In Every Run That Must Be Done; There is an Element of Fun (comments welcome)

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 1

Another late starting day, and I really didn’t do much besides feed my chipmunks a couple times and run a few errand with my grandma. Because of that, I needed to work a bit harder on my 30 minute stationary bike workout. I set my intervals to 1m fast/30s slow and went 8.57 miles in 31m18s. This worked really well for burning some extra calories, I burned about 1.25 more calories/minute than yesterday’s cycling workout.

2021 workout data to date: 153h 42m 38s of exercise; 54,730 active calories burned; 69,974 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 2

One hour of yoga tonight, and three chipmunk feeding treks through the yard during the day. I also took the time to call Disney to remove the tickets from my reservation for my December trip, since I’ve got my AP now. The wait time was about 45 minutes, so I left my number for callback and they called back almost exactly 45 minutes later, so that was cool. The CM was very nice and helpful, and I wonder if she could hear the chipmunks racing around or the blue jays complaining that the chipmunks were getting peanuts instead of them, since I had the phone on speaker while I was outside?

Anyway, first run of the new plan is tomorrow. It’s only a mile, so I’ll probably just do it on the treadmill because I’d spend more time driving to the Luce Line than I would running on it.

2021 workout data to date: 154h 46m 38s of exercise; 55,165 active calories burned; 70,484 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 3

I had 1 mile on the schedule for today, but I ended up doing 1.34 miles in 20m 19s because I wanted to finish my movie (Footloose 1984, if you’re wondering). I also did a .26 (5m 4s) warm up and .67 (12m 1s) cool down walk.

We got our new couch this morning and it’s really comfy. The cats like it too!






2021 workout data to date: 155h 24m 2s of exercise; 55,399 active calories burned; 70,786 total calories burned

 

[avondale]

Princess Half Training: Day 3

I had 1 mile on the schedule for today, but I ended up doing 1.34 miles in 20m 19s because I wanted to finish my movie (Footloose 1984, if you’re wondering). I also did a .26 (5m 4s) warm up and .67 (12m 1s) cool down walk.

We got our new couch this morning and it’s really comfy. The cats like it too!

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2021 workout data to date: 155h 24m 2s of exercise; 55,399 active calories burned; 70,786 total calories burned

The couch looks nice. And cat approval is the most important part!

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 4

I tried a new dumbbell workout from my Sworkit app tonight, instead of one of my custom ones, and I didn’t like it. First off, it counted by reps, instead of seconds, meaning that I had to tap my phone to move to the next exercise. Second, it had minute-long breaks between exercises, which I ended up pacing back and forth across the family room during because otherwise it just felt like wasted time. The timing also killed my calories/minute amount. Usually, dumbbell workouts burn me over 8 active calories/minute, and this workout didn’t even get me 4!! So, lesson learned, don’t bother with that nonsense again.

I signed up for a Fall Color 5K out at the Arboretum in October. It’s not a traditional race, with official timers or anything, and it’s spread across 3 days and 15 different timeslots each day, you just pick the date and time that works for you and show up and do it. I picked a Saturday that I was going to run almost 3 miles anyway, so I figured I might as well get a shirt out of it, and run a different path.

2021 workout data to date: 156h 15m 14s of exercise; 55,594 active calories burned; 71,052 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 5

I did 1.36 miles on the treadmill in 20m3s, with a .26 mile warm-up (4m34s) and .39 mile cool down (7m). I switched from a 1m run/1.5m walk to 1m/1m and it still felt good. I still hate running on the treadmill, but it does help me slow down while running and keep my speed up while walking.

I booked my flights for Princess Weekend and Springtime Surprise. It’s Southwest, so I know I can cancel if the Surprise turns out to be something unappealing (not that I think that’s likely, but there’s always a chance). I ended up with really early flights going down to Florida, so I guess it’ll get me in the “up-and-going-way-before-dawn” mindset right off the bat.

2021 workout data to date: 156h 46m 51s of exercise; 55,810 active calories burned; 71,325 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 6

Shorter than usual yoga session tonight, 2 rounds with 20 second poses, totaling just under 40 minutes. I’ll be getting up early tomorrow to run one of my many fall virtual 5Ks.

I spent a lot of time in the yard today, on my breaks during the workday, and after work, picking up sticks from the storms that rolled through overnight.







(I filled up the teal bucket twice)

In addition to all the smaller sticks and breakable branches, we had some thicker branches come down too.



I also found a new little friend (though I obviously left him out in the wild where he belongs)



2021 workout data to date: 157h 25m 15s of exercise; 56,082 active calories burned; 71,617 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 7

Well, waking up early failed. I had the alarm set, it went off, I turned it off, and promptly fell asleep for another 45 minutes. I could’ve gotten up and run then, but laziness took over. Then I had to run errands with my grandma. So I didn’t get out to run until nearly 4. But, running later in the day does have certain bonuses: I decided to drive a little further than my normal path, because I wanted to try running on a paved path instead of my usual packed gravel/dirt. The parking lot for the paved path just happens to be the parking lot for an ice cream shop . In addition to the ice cream shop, a local church was having a carnival, so after my run and my ice cream, I went over and got some fresh-cooked french fries. And then mini donuts to take home and share with my grandparents.

