I plan on listing my FR220 (goodbye, old friend) and my FitBit Charge on eBay after we get back from vacation. Hopefully I can put a dent in the FR230 cost by selling those things.

My other running gear purchase was a new pair of shoes - the Brooks Adrenalines GTS16. I'd wanted to grab a pair of the 15s on sale, but they get awful reviews - across the board people have said they run a half size too small (seriously, Brooks? Whyyyyy). I didn't have a store locally that had the 15s for me to try on a half size up, and I was too nervous to risk buying them online, so I just bit the bullet and bought a new pair (using the aforementioned giftcard deal, so at least I saved some money):

Hey, they match my watch!

I talked to the employee about my concerns with the 15s and she said that they 16s run more true-to-size. They did feel better when I tried them on. I was starting to feel some aches that made me think it was time to retire the neon pink 14s I've been wearing since January, so it was crunch time. I did my first run in the 16s today and they felt soooo much better. I'm considering heading back to the running store to get another giftcard deal and grab another pair...we'll see if I remember to do it before the deal runs out.

Happy Saturday!

Continued in Next Post

 

[ZellyB]

Excellent review of the 230. I'm still using my workhorse 210 and like it but am thinking of upgrading. Several features available in both the 220 and 230 that I don't have in the 210. One thing that bugs me is how long it takes to find satellites, so hearing how fast the 230 is really makes me think I may just want to switch to it. My daughter, Paige, has started running cross country and is bugging us about wanting a running watch, so I'm justifying a new purchase with the notion of passing on my 210 to her. I will probably wait a bit but maybe this spring...

 

[SarahDisney]

Looks like you got some great patterns with the camisoles! The shirts, though ... that kinda sucks. I hope you are able to unload at least some of them.

The Forerunner 230 sounds like it's working out great! I'm definitely hoping to upgrade eventually, and your review just made me put the 230 on my mental list of models to consider (of course, by the time I'm ready to upgrade, there will probably be 12,000 upgrades to each model...)

I like the new shoes ... the purple is perfect with your new watch!

So ... when do you guys leave for Disneyland? Soon? Have an awesome time!!

 

[dancingtodisney]

This is my favourite of all the ink burn stuff you've got so far!!

Goodbye Money! Garmin Forerunner 230 and Brooks Adrenalines GTS 16

Ooooh it's so pretty!!! Will you sell your 220 now? I'm interested to see how you get on with this one but from the sound of it so far it seems pretty decent! I like that it has smart notifications and the data screens are really handy!

My other running gear purchase was a new pair of shoes - the Brooks Adrenalines GTS16. I'd wanted to grab a pair of the 15s on sale, but they get awful reviews - across the board people have said they run a half size too small (seriously, Brooks? Whyyyyy). I didn't have a store locally that had the 15s for me to try on a half size up, and I was too nervous to risk buying them online, so I just bit the bullet and bought a new pair (using the aforementioned giftcard deal, so at least I saved some money):

Oh I like the colour!! I might get myself a pair of these when I'm in Orlando...

 

[Ariel484]

Excellent review of the 230. I'm still using my workhorse 210 and like it but am thinking of upgrading. Several features available in both the 220 and 230 that I don't have in the 210. One thing that bugs me is how long it takes to find satellites, so hearing how fast the 230 is really makes me think I may just want to switch to it. My daughter, Paige, has started running cross country and is bugging us about wanting a running watch, so I'm justifying a new purchase with the notion of passing on my 210 to her. I will probably wait a bit but maybe this spring...

Thanks! You should be able to find the 220 at a discount since the 230 came out, I would think. I had the 210 at some point too...great watch but the 220/230 are much easier to read, which is nice.

Looks like you got some great patterns with the camisoles! The shirts, though ... that kinda sucks. I hope you are able to unload at least some of them.

Yeah, I was so happy with the camisoles but I HATE 3 of the 4 shirts. I know it's just clothes, but I was so excited to get them, and then so disappointed! Oh well, I'm sure I'll find a way to carry on...

The Forerunner 230 sounds like it's working out great! I'm definitely hoping to upgrade eventually, and your review just made me put the 230 on my mental list of models to consider (of course, by the time I'm ready to upgrade, there will probably be 12,000 upgrades to each model...)

If you don't need the smart notifications and the activity tracking, I'd definitely recommend the 220. It's a great watch too! You're right though, they do seem to put out new models pretty often!

I like the new shoes ... the purple is perfect with your new watch!

