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

[Baloo in MI]

Congrats on the Sub-3 Half!

 

[GollyGadget]

Great job getting out there in that weather! It can be really difficult to get running this time of year when the weather does not cooperate.

 

[The Expert]

I painted the crop top with acrylic paint to look like WALL-E’s front panel.

WOW I totally thought this was Cricut heat transfer or something. Looks GREAT!

 

[avondale]

Congrats on the HM PR!

The WALL-E costume is a great idea, and your painting looks fantastic!

 

[Naomeri]

24 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

I wish I had been able to have Saturday as the final running day of January so I could end the month on a high note, but, alas, it was not to be. I tried to run my MW 10K after work tonight, and had A LOT of trouble with it. First, it was really cold. On paper, it was just as warm, or even slightly warmer, than Saturday, but it didn’t feel like it. Second, my ankle was giving me problems, which I had exactly ZERO of on Saturday. Third, and honestly, least troublesome, were my new socks. My grandma got me some socks that are highly rated for runners, but they’re shorter than my usual socks. This might not be an issue in the warmer months, but it left a draft on my ankles tonight.

I made it 3.23 miles running before I had to stop and walk the .62 back to my house at that point. Then I had to walk 2.4 miles on the treadmill, in my stocking feet (which I know isn’t great, but shoes+treadmill=ouch apparently) in order to get the full mileage and earn my medal. So, my official time for the virtual MW 10K is 1h 40m 59s

It was kind of pretty, being out when the sun was setting.




Also, I spotted some turkey tracks in the snow on the side of the road. Those buggers have big feet!



Last Friday, on my afternoon off, my grandma and I got the last of my homemade medal racks filled up. I still have more medals in a box, because I’ve clearly gone a bit overboard with the Yes.Fit medals If I wanted to take everything off, and get more parts from IKEA, I think I could fit another 2 rows on there, but that’s too much work to contemplate at the moment. I did get my MW23 Half hung up with my other PR medals.




2023 workout data to date: 30h 19m 30s of exercise; 13,710 active calories burned; 16,695 total calories burned

 

[azrivest]

Great medals, and great winter pics. Those cold temps make for some very pretty pictures, even if our extremities are about to freeze off

Good job on getting the 10k done despite everything

 

[Naomeri]

21 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

I had a good run at the community center fieldhouse tonight. Until the very end, when teenage boys waiting for their practice to start decided that they should stand on the track, despite a million signs saying “Do not linger on the track” The first time they were in my way, I said “Guys, don’t stand on the track, please” and all I got in reply was “who the f*** are you?” On the next time around, they were still blocking up the track, and I said “seriously, don’t stand on the track” and one of them left his soccer ball in my path, so I kicked it about 10 feet down the track into the net that surrounds the soccer fields. It was either kick it or jump over it, and I’m not that coordinated They had moved into the field by the time I came back around. If I were their coach, I would tell them to run warm-up laps until practice starts (pretty sure the coach was there, working with the younger team in the same program)

Anyway, I was trying to get a feel for different paces and see if I could alternate them mile to mile, and I kinda did it? Except for mile 4, which was too fast.



According to Strava, I did set new 1st, 2nd, & 3rd fastest loops today, the fastest being the last loop, so that was kind of cool.



Aside from the super-speedy outliers, I was reasonably consistent in my laps.



It was really really cold here today (which is why I was not running outside) and the animals were just starving. As soon as my grandpa filled the bird feeders, the deer appeared out of nowhere, and a bunny too. I had to shoo away the deer so that the birds could get some food, which frighten the bunny into running and hiding under the bush outside my patio door. Poor little ball of fur!!



Later, the bunny came out to see if the deer had left anything on the other patio shrubs, but was seriously disappointed. I did put a couple pieces of lettuce under the big shrub for him, but I’m not sure if he’s eaten them yet



Oh, one more thing! I had the best cycling workout last night! I recently bundled my Apple subscriptions, since I was already paying for several of them separately and it was only a small increase to add the rest. So now I have access to Apple Fitness+, and I used it for the first time and did a 45 minute Queen-themed cycling workout. I burned SO MANY calories! In the past, I’ve averaged slightly less than 6 calories/minute on my cycling workouts. Last night, I hit 9.16 calories/minute, which is more equivalent to a run for me. My heart rate also got much higher than usual, so it was a good cardio workout.

Looking at my VO2 numbers, I lost a noticeable amount of cardio fitness in December when I wasn’t running: on my last pre-injury run on Dec 2nd, my VO2 was 38.7; on my first outdoor run post-injury on Dec 25th, my VO2 was 37.1. I am improving though—I hit 37.7 for my half last Saturday. But I’m so glad I found these new workouts—I’ve never done these sorts of fitness things before. It might even get me back on the rower, which I kind of gave up on because it’s the most boring exercise activity ever but I’m sure Foo Fighters or Imagine Dragons could distract me long enough to get through a workout.


2023 workout data to date: 32h 32m 52s of exercise; 14,880 active calories burned; 18,083 total calories burned

 

[The Expert]

If I were their coach, I would tell them to run warm-up laps until practice starts

The only thing worse than rude kids is the adults responsible for them not doing their job. I'm not a mom, but I have a "mean mom" voice I use in these situations that usually does the trick. When they said “who the f*** are you?” I'd have responded with "F*** around and find out!"

 

[Naomeri]

The only thing worse than rude kids is the adults responsible for them not doing their job. I'm not a mom, but I have a "mean mom" voice I use in these situations that usually does the trick. When they said “who the f*** are you?” I'd have responded with "F*** around and find out!"

