In Training: Marathon Weekend 2015 (Dopey Challenge)! **COMPLETE**

[annmarieda]

That's a great thing about running - we can all have our different goals and none of us are wrong! If you want to run hard at Disney races, go for it. I know now everyone understands stopping for characters, but it's a big part of the races for me.

I think there are more who understand stopping for characters than understand not. Personally, I kinda feel conflicted about it. I feel like I should want to do both and it just leaves me

I don't blame you for going back and forth over it...I still am in a way. Just want to get the best deal! This will be the first time we'll be paying out of pocket without a Tables in Wonderland card, so it definitely feels weird.

I guess when trying to get the best deal there is always room for second guessing.

This is a deadlift:

Every other time I have done one I've felt it in my back and not my hamstrings, which means I've been doing it improperly up until that last workout! Ooops!

OH! that makes sense...and yes... if you back hurt then I think you may have been lifting with your back and not the point of that exercise.

Yes, definitely! I wish I was a little better at just "feeling" the right pace, but the watch helps a lot.

Yes... it certainly does!

It is. Low 30s today but it feels like 20! I think we're supposed to be back up into the mid-50s next week though.

Our weather has been so wacky! One day sunny and warm and then the next rainy and cold. It makes adjusting to the weather very difficult.

I've never been to Olivia's...actually I've never been to OKW, period. I've read trip reports where people ate a Olivia's and it looks really good!

I sent my husband links to menus for The Wave, Grand Floridian Cafe and Captain's Grille. Originally he picked GF Cafe but then thought it through a little more and wants to go to Captain's Grille instead...just because it's right there. They have some interesting stuff on their menu (dark chocolate waffle??? YUM!). So hooray for a new place!

I am really at a loss. I think outside of breakfast buffets there really are not that many places that serve breakfast and of those, most seem to be your standard offerings. the Wave does have some appeal, but I really want to go there with my in laws for dinner...

July 2014 Cruise Update - Flights Booked!

I'm kind of in a holding pattern with my Wine & Dine and Dopey trips, but I am planning one other Disney-related trip this year...a 4-night Bahamian Cruise on the Disney Dream!

I did this same itinerary in September with my friends and had a blast. This time it's going to be just me and Will sailing, and I am SO excited!...

...and a little nervous. Because I know WILL is nervous. The thought of being on a boat in the middle of the ocean skeeves him out a bit, so he must really love me to have agreed to try this out. I'm planning on booking our next cruise while on board (I'm optimistic that he'll like it and want to cruise again ) and was hoping a Mediterranean cruise would work with our dates, but itineraries were just released today for the summer and it looks like a Western Caribbean will work better. I'm not complaining about this (because HELLO, the Caribbean!), but I want that Med cruise to happen someday!

I have never been on a cruise, so I can understand Will being nervous... but still.. a good nervous cause how fun!!!

I think this trip will be coming at the perfect time. I'm sure I'll need a vacation by then (work = super stressful lately) and Will will have just finished up a semester of grad school classes (about 16 hours per week for 5 weeks - yikes!). It'll be so nice to relax for a few days, just the two of us.

Castaway Cay...aka HEAVEN

That will be awesome to relax there especially after all the weeks preceeding it.

My Palo entree from September...amazing!

That looks amazing! And yes... now I am hungry

I had a couple of flights I'd been watching and they dropped in price yesterday by about $20 or $30, so I grabbed them. Our flights down are booked on points and we're paying for the flights back, so it's costing about $310 round-trip for both of us.

Can't beat that!!!

We'll be at Saratoga Springs for 1 night before our cruise, staying on rented points. A new resort for us! We won't go to the parks at all but we will spend the day at Downtown Disney.

We will feast at Wolfgang Puck Express...oh yes.

How fun to stay at a new resort! I will be anxious to see what you think of SS. I will be honest... I have shied away thinking it looks too big and spread out. Somehow though, I think I may end up staying there someday...

In September I actually did get up to run one morning in the gym on the Dream, so I'm hoping to do that again. I also ran the Castaway Cay 5K...so I thought I did pretty well working out 2 mornings. I'm hoping for the same this time, but I doubt I'll do the 5K again. It was one of those things that I'm glad I did once, but the course was disappointing to me - I was hoping we'd see more of the island. Plus since we're sailing at the end of July it'll be HOT HOT HOT. I will probably just stick to the treadmill!

Continued in Next Post

As much as I would love to do the 5k... I can totally see why you would skip it since you a. have done it before and b. why run in the heat if you don't have to.

 

[Ariel484]

I love RawThreads! I bought this shirt in gray for the Yuengling Brewery 5k I am doing on April 12. I already have a Yuengling Bondiband and some sweet beer socks (they just say Beer on them and the color doesn't match anything else at all )

I'm thinking I need to get the Red Queen shirt (I'm a redhead)

Me too, Raw Threads is good stuff! Next time they have a sale I need to look into their leggings, I bet they are super comfortable.

I'm pretty sure one of my friends is planning on buying the socks you're talking about.

Woohoo on your cruise!! I hope you have a great time and that Will ends up loving it. I also really want to do a Med cruise at some point.

Me too! He was out of town yesterday/last night and I sent him a text that the Med cruises look like they won't work for us and his response was "we will get another cruise in I'm sure." So that bodes well for me!

And, I've never heard of Raw Threads before. Great, yet another place for me to spend money on running clothes.

Haha, I know! Their stuff is really nice, the fabric feels almost...silky or something? It's expensive though - the shirt I bought is a short-sleeved v-neck top. Original price: $40. With the 25% discount it went down to $34 (still pricey for a shirt in my opinion) and then I had to tack on shipping...so better than the original price but STILL. It's probably not something I would have bought on my own but my friends think it'll be fun for us to wear the same top at Wine & Dine. I didn't want to be the one jerk that didn't get the matching top.

I guess when trying to get the best deal there is always room for second guessing.

I know what you mean! I feel I got a good deal on our cruise flights, yet I know I'll still check them every 1-2 days just in case the price drops!

OH! that makes sense...and yes... if you back hurt then I think you may have been lifting with your back and not the point of that exercise.

That's absolutely what I was doing. All along I thought that was the point...apparently not!

Yes... it certainly does!

Our weather has been so wacky! One day sunny and warm and then the next rainy and cold. It makes adjusting to the weather very difficult.

Ours too! It must be like that everywhere. Yesterday, it snowed (again ). Today, high of 25. Tomorrow, high of 49.

I am really at a loss. I think outside of breakfast buffets there really are not that many places that serve breakfast and of those, most seem to be your standard offerings. the Wave does have some appeal, but I really want to go there with my in laws for dinner...

You're totally right. There are some buffets I really like (Boma breakfast, for example) but I really cannot stomach the pricey because we don't ever eat our money's worth. When I was thinking about other Table Service breakfast places near the Boardwalk, Captain's Grille was really the only acceptable option.

Cap May Cafe - pricey character buffet breakfast
Akershus - pricey character buffet breakfast
Hollywood & Vine - pricey character buffet breakfast
Captain's Grille - buffet...with a la carte option. Ding ding ding!!

I really did want to check out The Wave but I wasn't planning on going to Magic Kingdom that day, so it would be a lot of work to get to the Contemporary just for brunch. That's another place I keep wanting to make ADRs at and then bumping it off the list. Someday!

I have never been on a cruise, so I can understand Will being nervous... but still.. a good nervous cause how fun!!!

I hope he likes it! I think the fact that I went on the same itinerary and came back in one piece eased his mind a lot. Plus...there have been quite a few negative stories about other cruise companies lately...none of them Disney!

That will be awesome to relax there especially after all the weeks preceeding it.

Yes! Castaway Cay is so beautiful. That's probably what I am looking forward to the most.

That looks amazing! And yes... now I am hungry

Some kind of beef tenderloin with potatoes and Gorgonzola sauce...YUMMM

Can't beat that!!!

How fun to stay at a new resort! I will be anxious to see what you think of SS. I will be honest... I have shied away thinking it looks too big and spread out. Somehow though, I think I may end up staying there someday...

We're really looking forward to it! I just looked at the resort map...holy cow, you're right, it really is spread out!

I've walked through portions of the resort briefly and thought it looked really pretty. I guess when we do online check-in I'm going to request the section closest to Downtown Disney (Congress Park?), cross my fingers and hope for the best. I could totally see how the size would be a turn-off for a longer trip though.

As much as I would love to do the 5k... I can totally see why you would skip it since you a. have done it before and b. why run in the heat if you don't have to.

