A Pink Pixie Princess - Complete!

[dmross]

Ugh, I've been in a running slump for 3 weeks now... so of course I had to dig back into this thread... always fun to see what you are up to.

Maybe I need another Disney race to inspire me? This is the second year that I have turned my shoulder on W&D (my favorite race that got me started on halfs). I signed up for a half at Carowinds locally this fall to distract myself from W&D, but it's not working I mean, there's running through a theme park, and then there's running through a Disney theme park; and they aren't the same.

 

[Ariel484]

Congratulations on your finish! But that disappointed feeling is no joke, I know! The good thing, is that you can take those feelings and just put them into your training. Running is so awesome, because you always have another race on the horizon to beat. I know weather for me impacts my time in a major way. Those conditions sound pretty miserable.

Thank you! Yeah, I am definitely treating this recent 10K as my baseline...at least I have something to improve upon!

The conditions were not the best. I think it would have been really hard for someone who isn't used to running in the crappy weather. I've done it before so mentally I don't think it effected me too much...physically, maybe.

I understand how you feel about the 10k time. When I finished my 8k at just about 10min mile pace; my brain said ok...10k should be "just add 10 min more on to that"...but then it didn't work out that way when I got side-lined by my stupid cold. And instead it was an added 17ish min. instead. Actually our 10k times are pretty similar. So we can be "slower than we hoped" twins? Maybe both of us by our next big race can be "crushed it" twins???

#twinning - I'll take you up on that!!

But I actually was ok with my time for the circumstances with my training. Once this foot-annoyance clears up for me I know I will be in your shoes again with hoping for the real good times based on my past performance.

Yeah, I should have had more realistic expectations - I'm not sure what I was thinking going into it! Hopefully I'll know better what to expect for the next one.

I think you did awesome, but I know internally how you feel.

Thanks.

Side note: is that a sparkle athletic visor? How do you like those? I have a lot of the skirts but never bought the visor and I think I may want a visor for this summer.

Yes it is. I have I think 4 of them, so I would say I do like them quite a bit. Some people don't like them because you cannot adjust the band, but it's fine for me. They are made by Headsweats (the visors - then SparkleAthletic puts their sparkly fabric on them), and Headsweats is a pretty legit running company.

I find them easy to care for, too. I put them in the washer in a lingerie bag - wash in cold water on delicate cycle along with my workout stuff and hang them to dry. They seem to have held up well so far.

I am so proud of you! Watching TFA--all it took was an InknBurn BB8 hoodie!

Thank you!! And of course now I want that BB8 tech shirt back. (I don't regret trading my first one away though.)

On a more serious note though, about your race and the paces you had-you've come such a long way in a short time! I'm with Rteetz, you will be back to your old self and paces in no time!

Thank you!

Ugh, I've been in a running slump for 3 weeks now... so of course I had to dig back into this thread... always fun to see what you are up to.

Maybe I need another Disney race to inspire me? This is the second year that I have turned my shoulder on W&D (my favorite race that got me started on halfs). I signed up for a half at Carowinds locally this fall to distract myself from W&D, but it's not working I mean, there's running through a theme park, and then there's running through a Disney theme park; and they aren't the same.

View attachment 170477

Haha! Yeah, I know what you mean - perfectly illustrated in your graphic. Definitely looking for a Disney race!!

 

[Ariel484]

Pre-10 Miler Training - Week 2
Monday, May 16 - Sunday, May 22, 2016
8.5 miles completed

OMG I am so wordy, sorry about that!!

Monday, May 16 (lifting/0.5-mile run)
Alright. It's a new day, and a new training cycle!

Over the next few weeks, I am going to make some adjustments to my schedule to try something a little bit different for 10-miler training…

• Dropping out Friday lifting
• Adding in a 4th, and eventually 5th (!!) day of running each week
• Switching my yoga day to Sunday and my rest day to Friday
• Wednesday lifting and Thursday runs will be switched

(This is not originally what I had written in my training post, but right after I posted that I went back and edited. I change my mind a lot! )

So over the next few weeks, the big change will be adding a 4th day of running in. Assuming that goes okay, I’ll add in a 5th day over the first week of June. The only way I can make adding more running days in work with lifting and yoga is to double up on some days, unfortunately. Not sure how well that will work just yet.

