Every Wish That We Put Into Motion.... (comments welcome!)

[WillRunForPizza]

Glad your costumes worked for you! I think I might like the idea of costumes more than the reality lol. But I'm excited to see all the things people come up with!

 

[Herding_Cats]

I'm trying to figure out my marathon kit at this point. so I'm going to crowd-source ideas for places to look for less "costume" tank tops and more just bounding tanks, or disney-adjacent tanks. I know etsy is an option, but I've run a couple of local race in the next level brand tanks that most of the crafters use as their base tank, and it's just not my favorite because there's too much cotton in it for 7hrs of running. Bella canvas tanks are DEFINITELY out because of the same thing.

I've been checking on crowned athletics tops, but they're about as hard to get as a dottie skirt these days, and my size almost never shows up on the re-sell pages/groups. Plus, I don't necessarily want a princess costume.

I've looked through almost the entire raw threads site 3x now and there's nothing that's really calling to me.

Where else do you look for tops? (I don't have a cricut, so buying whatever preferred tank and getting a design put on it will turn into more work than I want to do.)

 

[HangWithMerida]

I have used a tank from the sundaymorningactive seller on etsy. They are printed tech material. They feel nice, didn't chafe or ride up. They are on the thicker side for me but I am a less is more person and generally overheat. I wore mine for W&D and it was fine for those temps. I mean there were people in leggings and long sleeves, so comfort is totally relative. I am considering ordering some for MW with coordinating sleeves in case it is cold.

 

[HangWithMerida]

Glad your costumes worked for you! I think I might like the idea of costumes more than the reality lol. But I'm excited to see all the things people come up with!

Me too! I love other people's costumes but comfort is key for me while running. I can't stand fidgeting with things and every little thing becomes an annoyance when I am running.

 

[sandam1]

Where else do you look for tops? (I don't have a cricut, so buying whatever preferred tank and getting a design put on it will turn into more work than I want to do.)

I have a friend who has a cricut and does all of my custom work for me. I just buy the shirts (I'm a huge fan of getting wicking shirts from Kohls), test wear them a couple of times to make sure that I like them, and then give them to my friend to do the design. It works out great and is very easy. So maybe reach out to your friend group/community and see if you can find someone who provides a similar service.

My second thought would be to find some designs that you like on Etsy and then email the seller to see if they would put the design on a shirt that you provide. All they could say is no. But I've had relatively good luck with sellers being very accommodating to customizations requests - particularly if you do them now when there is a lot of time pre-race.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

My second thought would be to find some designs that you like on Etsy and then email the seller to see if they would put the design on a shirt that you provide.

I had a seller on Etsy make my Pegasus hat on an athletic hat I provided instead of her cotton ones!

 

[The Expert]

OK you guys are stressing me out that I haven't even decided on costumes yet for Dopey! I have bought several costume tutus from TutuFactoryUSA on Etsy and they are super easy to run in. The tulle is really light and soft, and the sizing is forgiving. They will also string lights through them as an add-on. I bought Brooks shorts to wear underneath that are short enough not to show too much but they hold my giant phone and other things I need in thigh pockets. I used to ALWAYS get shirts from RawThreads but agree that they've missed the mark lately.

 

[sandam1]

OK you guys are stressing me out that I haven't even decided on costumes yet for Dopey!

I've had the shirts that I want to use for about a month. My goal is to figure out a theme/design for at least my Wine and Dine shirts - preferably for Marathon Weekend as well - by the middle of July. But I want to give my friend a ton of time to actually get the shirts done and not have to think about it as my life gets busy and training ramps up.

 

[HangWithMerida]

OK you guys are stressing me out that I haven't even decided on costumes yet for Dopey!

Haven't even thought about mine yet beyond the tank and sleeves level. I may just forgo any costume at all for the HM and full. Less packing variables and I can stick with clothes I have used a million times. IDK yet. My costumes are usually pretty simple so I don't need to worry too much about planning numerous months in advance.

 

[DopeyBadger]

When I had custom tank tops made, I went with Owayo from Germany (link). The running tank is top level quality (and the price matches that quality). They even had it sent to my Disney room when I was short on time in 2020. But you would need to provide the artwork and have the rights to it.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I have used a tank from the sundaymorningactive seller on etsy. I am considering ordering some for MW with coordinating sleeves in case it is cold.

Me too! I love other people's costumes but comfort is key for me while running. I can't stand fidgeting with things and every little thing becomes an annoyance when I am running.

I think they use the same provider (based on the pics with the models) as the etsy seller I got my rapunzel tank from last year. I really like the look of some of the tops from that shop but I feel like I need something less costume-y this time around. Or not. I'll probably change my mind at some point here.
My Merida costume got a little fidget-y on me during the full and I had a major panic moment when I thought the mesh from the back of my crowned tank was chafing where I had it tucked into my tutu. Even though I had done a test-run, an indoor treadmill run in northern michigan was no match for the 4th hour of a sunny florida day.