I suppose I should actually talk about my run, and not just the tasty things I got afterward Running on the paved path seemed about the same as running on the Luce Line, just a little warmer from the sun-heated blacktop. I started with a half mile warm-up walk (8m59s) and finished with a .6 mile cool down (10m36s). During the run, I felt slow and thought my 5K time was going to be terrible. So imagine my shock when my time was 43:35…almost 3 minutes faster than my previous best 5K time!!



Now I get to hang up my Frank’s Food Run medal (google Frank the Christmas Gargoyle for an explanation, it’s a hilarious story)



2021 workout data to date: 158h 28m 25s of exercise; 56,562 active calories burned; 72,211 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 8

I’ve got the house to myself for a few days—party time!! Ok, not so much partying. I started today by digging out a rock as a surprise for my grandma, she likes rocks, and I had spotted a bit of pink rock sticking out of the hill in the woods in our backyard a few weeks ago and flagged it for future exploration. I was bored this morning and decided that the future was now and I grabbed a shovel. It turned out to be a good size, not too small to be useful around the garden, and not too big to be moved around. I was able to roll it out of the hole and into a big bucket, and then drag the bucket around. She should be really excited when she gets home.

Other than that, I picked up more sticks because this darn wind just won’t stop. And I made enough food that I shouldn’t have to actually cook until my grandparents get home. It’s not so much that I don’t like cooking during the week, it’s that I don’t like doing the dishes .

Finally, I did my cycling workout with the same 1m fast/30s regular intervals that I used last week and went 8.48 miles in 31m30s, which is a slightly slower pace than last week, but a slightly higher calorie/minute rate so

2021 workout data to date: 158h 59m 55s of exercise; 56,789 active calories burned; 72,495 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 9

One of my cats is a brat! She decided she needed to meow loudly outside my door sometime before sunrise, waking me up just enough to ruin a decent night’s sleep. I was off kilter all day long and just couldn’t get into my yoga tonight. I made it through one round before giving up for an hour or so, then made it through 1 more round. Hopefully, certain cats will make better choices tomorrow.

2021 workout data to date: 159h 36m 11s of exercise; 57,036 active calories burned; 72,797 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 10

I definitely didn’t almost forget to do my workout today I was reading after dinner, and got so into it that all of a sudden, it was almost 10! Well, that certainly got my adrenaline going, so I hopped up and got to it. After a 5 minute warm-up, I did 1.61 miles on the treadmill in 22m49s, followed by a 5 minute cooldown walk. I felt fine during the run, and afterward, but I think I overdid it a little. I skipped a couple of the walk breaks, and I was breathing hard by the end of it.

2021 workout data to date: 160h 7m 55s of exercise; 57,288 active calories burned; 73,106 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 11

I did a 25 minute dumbbell workout, followed by a 17 minute barre workout. I would’ve done more dumbbell instead of the barre, since it’s upper body day, but my arms were just jelly after the first set

I found out the other day that the local school campus has an activity center with an indoor track, plus access to the HS outdoor track, and I thought that might be a better winter alternative than a fitness club of some sort, so I emailed them with a few questions. The most important being, “Are you open holidays?” (since several of my the long runs in my plan are on holidays). Sadly, the answer was no, so I guess I’ll be going with my original plan and joining a fitness club.

2021 workout data to date: 160h 48m 27s of exercise; 57,629 active calories burned; 73,499 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 12

So…doing that barre workout last night was a mistake; I can still feel it in my legs. As a result, I slowed down my run pace tonight. I did 2.05 miles in 33m5s, which is 2 minutes slower pace than Tuesday. Also, I hate my treadmill. If anyone reading this is considering buying a treadmill, don’t cheap out. The upright part isn’t very stable, so it wobbles and squeaks when I run (and I’m not even going that fast, just 5mph). In my defense, I didn’t buy the darn thing, and it wasn’t bought with running in mind, it was bought for an 80+ man who was ordered to walk by his doctor (not that he listened to her )

2021 workout data to date: 161h 26m 3s of exercise; 57,903 active calories burned; 73,841 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 13

I could still feel that barre workout from Wednesday in my thighs when I got up today! I’m going to have make adjustments before I try that one again. I did feel better after I walked a half mile after work. I had to deliver mail to a neighbor’s house because whatever idiot numbered our development didn’t think there would be an issue having two houses numbered “123” in a development where all the streets are the same name (ex: Main St, Main Ave, Main Blvd). But because our address comes first alphabetically, we always get their mail, and they almost never get ours.