Today was my first day of lifting since May 2 - 2 weeks ago! Eek! My legs are a little sore from yesterday’s 10K, so with that in mind, plus the fact that I hadn’t lifted in awhile, I dropped some of my weights down and did a smaller number of reps. It went okay, and I found that my legs felt better after.

Once that was done, I changed into my running shoes and headed outside for a whopping 0.5-mile run before I could talk myself out of it. Again, my legs were a little sore, and this seemed to take forever (5:18, so...not really forever), but I got it done. I realize that running for 5 minutes doesn’t seem like much, but it was a bigger mental challenge than anything to actually get myself to do it after finishing lifting, and I feel like it’s probably smarter to start small with this and increase the distance slowly (same goes for my weekly distance, which is going to dip down over the next couple of weeks as I add in the additional running days). The bigger challenge will be waking up early enough to get everything in once the runs get longer (which I did NOT do today)!

So a small triumph today - my first doubled-up day of the year, hopefully as part of my first 4-day running week of the year. I’m hoping that running more during the week will help me feel a little stronger...a 5-day running week is something I have never tried before for an extended period of time. We’ll see how it goes.

Unrelated: I grabbed this Tiki Room bag by Harveys from the Disney Store website (I wanted to buy it IN Disneyland but they were out - sad because I could have used my 20% PAP discount. At least I got 10% off with my Disney Visa and free shipping!) and it arrived on Saturday. It matches the poster wallet I DID manage to find in the parks. Love it!!

And after finally carrying a Harveys bag for an extended period of time...I think I like it a lot better than my Dooneys, which are sort of a chore to carry - what if it rains? What if I get something on them? What if the pattern bleeds? Plus, I just really like how this bag looks, the shape of it, and the fact that Harveys bags are cheaper than Dooneys and American-made. So I think this is the start of my switching out my Dooneys for Harveys bags (by "switching out" I mean "selling my Dooneys on Facebook). I've sold 1 big one so far (and was able to buy 2 Harveys bags for what I got from that sale!) and have 2 more up for sale.

And last, but most definitely not least...today is my and Mr. A’s 7-year wedding anniversary! Love him so, so much.

Tuesday, May 17 (2-mile run)
Good run today! I tried something different - rather than do my run/walk intervals, I actually did this entire run all the way through without stopping!

In doing the run/walk intervals, I was averaging about an 11:30/mile pace over the entirety of the run. I would do this by doing the run intervals at about a 10:30/mile pace for 3 minutes at a time, and the walk intervals at...I’m not sure, 18:00/mile pace? Did those for 1 minute at a time. Repeat until the run is done. Over the past couple of days I’ve been thinking about switching it up and just setting the treadmill to 11:30/mile (actually 11:32/mile) and just leaving it there for the entire run - this way the overall average pace is still the same, but the entire run is actually an easy run since I’m not doing the faster 10:30/mile intervals (sometime @DopeyBadger pointed out awhile back). I have been reading about how it’s good for a runner to do mostly easy running over the course of the week, so I’m thinking that maybe this would be beneficial to me going forward?

Anyway...total time for this run was 23:04, 11:32/mile pace overall. I actually wonder if this is too fast for my "easy" pace given how my 10K went on Sunday, but it did feel good, so I think I’ll stick with it for the time being. The reason I picked this pace is because I thought that it was about what I had been averaging out to on recent runs, so it seemed to make sense to me. Maybe???

Wednesday, May 18 (1x800 @ 5K pace - 2 miles total)
Big day today - my first speed workout! I mean...not my first one EVER, but definitely my first in over a year.

In the interest of being super cautious and working my way back super slowly...it was a very short workout. I did one whole interval today!

I started out running for 1 miles (12:00/mile pace), to warm up. In the future I think I’ll cut this down to 5 minutes, it seemed to go on forever!