I like them too. It's amazing how much better new shoes feel!

So ... when do you guys leave for Disneyland? Soon? Have an awesome time!!

We leave at the end of this week, but we won't be in Disneyland right away...AHHHH soon though!

This is my favourite of all the ink burn stuff you've got so far!!

I think it's among my favorite stuff too! It's so pretty!

Ooooh it's so pretty!!! Will you sell your 220 now? I'm interested to see how you get on with this one but from the sound of it so far it seems pretty decent! I like that it has smart notifications and the data screens are really handy!

Yes, I'm planning on selling my 220 and my FitBit Charge when we get home from our trip. I know they won't totally pay for the cost of the 230 but hopefully they'll make a small dent.

Oh I like the colour!! I might get myself a pair of these when I'm in Orlando...

I like them too! There's a teal/pink pair that is next on my list...that's what I would have gotten last weekend but they didn't have them at the store.

 

[Ariel484]

Week 3 of Phase 1
December 7, 2015 - Sunday, December 13, 2015
15 miles completed

Monday, December 7: 4-mile run @ 13:32/mile pace

Another work week begins...but just 10 more work days until Mr. A and I are on vacation!

Today's run was pretty good - 4 miles at my "Easy A" pace (actual time and pace for this run: 53:38, 13:240/mile). I think I did better with the mental aspect of being on the treadmill for so long...it definitely helped that I remembered to wake up a little earlier this morning, so I didn't feel so rushed in the locker room getting ready for work. Also, I was distracted by the guy 2 treadmills down from me who was singing during the entirety of his run (he came in about 15 minutes after I started and left about 15 minutes before I left). It was weird...and annoying after awhile, as his singing was really more like slightly melodic wailing...anyway...

So on Thursday I forgot my nice work shoes at home. Well, today I remembered them, but I packed the wrong pants - ankle-length instead of bootcut. I tried them on with the boots and they looked totally ridiculous (sent a picture to Mr. A who said it looked fine - I HIGHLY disagree, it looked like I was walking around on little pegs), so again, I find myself wearing neon pink Brooks Adrenalines to work today. Good thing I don’t have any important meetings scheduled!

And later on today...INKnBURN opened the @$%& vault again. Who needs money...

Short-sleeved tech shirts (after the camis last week they did men’s short-sleeved tech shirts). No way I'm passing those up!

I'm not sure exactly when this link went up, but someone posted about it on the Facebook fan page at 4:44PM. I put in my order soon after I saw the Facebook post...and all of the shirts in my size (medium) were gone in just about an hour! Lesson learned - do not hesitate when the vault opens! I can wear smalls but I like my shirts a little looser/longer, so I would have been bummed to have missed out. Maybe this just means I'll have more opportunities for trades since apparently there are a lot of medium ladies out there...

Some possible designs (I learned from the cami vault opening that the picture definitely has some, but not all of the designs - two of the camis I got were in the preview picture, one was not):

L-R Sublime Lines, Flutter, Healing Mandala, Pink Ink, Buddha, Bloom, Drifting Petals and Adversity

Of the shirts in this picture, I already have Healing Mandala (the exact one pictured), Buddha and Drifting Petals (both in another cut), so obviously I hope I don’t get those. Sublime Lines, Bloom and Adversity do nothing for me. I really would like Flutter and Pink Ink (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE that is my #1 choice!!). There are a few others that I’m hoping for that are not pictured...we'll see!!

(Greatly disappointing results of the mystery tech shirt experiment here! )

Tuesday, December 8: lifting
Today's triumph: after forgetting my shoes on Thursday and bringing the wrong pants yesterday, today I brought the shoes AND the right pants. Successful adulting right here.

Lifting was good today. I concentrated a LOT on my form while squatting and managed not to hurt myself, which was my main goal for today. I stood in front of a mirror (the walls are almost 100% covered with mirrors) and stared really intently at myself, which I think helped to keep my chest and shoulders up while squatting. Those mirrors really do help!

Also, I wore my nerd shirt! I got some funny looks but it's okay.

My little buddy came along for today's workout.

INKnBURN update: I checked my account and they've received some returns from me, so now I have a nice little chunk of store credit. Bring on those mystery singlets, long-sleeved shirts and pullovers, INKnBURN! It'll be like they're free...right?

Small Princess Half Marathon Trip Update: I have been getting quite a few emails from Southwest lately and decided to finally check the prices of my Princess Half flights. The flight going down to Orlando (the one I booked on cash...I used points to book the flight coming home) dropped by $20, so I re-booked that one...even though I'm sure I won’t be able to use the credit before it expires. So is this really much of an update? Eh. Oh well!