I have a friend who has a cricut and does all of my custom work for me. I just buy the shirts (I'm a huge fan of getting wicking shirts from Kohls), test wear them a couple of times to make sure that I like them, and then give them to my friend to do the design. It works out great and is very easy. So maybe reach out to your friend group/community and see if you can find someone who provides a similar service.

My second thought would be to find some designs that you like on Etsy and then email the seller to see if they would put the design on a shirt that you provide. All they could say is no. But I've had relatively good luck with sellers being very accommodating to customizations requests - particularly if you do them now when there is a lot of time pre-race.

Yeah that's always an option. I'm just hoping to find something somewhere that's in-stock so I don't have to come up with all the ideas.

OK you guys are stressing me out that I haven't even decided on costumes yet for Dopey! I have bought several costume tutus from TutuFactoryUSA on Etsy and they are super easy to run in. The tulle is really light and soft, and the sizing is forgiving. They will also string lights through them as an add-on. I bought Brooks shorts to wear underneath that are short enough not to show too much but they hold my giant phone and other things I need in thigh pockets. I used to ALWAYS get shirts from RawThreads but agree that they've missed the mark lately.

Don't stress! I know you have something brilliant up your sleeve.
You got your HM costume from tutufactory, right? You looked amazing.


Who knows. Maybe I'll be boring and just wear my black rundisney tank with a coordinating blue sparkleskirt and call it a day. I'm trying to knock as much of the planning out as I can now, because I start working on Friday and my brain is gonna be mush for the rest of the summer.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Today I decided "Let's to a HM pace run and see how it feels." Why do this? Well in my Higdon plan I do a HM paced run every other week on Wednesdays. So I figured I'd try it this week to see if HM pace needs adjusted if it was way to hard or way too easy. Let's observe all of the mistakes I made on this run.
First off, it's been HOT for the last couple of days. Like heat index over 100 hot, which is NOT normal for northern Michigan. So last night when I looked at the forecast for today, I was happy to see "high of 76" for today. Yay! It cooled off! And I did not re-check the temperatures before I went for my run. Actual T+D during my run? 136. It was 79 out.

I consulted my pace chart from last year and it said HM pace should be 11:26 in ideal conditions. So I figured 11:30-11:40 would be good. Spoiler alert! It should have been no faster than 11:47.

I had added a bunch of new songs to my slightly faster cadence playlist this morning, so I used that today. That pushes me from around 160 steps/min to 170. To compensate for more steps, I backed my intervals off from 60/30 to 45/30. This is probably the only thing I did correctly.

Woohoo! Here we go!
Mile 1! It felt great. Amazing! 11:15. Oops. Time to back off a little bit. Soooo yeah. Way too fast. That's lactate threshold/10k pace for the conditions AND the part of the run with the most uphill.

Mile 2. Oh, hey, my ankle is starting to burn (more on that in a moment.) Huh. Guess I need to run on more than an oatmeal when I do this. It's a lot hotter than I thought, and I probably went way too fast. I should look that up when I get home. Aaaaaand I'm getting lightheaded. Guess we are calling the pace portion at 2 miles today and will take mile 3 super easy. 11:28. They've been doing graston muscle scraping at PT and my lower leg/ankle is pretty tender from that. I'm pretty sure I'm bruised underneath my K-tape. I'm hoping they do something different on Friday because I'm not sure how much I'll want to tolerate it. It felt pretty tight when I got home and I was going to foam roll and just setting my lower leg on the roller wasn't pleasant, so I decided against the foam roller and just did the normal standing stretches.

Mile 3. Walked a lot of it. 14:59.

Avg Pace: 12:34, Avg HR 161.
So the run was kind of a mess. But at least my VO2max went up?

 

[The Expert]

Don't stress! I know you have something brilliant up your sleeve.
You got your HM costume from tutufactory, right? You looked amazing.

I know I'll think of something. My brain just hasn't told me what that is yet. And yes, my HM costume was from them (thank you!). I loved the tutu, hated the arm sleeves, and the tank was just okay. I should've sized down as it was way too long for my short torso.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

Maybe I'll be boring and just wear my black rundisney tank with a coordinating blue sparkleskirt and call it a day.

Honestly I think that sounds cute! I love that tank.

 

[Herding_Cats]

5mi today. Avg pace 13:32, avg HR 142. 13:26//13:16//14:01 (hello hill)//13:52//13:04

Went out the door thinking I’d just do 3 (and not run down the “big” hill) but once I got to the top of it I figured meh, let’s just do it. I haven’t run it yet this year. Then I got to the turnaround point for 4mi and figured what the heck let’s just do 5! So I did. Nothing exciting happened. I had a hard time keeping my HR out of zone 4 after I went back up the hill (60/30 intervals until the hill, 45/30 and extra walking up it, and then back to 60/30 for the remainder) but the first part of my run was great from a HR standpoint.