Then I did my 1 half-mile interval. Speed intervals are supposed to be done at 5K pace - during my 10K race last week, my official time was 1:08ish, but my watch clocked my 10K split at 1:06:40 (I actually ran a little over 10K in the race - 6.33 miles to be exact - due to weaving, taking wide turns, etc….hence the official race time not matching up with my watch’s split). So the 10K was at a 10:44 pace (again, per my watch) - plugging that into an online calculator gave me an equivalent 5K pace of 10:20. That is what I used for my speed interval (equivalent to 5.8 MPH on the treadmill). I have to admit, it was tougher than I expected. I guess it’ll just take time to get some speed back...

Once my speed interval was done, I ran/walked until the treadmill hit 2 miles total to cool down. And that was it!

Here are my thoughts on how to handle pacing going forward - I am going to train at my current pace, not any type of goal pace (I’m not sure I could even set a goal for myself right now) - today’s tiny little speed workout confirmed that a 10:20/mile speed interval is challenging for me right now, so I need to stick to that. I think running faster than I really should have during my race is what messed up my IT Band, so I don’t want to make that mistake again.

Right now I am in a period where I am getting ready to start my "official" training plan on June 27. I am thinking that I will use the paces from my race on Sunday up until that time (so 10:20 for speed intervals - 5K pace based on the 10K I did - and 10:44 - my 10K pace per my Garmin - as my tempo run pace). On June 25 I will run a 5K at home and see what my pace is for that...hopefully faster! Whatever pace I run that day will be what I will use as my new speed interval pace, and then I will plug that into the same online calculator to get my equivalent 10K pace for tempo runs. I’ll use those for the rest of training then, I guess. The rest of my runs will be at a “comfortable, conversational pace” per the documentation in the training plan. So mostly easy running each week.

That seems reasonable, right?!

Thursday, May 19 (lifting)
Good day of lifting today - I felt a little more back to normal than I did during lifting on Monday.

ALSO - my April Fu track suit from INKnBURN arrived today and I FREAKING LOVE IT (photo credit: Mr. A). Is it loud? Yes. Do I look like a walking, talking homage to Bruce Lee? Yes (hence the name "April Fu"). Is it the most comfortable thing ever? Also yes. Am I normally a question talker? No.

Also...go Cavs

Friday, May 20 (rest)
Rest day! Not gonna lie...I did not miss lifting today one bit.

Fu pants!

Saturday, May 21 (4 miles)
So the goal today was to 1. Not get rained on (50% chance of rain in the forecast all week), and 2. Do the entire run without walk breaks and keep about a 11:30/mile average pace.

Results: did not rain! temperature of 61 degrees.
Mile 1: 11:18
Mile 2: 11:15
Mile 3: 11:27
Mile 4: 11:14

Total time for 4 miles: 45:17, 11:18/mile pace

So a little faster than I meant to go, and I'm not sure I could have kept this up for another mile. No walk breaks, but I did have an extended time (1-2 minutes) where I stopped at a crosswalk...because I'm not a fan of getting hit by cars. That was during the 3rd mile, and stopping there was long enough for my back to tighten up, which is why that mile is slower.

But overall, good run today!!

I had eBay auctions end for camera stuff in my camera switcheroo - one item ended up going for more than I expected (over 75% of what I paid for it new), while the other 2 went for less than I expected...less than 50% of what I paid for them new. Better than nothing!

And Mr. A and I went out to dinner for our anniversary.

Sunday, May 22 (yoga)
Hot yoga time!

Good class today. I kept up better than I expected (about 75-80% of it?), since last time I did this class it kicked my butt...and I haven't been to yoga in 3 weeks or so.

I've been having an issue with my back for the last 1-2 months or so - I wake up in middle of the night and it's just super, super sore in the middle of my lower back. I very, very carefully roll over and then go back to sleep...wake up for the day and it's super sore again. Then I walk around for awhile and the soreness works itself out and I'm okay. I still have the weirdness in my lower left leg, too (some weakness, stiff feeling, foot numbness)...well, it occurred to me during yoga today that I pretty much stopped physical therapy about 1-2 months ago. I started to forget to do it, and then I just completely forgot about it. So that may explain this back pain and the lack of improvement in my leg. So I'm going to try to hit that hard again and see if it helps...because I'd like to be "normal" again (well, as normal as I get...see above photos ).