Wednesday, December 9: 4-mile run @ 12:41/mile pace
So much trouble waking up today! My bed is just sooooo comfy.

Though having said that, I woke up with a sore back today. I'm not sure why, must've slept in a weird position or something. I thought about maybe not doing my run, but reminded myself that sometimes running seems to stretch my back out and make it feel better. So I hopped onto the treadmill (no singing guy this morning ) and told myself I could cut it short if I felt like I needed to. I'm glad I did the run - I ended up doiig the whole thing and it definitely helped loosen me up - my back pain is almost totally gone! Need to remember to stretch today.

Total time for this run: 50:16, 12:34/mile pace. My shoes are definitely almost shot (345 miles on them)...I am paying close attention to how they feel and I think I can get a few more runs out of them, but it's almost time for retirement.

Two other things about today's run: I finally got to 600 miles for the year after this morning - woohoo! So pathetic compared to my last couple of years, but whatever. And second - today was my first time running in an INKnBURN camisole (one of the mystery ones I received last week), and I really liked it! Definitely a contender for my marathon outfit in May, assuming the weather is nice enough for it...

Thursday, December 10: lifting

Exciting happenings! Yesterday there was potential talk of a girls weekend in WDW with my BFFs...obviously I can't pass that up, especially with my AP and the fact that I have enough points to get my flights to/from WDW for free. Just need to nail down the dates, but it would be pretty soon (sometime in late January). Yay!

Also, I lifted today. Much less exciting.

In other news, I saw that the first episode of season 2 of the Serial podcast came out this morning. I downloaded it but I am going to save it for when I start getting into longer runs (right now I'm doing all of my runs without music or podcasts). I really liked listening to season 1 during my long runs while training for Dopey, and I hope season 2 is just as good!

Friday, December 11: 3-mile run @ 13:32/mile pace + yoga
Weather: 49 degrees and overcast with some wind

Today's high temperature - in the 50s! Woohoo!

Good run today (3 miles @ 13:26/mile pace) but I've decided my shoes are shot. I woke up with a sore back AGAIN today, so it's either the way I'm sleeping/the mattress, or my shoes. Which have almost no tread left, so they're done. I also used my new watch for my run today- first time doing that. I could figure out how to make it find the GPS satellites so I just turned it off and back on. Satellites were found in a little over a minute.

Yoga was good today. At first I was disappointed because my regular teacher was out and we had a sub, but by the end of class I felt so relaxed I just wanted to stay there and melt into the ground. That sounds really weird, but it's the best way I can describe it. I just felt soooo good when class was done!

Saturday, December 12: 4-mile run @ 12:61/mile pace
Weather: 63 degrees, light wind and overcast

That's right - 63 degrees in Ohio in mid-December! Love it.

It felt like spring, so I dressed springy. Mr. A told me I looked cute.

Top o' the mornin'!

^^ seems to be my go-to selfie pose...

Just like yesterday, I couldn't figure out how to get my watch to find GPS, so I turned it off and back on - it found the satellites less than 15 seconds later. I'll have to do some research...I know it doesn't constantly look for GPS since I wear it as a normal watch and having GPS going all the time would drain the battery, but surely there's a way to tell it when it's okay to use GPS? Hmm...

Also, I wore a new pair of shoes today. I'd been having some slight knee pain during my runs, which is really unusual for me, and today I had almost zero pain. It was definitely time for my other pair of shoes to be retired.

Overall, another good run today - 4 miles in 48:42 (12:10/mile average pace). This run goes up to 5 miles next week!

Later this evening we went out to dinner at one of our favorite local places, an Italian place that we've been to 4-5 times. For whatever reason, and without going into too much detail (because no one wants to read about that and I don't want to re-live it )...dinner did not agree with me this time and I got really sick when we got home. Boo!

Sunday, December 13: rest

Recovery from last night...lazing around all day with the dog (who seemed to know that I could use some extra snuggles). Mr. A took very good care of me.


Continued in Next Post

 

[SarahDisney]

And later on today...INKnBURN opened the @$%& vault again. Who needs money...

That's pretty much how I'm starting to feel about running in general. Money is now something that exists only to buy running stuff. Food, bills, and non-running clothes aren't important, right?

