Training Update Week 3

Total miles ran – 7
Month to date – 25
Year to date - 25
Life Time –318.33

New Balance - 19
Miles on Hokas – 109.9
Total Weight Loss – 8.2 pounds

Planned work outs:

Monday – 2 miles easy
Wednesday – 2 miles easy
Thursday – 3 miles easy
Saturday - 4 miles easy

Things I learned this week:

Not to procrastinate and to take easy runs easy. Thursday I didn’t have to go to work until 8pm. At 3pm I hadn’t ran yet but was called into work at 4. I did Thursdays run Friday at the gym because it was negative wind chill. This girl from my team at work was at the gym and took the treadmill right beside me with her group of friends. I left my headphones in and didn’t chat until it was time for a walk break. During my walk break I took my headphones out to say hello and she was complaining very loudly about an email I had sent the team Thursday night... so in go the headphones and up went the speed on the treadmill. I just wanted to finish my run and get the heck out of there. Well I got a little carried away (a little) and ran the last 10th of a mile the fastest I could handle (6.5 on the treadmill btw when I usually jog at 3.6 and take walk breaks). So Saturday comes and it’s time to do my 4 mile long run. Except my butt and thighs are sooo tight and sore. So I walk around the house a bit, take the dogs for a couple walks trying to get things to loosen up and be ready for my run but that never happened. 2 Little and very dumb mistakes kept me from running yesterday.. I wanted to run so bad too. I even jogged a little on a dog run but instant pain set in. It was 55 degrees and Sunny!! The most perfect weather but nope. I had to procrastinate and push myself way beyond what I ever should have done... kicking myself!

Other Updates that seem important:

New name for the treadmill- Satan’s Sidewalk!!


:tinker:Plan for week 4:
Monday – 2.5 miles easy
Wednesday – 3.5 miles - 2.5 easy and 1 magic mile
Thursday – 2.5 miles easy
Saturday - 3 miles- 2 easy and 1 half marathon pace

Days until next race: 62 days till the :charac4: Victory at Yorktown 10k :charac4:
 
2 Little and very dumb mistakes kept me from running yesterday.. I wanted to run so bad too. I even jogged a little on a dog run but instant pain set in. It was 55 degrees and Sunny!! The most perfect weather but nope. I had to procrastinate and push myself way beyond what I ever should have done... kicking myself!
Remember this. We train not only to build our endurance up to the distance of our race, but also to learn what works really well for us and perhaps more importantly, what does not work at all for us.

Case in point. I ran a half marathon in September that was miserable. I set an achievable goal for the race and a stretch dream goal for the race. I was all set to crush my PR and line everything up for the just perfectly for my first marathon. And then race day came and it was brutal. The race felt like a death march. I knew around mile 3 that my dream for that race was dead. I was stunned later on to realize that somehow a PR was still possible. While I PRed, I truly felt like I had failed. The race I dreamed of having did not happen. But truthfully, that race was exactly what I needed. I learned from difficult experience that I needed to work on some important areas in advance of the Disney World Marathon I was already registered for.

A few months later I hit a rough patch in training. I encountered a serious crisis of confidence. For longer than I care to admit, I considered swallowing up the entire race cost and quitting. Not a great moment. With @DopeyBadger guiding me, I discovered that I had a serious fueling problem. While that had never cost me in a half marathon, it would have been disastrous in the marathon. But because I learned from mistakes in training, I missed one day of running because I needed a break, and corrected the issues, including fuel, that were causing the problems.

Those two moments, one in a race, and one during training were difficult and discouraging at the time. But they helped me improve. Honestly, I had a better marathon because of those problems. Not just learning how to overcome them, but also learning from mistakes I made. Mistakes don't define you, but how you respond to them will define you.
 


Training Update Week 4

Total miles ran – 12.1
Month to date – 12.1
Year to date – 37.1
Life Time –330.43

New Balance – 31.1
Miles on Hokas – 109.9
Total Weight Loss – 8.8 pounds

Planned work outs:

Monday – 2.5 miles easy
Wednesday – 3.5 miles - 2.5 easy and 1 magic mile
Thursday – 2.5 miles easy
Saturday - 3 miles- 2 easy and 1 half marathon pace


Things I learned this week:

Still struggling with procrastination. I ended up doing Thursdays run on Friday and Saturdays run today. Not my proudest moment.


Other Updates that seem important:

My magic mile was 13:05. I should be around 12:44 and since it was my first MM and I started out a little too quickly, Coach Billy thinks I’m just where we thought I’d be. I was initially disappointed. I’ve been feeling so strong recently, I was upset that there wasn’t actually any improvement. However, now I’m feeling a little better. It doesn’t matter that I haven’t actually made any speed improvement, the important thing is that I feel strong. Coach Billy also told me that the first little bit of the plan was just focusing on fundamentals so I really wasn’t supposed to make huge gains. Next MM is 2/30.