Related note: I have a follow-up with Dr. Spine tomorrow!

In the meantime, this is the rest of my Sunday (when I'm not doing PT):

Continued in Next Post

 

[Sailormoon2]

Sounds like a fantastic training week.
What site did you use for your pace conversions?

 

[Ariel484]

Sounds like a fantastic training week.
What site did you use for your pace conversions?

Thanks! It did go pretty well

I used the McMillan Running Calculator: https://www.mcmillanrunning.com

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congrats on the training week! If I plug in your 10K time of 10:44 min/mile per your watch I get the following training paces. By no means are they what you have to do, but I have easy defined as 12:32 min/mile or slower. Now you know your body better than any calculator can account for, so as long as you feel it is easy then I think you're in the right place.



I agree with your plan with moving to new paces. Use your new pace set and then see how your body reacts. Then do another fitness test, and reset the paces. I believe that once you get closer to healthy you'll only want to reset your training paces every 12-18 weeks (your cardiovascular system improves at a faster rate than the muscular/bone system so you may feel you can go faster but parts of your body aren't ready yet). But during this recovery phase you could change them every 8 weeks as your body will get fitter faster because you're going back to a place your body has been.

BTW, I'm a huge Bruce Lee fan, and I Love Love Love that Kung Fu suit!

 

[SarahDisney]

I think building in the slower start with the double days is a really smart idea. It may not sound like much, but it's a great place to start without overdoing (and risking hurting) yourself!

So ... it looks like we're going to be seeing a lot of bag updates now. Why am I not surprised?
I'm looking forward to seeing all of the Harveys bags you buy - that Tiki Room bag is cute!

Happy Belated Anniversary!!

That April Fu is cute! Definitely loud, but still fun!

I'm sorry to hear about the back stuff ... I hope going back to the PT exercises helps! I've learned over the past few months that if I don't do my knee exercises, I regret it, so as much as sometimes you don't want to be stuck doing these exercises long-term ... that might be the best solution.
Also ... you may never be normal, but we love you just the way you are!!!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Great week. I really loved that conversation that happened about slower training runs over on the running thread, so I have been toying with that too. Your new plan sounds ambitious (with the running and lifting or yoga some days), but I bet it will feel great once you get in that groove!

 

[Slogger]

Happy Anniversary @Ariel484 (and Mr.Ariel484)! Hope you guys did something special and fun.

I started a 5 runs a week training cycle at the beginning of this month and also incorporating slower runs. Curious to see how it goes for you too and will be on the lookout for your updates. Hopefully the benefits will be there down the road. Take care of that back.

 

[ZellyB]

Most excellent training update!! Love what you are doing with working through some different pacing runs. We need to do more of that. We have a tendency to do every run about the same and that's not good.

I hear you on forgetting to do the PT. As injuries start to improve, it just becomes harder to remember and stay motivated to do it. Hope you get yourself recommitted to them. Even though I'm also bad about that stuff, I do know that it helps a lot!!

Happy Anniversary. Woo!!!!!

For some reason your pictures aren't loading for me today. I'm glad you love the track suit. I'm sure it looks fantastic on you!!! I'm relieved that I didn't love the Run or Tie Dye shirt they came out with. My pocketbook needs a break. I do think the new club shirts are pretty awesome though. Again, probably best for my pocketbook that I'm not a club member.

 

[Ariel484]

Congrats on the training week! If I plug in your 10K time of 10:44 min/mile per your watch I get the following training paces. By no means are they what you have to do, but I have easy defined as 12:32 min/mile or slower. Now you know your body better than any calculator can account for, so as long as you feel it is easy then I think you're in the right place.