INKnBURN update: I checked my account and they've received some returns from me, so now I have a nice little chunk of store credit. Bring on those mystery singlets, long-sleeved shirts and pullovers, INKnBURN! It'll be like they're free...right?

Yes. Exactly. Because store credit is something you can only use to buy things, so not using it would be like throwing out money, which is stupid. So buy more things!!

Exciting happenings! Yesterday there was potential talk of a girls weekend in WDW with my BFFs...obviously I can't pass that up, especially with my AP and the fact that I have enough points to get my flights to/from WDW for free. Just need to nail down the dates, but it would be pretty soon (sometime in late January). Yay!

Yay for unexpected trips!

Sounds like training is going well ... and now that you've got the whole "bring the right shoes and pants" thing down, I think you're in a really good place to stay successful! (Although I think the weather is really making it easy to run outside ... we're having similar weather in NY and I've barely used my winter running gear).

 

[DopeyBadger]

Week 3 of Phase 1
December 7, 2015 - Sunday, December 13, 2015
15 miles completed

Monday, December 7: 4-mile run @ 13:32/mile pace

Another work week begins...but just 10 more work days until Mr. A and I are on vacation!

Today's run was pretty good - 4 miles at my "Easy A" pace (actual time and pace for this run: 53:38, 13:240/mile). I think I did better with the mental aspect of being on the treadmill for so long...it definitely helped that I remembered to wake up a little earlier this morning, so I didn't feel so rushed in the locker room getting ready for work. Also, I was distracted by the guy 2 treadmills down from me who was singing during the entirety of his run (he came in about 15 minutes after I started and left about 15 minutes before I left). It was weird...and annoying after awhile, as his singing was really more like slightly melodic wailing...anyway...

So on Thursday I forgot my nice work shoes at home. Well, today I remembered them, but I packed the wrong pants - ankle-length instead of bootcut. I tried them on with the boots and they looked totally ridiculous (sent a picture to Mr. A who said it looked fine - I HIGHLY disagree, it looked like I was walking around on little pegs), so again, I find myself wearing neon pink Brooks Adrenalines to work today. Good thing I don’t have any important meetings scheduled!

And later on today...INKnBURN opened the @$%& vault again. Who needs money...

Short-sleeved tech shirts (after the camis last week they did men’s short-sleeved tech shirts). No way I'm passing those up!

I'm not sure exactly when this link went up, but someone posted about it on the Facebook fan page at 4:44PM. I put in my order soon after I saw the Facebook post...and all of the shirts in my size (medium) were gone in just about an hour! Lesson learned - do not hesitate when the vault opens! I can wear smalls but I like my shirts a little looser/longer, so I would have been bummed to have missed out. Maybe this just means I'll have more opportunities for trades since apparently there are a lot of medium ladies out there...

Some possible designs (I learned from the cami vault opening that the picture definitely has some, but not all of the designs - two of the camis I got were in the preview picture, one was not):

L-R Sublime Lines, Flutter, Healing Mandala, Pink Ink, Buddha, Bloom, Drifting Petals and Adversity

Of the shirts in this picture, I already have Healing Mandala (the exact one pictured), Buddha and Drifting Petals (both in another cut), so obviously I hope I don’t get those. Sublime Lines, Bloom and Adversity do nothing for me. I really would like Flutter and Pink Ink (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE that is my #1 choice!!). There are a few others that I’m hoping for that are not pictured...we'll see!!

(Greatly disappointing results of the mystery tech shirt experiment here! )

Tuesday, December 8: lifting
Today's triumph: after forgetting my shoes on Thursday and bringing the wrong pants yesterday, today I brought the shoes AND the right pants. Successful adulting right here.

Lifting was good today. I concentrated a LOT on my form while squatting and managed not to hurt myself, which was my main goal for today. I stood in front of a mirror (the walls are almost 100% covered with mirrors) and stared really intently at myself, which I think helped to keep my chest and shoulders up while squatting. Those mirrors really do help!

Also, I wore my nerd shirt! I got some funny looks but it's okay.

My little buddy came along for today's workout.

INKnBURN update: I checked my account and they've received some returns from me, so now I have a nice little chunk of store credit. Bring on those mystery singlets, long-sleeved shirts and pullovers, INKnBURN! It'll be like they're free...right?

Small Princess Half Marathon Trip Update: I have been getting quite a few emails from Southwest lately and decided to finally check the prices of my Princess Half flights. The flight going down to Orlando (the one I booked on cash...I used points to book the flight coming home) dropped by $20, so I re-booked that one...even though I'm sure I won’t be able to use the credit before it expires. So is this really much of an update? Eh. Oh well!