Yeah, in my opinion it's not like the races in the parks where the course is special enough that you'd want to do it multiple times (again, just my opinion). It's an out-and-back where you run through this area with tons of trees, out onto their airstrip, then turn around and come back. Most of the course is in the trees so you really don't see much.

The BIG thing in its favor is that (as of right now) running the race costs exactly $0. That's right...a Disney race with NO registration fee! (It's funny because the bibs have the runDisney logo on them, but if you go to rundisney.com there's no mention of this race at all.) And you get the bib and plastic finisher medal. So that's kind of cool. If they changed the medal I'd probably do it again since it doesn't cost anything. I'm heavily leaning toward not doing it again but I could see myself possibly changing my mind at the last minute (you don't sign up ahead of time, you meet in one of the clubs the morning of the run and then all walk out together).

 

[annmarieda]

You're totally right. There are some buffets I really like (Boma breakfast, for example) but I really cannot stomach the pricey because we don't ever eat our money's worth. When I was thinking about other Table Service breakfast places near the Boardwalk, Captain's Grille was really the only acceptable option.

Cap May Cafe - pricey character buffet breakfast
Akershus - pricey character buffet breakfast
Hollywood & Vine - pricey character buffet breakfast
Captain's Grille - buffet...with a la carte option. Ding ding ding!!

I really did want to check out The Wave but I wasn't planning on going to Magic Kingdom that day, so it would be a lot of work to get to the Contemporary just for brunch. That's another place I keep wanting to make ADRs at and then bumping it off the list. Someday!

Starting to think Captains Grille is going to be our best bet too.

I've walked through portions of the resort briefly and thought it looked really pretty. I guess when we do online check-in I'm going to request the section closest to Downtown Disney (Congress Park?), cross my fingers and hope for the best. I could totally see how the size would be a turn-off for a longer trip though.

I have no experience with this resort... but I would think a request of closest to DTD would be good (given that is where you want to spend your time) I believe the boat goes from SS to DTD, right? maybe that is also a location to request? (near boat dock)

The BIG thing in its favor is that (as of right now) running the race costs exactly $0. That's right...a Disney race with NO registration fee! (It's funny because the bibs have the runDisney logo on them, but if you go to rundisney.com there's no mention of this race at all.) And you get the bib and plastic finisher medal. So that's kind of cool. If they changed the medal I'd probably do it again since it doesn't cost anything. I'm heavily leaning toward not doing it again but I could see myself possibly changing my mind at the last minute (you don't sign up ahead of time, you meet in one of the clubs the morning of the run and then all walk out together).

I kinda feel like getting to do a disney race... at no additional cost is something that I would be all over multiple times. However, if there are other things you rather do with your time then I can see not doing it once you have already experienced it.

 

[Ariel484]

Starting to think Captains Grille is going to be our best bet too.

They have some interesting-looking stuff on their menu...I'm looking forward to it! Always run to try a new place once in awhile.

I have no experience with this resort... but I would think a request of closest to DTD would be good (given that is where you want to spend your time) I believe the boat goes from SS to DTD, right? maybe that is also a location to request? (near boat dock)

You're right about the boats (I think)...we LOVE taking the boats at Disney, so that's a great idea to request that as an alternate location.

I kinda feel like getting to do a disney race... at no additional cost is something that I would be all over multiple times. However, if there are other things you rather do with your time then I can see not doing it once you have already experienced it.

I think I'd be more into the idea if we weren't going to be there in JULY. If they change the medal I'd probably do it again!

 

[Ariel484]

Week 6 of 10-miler Training
Monday, March 24, 2014 - Sunday, March 30, 2014

15.65 miles complete/21ish miles planned
82.75 miles completed in 10-miler Training so far
133.75 miles completed in 2014 so far
69.65 miles completed in the month of March (not bad considering I took a week off when I was sick!)

Monday, March 24: Strength Training (ChaLEAN Extreme Push 1 + ab burner)
Moving on to a new ChaLEAN Extreme phase!

Today was the start of the "Push" phase. During the "Burn" phase each exercise was a compound movement (legs and arms) done at a heavy enough weight that one would reach "failure" at 10-12 reps. The Push phase is different - each exercise focuses on just one muscle group and is done at a heavy enough weight that one would reach "failure" at 6-8 reps (so if you can't make it to 6, you're lifting too heavy...if you can go beyond 8 you're not lifting heavy enough).

What does that mean?

Today I lifted HEAVY! I actually used two 25-pound dumbbells at one point (for squats...probably the first time I've EVER picked up something heavier than a 20-pound dumbbell in the weight room ). My lowest weight was using a 10-pounder for tricep extensions...I've never been good at those.

I'm really loving this program! The variety is great, I can feel myself getting stronger, and I know it'll help with running since there's a good amount of leg work in there. Having strong hamstrings, quads and glutes is really important for runners, and Chalene definitely was having me work those areas this morning!

Also, I FINALLY did some ab work again this morning. I don't think I did ab stuff at all last week...not good! Ideally I'd like to do ab stuff at least 4 times a week...but just by doing it this morning I'm already off to a better start than I was last week!

Tuesday, March 25: Run #1 (4 miles on the treadmill)

Weird run today. I felt really stiff during the first 0.5 miles or so. Once I finally got warmed up I felt okay...until the end of the 3rd mile, when I suddenly REALLY needed a bathroom break, like, IMMEDIATELY! I told myself to just keep going since I was almost done, but around the 5K mark I had to stop. I thought I was quick enough but by the time I'd gotten back to the treadmill the dumb thing had reset itself. Boo! I was pretty sure I'd stopped around 3.1 miles so I ran another 0.9 miles and called it good. No idea what my time was, probably between 40 and 42 minutes? Oh well.

In other news...today is Will's birthday! He's 29 today! He's visiting my in-laws since he's on spring break and will be back home tomorrow, so I'm planning on making some cupcakes for him to have when he gets back (pumpkin chocolate chip with cinnamon buttercream icing per his request). And thus begins the Week of Cake...between his birthday today and mine next Friday I'm pretty sure we're going to have at least 4 cake-related events. Just great for weightloss, no? Oh well, the Week of Cake only happens once per year!

Kicking things off with the aforementioned cupcakes! (Cake #1) Delicious if I do say so myself!

(Screenshot from my Instagram account...follow me? )

Wednesday, March 26: Strength Training (ChaLEAN Extreme Push 2 + ab burner)

Second workout of the Push phase! Same idea as before - lift heavy enough to max out at 6-8 reps - but I have to say that I did not like this workout as much as Monday's workout. It seemed like quite a few of the moves were incredibly similar to one another, nowhere near the variety that Push 1 has. Still a good workout but not my favorite.

I managed to get to the gym early enough to get some ab work in. After I showered I hopped on the scale and was NOT pleased with the number I saw. I know weight fluctuates, but it's really frustrating when I feel like I'm working pretty hard and have a somewhat decent, but not perfect, diet. Even though I JUST wrote those weightloss goals here, I'm wondering if maybe I'm approaching things the wrong way? Maybe I need to focus more on how my clothes fit (they seem to feel pretty okay right now) and less on the number on the scale? Maybe I'd beat myself up less that way (seriously, I was bummed about this ALL DAY. Ridiculous!). Also, with running more and lifting heavy I feel like I've got to be gaining some muscle, so maybe that accounts for it a bit as well? UGH!

In related news, Will is back home after visiting the in-laws, and my sweet MIL sent home not one, but TWO cakes. When I said it was the Week of Cake I wasn't lying.

Cake #2 is chocolate ganache and white chocolate chips. This is my MIL’s go-to cake and it's AMAZING - so moist and delicious. Cake #3 is a blueberry coffee cake!

I'm sure this will totally help with weight loss!...

Thursday, March 27: Run #2 (40-minute tempo run, 3.65 miles completed)/Ab Ripper X (15)

Good run today! These ones are tough but it feels good to get them done. Supposedly these are supposed to make me run faster for longer...I hope they do!

I got to the gym early enough to do some ab work after my run, so I did Ab Ripper X for the first time in who knows how long. This is the ab workout from P90X...you’re supposed to do 11 moves, 25 reps per move (except for the last one where Tony Horton does 40 reps for some reason...oooooookay?). Since I hadn’t done this workout in so long I decided to do 15 reps per move and build up from there. Tony Horton is so goofy.

This is a screenshot from my phone where he sort of creeps toward the camera, posing and growling "Ab...Ripper...X" Seriously, dude is nuts.

Exciting happenings today...Disney Cruise Line opened up booking today for 2015 dates are my awesome travel agent friend booked us on a Western Caribbean Cruise on the Fantasy for next summer! It wasn't my first choice itinerary (I've mentioned multiple times that a Med cruise is my #1 pick) but this one looks awesome. Some of my friends booked the Norwegian cruises, which look pretty amazing too. Too bad that one doesn't work for us.