In other news, I fixed my stupid treadmill! I still standby my advice from yesterday about not cheaping out, because a higher quality treadmill probably would’ve included in the directions “if you adjust the manual incline supports at the back of the treadmill, you also need to adjust these little supports under the front of the treadmill to keep the uprights stable.”

I did 3 rounds of yoga tonight and it felt good. Tomorrow morning will be the virtual George Washington Patriot Run 5K (I saw a Facebook ad and thought it would be a nice, random addition to my medal collection). I got my race packet in the mail today, so I’m going to actually wear the shirt and bib while I do the run, since I’ve never actually run while wearing a race bib, and I figure I should try it once before my first in person race next Saturday.

2021 workout data to date: 162h 22m 45s of exercise; 58,271 active calories burned; 74,298 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 14

I didn’t know how this run was going to go today. My grandma called me at 1:50am (from upstairs) to come and check on my grandpa. He was really out of it and we didn’t know what to do, so we ended up calling 911, and a cop came, then some EMTs from the local fire department (hard to tell, but I assume since they were in street clothes), then the actual ambulance with uniformed EMTs. Turns out, his sugar crashed to the low 40s. So, 2 apple juice boxes and a peanut butter sandwich later, he was better and didn’t need to be taken in. I didn’t get back to sleep until after 4am

But I got up about 9:30, had some breakfast (which I don’t normally do until after my run, but I had been starving since 3:30 and didn’t think I ought to try running without eating). It’s well and truly fall all of a sudden, and it was about 50° when I started. I did a half mile warm-up, then started my run. I changed my run/walk interval to 30s/45s from 30s/60s, just to see if I could do it and how it felt. Turns out, I can do it, and it felt pretty darn good!


I set a new personal best for a 5K, shaving 2m32s off my previous best (from last week) and set two consecutive fastest mile records on miles 2 and 3 (and mile 1 was only 1s over my previous fastest mile)

I wore my new shirt for the virtual race I was running, and I LOVE this shirt! I don’t think I’ve ever had a shirt fit me so nicely in my whole life And I totally didn’t even notice the bib attached to the shirt while I was running, so that was nice to learn. Here’s my (very) post-race selfie with my shirt and medal. Since I didn’t bring the medal with me in the car, I couldn’t take the selfie until after I got home.



2021 workout data to date: 163h 23m 4s of exercise; 58,741 active calories burned; 74,876 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 15

I don’t know what was up with my cycling workout tonight. I made it 8.01 miles in 30m3s, so my pace was only 2 seconds off of last week’s, but my calories/minute were down by about 1.5. So I had to add a 20 minute stretching workout finish off my move ring. Other than that, I didn’t do much today (which also contributed to my move ring needing help, but that missing 45 calories or so would’ve been nice).

2021 workout data to date: 164h 12m 19s of exercise; 58,741 active calories burned; 74,876 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 16

Yoga today, four rounds. Other than that, lots of trips out to feed chipmunks, and one trip to chase after the neighbor cat to keep him from feeding on chipmunks He’s honestly the sweetest cat, and even when I chase him and yell at him, he suddenly stops and rolls over so I can pet his belly. I just wish he’d stay at his house and torment his own chipmunks.

2021 workout data to date: 165h 16m 19s of exercise; 59,462 active calories burned; 75,772 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 17

Where did my fall weather go?? I went for my run after work today and it was 80° But I still managed to match my run from 9/18, down to the second. Although my miles were more consistent on that run than this one.



I earned my Gourdy’s Pumpkin Run Fall-natic September to Remember medal with this run.



2021 workout data to date: 166h 19m 53s of exercise; 59,932 active calories burned; 76,357 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 18

I did 2 rounds of dumbbell workout tonight, with tabata timing of 20s work/10s rest. The way I have my workout set up, I do the same exercise twice in a row, so to try to keep my arms from going to jelly, I alternated between my 3lb and 5lb weight.

Tomorrow is ADR day for my post-Thanksgiving trip to WDW, so I get to get up before 5am . Since I will also need to get up around 5am on Saturday morning for the Twin Cities Marathon 10K, I’ve decided to also set an alarm and get up early on Friday, even though I don’t have anything to do. If I sleep until my normal time on Friday, it’ll be harder to go to sleep early, which will make it harder to wake up on Saturday.

2021 workout data to date: 166h 54m 1s of exercise; 60,224 active calories burned; 76,681 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

Princess Half Training: Day 19

2 miles on the treadmill today in 29m21s, plus a quarter mile warm up (4m15s) and three quarter mile cooldown (13m17s). The only reason I had such a long cooldown was to finish my movie (Rock of Ages). I was up super early for ADR day, and got everything I wanted for my post-Thanksgiving trip. I thought about going out for my run in the morning, since I had 3 hours between waking up and starting work, but sunrise is just too late now.

2021 workout data to date: 167h 40m 54s of exercise; 60,552 active calories burned; 77,093 total calories burned