Red is HR. Green line is elevation. It’s basically a mile of uphill from where I turn around.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Catching up:
Friday was my first day back working in basically 3 years. I did a 5 hour shift making cherry pies and since I was the 3rd with 2 other really experienced guys, we got them done pretty quickly. My feet weren’t thrilled with me, but it wasn’t terrible. I need to try to make sure I stay on the anti fatigue mats more than I did. Got done early enough that I came home and had a couple of hours before going to PT. We talked podcasts and he recommended “The Science of Sport” which is very nerdy and talks mainly about endurance sports and what recent science is saying about various things. I got lost of the way through one on fueling. Definitely not one to only sort-of listen to. Then I took DS2 to summer run club and walked 3 miles with DD in the stroller. My ankle was not happy with me. Something to definitely discuss with my PT on Tuesday.

Saturday was a run-around and do all the errands day but DH said something about going for a run that evening so we ran 3mi last night. Well. I did 3. He did 2.5. Avg pace 12:49, avg HR 145. 80/30 intervals (which explains the slightly too-fast pace)

And THEN this morning we did 4 miles. He was complaining about his calves being tight and I noticed that he was bouncing a lot to go slow enough to stay with me. He wanted to cut it at a 5k, but I suggested we just walk the uphills and that he should try running a little faster to smooth things out and what he ended up doing was shortening his run interval, so he probably ended up doing like 40/50 intervals and we just yo-yo’ed back a forth with each other for the last mile and he said it felt a lot better on his legs. Avg pace 12:59, avg HR 146. These runs are feeling pretty darn good with the intervals.

This means I did 5 runs and 1 walk this week. And my body isn’t freaking out.

I work again tomorrow (probably a full 8hrs of making pies) so we will see how my legs like that. And I also start my higdon novice 2 half marathon plan. I’m hoping to keep DH on the wagon with me and at least get one weekday and once weekend run in.


OH!! And there’s a good chance I’ll be able to run my local July 4th 5k since the restaurant is closed that day and I won’t have to work. Just need to figure out a sitter for DD because I’m not pushing the stroller up the hill that’s on mile 2.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Goals for this week: 4 runs, sticking to the calorie counts, attempt to fit in a cross training/lifting workout day for bonus points.

4 runs? Check. Did 5 runs and one (3mi) walk. 22 total miles. Which is kind of a lot for me? My legs weren’t thrilled with me by Sunday night (and then protested loudly during my 8 hour pie-making shift on Monday) but I feel pretty good today.

Calorie counts. Check.

Cross training/lifting? Nope. Didn’t happen.

I’m officially on week 1 of higdon novice 2 HM plan. Yesterday was supposed be be 60min if cross training but my leg/ankle/foot were very tired and sore by the time I got home from work yesterday (I made crusts for 220 pies, and mostly stood in one area for almost 8 hours, which my body is very much not used to) so I opted for elevated feet and an ice pack instead. How I felt is making me a bit nervous for the weekend since I work back-to-back shift on Friday and Saturday. Might have to go stand in the lake or something on Saturday afternoon when I’m done.

Goals for this week are pretty close to last weeks: do the runs on my training plan (ON their days) and stick to my calorie counts. Bonus points for getting DH to run with me 2x. AND get the family registered for the firecracker 5k. Not planning on racing it, but we’ll see how I feel. I think that 35:00 would be a reasonable goal for me.

 

[Naomeri]

All this pie-making standing is good practice for standing around Disney!

 

[Herding_Cats]

All this pie-making standing is good practice for standing around Disney!

Right?! Too bad I'll be done in the end of August because when the kids go back to school I lose all of my babysitters for DD.

 

[Herding_Cats]

On the costume front I'm a hot mess of indecision. And I'm not a fan of being indecisive.
Original plan:
-couples costumes for 5k (already decided and just need to get a few things for DH) and 10k
-for the half and full run as figment for one and something else for the other (because I have a lavender dottie skirt that will work perfectly for a figment costume.)

I was tentatively leaning toward Jasmine and Magic Carpet for the 10k (trying to sell myself on the jasmine costume at this point.) But then I saw procompression has white and lavender socks with daisies on them (and they just did a re-stock.) And they're soooooo cute! Let's just pretend for a minute that if I sized up they wouldn't smash my toes together. What if DH and I ran as donald/daisy for the 10k? Then I would need a different costume for the half or full because I don't want to run multiple races in the same skirt. Or just drop the figment idea and run as daisy for the half (because that's original.) Or use the lavender skirt and run as Meg (after finding a meg-as-hercules tank etsy.) AAAARG! Only rundisney people will understand the "struggle" of deciding on costumes.