Friday, March 28: Run #3 (8-mile out-and-back)
Great run today! I don’t have the splits in front of me but I know that my overall average pace was 10:29/mile. And I felt pretty good doing it!

I was super busy this weekend so I'm writing about this run late (Monday 3/31) and can't remember details...but I did finally try 2 things from my Stridebox!

First, I took the salted caramel Gu gel with me.

One mistake I made during this run was to do it too late after I'd eaten my bagel with peanut butter (I went out 2 hours after eating instead of 1). By the 3rd or 4th mile I was feeling pretty hungry and borderline light-headed. So I was really ready for that gel at the beginning of mile 5!

The verdict: I actually really liked it! I find I crave salt after runs a lot, and I hate gels that are too sweet, so the salt in the Gu was pretty awesome to me. If I want to buy more gels I'd definitely go with this flavor. Lately my beloved Gu Chomps have been getting stuck in my teeth so I very well may switch to gels for awhile. We'll see!

After the run I tried the Honey Stinger protein bar:

I split this with Will. For some reason I was expecting something similar to a granola bar, so when I removed the wrapping I was very surprised to find that it was closer to a candy bar. It reminded me a lot of a Three Musketeers bar, except that the filler was more dense. Pretty decent flavor too. It was good but not something I'd feel the need to look for and purchase on my own, if that makes any sense. I'm not sure it helped me recover from the run any better.

Saturday, March 29: Unplanned Rest Day (6-mile run scheduled)
Sunday, March 30: Rest Day

I had a lot to get done this weekend (seriously, I felt like I barely got to sit down at all)...and basically the only thing that did NOT get done was this 6-mile run. I feel a little conflicted about that, but hey, it's the first one I’ve missed since I was sick so that’s not too bad. Let's be honest though, I could have woken up 1.5 hours early on Saturday or Sunday to get it done...but I just didn't make it a priority. But I'm telling myself it's okay to do that once in awhile and moving on from it.

On Saturday night we went out to dinner at our favorite local restaurant for our birthdays and got…

Cake #4 (1 slice of red velvet cheesecake to share - it was just okay) and Cake #5 (when we made the reservation we told the place that it was for our birthdays...so they also brought us this small cake, which is white cake with vanilla buttercream. This cake is AWESOME!):

Then on Sunday I went to my family's house for a multi-birthday celebration...and had cake #6, now with ice cream (also white with vanilla buttercream):

I think that’s it for the week of cake...whew! Of course, we're still still swimming in cake over here. We threw out the rest of the red velvet cheesecake...there are a few cupcakes left...our blue frosting cake is almost gone...the blueberry coffee cake is still there...and the chocolate cake from my MIL hasn't been touched yet and is sitting in our freezer!

Two Disney-related happenings from this weekend:

1. My mom gave me and Will a joint birthday gift of Disney giftcards! Always fantastic to receive those!
2. After running many different scenarios and lots of back-and-forths, we made the decision to downgrade our room for next year’s cruise.

** WARNING: Rambling cruise room spiel below**

Originally we were booked in (I think) a category 4D room - family-sized room with a verandah (249 square feet). We're booked in the same room type for our upcoming 4-nighter this summer.

I was super excited until I took a close look at the price. I guess I'm used to the price for the 4-nighters because once I really, REALLY looked, I got a bit of sticker shock from the 7-night price!

So after downgrading once (to a smaller room still with a verandah), that took off some cash...but we still weren't at a price that we felt comfortable with. In my mind it's really important to have a mid-ship room (I've read about vibrations from the ship's motors and lots of movement when staying forward or aft) so I was afraid that our only options were to pay for a verandah or move to an inside statement with a "virtual porthole" - i.e. a room without a real window. Those virtual portholes look cool, but I wondered if we would really be okay without a real window for an entire week. Plus, those are the smallest rooms on the ship at 169 square feet. I also had the thought that I wanted us to stay somewhere on decks 6, 7, 8 or 9 so we wouldn't have to go as far up/down to get to places.

The pools, for example, are on Deck 12.

But then I found oceanview rooms on deck 2. No verandahs but they do have portholes - real windows - and are located mid-ship. The awesome thing is that I was able to read reviews online for specific rooms (Will found this hilarious) and found one that sounded good, so I requested that my travel agent move us to that one - and it was available! So we grabbed it. Now this room is 200 square feet, which is a nice compromise (in looking at the room layouts online I wonder if the extra 49 square feet we’re losing is just from the verandah? ) ...AND, our total cost is about two-thirds the amount we were originally going to pay for the larger room with the verandah. I'm nervous about staying on a lower deck just because, like I said before, we'll have to walk up for almost everything (hoping to avoid the elevators - that'll balance out all the free food we’ll be eating, right?!) and I wonder if the ride won't be as smooth on a lower deck? I guess we’ll never know until we try.

Lots of stairs in our future...

So I feel mostly good about this switch. The other thing I'm not sure about is if we'll miss the verandah on the longer cruise...so I think if we go on this 4-nighter and decide that we really, really like having the verandah, we'll re-book the 7-nighter from a deck 2 room with a porthole to something higher up with a verandah. Either way I'm going to visit the re-booking desk to see if I can re-shop the cruise (onboard bookings save 10% and get onboard credits - $200 in our case - so we'll see if that's cheaper than the price we are currently paying).

Spiel - and week - over!

Continued in Next Post

 

[annmarieda]

Congrats on moving to the next phase! I admire you for all the work you do. I don't think I will ever be able to get in the cross training that I probably need. Course... never say never. A little more than a couple years ago and I would have said I would never get into running the way I have....


Happy "week of cake". Seriously, how fun is that?!!! Lots of cake..but what a way to celebrate.

Thanks for the reviews on your stridebox products! I crave salt after runs too... more than anything. I wonder if that salted carmel gu would be something I too would like.

Congrats on your cruise booking! And for saving some cash!!!

 

[Ariel484]

Congrats on moving to the next phase! I admire you for all the work you do. I don't think I will ever be able to get in the cross training that I probably need. Course... never say never. A little more than a couple years ago and I would have said I would never get into running the way I have....

Thanks! It took me about a year to figure out that I needed to do some strength training to keep my knees healthy, and now I'm afraid to give it up. If your knees are in good shape without having to do extra, lucky you!

It's hard though - I wish I could fir in yoga or swimming or something but there's just not enough time!

Happy "week of cake". Seriously, how fun is that?!!! Lots of cake..but what a way to celebrate.

Haha, THANK YOU! We're down to our last 4 pumpking cupcakes but we still have coffee cake, restaurant cake, and the entire chocolate cake from my MIL sitting in the freezer...

Thanks for the reviews on your stridebox products! I crave salt after runs too... more than anything. I wonder if that salted carmel gu would be something I too would like.

I was surprised at how much I liked the salted caramel gu! If you happen to see it in a store somewhere, definitely give it a shot.

Congrats on your cruise booking! And for saving some cash!!!

Thanks, I'm so excited!!! And glad to have a cheaper total amount to pay!

 

[jbuckent]

Two Disney-related happenings from this weekend:

1. My mom gave me and Will a joint birthday gift of Disney giftcards! Always fantastic to receive those!
2. After running many different scenarios and lots of back-and-forths, we made the decision to downgrade our room for next year’s cruise.

** WARNING: Rambling cruise room spiel below**

Originally we were booked in (I think) a category 4D room - family-sized room with a verandah (249 square feet). We're booked in the same room type for our upcoming 4-nighter this summer.

I was super excited until I took a close look at the price. I guess I'm used to the price for the 4-nighters because one I really, REALLY looked, I got a bit of sticker shock from the 7-night price!

So after downgrading once (to a smaller room still with a verandah), that took off some cash...but we still weren't at a price that we felt comfortable with. In my mind it's really important to have a mid-ship room (I've read about vibrations from the ship's motors and lots of movement when staying forward or aft) so I was afraid that our only options were to pay for a verandah or move to an inside statement with a "virtual porthole" - i.e. a room without a real window. Those virtual portholes look cool, but I wondered if we would really be okay without a real window for an entire week. Plus, those are the smallest rooms on the ship at 169 square feet. I also had the thought that I wanted us to stay somewhere on decks 6, 7, 8 or 9 so we wouldn't have to go as far up/down to get to places.

The pools, for example, are on Deck 12.