View attachment 170642

I agree with your plan with moving to new paces. Use your new pace set and then see how your body reacts. Then do another fitness test, and reset the paces. I believe that once you get closer to healthy you'll only want to reset your training paces every 12-18 weeks (your cardiovascular system improves at a faster rate than the muscular/bone system so you may feel you can go faster but parts of your body aren't ready yet). But during this recovery phase you could change them every 8 weeks as your body will get fitter faster because you're going back to a place your body has been.

Thanks! Chart is helpful. Some of those paces looking familiar to me from the calculator I originally used...I'm definitely going to slow my runs down this week and see what that does.

I do agree with what you're saying about the cardiovascular system improving first - I was having that exact thought when I was running on Saturday, that cardio-wise I felt good, but my legs just aren't there yet.

BTW, I'm a huge Bruce Lee fan, and I Love Love Love that Kung Fu suit!

I don't know much about Bruce but I do love dressing like him, apparently!

I think building in the slower start with the double days is a really smart idea. It may not sound like much, but it's a great place to start without overdoing (and risking hurting) yourself!

Yeah, I think so too...even if I do feel silly only being on the treadmill for like, 12 minutes, like I was this morning.

So ... it looks like we're going to be seeing a lot of bag updates now. Why am I not surprised?

Ha...I'm not sure how much I'll post about bag happenings. I started to feel a little ridiculous about it when I was posting more bag tings before, so I pulled back on that.

Though I will say...this is my new holy grail. Very hard to find though. Sorry for the giant picture, but look at how cute!!

I'm looking forward to seeing all of the Harveys bags you buy - that Tiki Room bag is cute!

I'm liking the bag a lot. It just feels so much more durable than Dooneys!

Happy Belated Anniversary!!

Thanks!

That April Fu is cute! Definitely loud, but still fun!

Haha, yep! Would make a great Halloween costume.

I'm sorry to hear about the back stuff ... I hope going back to the PT exercises helps! I've learned over the past few months that if I don't do my knee exercises, I regret it, so as much as sometimes you don't want to be stuck doing these exercises long-term ... that might be the best solution.

Yeah, you're totally right. I just need to be an adult and take care of myself!

Also ... you may never be normal, but we love you just the way you are!!!

Aw shucks, thanks!

Great week. I really loved that conversation that happened about slower training runs over on the running thread, so I have been toying with that too. Your new plan sounds ambitious (with the running and lifting or yoga some days), but I bet it will feel great once you get in that groove!

Yeah, I mean...it doesn't make sense, but it does at the same time, I think? It'll take some getting used to.

Happy Anniversary @Ariel484 (and Mr.Ariel484)! Hope you guys did something special and fun.

Thank you! We went to our favorite restaurant and stuffed our faces. And our gift to one another - getting our front yard professionally landscaped. Not romantic at all, but we both really hate yardwork and are always at a loss as to what to buy one another.

I started a 5 runs a week training cycle at the beginning of this month and also incorporating slower runs. Curious to see how it goes for you too and will be on the lookout for your updates. Hopefully the benefits will be there down the road.

Yeah, I'm curious too! How is it going for you? I have been saying that 4 days is ideal for me, but I guess I can't really say that 5 won't work unless I try it, right?

Take care of that back.

Thanks!! Going to make more of an effort going forward, for sure.

Most excellent training update!! Love what you are doing with working through some different pacing runs. We need to do more of that. We have a tendency to do every run about the same and that's not good.

I do like having the variety of runs - just for something different, ya know? And I do think that the speedwork helps, even if those workouts are pretty tough.

I hear you on forgetting to do the PT. As injuries start to improve, it just becomes harder to remember and stay motivated to do it. Hope you get yourself recommitted to them. Even though I'm also bad about that stuff, I do know that it helps a lot!!

Yes!! Like - it's good, but not good at the same time. In the beginning I was miserable and desperate to get better, so I was on top of things. Now it's not on my mind as much.

Happy Anniversary. Woo!!!!!

Woo!! Thanks!

For some reason your pictures aren't loading for me today.

Ack, I'm glad you said that. Flickr wasn't cooperating yesterday so I tried Google Photos - it looked like it was working on my Mac at home, but now I see they weren't. Flickr uploaded my pics today though!