Wednesday, December 9: 4-mile run @ 12:41/mile pace
So much trouble waking up today! My bed is just sooooo comfy.

Though having said that, I woke up with a sore back today. I'm not sure why, must've slept in a weird position or something. I thought about maybe not doing my run, but reminded myself that sometimes running seems to stretch my back out and make it feel better. So I hopped onto the treadmill (no singing guy this morning ) and told myself I could cut it short if I felt like I needed to. I'm glad I did the run - I ended up doiig the whole thing and it definitely helped loosen me up - my back pain is almost totally gone! Need to remember to stretch today.

Total time for this run: 50:16, 12:34/mile pace. My shoes are definitely almost shot (345 miles on them)...I am paying close attention to how they feel and I think I can get a few more runs out of them, but it's almost time for retirement.

Two other things about today's run: I finally got to 600 miles for the year after this morning - woohoo! So pathetic compared to my last couple of years, but whatever. And second - today was my first time running in an INKnBURN camisole (one of the mystery ones I received last week), and I really liked it! Definitely a contender for my marathon outfit in May, assuming the weather is nice enough for it...

Thursday, December 10: lifting

Exciting happenings! Yesterday there was potential talk of a girls weekend in WDW with my BFFs...obviously I can't pass that up, especially with my AP and the fact that I have enough points to get my flights to/from WDW for free. Just need to nail down the dates, but it would be pretty soon (sometime in late January). Yay!

Also, I lifted today. Much less exciting.

In other news, I saw that the first episode of season 2 of the Serial podcast came out this morning. I downloaded it but I am going to save it for when I start getting into longer runs (right now I'm doing all of my runs without music or podcasts). I really liked listening to season 1 during my long runs while training for Dopey, and I hope season 2 is just as good!

Friday, December 11: 3-mile run @ 13:32/mile pace + yoga
Weather: 49 degrees and overcast with some wind

Today's high temperature - in the 50s! Woohoo!

Good run today (3 miles @ 13:26/mile pace) but I've decided my shoes are shot. I woke up with a sore back AGAIN today, so it's either the way I'm sleeping/the mattress, or my shoes. Which have almost no tread left, so they're done. I also used my new watch for my run today- first time doing that. I could figure out how to make it find the GPS satellites so I just turned it off and back on. Satellites were found in a little over a minute.

Yoga was good today. At first I was disappointed because my regular teacher was out and we had a sub, but by the end of class I felt so relaxed I just wanted to stay there and melt into the ground. That sounds really weird, but it's the best way I can describe it. I just felt soooo good when class was done!

Saturday, December 12: 4-mile run @ 12:61/mile pace
Weather: 63 degrees, light wind and overcast

That's right - 63 degrees in Ohio in mid-December! Love it.

It felt like spring, so I dressed springy. Mr. A told me I looked cute.

Top o' the mornin'!

^^ seems to be my go-to selfie pose...

Just like yesterday, I couldn't figure out how to get my watch to find GPS, so I turned it off and back on - it found the satellites less than 15 seconds later. I'll have to do some research...I know it doesn't constantly look for GPS since I wear it as a normal watch and having GPS going all the time would drain the battery, but surely there's a way to tell it when it's okay to use GPS? Hmm...

Also, I wore a new pair of shoes today. I'd been having some slight knee pain during my runs, which is really unusual for me, and today I had almost zero pain. It was definitely time for my other pair of shoes to be retired.

Overall, another good run today - 4 miles in 48:42 (12:10/mile average pace). This run goes up to 5 miles next week!

Later this evening we went out to dinner at one of our favorite local places, an Italian place that we've been to 4-5 times. For whatever reason, and without going into too much detail (because no one wants to read about that and I don't want to re-live it )...dinner did not agree with me this time and I got really sick when we got home. Boo!

Sunday, December 13: rest

Recovery from last night...lazing around all day with the dog (who seemed to know that I could use some extra snuggles). Mr. A took very good care of me.


Continued in Next Post

Keep it up. Looks like you're doing a great job!

 

[ZellyB]

Great update again. LOVING that luck o' the Irish outfit. Adorable!! And the nerd shirt is also fantastic. Is that one InB as well?

The weather has been crazy and great. We ran on Saturday and it was 56 degrees when we started out. Couldn't believe I was in a skirt and short-sleeve shirt for a run in mid-December.