But then I found oceanview rooms on deck 2. No verandahs but they do have portholes - real windows - and are located mid-ship. The awesome thing is that I was able to read reviews online for specific rooms (Will found this hilarious) and found one that sounded good, so I requested that my travel agent move us to that one - and it was available! So we grabbed it. Now this room is 200 square feet, which is a nice compromise (in looking at the room layouts online I wonder if the extra 49 square feet we’re losing is just from the verandah? ) ...AND, our total cost is about two-thirds the amount we were originally going to pay for the larger room with the verandah. I'm nervous about staying on a lower deck just because, like I said before, we'll have to walk up for almost everything (hoping to avoid the elevators - that'll balance out all the free food we’ll be eating, right?!) and I wonder if the ride won't be as smooth on a lower deck? I guess we’ll never know until we try.

Lots of stairs in our future...

So I feel mostly good about this switch. The other thing I'm not sure about is if we'll miss the verandah on the longer cruise...so I think if we go on this 4-nighter and decide that we really, really like having the verandah, we'll re-book the 7-nighter from a deck 2 room with a porthole to something higher up with a verandah. Either way I'm going to visit the re-booking desk to see if I can re-shop the cruise (onboard bookings save 10% and get onboard credits - $200 in our case - so we'll see if that's cheaper than the price we are currently paying).

Spiel - and week - over!

Continued in Next Post

We LOVE Disney cruises! Any room is better than no room! Our opinion (some of this has to do with us having kids) is a porthole is not worth the price, but a verandah is!

The ONLY thing we like about a porthole over an inside room is when you wake up you have an idea of whether or not it is 3am or 7am because the sun will sneak through the curtains with the porthole. We have never been in an inside stateroom on the Dream or Fantasy so I would think there is even less to gain from a porthole now.

We LOVE the verandah! Only reason we ever decided to spend the extra was because one cruise we were already booked on offered a 'kids sail free in verandah' discount which made our cruise LESS expensive. Unfortunately it made every cruise after more expensive, LOL. The kids always need some downtime mid day so we head to the room for an hour or two while they watch some tv. We like to order an 'All Hands on Deck' cheese plate from room service and open a bottle of wine out on the verandah. Its a much better way to spend that time than watching cartoons. We try to time this with getting dressed for the evening. The snack holds us over until late dinner time! We also go out there in the morning, my hubby will go upstairs to get us coffee and we enjoy our first cup of the day on the verandah.

As for location, we always try for midship and deck 5 or 6 on Magic/Wonder and 8 or 9 on Dream/Fantasy. This puts in the middle of everything, we never use the stairs other than when getting back on the ship. We also don't have concerns about the ships movement, if that is a concern you want to be midship on a lower level.

We have done Palo dinner and brunch, and Remy brunch with the champagne option. We loved Palo dinner the first time, the second time we decided it wasn't worth missing the main dining room. But we got Palo brunch on every cruise after the first time we did that. On our last cruise we did Remy brunch with champagne option and that is our favorite! I have not done Remy dinner yet, we just really like the main dining rooms, if I knew our dining rotation I might be more likely to select our least favorite dinner to miss.

Our next cruise is right after Wine & Dine half and we are leaving the kids at home for the first time! Very excited to experience DCL in a new way!

Sorry for going on and on, I just really love Disney Cruiseline!

 

[annmarieda]

Thanks! It took me about a year to figure out that I needed to do some strength training to keep my knees healthy, and now I'm afraid to give it up. If your knees are in good shape without having to do extra, lucky you!

You do it for your knees? So you are saying if my knees hurt I should be doing something to strengthen them? I just thought I needed more cushioning in my shoes....

 

[Ariel484]

We LOVE Disney cruises! Any room is better than no room! Our opinion (some of this has to do with us having kids) is a porthole is not worth the price, but a verandah is!

The ONLY thing we like about a porthole over an inside room is when you wake up you have an idea of whether or not it is 3am or 7am because the sun will sneak through the curtains with the porthole. We have never been in an inside stateroom on the Dream or Fantasy so I would think there is even less to gain from a porthole now.

I love them too! I've only been on one so far but there are a few itineraries I want to try!

Honestly, I could see us switching that porthole room to a verandah room. I'm planning on heading to the re-booking desk in July to see how the numbers shake out.

We LOVE the verandah! Only reason we ever decided to spend the extra was because one cruise we were already booked on offered a 'kids sail free in verandah' discount which made our cruise LESS expensive. Unfortunately it made every cruise after more expensive, LOL. The kids always need some downtime mid day so we head to the room for an hour or two while they watch some tv. We like to order an 'All Hands on Deck' cheese plate from room service and open a bottle of wine out on the verandah. Its a much better way to spend that time than watching cartoons. We try to time this with getting dressed for the evening. The snack holds us over until late dinner time! We also go out there in the morning, my hubby will go upstairs to get us coffee and we enjoy our first cup of the day on the verandah.

Haha, I know what you mean! I have a strong feeling that once we get a taste of the verandah on our upcoming 4-nighter that we will book verandahs from then on! I think I didn't get a real taste of it on my one cruise because that one was with my friends, so we spent most of our time on the adult deck. I could see my husband and I getting more out of the verandah when it's just the two of us, especially since we're booked for a 7-night cruise next year.

You sure paint a nice picture with the cheese plat/bottle of wine/verandah scenario!

As for location, we always try for midship and deck 5 or 6 on Magic/Wonder and 8 or 9 on Dream/Fantasy. This puts in the middle of everything, we never use the stairs other than when getting back on the ship. We also don't have concerns about the ships movement, if that is a concern you want to be midship on a lower level.

Thank you for this! I'm going to head to the re-booking desk with a list of decks/rooms in case I think we want to switch.

We have done Palo dinner and brunch, and Remy brunch with the champagne option. We loved Palo dinner the first time, the second time we decided it wasn't worth missing the main dining room. But we got Palo brunch on every cruise after the first time we did that. On our last cruise we did Remy brunch with champagne option and that is our favorite! I have not done Remy dinner yet, we just really like the main dining rooms, if I knew our dining rotation I might be more likely to select our least favorite dinner to miss.

I did Palo dinner on my cruise and LOOOOOVED it. We're planning on dinner there (hope it's as good as it was last time!) as well as brunch (so excited for that!), and Remy dinner. We just had dinner at Victoria & Albert's in January and I have heard that Remy is even better than V&A's. I don't know how that is possible!

I definitely want to try Remy brunch, I'm glad to hear you like it so much! That will definitely be on my list for our cruise next year.

Our next cruise is right after Wine & Dine half and we are leaving the kids at home for the first time! Very excited to experience DCL in a new way!

That sounds awesome! runDinsey + a cruise would be a perfect combination!!

Sorry for going on and on, I just really love Disney Cruiseline!

No apologies necessary, I love it too! Thank you for the advice and your suggestions.

You do it for your knees? So you are saying if my knees hurt I should be doing something to strengthen them? I just thought I needed more cushioning in my shoes....

Yeah, I'd say my main motivation is general injury prevention after reading article like these:

http://www.runnersworld.com/race-tr...longer-how-strength-training-benefits-runners
http://www.runnersworld.com/race-tr...ent-Training-_-StrengthTrainingMisconceptions
(Not that Runner's World is the end-all/be-all but it seems like they somewhat know what they are talking about!)

My knees are definitely healthier than they were a few years back...I used to use orthodics in my shoes to help with Runner's Knee and once I started strength training my FEET were hurting...went to the running store and they said to ditch the orthodics. I did (with some hesitation as they were the only things that helped my knees) and found that I was running pain free. I think strength training helped with that a lot.

 

[Ariel484]

Week 7 of 10-miler Training
Monday, March 31, 2014 - Sunday, April 6, 2014

7.5 miles complete/15ish miles planned
90.25 miles completed in 10-miler Training so far
141.25 miles completed in 2014 so far

There's no sugar-coating it...I was a giant slacker this week.

Monday, March 31: Strength Training (ChaLEAN Extreme Push 3)/Ab Ripper X (16)

Not a huge fan of the Push 3 workout...which means I really only like Push 1. That’s not good!

After ChaLEAN I did Ab Ripper X, 16 reps per move this morning. I think I'm going to try to do this workout twice per week (it takes about 15 minutes) and ChaLEAN’s ab dvd twice per week. Variety is good, right?

Still SUPER busy at work working on two HUGE projects. I'm supposed to be done with one of them by Friday, so at least there's half a light at the end of the tunnel.

Disney news: For some reason I received a 20% off code from Southwest in the mail, so I re-booked our outgoing cruise flights (which were booked under points) and got about 3,000 points back in our bank! Woohoo! I love Southwest.

Race news: I got an email today from the racing company that is putting on the 10-miler I'm running in April with the following text:
START YOUR JOURNEY.