I'm glad you love the track suit. I'm sure it looks fantastic on you!!! I'm relieved that I didn't love the Run or Tie Dye shirt they came out with. My pocketbook needs a break. I do think the new club shirts are pretty awesome though. Again, probably best for my pocketbook that I'm not a club member.

I did order Run or Tie Dye - FOMO! They got me with the tie dye, I sort of love it.

I love the Club Shirt too - and complete shocker - so does Mr. A! So we're both getting one![/QUOTE]

 

[FFigawi]

Happy anniversary!

 

[ZellyB]

Yay! Now I see the pictures. Those Fu shots are the best. The sunglasses and your expression totally make the picture.

 

[SarahDisney]

That Steamboat Willie bag is amazing!!

 

[Ariel484]

Happy anniversary!

Thanks John!

Yay! Now I see the pictures. Those Fu shots are the best. The sunglasses and your expression totally make the picture.

Haha, thanks. I just felt like I should be wearing sunglasses for whatever reason.

That Steamboat Willie bag is amazing!!

Right??! Arrrrg why don't they still make them?!

 

[Barca33Runner]

Thanks Gisele. I would say this was the second-worst race, weather-wise, that I have participated in (the worst was a 5K in November 2014...same area of Downtown. Running right by the lake is tough!). 17-20 MPH winds yesterday. Yikes!!

Was that the Turkey Trot through 2 inches of slush and ice by any chance?

 

[Ariel484]

Was that the Turkey Trot through 2 inches of slush and ice by any chance?

ACK, I forgot about that one. I actually was talking about the Bernie Shuffle, but the Turkey Trot that was (I think) that same year was pretty rough, too!

 

[Barca33Runner]

ACK, I forgot about that one. I actually was talking about the Bernie Shuffle, but the Turkey Trot that was (I think) that same year was pretty rough, too!

I ran the 5-miler at the Turkey Trot that year and the couple inches of overnight snow had turned into a couple inches of slush and ice for the race. That was the race my sister and I remembered when we were searching for something worse than the weather at the Rite Aid race this year.

 

[Ariel484]

I ran the 5-miler at the Turkey Trot that year and the couple inches of overnight snow had turned into a couple inches of slush and ice for the race. That was the race my sister and I remembered when we were searching for something worse than the weather at the Rite Aid race this year.

Yep, I did that race with my brother. I was recovering from a strain in my foot and he was recovering from leg surgery after a car accident, so we took it super, super slowly. I had Dopey coming up and he didn't want to re-break his leg, so we weren't setting any records that day.

The Bernie Shuffle ran a lot of that same course, but it started right by the lake, and there was this awful rain/snow/sleet mixture sort of blowing in off the lake, so we were waiting at the start in that. It was fun because I ran with my cousin, brother and brother's friend, but tough conditions! I don't remember being as concerned that I'd slip and injure myself during that race like I was during the Turkey Trot, though.

Cleveland, amiright? Did you sign up for next year? Free t-shirt with registration at early bird prices!

 

[Barca33Runner]

Yep, I did that race with my brother. I was recovering from a strain in my foot and he was recovering from leg surgery after a car accident, so we took it super, super slowly. I had Dopey coming up and he didn't want to re-break his leg, so we weren't setting any records that day.

The Bernie Shuffle ran a lot of that same course, but it started right by the lake, and there was this awful rain/snow/sleet mixture sort of blowing in off the lake, so we were waiting at the start in that. It was fun because I ran with my cousin, brother and brother's friend, but tough conditions! I don't remember being as concerned that I'd slip and injure myself during that race like I was during the Turkey Trot, though.

Cleveland, amiright? Did you sign up for next year? Free t-shirt with registration at early bird prices!

I didn't register for next year yet. We have a regular family reunion type thing that sometimes conflicts with the dates, so while I'll probably be signing up again it's tough to register that far in advance for anything.

We ran the family one-miler with my niece and nephew before the 5-miler started, so we were soaked and couldn't feel our feet when the second race started. We, somehow, finished in 45 minutes and my leg muscles haven't felt as bad after a race other than my first marathon. It was like running through a freezing sand dune.