This week is going to be all over the place schedule wise! Mentally trying to prep myself.

I've been leaning on the treadmill a little too much. Trying to stick to the roads as much as possible.


:tinker:Plan for week 5:

Monday – 3 miles easy
Wednesday – 3 miles easy
Thursday – 1.25 easy + .5 mile at 10k pace + 1.25 at easy
Saturday – 5 miles easy

Days until next race: 55 days till the :charac4: Victory at Yorktown 10k :charac4:
 


Not my proudest moment.
Don't beat yourself up too much. You went out there and did it. It's too easy to say I'll do it tomorrow and before too long, you've been saying I'll do it tomorrow for 3 months.

My magic mile was 13:05. I should be around 12:44 and since it was my first MM and I started out a little too quickly, Coach Billy thinks I’m just where we thought I’d be. I was initially disappointed. I’ve been feeling so strong recently, I was upset that there wasn’t actually any improvement. However, now I’m feeling a little better. It doesn’t matter that I haven’t actually made any speed improvement, the important thing is that I feel strong. Coach Billy also told me that the first little bit of the plan was just focusing on fundamentals so I really wasn’t supposed to make huge gains.
I know we say it all the time and it can often begin to feel like a cliche, but it remains true. Trust your training. And especially remember that coach is seeing the big picture. Sometimes he has to bring me back to the reality of where I'm actually at instead of where I wish I was. His constant reminders to me about how to approach my goal race paid off perfectly on race day itself. Consistency will carry you to success.

But don't worry if a given training run or even a race doesn't feel like the success you dreamed it would be. I encountered so many challenges in marathon training. At times they discouraged me. I wondered how I could make it 26.2 miles when I struggled mightily to reach 6 miles or had to quit after 3 miles because my body wasn't having it that day. When I stopped beating myself up over what didn't happen, I hoped that my shortcomings were really just helping me correct problems before race day. And when race day came, I happily found that my training struggles had done just that. They had indeed corrected problems. Yes, the marathon was harder than all those training days. Yet at the same time, I enjoyed it immensely in no small part because of how my training struggles helped prepare me to cope with and overcome the challenges that the race itself brought.
 
Training Update Weeks 5 & 6

Total miles ran – 2
Month to date – 14.1
Year to date – 39.1
Life Time –332.43

New Balance – 33.1
Miles on Hokas – 109.9
Total Weight Loss – I don’t want to talk about it.. will update next week

Planned work outs:

Monday –
3 miles easy
Wednesday – 3 miles easy
Thursday – 1.25 easy + .5 mile at 10k pace + 1.25 at easy
Saturday – 5 miles easy

Things I learned this week:

The flu sucks. But I didn’t die and I’m glad to be alive!

Other Updates that seem important.


:tinker:Plan for week 7:

Mon- 2 miles easy
Wed- 2 miles easy
Thurs- 3 miles easy
Sat- 4 miles easy

Days until next race: 40 days till the :charac4: Victory at Yorktown 10k :charac4:
 
Long post alert!

Hey! How ya been? You been running? That makes 1 of us. What started off as a few scheduling conflicts, has turned into a complete lack of motivation and me rage quitting my plan. I’m probably not going to do my 10k or Half Marathon any more..,

The trouble is that, I honestly don’t know why I’m struggling so hard. My diet has gone completely out the window and where I had almost lost 10 pounds I’m not back to where I started at the beginning of the year.

My last run was only a mile and it was an attempt to bring motivation back to me, but my feet have not stopped hurting from that one mile. (2 weeks ago) It’s not extreme pain, but it’s there. When you add on me not wanting to get injured (although it kind feels like I already am somehow) with my already low levels of motivation…. It’s not pretty.

I’ve also rage quit all my other challenges this year. My husband and I haven’t paid anything extra towards our debt and our google calendar that had our lives organized and planed out hasn’t been updated for over a month.

I think I piled up too much on my plate and tried to attack each and every area with the exact same amount of enthusiasm and then I burnt myself out quickly. So my husband and I sat down and made a list of everything we think is important to us and listed our priorities in order of most importance. They are kind of personal, but that’s never stopped me before, so here they are in order:

1. Good Health

2. Trained Dogs

3. Maintained House (like a reasonable level of organized)

4. A Yearly Vacation

5. Functioning House (AKA Getting our Basement Fixed)

6. Monthly Experiences (think day trips and long weekends)

7. Self Care

8. Spoiled Dogs (Don’t Judge! LOL)

9. Nice Things for Our House (decorated and stuff)

10. Good Quality Food (eating out twice a week or cooking fancy new things)

11. Being Debt Free

12. A Beat-up Pickup Truck

13. Giving

14. Another Nicer Car

15. Kids (not necessarily having them but being ready for them)

I was actually fairly surprised that our Health was number one on the list. Neither one of us go to the doctor ever, but I think that as we were comparing the things it just seemed like a no brainer, obviously Good Health is more important than a truck or food or nice things. We certainly aren’t living in a way that reflects this list. If I’m being honest, I think it would be right above kids, and that’s just because I’m more terrified of kids than a doctor right now.