Introducing the 2014 Hermes Distance Journey

We are thrilled to present the most artistic and unique FINISHER MEDALS produced for Hermes two distance premier races.

Cleveland 10-miler & River Run Half Marathon!

Upon completion of each race, participants will receive one of the medals pictured above (10 Miler - left; River Run - right). Finish both races and you will receive the 23.1 Sun (center piece) to join your medals and complete the landscape!

Coincidentally enough, the half marathon in this deal is the one I'm planning on signing up for in September! These are definitely unique medals...when I first saw the email I didn't like them very much (especially the 10-miler medal...normally the medals say "Run Like A God" on them, which I think is pretty awesome), but the more I look at them the more I like them. They will definitely stand out among the other medals I have! There's a lot of detail on the 10-mile medal and I love fall, so the half marathon medal is right up my alley. The sun medal is just so-so, but I'm not one to turn down free bling.

I've been on this company's email list for about 5 years now and this is the first time they've announced a "challenge" like this with a bonus medal (they have a separate challenge where if you run a certain number of their races you get a jacket). I'll be curious to see how this goes, especially since the races involved are so far apart (late April vs. early September). At Disney they give out the wristbands for Cost-to-Cost medals, so maybe it's something similar? Or maybe they can just keep track of names since the field will be much smaller.

Oh, and something else about the half marathon here...it's not the day I thought it was. It's actually one week earlier! Good thing I checked! Whew!

Tuesday, April 1: Run #1 (2 miles)/ab burner

Not much to say about this run. It was short and sweet (20:29, 10:15/mile pace).

Wednesday, April 2: Strength Training (ChaLEAN Extreme)/ab burner

This went okay this morning, but for whatever reason I didn’t like this workout as much as I remember liking it the first time. Boo to that! I did bump a couple of my weights up so that's good!

In other news, after I realized that the half marathon I'm planning on running in September is one week earlier than I originally thought, I opened my nerdy running Google Doc (where I keep my running schedule) and shuffled stuff around to see how things would shake out.

The half is September 7. Not only is it going to be my back-up to get a better proof of time for Wine & Dine/Dopey in case I don't have a good race at the 10-miler (in just a little over 3 weeks! ), it's almost my one chance this year to beat my current half marathon PR (which will be almost 2 years old come race day). Ideally I'd do Hal Higdon’s 12-week Intermediate Training Plan to get ready for this (dropping the Thursday 3-miler to run 4 days per week), but I've been planning on my town's 5-mile 4th of July race for awhile, and I still want to do that one. It's about 8 weeks before the half, which means I'll pick up the half training plan the week of July 7...skipping the first 3 weeks of the plan and starting at week 4. It's not ideal but not a disaster at all - the first few weeks of the half plan are very similar to the final weeks of training I'm planning on for the 5-miler, so this doesn't worry me too much.

One challenge I'm going to face is that a couple weeks later, we're going on our cruise. Woohoo! During my last cruise (September 2013, same itinerary) I ran twice - once on the treadmill and once in the Castaway Cay 5K. I'd just written here last week that I wasn't interested in doing the Castaway Cay 5K again, but now that I’m looking over my schedule, I think I’m going to go for it. The last time I did the race I, for some reason, was really fixated on setting a 5K PR, so I put a ton of pressure on myself. I also didn't do a good job of listening to the course description and ended up taking a wrong turn. Eventually I did find the finish line and ended up running 3.6 miles instead of 3.1 miles. So I sort of feel like maybe I should try again and just take it easy and, you know, actually pay attention to where the heck I'm going.

I'm hoping to run twice on the cruise just like I did in September...still plenty of relaxation time but still keeping up with the schedule. So I guess I may as well do one of those runs on a beautiful island (and actually take pictures and enjoy myself this time). The course isn't the most scenic and it'll be a billion degrees out, but the race IS F-R-E-E free, so I'll get a race bib and a plastic finisher medal out of it. I’m not 100% decided on this but I'm pretty sure I'm going to do it. I have a 3-miler scheduled for that week anyway, so why not?

The end of the half marathon training schedule is where I'm a little "meh" on things...because I run the half on a Sunday and my Dopey training plan starts the VERY NEXT DAY. Not ideal! I really would have liked a week off in between the two...ah well. At least I realized this now and know what I'm getting into!

Thursday, April 3: Run #2 (7x800 @ 5K pace with warm-up/cooldown and 0.25-mile rest intervals...5.5 miles total)

Yowza...this one was tough.

It felt like a struggle right off the bat, so much so that I was seriously considering cutting the workout short. Every speed interval felt like a battle. Once I made it through the 4th half-mile interval, though, I was determined to finish...just because by then I was over halfway done. The 5th interval went better (I think the rush of knowing I was over halfway done helped with that a LOT) but the 6th and 7th were soooooooo hard.

Overall I'd say this one was really pretty awful. Why? Well...
1. I was sort of far away from the wall fan in the cardio room, so I was HOT HOT HOT very early on.
2. My legs felt like lead, most likely from lifting yesterday
3. I'm pretty sure the Week of Cake has made me very sluggish. We still have a good amount left and have been eating a good amount...so much that I actually may have OD'd on cake. I didn’t even think that was possible.

Good things I can say about this run are 1. Despite the awfulness noted above, I got it done, and 2. Even though it took a loooong time (just shy of an hour) it seemed to go by quickly.

I'm very glad to have this one checked off the schedule and am really NOT looking forward to my planned speedwork workout in 2 weeks - 8x800 @ 5K As a weird aside...in looking at the training plan I'm going to use for September's half marathon, there are similar speed workouts...but instead of half-mile repeats they are quarter-mile repeats. I would have thought it would be similar to the 10-mile training plan, or maybe even have mile repeats? With how I feel about today's workout though, I'm NOT complaining about having shorter speed intervals in the future.

Friday, April 4: Rest Day

I did a whole lotta NOTHING today...why?

Thanks, phone!

Today's my birthday! Not just any birthday...the big 3-0! I wouldn't say I feel any different, just sounds weird to say. And that means I move up to a different (more competitive) age group when it comes to running races. Not that it matters since I never actually challenge for age group awards.

The deadline for that big project at work got pushed back...good and bad. Good because I needed the extra time, bad because I WANT IT TO END.

Anyway...I got a pedicure for my birthday gift to myself and tonight was pizza night! What a delicious birthday!

Saturday, April 5: Rest Day (10K run planned)
Sunday, April 6: Rest Day (4-mile run planned)
I have no good reasons as to why I didn't run this weekend. I had little twinges in my leg and shoulder at points (man, you turn 30 and suddenly...aches and pains galore! ), but they weren't a big deal. Certainly not injuries...but I used those as excuses.

I really have not been feeling very motivated lately. I think the weather has a lot to do with it - next weekend the forecast is calling for sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s, so that should help.

Beyond that though, I think a big problem for me has been my sleep schedule. I go to bed too late during the week and by Friday I'm wiped. I end up sleeping in pretty late on the weekends, and I am definitely more likely to get my runs in earlier in the day. So I'm just barely giving myself a chance by not waking up earlier. I'm hoping to do better with that this week!

Continued in Next Post

 

[annmarieda]

Thanks for the articles! Those are helpful. Now if I could just understand some of the other stuff....

7.5 miles complete/15ish miles planned
90.25 miles completed in 10-miler Training so far
141.25 miles completed in 2014 so far

good job!

There's no sugar-coating it...I was a giant slacker this week.

We all have weeks that are better or worse. I think a birthday week is definitely a time to let yourself be a "slacker"

Monday, March 31: Strength Training (ChaLEAN Extreme Push 3)/Ab Ripper X (16)

Not a huge fan of the Push 3 workout...which means I really only like Push 1. That’s not good!

After ChaLEAN I did Ab Ripper X, 16 reps per move this morning. I think I'm going to try to do this workout twice per week (it takes about 15 minutes) and ChaLEAN’s ab dvd twice per week. Variety is good, right?

I admire you for your variety. If I ever get to a point where it isn't just all I can do to get my runs in I am going to HAVE to follow your example.

Disney news: For some reason I received a 20% off code from Southwest in the mail, so I re-booked our outgoing cruise flights (which were booked under points) and got about 3,000 points back in our bank! Woohoo! I love Southwest.

That is so cool!!

Race news: I got an email today from the racing company that is putting on the 10-miler I'm running in April with the following text:

Upon completion of each race, participants will receive one of the medals pictured above (10 Miler - left; River Run - right). Finish both races and you will receive the 23.1 Sun (center piece) to join your medals and complete the landscape![/I]

That is awesome!