This community center is in a more affluent area, and these are fancy kids soccer programs—like personalized matching backpacks level fancy, so the entitled brats would probably whine to their mommies and their mommies would whine to the community center, and I’d probably get banned from the best indoor running spot I’ve found.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

This community center is in a more affluent area, and these are fancy kids soccer programs—like personalized matching backpacks level fancy, so the entitled brats would probably whine to their mommies and their mommies would whine to the community center, and I’d probably get banned from the best indoor running spot I’ve found.

I need the reactions in the DISboards to be like Slack and let you use any emoji so I could react with

 

[lookingforsunshine]

When they said “who the f*** are you?” I'd have responded with "F*** around and find out!"

This killed me lol

 

[Naomeri]

19 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023 (pt 1)

I forgot to write up a journal entry after my run yesterday, so here it is. I ran 5 miles outside, and failed to run at a proper slower pace. So…nothing out of the ordinary But I’m so glad that it’s not subzero temps anymore! Except that I overdressed and I was literally dripping sweat from my head during the run. Today is going to be even nicer, and it’s sunny, so that will be pleasant. I have 7 miles on the schedule.




I can’t believe that 3 weeks from right this minute (approximately) I’ll be getting back to my hotel room after running the Princess Half. Where has the time gone??

Also, I’m loving the theme for the DL Half weekend, and I’m already having costume ideas I’ve never gotten to do in-person races hosted by the Fab 5 before, so it’s a whole new world of costume opportunities.


2023 workout data to date: 33h 39m 33s of exercise; 15,473 active calories burned; 18,795 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

19 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023 (pt 2)

Well, I got half my run done today. I think I must’ve taken an odd sideways step somewhere and aggravated my ankle, so once I got back to the house at the halfway point I chose to call it quits. It’s only a training run, and I already know I can finish all the distances, so better to take it easy. And if it happens during a race, I can always walk, or take a break in a character line.




So, since I know I’ll be able to register for the DL 5K and challenge, I don’t consider it presumptuous at all to already be buying costume pieces, since I had ideas and I might as well act on them while they’re fresh. But I’m not sharing yet!


2023 workout data to date: 34h 28m 54s of exercise; 15,905 active calories burned; 19,315 total calories burned

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I think I must’ve taken an odd sideways step somewhere and aggravated my ankle, so once I got back to the house at the halfway point I chose to call it quits. It’s only a training run, and I already know I can finish all the distances, so better to take it easy.

Very wise!

So, since I know I’ll be able to register for the DL 5K and challenge, I don’t consider it presumptuous at all to already be buying costume pieces, since I had ideas and I might as well act on them while they’re fresh. But I’m not sharing yet!

I'm excited to hear about them!

 

[avondale]

Hope the ankle is nothing serious!

I was shaking my head at your experience at the track. I use our high school track, and I encounter annoying behavior all the time. When it's before dark, at least. It's kind of boring to run on the track after dark (like I do at this time of year), but at least there are only a couple other people around, usually.

 

[Naomeri]

Hope the ankle is nothing serious!

I was shaking my head at your experience at the track. I use our high school track, and I encounter annoying behavior all the time. When it's before dark, at least. It's kind of boring to run on the track after dark (like I do at this time of year), but at least there are only a couple other people around, usually.

With this being a track-in-a-bubble, there’s no difference between day and night. And it was actually better than usual the other day because it had been closed for a private event until about a half hour before I got there, so there were less people.

My ankle is just twinges left over from the Achilles tendinitis I was dealing with in December, but I’m trying to be cautious to avoid another mandated break from running.

 

[Naomeri]

17 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to run today because we had just a bit of freezing rain and snow last night, but the sunny day got it almost all cleared up by the time I got off work. It was a good run, with no ankle issues.




I’m very excited that I was able to register for the DL 5K and Dumbo Double Dare through Club runDisney this morning. Now I’ll only have to worry about grabbing a yoga spot next week, which shouldn’t (knock on wood) be too hard to do, at least compared to getting race spots.

It was also a very pretty evening. Just as the sun was setting, the eastern sky had some gorgeous pastels, almost like a sunrise.



I also happened to see some deer. They might be the same group of 4 that often visits our backyard.



A bit later in the run, the sky was getting darker, but still had some nice color. I really love silhouetted trees.





2023 workout data to date: 36h 13m 27s of exercise; 16,802 active calories burned; 20,388 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

14 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

I had an excellent run at the community center last night. I had to run some errands with my grandpa, since he can’t drive anymore but he still needs to get Valentine’s gifts for my grandma, so I decided that we would incorporate my workout into our errands, and he could walk on the track. Apparently, my subconscious decided that I needed to show off for him or something because I was going really fast! I didn’t feel like I was going that fast at first, but I did start to have to work for it towards the middle of mile 3. I was scheduled to do 4 miles, but decided to quit early since I was getting a better workout than scheduled.



Wednesday, I did a 30 minute Fitness+ cycling workout. It was good, but I didn’t see quite the same rate of calorie burn that I did with the one I did last week. I paired it with a 20 minute Fitness+ rowing workout, and that was a WORKOUT. Holy spaghetti arms, Batman My hands were also sore as heck, but I was better by the next morning.


2023 workout data to date: 37h 42m 0s of exercise; 17,488 active calories burned; 21,231 total calories burned

 

[Naomeri]

12 Days Until: Princess Weekend 2023

Well, I missed my run yesterday because of a splitting headache, and didn’t even make it 2 miles today due to fatigue in my legs. Thankfully, I know the cause of the fatigue and it won’t be an issue for Princess Weekend. I’m going to try to make up today’s run tomorrow, when I think I’ll be better.



I did have a rare character sighting on my run today though: Sam Eagle!




After I got home, I made one of my cats very happy by opening the blinds on the front door so she could have a sunbeam.



2023 workout data to date: 39h 4m 57s of exercise; 18,177 active calories burned; 22,037 total calories burned

 

[avondale]

Amazing eagle!