I have to say that typing this out is actually giving me a revelation into what’s happening inside my head. One of the reasons I’ve been struggling so much is because last year running took up so many of our resources. Our money, our time and our vacations were all planned around what race I was doing that month. It was all I ever talked about. I was obsessed. So This year, I promised my husband I wouldn’t do a race every month because that was too expensive. I’ve felt so guilty that this year we’ve already had to buy new shoes, new tights, new sports bras, a case of GUs, AND start saving for a trip to Disney just incase I managed to get myself where I needed to be for the big ole 26.2. None of those things are cheep!! To be honest, I’ve known that I need to go to a doctor since the 3rd week of this plan but I’ve been lying to myself. And I now I think I was denying it so hard because it’s going to be expensive! I kept saying “oh I just need new insoles.” Or “I just need to foam roll my feet more.” I thought our biggest priority was getting out of debt, so I felt so guilty that we were spending so much on this thing I could technically do for free. I was also trying not to talk about it so much. I’ve been trying to only bring it up a few times a week instead of daily… I’ve been trying to down play it so much that I actually down played it.

I shouldn’t feel bad about any of that! According to the aforementioned priorities, we are both in agreement that our health is #1. Also, my husband never once complained at all about me talking about running. Not a single time. What the F was I thinking?!

I feel really dumb now. I need to email Billy and make an appointment with a PT yesterday!

Okay! It’s been a few days. My appointment will be on 4/4. Don’t give up on me just yet. I’m not running until after I meet with the PT, but I am going to break out the ole 21 day fix on my run days. I feel like I’m back! I haven’t even been for a run yet but this was a huge break through and I feel rejuvenated and mentally ready to run my butt off!
 
Long post alert!

Hey! How ya been? You been running? That makes 1 of us. What started off as a few scheduling conflicts, has turned into a complete lack of motivation and me rage quitting my plan. I’m probably not going to do my 10k or Half Marathon any more..,

The trouble is that, I honestly don’t know why I’m struggling so hard. My diet has gone completely out the window and where I had almost lost 10 pounds I’m not back to where I started at the beginning of the year.

My last run was only a mile and it was an attempt to bring motivation back to me, but my feet have not stopped hurting from that one mile. (2 weeks ago) It’s not extreme pain, but it’s there. When you add on me not wanting to get injured (although it kind feels like I already am somehow) with my already low levels of motivation…. It’s not pretty.

I’ve also rage quit all my other challenges this year. My husband and I haven’t paid anything extra towards our debt and our google calendar that had our lives organized and planed out hasn’t been updated for over a month.

I think I piled up too much on my plate and tried to attack each and every area with the exact same amount of enthusiasm and then I burnt myself out quickly. So my husband and I sat down and made a list of everything we think is important to us and listed our priorities in order of most importance. They are kind of personal, but that’s never stopped me before, so here they are in order:

1. Good Health

2. Trained Dogs

3. Maintained House (like a reasonable level of organized)

4. A Yearly Vacation

5. Functioning House (AKA Getting our Basement Fixed)

6. Monthly Experiences (think day trips and long weekends)

7. Self Care

8. Spoiled Dogs (Don’t Judge! LOL)

9. Nice Things for Our House (decorated and stuff)

10. Good Quality Food (eating out twice a week or cooking fancy new things)

11. Being Debt Free

12. A Beat-up Pickup Truck

13. Giving

14. Another Nicer Car

15. Kids (not necessarily having them but being ready for them)

I was actually fairly surprised that our Health was number one on the list. Neither one of us go to the doctor ever, but I think that as we were comparing the things it just seemed like a no brainer, obviously Good Health is more important than a truck or food or nice things. We certainly aren’t living in a way that reflects this list. If I’m being honest, I think it would be right above kids, and that’s just because I’m more terrified of kids than a doctor right now.