Coincidentally enough, the half marathon in this deal is the one I'm planning on signing up for in September! These are definitely unique medals...when I first saw the email I didn't like them very much (especially the 10-miler medal...normally the medals say "Run Like A God" on them, which I think is pretty awesome), but the more I look at them the more I like them. They will definitely stand out among the other medals I have! There's a lot of detail on the 10-mile medal and I love fall, so the half marathon medal is right up my alley. The sun medal is just so-so, but I'm not one to turn down free bling.

for more bling!

Oh, and something else about the half marathon here...it's not the day I thought it was. It's actually one week earlier! Good thing I checked! Whew!

Glad you got that figure out now rather than later.

Tuesday, April 1: Run #1 (2 miles)/ab burner

Not much to say about this run. It was short and sweet (20:29, 10:15/mile pace).

That is usually what a say about my 2 milers too... not so much today. Sick (again) or allergies... it nearly killed me.

Wednesday, April 2: Strength Training (ChaLEAN Extreme)/ab burner

This went okay this morning, but for whatever reason I didn’t like this workout as much as I remember liking it the first time. Boo to that! I did bump a couple of my weights up so that's good!

Sounds like some progress if you bumped up the weight... so

The half is September 7. Not only is it going to be my back-up to get a better proof of time for Wine & Dine/Dopey in case I don't have a good race at the 10-miler (in just a little over 3 weeks! ), it's almost my one chance this year to beat my current half marathon PR (which will be almost 2 years old come race day). Ideally I'd do Hal Higdon’s 12-week Intermediate Training Plan to get ready for this (dropping the Thursday 3-miler to run 4 days per week), but I've been planning on my town's 5-mile 4th of July race for awhile, and I still want to do that one. It's about 8 weeks before the half, which means I'll pick up the half training plan the week of July 7...skipping the first 3 weeks of the plan and starting at week 4. It's not ideal but not a disaster at all - the first few weeks of the half plan are very similar to the final weeks of training I'm planning on for the 5-miler, so this doesn't worry me too much.

I took a look at that 12 week program. I just don't understand some of the "something x 400..5k speed"

One challenge I'm going to face is that a couple weeks later, we're going on our cruise.Woohoo! During my last cruise (September 2013, same itinerary) I ran twice - once on the treadmill and once in the Castaway Cay 5K. I'd just written here last week that I wasn't interested in doing the Castaway Cay 5K again, but now that I’m looking over my schedule, I think I’m going to go for it. The last time I did the race I, for some reason, was really fixated on setting a 5K PR, so I put a ton of pressure on myself. I also didn't do a good job of listening to the course description and ended up taking a wrong turn. Eventually I did find the finish line and ended up running 3.6 miles instead of 3.1 miles. So I sort of feel like maybe I should try again and just take it easy and, you know, actually pay attention to where the heck I'm going.


I'm hoping to run twice on the cruise just like I did in September...still plenty of relaxation time but still keeping up with the schedule. So I guess I may as well do one of those runs on a beautiful island (and actually take pictures and enjoy myself this time). The course isn't the most scenic and it'll be a billion degrees out, but the race IS F-R-E-E free, so I'll get a race bib and a plastic finisher medal out of it. I’m not 100% decided on this but I'm pretty sure I'm going to do it. I have a 3-miler scheduled for that week anyway, so why not?

for almost deciding to do it again. I hope you enjoy it better this go round.

Thursday, April 3: Run #2 (7x800 @ 5K pace with warm-up/cooldown and 0.25-mile rest intervals...5.5 miles total)

See that confuses me. Is it like you run 800 meters (that is like a half mile, right?) 7 times at a 5 k pace? And what is a 5k pace? And the rest intervals? when do you fit them in?

Yowza...this one was tough.

It felt like a struggle right off the bat, so much so that I was seriously considering cutting the workout short. Every speed interval felt like a battle. Once I made it through the 4th half-mile interval, though, I was determined to finish...just because by then I was over halfway done. The 5th interval went better (I think the rush of knowing I was over halfway done helped with that a LOT) but the 6th and 7th were soooooooo hard.

Maybe it will be easier next time? Sorry it was tough. What doesn't kill us though, right?

Overall I'd say this one was really pretty awful. Why? Well...
1. I was sort of far away from the wall fan in the cardio room, so I was HOT HOT HOT very early on.
2. My legs felt like lead, most likely from lifting yesterday
3. I'm pretty sure the Week of Cake has made me very sluggish. We still have a good amount left and have been eating a good amount...so much that I actually may have OD'd on cake. I didn’t even think that was possible.

Being hot and having lead legs is not fun during a run. ODing on cake couldn't help either.

Good things I can say about this run are 1. Despite the awfulness noted above, I got it done, and 2. Even though it took a loooong time (just shy of an hour) it seemed to go by quickly.

You got it done!! Sometimes that is the biggest accomplishment in and of itself.

I'm very glad to have this one checked off the schedule and am really NOT looking forward to my planned speedwork workout in 2 weeks - 8x800 @ 5K As a weird aside...in looking at the training plan I'm going to use for September's half marathon, there are similar speed workouts...but instead of half-mile repeats they are quarter-mile repeats. I would have thought it would be similar to the 10-mile training plan, or maybe even have mile repeats? With how I feel about today's workout though, I'm NOT complaining about having shorter speed intervals in the future.

I wonder maybe this is my issue... I just run. My pace hasn't really improved in a year. In fact, I almost seem to be getting further away from my "best" times.

Friday, April 4: Rest Day

I did a whole lotta NOTHING today...why?

Thanks, phone!

Today's my birthday! Not just any birthday...the big 3-0! I wouldn't say I feel any different, just sounds weird to say. And that means I move up to a different (more competitive) age group when it comes to running races. Not that it matters since I never actually challenge for age group awards.

Happy late birthday.

I really have not been feeling very motivated lately. I think the weather has a lot to do with it - next weekend the forecast is calling for sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s, so that should help.

Felt kinda the same way lately... motivation has sucked. I still get out there... but man it is a struggle to kick my self in the rear and go. Always glad I do (well, maybe not today) but I wonder if the grey skies are just not making it easy to jump out of bed and go running. sunny skies... that may do the trick.

Beyond that though, I think a big problem for me has been my sleep schedule. I go to bed too late during the week and by Friday I'm wiped. I end up sleeping in pretty late on the weekends, and I am definitely more likely to get my runs in earlier in the day. So I'm just barely giving myself a chance by not waking up earlier. I'm hoping to do better with that this week!

Continued in Next Post

Hopefully you get your sleep schedule back on track. I bet that the sleep schedule... weather and even daylight savings time has had an impact on motivation. At least I want to think that is my trouble.

 

[Ariel484]

Thanks for the articles! Those are helpful. Now if I could just understand some of the other stuff....

good job!

We all have weeks that are better or worse. I think a birthday week is definitely a time to let yourself be a "slacker"

I think so too! Birthday weeks don't come around often

I admire you for your variety. If I ever get to a point where it isn't just all I can do to get my runs in I am going to HAVE to follow your example.

That's kind of you to say, I think of it as me just having a short attention span!

That is so cool!!

Definitely! Hooray for Southwest!

That is awesome!

for more bling!

Yessssss, more bling is always a good thing!

Glad you got that figure out now rather than later.

Me too! I sort of freaked out for a bit and then was like...wait. That's a few months away, no need to panic!

That is usually what a say about my 2 milers too... not so much today. Sick (again) or allergies... it nearly killed me.

Oh nooooo. I hope you feel better soon! I'm waiting for the allergies to hit me...

Sounds like some progress if you bumped up the weight... so

I will take any small victories I can!

I took a look at that 12 week program. I just don't understand some of the "something x 400..5k speed"

This is how I have been doing it...

- Warm up walking/jogging for 5 minutes
- Do the first speed interval (0.5 miles for the 10-miler plan, 0.25 miles for the half marathon plan...still doesn't make sense to me that it's a shorter interval when training for the longer race, but whatever!)
- After the speed interval, have a 0.25-mile rest interval...so I walk/jog for 0.25 miles
- Do the next speed interval, then alternate with rest intervals until I've done the amount called for on the plan
- Walk/jog for 5 minutes after the last speed interval as a cooldown

The one thing I am not sure of is the pace...do I base the pace off of what my goal time is or what I am currently capable of? I entered my 10-miler goal time into an online pace calculator and that spat out an equivalent 5K time, so I used that 5K pace for my speed intervals. Not sure if that is the right way to do it but that is what I have been doing so far.

for almost deciding to do it again. I hope you enjoy it better this go round.

I am pretty sure I'll do it. If I feel like I have the race already in my plans I'll be more likely to get a run in during the cruise, so that is a good thing!

See that confuses me. Is it like you run 800 meters (that is like a half mile, right?) 7 times at a 5 k pace?

Yes!

And what is a 5k pace?

That part I'm not sure about (see above)????

And the rest intervals? when do you fit them in?

After each interval at 5K pace...so the workout I just did (7x800) was like:

5-minute warm up
Interval #1 (0.5 miles @ 5K pace)
Rest Interval (0.25 miles)
Interval #2 (0.5 miles @ 5K pace)
Rest Interval (0.25 miles)
Interval #3 (0.5 miles @ 5K pace)
Rest Interval (0.25 miles)
Interval #4 (0.5 miles @ 5K pace)
Rest Interval (0.25 miles)
Interval #5 (0.5 miles @ 5K pace)
Rest Interval (0.25 miles)
Interval #6 (0.5 miles @ 5K pace)
Rest Interval (0.25 miles)
Interval #7 (0.5 miles @ 5K pace)
5-minute cooldown

Maybe it will be easier next time? Sorry it was tough. What doesn't kill us though, right?

Being hot and having lead legs is not fun during a run. ODing on cake couldn't help either.

I hope the next one is better! You're right though, I know it was good for me. And I do NOT suggest ODing on cake before speedwork!

You got it done!! Sometimes that is the biggest accomplishment in and of itself.

Amen to that!! :worship

I wonder maybe this is my issue... I just run. My pace hasn't really improved in a year. In fact, I almost seem to be getting further away from my "best" times.

I am hoping that this will help me get faster. I did think that I was feeling faster over the past 2 weeks...until cake.

Happy late birthday.

Thank you!!!!!

Felt kinda the same way lately... motivation has sucked. I still get out there... but man it is a struggle to kick my self in the rear and go. Always glad I do (well, maybe not today) but I wonder if the grey skies are just not making it easy to jump out of bed and go running. sunny skies... that may do the trick.

I bet a lot of people feel the same way we do. It stinks! You're right though, it feels so good to get the runs in, especially when you didn't want to at the start.

Hopefully you get your sleep schedule back on track. I bet that the sleep schedule... weather and even daylight savings time has had an impact on motivation. At least I want to think that is my trouble.

I definitely think you are on to something. I didn't think about daylight savings, but you're right - that can really scramble our brains!

 

[annmarieda]

Oh nooooo. I hope you feel better soon! I'm waiting for the allergies to hit me...

I am undecided if this is allergies... or something worse. I am trying to be proactive with the liquids and such just in case. 2

This is how I have been doing it...

- Warm up walking/jogging for 5 minutes
- Do the first speed interval (0.5 miles for the 10-miler plan, 0.25 miles for the half marathon plan...still doesn't make sense to me that it's a shorter interval when training for the longer race, but whatever!)
- After the speed interval, have a 0.25-mile rest interval...so I walk/jog for 0.25 miles
- Do the next speed interval, then alternate with rest intervals until I've done the amount called for on the plan
- Walk/jog for 5 minutes after the last speed interval as a cooldown

The one thing I am not sure of is the pace...do I base the pace off of what my goal time is or what I am currently capable of? I entered my 10-miler goal time into an online pace calculator and that spat out an equivalent 5K time, so I used that 5K pace for my speed intervals. Not sure if that is the right way to do it but that is what I have been doing so far.

Thank you for explaining that to me. That makes more sense. I would need to set up distance cues on my phone then to be able to do that. It seems doable...

5-minute warm up
Interval #1 (0.5 miles @ 5K pace)
Rest Interval (0.25 miles)
Interval #2 (0.5 miles @ 5K pace)
Rest Interval (0.25 miles)
Interval #3 (0.5 miles @ 5K pace)
Rest Interval (0.25 miles)
Interval #4 (0.5 miles @ 5K pace)
Rest Interval (0.25 miles)
Interval #5 (0.5 miles @ 5K pace)
Rest Interval (0.25 miles)
Interval #6 (0.5 miles @ 5K pace)
Rest Interval (0.25 miles)
Interval #7 (0.5 miles @ 5K pace)
5-minute cooldown

Perfect!! Thanks

I definitely think you are on to something. I didn't think about daylight savings, but you're right - that can really scramble our brains!

and it doesn't take much to scramble my brains.

 

[Ariel484]

I am undecided if this is allergies... or something worse. I am trying to be proactive with the liquids and such just in case. 2

Good call I hope it helps you!!

Thank you for explaining that to me. That makes more sense. I would need to set up distance cues on my phone then to be able to do that. It seems doable...

Perfect!! Thanks

You got it! Like I said, I am not sure that I picked what pace to run the speed intervals at correctly. I feel like I'm actually supposed to base it off of a current 5K time, but it's been almost a year since I've *really* run a 5K, so I just picked it based off of my goal time.

and it doesn't take much to scramble my brains.

Same here!

 

[ZellyB]

Thanks for the posts about speed work. We are going to try and include some of that in our training this year. The past two training seasons have been about surviving the run This year I am hoping to actually be able to work toward improving my run.

Happy belated Birthday!!

 

[Ariel484]

Thanks for the posts about speed work. We are going to try and include some of that in our training this year. The past two training seasons have been about surviving the run This year I am hoping to actually be able to work toward improving my run.

I totally know what you mean about trying to survive the run! I haven't really thought too much about getting faster until the last couple of years or so, and I DO think that the speed workouts are helping...even though I don't love them.

I just requested a book from our library - "Run Fast: How to beat your best time every time" by Hal Higdon. Beating my best time EVERY time seems like quite a lofty claim! I'll be curious to see what it says. I'm not super concerned with getting my Disney race times down, except that the past few weekends I've been there it's been so freaking hot that I really don't want to still be running the marathon after noon when it's 80 degrees with 100% humidity or whatever. But I have some specific goals in mind for the 10-miler/half marathons I'm running at home.

Happy belated Birthday!!

Thanks!!

 

[Ariel484]

Week 8 of 10-miler Training
Monday, April 7, 2014 - Sunday, April 13, 2014

20.85 miles complete/21ish miles planned
111.1 miles completed in 10-miler Training so far
162.1 miles completed in 2014 so far

Yay! My first 20+ mile week of the year!

Monday, April 7: Strength Training (ChaLEAN Extreme Push 2) + ab burner

Okay. It's a new week and I’m ready to get back into the swing of things. I'm feeling really motivated this morning...hopefully it will last! We're supposed to have somewhat rainy weather this week but Friday and Saturday look decent (mid-50s with no rain in the forecast) so I am determined to get out and take advantage of the nicer weather!

I didn't get to bed as early as I wanted and even when I was in bed I had a hard time falling asleep...typical for a Sunday for me. I woke up a little earlier than normal because I had an early meeting this morning, and I felt wide awake as soon as my alarm went off! Weird.

Anyway...I got to the gym and got the workout in. I actually liked it a lot better today than I did last week, so that's good. After eating crappy food and being a total lazy bum for the last few days it felt good to be back in the gym.

After dinner this evening I did a wee bit of online shopping...uh-oh! Some running-related, some not.

My non-running-related purchase was from the Sephora website...they're having their VIB 15% off sale so I splurged and ordered the Naked 3 palette from Urban Decay. I have the Naked 2 palette and I LOVE it...hopefully I will love Naked 3 just as much. I also got eye shadow primer from Urban Decay...not as exciting or fun but something I use every day.

Now for the running-related purchases...shoes!

I've been running in Brooks Adrenalines for...I don't know, 5 years now? They’re on the 14 version and I’ve been running since the 10 or 11 version, so maybe it's more like 4 years. Whatever. Anyway, I'm currently in a 14 version and have an old pair of the 12 version that I wear for lifting days, dog walks, when doing errands, etc. We normally will go on a family dog walk after dinner (0.5 miles) and the other day I noticed that the 12s just felt SHOT. Just that short walk made my heels hurt...not good! So the 12s have to go. The 14s have about 135 miles on them and feel great...I'm hoping to get 450-500 miles out of that pair.

My local running store recommends using the same shoe I run in for any cross-training activities, which stings because good running shoes are pricey! But my local guys have not steered me wrong yet (they are AWESOME) and I fully trust them. I normally buy my shoes and most of my other running gear there but I got an email code from Brooks for free shipping and a free hat if I spent at least $50 in the month of April (I’m definitely going to need to hit up the local running store at least one more time this year before Dopey).

So I bit the bullet and ordered not one, but two pairs of running shoes last night, along with my free Run Happy beanie:

My current pair is the white/pink/blue version (not pictured). I LOVE how the blue/neon yellow pair looks - very excited for those. Not totally sure what I was thinking with the black/purple - I'm not sure why I’m so weirded out by them but I am. Oh well! I read reviews on the hat and apparently it runs small...I THOUGHT I ordered the larger size but apparently not, as the screenshot above shows the S/M in my cart. I'm not getting my hopes up that the dumb thing will actually fit though. If it doesn't, whatever...it was free. I'll just give it to a small child or something.

Grand total with tax and free shipping…$259. And I just remembered that my local place normally gives me a small discount - why, I have no idea, but it's always a nice surprise. I think they do it because I'm a good customer. So why didn't I just get my shoes from them?! Honestly...I kind of wanted the stupid hat. That's why.

At this point I think paying to return the shoes I ordered would probably negate any discount I'd get from the local place...and all of that for a free hat that probably won't fit. Lesson learned.

Tuesday, April 8: 3 miles on the treadmill/Ab Ripper X (17)

Alright, getting back into the swing of things!

This run felt good, but tough. I definitely felt sluggish and a little - er - jiggly in places, but that was mostly outweighed by that feeling of motivation I started to get yesterday, which thankfully hasn’t gone away yet. The run took me exactly 30 minutes (10:00/mile).

After the run I did Ab Ripper X. As I mentioned before the workout is 11 moves with 25 reps per move, but it is TOUGH...so I am working my way up to the 25. Today I did 17 reps per move and I'll probably do the same at least one more time this week before moving up to 18. Seventeen per move was a challenge and there’s no reason to rush to get to the full 25.

Wednesday, April 9: Strength Training (ChaLEAN Extreme Push 3) + ab burner

Halfway done with the Push phase of ChaLEAN! This workout was TOUGH. All of the exercises happen to be ones where the weights are (for me) REALLY heavy (15 pounds for some, most are 20 or 25 pounds) and I was DRENCHED in sweat by the end. I followed it up with a session of Ab Burner...after today I’m switching to the Extreme Abs workout and alternating that one with Ab Ripper X. Looking forward to trying something new!

Thursday, April 10: 45-minute tempo run (3.85 miles complete)

I am not a fan of tempo runs. Per Hal Higdon's website:

"This is a continuous run with a buildup in the middle to near 10K race pace. A Tempo Run of 30 to 45 minutes would begin with 10-15 minutes of easy running, build to 15-20 minutes near the middle, then 5-10 minutes easy toward the end. The pace buildup should be gradual, not sudden, with peak speed coming about two-thirds into the workout. Hold that peak for only a minute or two. I consider the Tempo Runs to be the 'Thinking Runner's Workout.' A Tempo Run can be as hard or as easy as you want to make it, and it has nothing to do with how long (in time) you run or how far. In fact, the times prescribed for Tempo Runs serve mainly as rough guidelines. Feel free to improvise. Improvisation is the heart of doing a Tempo Run correctly."

I know that these are supposed to help me run faster, longer, and while I like that I can make it as hard or as easy as I want to, they just seem to take FOREVER. Something about the build-up period in the middle just seems never-ending. Oh well. This one DID end and it was my last long tempo run before the 10-miler (which is just a little over two weeks away! ).

No Ab Ripping for me this morning because I slept a bit too late to have enough time for that. I'm doing okay with sleeping more but it's still not good enough. I just read an article about how important sleep is for overall health and they say the recommended average sleep time is 7-8 hours...I think I get more like 6-6.5 hours on work nights...close, but no cigar. So I need to work on that and get better at it so I don’t keep bringing it up here! No one wants to read about me whining about my lack of sleep over and over.

In other news...my new shoes came today, along with my free hat from Brooks! The hat fits okay, doesn't quite cover my ears but I'm sure I'll use it for winter running (ugh, didn't winter running just end?!)...the shoes are awesome, of course. I'm going to use the black pair for lifting days and save the blue pair for when my current running shoes die (hopefully not for a few more months).

I like the black pair a lot more in person.

Friday, April 11: 5-mile run on the treadmill

Normally I work from home on Fridays, but not today. I'm still trying to finish up one of my two big projects at work (someday they'll be done and I'll get to work on other things...someday...) - it's almost there, but not quite. My boss and I are collaborating on it quite a bit, and it's much easier at this stage to be in the office so we can work on it together in person. So I hit the treadmill this morning.

I have days where I don't mind the treadmill and days where I hate it...as I was driving in this morning I was definitely feeling the hate. To change things up a bit I decided that I wanted to run/walk this one - running 5 minutes, walking 1 minute. I normally don’t take that many walk breaks because I find that starting and stopping more makes the run feel so long to me, but today it was somewhat refreshing. Not sure why!

For the first two 5-minute intervals I set the treadmill to 5.8 MPH (10:20 pace)...then to 5.9 MPH for the next two intervals (5.9 MPH). By now I had about 2 miles done.

During the 3rd mile I decided to fool around with the speed even more and copy a workout I’d read online. I started at 6.0 MPH (10:00/mile) and then increased the treadmill speed 0.1 MPH every 30 seconds until I got to 7.0 MPH (8:34/mile). So I was at 6.0 MPH for 30 seconds, then 6.1 MPH for 30 seconds, etc. Once I got to 7.0 MPH and held that for 30 seconds, I stepped back down the ladder every 30 seconds (6.9 MPH for 30 seconds, 6.8 MPH for 30 seconds, etc.) until I was back to where I started at 6.0 MPH. Then I walked for a minute. Whew! This was tough but it seemed to go by really quickly!

I forget what I did to finish up the run, but I know I kept the 5-minute running intervals somewhere in the 10:00 - 10:20/mile range. My total time for 5 miles was 52:48 (10:34/mile pace) and I felt somewhat decent when it was done. My legs are a little sore now, maybe from that mini speed workout I threw into the middle of the run, but I feel okay overall. Not bad for a run I had been DREADING since yesterday afternoon.

Saturday, April 12: 9-mile out-and-back
Weather: 66 degrees and sunny

Pretty good run today!

I decided to try something else from my March Stridebox and mixed up a batch of Gu Brew to take with me instead of my normal, plain ol' tried and true water.

You know how when you see a movie poster there are quotes from people, like..."A Triumph!" "Best Movie of the Year!" etc...

Well, if Gu Brew had a quote from me, it would be..."UUGHHHHCK!" A combination of the words "ugh" and "yuck." Seriously, SO AWFUL. I was excited about this stuff as a potential sodium replacement, but it seriously tasted like someone dumped table salt into my bottle. NOT GOOD!

Splits:
Mile 1: 10:15
Mile 2: 10:19
Mile 3: 11:16 --> Stopped for Gu Chomps/Gu Brew /walking at the beginning of this mile
Mile 4: 10:17
Mile 5: 11:03 --> Stopped for Gu Brew /walking at the beginning of this mile
Mile 6: 10:05
Mile 7: 11:43 --> Stopped for Gu Chomps/Gu Brew /walking at the beginning of this mile
Mile 8: 10:22
Mile 9: 11:03 --> Found water fountain and ditched the rest of the Gu Brew...water has never tasted so amazing!

Total time for 9 miles: 1:36:24, 10:42/mile pace

Happy with this run overall. I forgot how much running in the full sun takes it out of me...and I probably didn't drink enough since that Gu Brew was so awful, but still, good run.

Sunday, April 13: Rest Day

But lots of housework! AND...look what was posted online!!!

And they will both be mine! SQUEEEEEEEEE

Continued in Next Post

 

[ZellyB]

SQUEEEEEE! on the medals! I saw the Goofy one earlier today. I loved the spinner on the 20 year marathon medal, so I'm happy they are doing a spinner again for the 10 year Goofy.

Don't you love buying new shoes? Even though the price is always a killer. I've never bought black shoes before, but thinking about it the next time I buy. I love yours!

 

[Ariel484]

SQUEEEEEE! on the medals! I saw the Goofy one earlier today. I loved the spinner on the 20 year marathon medal, so I'm happy they are doing a spinner again for the 10 year Goofy.

SQUEEEE! They do seem to love their spinners for anniversary years, I wonder if they will continue to stick to that trend?

The 20-year marathon medal is still my absolutely favorite. I'm really excited for the SSE Wine & Dine medal though since I didn't get one last year...that might be my new top favorite.

Don't you love buying new shoes? Even though the price is always a killer. I've never bought black shoes before, but thinking about it the next time I buy. I love yours!

Yes! I don't know why I get so excited about new shoes, because they're exactly the same as the ones I already had...but I do! The price does hurt, especially since I know they won't last more than 6 months or whatever.

This is my first pair of black shoes! I think that's why I was having doubt on the color, but I like them so far! I'm hoping they will stay looking cleaner, longer.