I have to say that typing this out is actually giving me a revelation into what’s happening inside my head. One of the reasons I’ve been struggling so much is because last year running took up so many of our resources. Our money, our time and our vacations were all planned around what race I was doing that month. It was all I ever talked about. I was obsessed. So This year, I promised my husband I wouldn’t do a race every month because that was too expensive. I’ve felt so guilty that this year we’ve already had to buy new shoes, new tights, new sports bras, a case of GUs, AND start saving for a trip to Disney just incase I managed to get myself where I needed to be for the big ole 26.2. None of those things are cheep!! To be honest, I’ve known that I need to go to a doctor since the 3rd week of this plan but I’ve been lying to myself. And I now I think I was denying it so hard because it’s going to be expensive! I kept saying “oh I just need new insoles.” Or “I just need to foam roll my feet more.” I thought our biggest priority was getting out of debt, so I felt so guilty that we were spending so much on this thing I could technically do for free. I was also trying not to talk about it so much. I’ve been trying to only bring it up a few times a week instead of daily… I’ve been trying to down play it so much that I actually down played it.

I shouldn’t feel bad about any of that! According to the aforementioned priorities, we are both in agreement that our health is #1. Also, my husband never once complained at all about me talking about running. Not a single time. What the F was I thinking?!

I feel really dumb now. I need to email Billy and make an appointment with a PT yesterday!

Okay! It’s been a few days. My appointment will be on 4/4. Don’t give up on me just yet. I’m not running until after I meet with the PT, but I am going to break out the ole 21 day fix on my run days. I feel like I’m back! I haven’t even been for a run yet but this was a huge break through and I feel rejuvenated and mentally ready to run my butt off!

I hear you, I see you. I understand you. This year motivation has been tough. Training has been a chore although my recent race experience was fun...likely bc it was not on a treadmill. And like you I had a lot of big goals recently mixed with just being an adult which is stressful enough by itself.
My suggestion is to bump “self care” up higher. If that means more running or less running or just a different pace or amount of days. But just related to everything in life. Make sure you are ok both physically and mentally. The mental part is just as much a part of good health. Last year was strange for me. I was grieving the loss of my mom and some of my grandparents. I just got promoted and was unsure how I was doing. And I was gung ho to complete my first marathon. It’s a lot.
Recently I’ve been going back to what makes me happy. I’m going back to grocery shopping more and making fun meals from scratch (bc I enjoy that) instead of being upset at myself for getting fast food so much. The Temps are getting warmer so I can run outside again so that makes running feel like less of a chore.
And I’ve heard from both my coach and my husband recently “don’t be so hard on yourself”. Take those words to heart. Houses will be messy, there will always be bills. Make sure your heart and mind are okay :)

Hugs
 
Yes to all of @roxymama 's wise words above. It sounds like you have such a great marriage and husband and that the two of you sat down to line out your goals and priorities is amazing. Health as a #1 is fantastic and that can be achieved in a multitude of ways. It's been a tough winter for me as well and motivation has been lacking, so a break and a regroup is not a bad thing. Do what feels right and making a list to attack those priorities is a great idea. Be kind to yourself always and be proud of what you accomplish rather than beating yourself up for what you don't.
 
New Plan. New Routine. Same me!!

PT is officially done!!
b4d9ee580f349bb5781e75f7058127c2.gif


New training plan started yesterday! I'm currently training for a 5 miler on July 4th. I have a 5k on May 18th, but that's less about the race and more about getting back into the grove/community and building motivation.

Also new race schedule.

May - 5k
July - 5 miler
September - 10 miler
November - Half Marathon
And FINALLY!!! FINALLY!!! FINALLY!!

tenor.gif

Wait wrong theme park ...

b291e58d044eddcc5f47bfc9bc12d7f8d671612b_hq.gif

That's better!

FINALLY!!! In February - The Princess 5k, 10k and Half Marathon!!!


So the new routine: I've found out that it's easier to get up and get going in the morning if I have somewhere to be. So I wake up early and go to the y. Hop on a bike for 5 mins and then do my PT stretches. Then, I head out for a run, get back to the y in time to shower and get to work. (the y is 5 mins from my job so it's pretty perfect!)

Josh bought me the cookbook "run fast eat slow", and I've been more mindful about my diet. I'm not really tracking intensely like I was before - I'll work my way back up to that, but I'm just making small changes for now. Also as far as updating this every week and keeping track of my miles and stuff... IDK about all that.. I definitely will update the journal weekly but the counting all the miles and stuff like that seems like a lot right now. Overall, I'm feeling much better! and with Run Disney finally on the calendar - I'm more excited than ever (if you can't tell by the gifs)! But yea - update on week one will come next week and thanks so much for all your support. Y'all are seriously the best little community on the entire internet and I truly mean that.
 
1st week of the new plan done! My A goal for the 5 miler in July is to do every run on my training plan. I have no actual race expectations (I’m trying not to have race expectations). That said - I’m happy to report that week 1 was a success. Not only did I do all 3 runs and the swim, but I did them on the correct days exactly as planned.

This week, every run was 1.5 miles and it was broken up as a half mile at easy pace a half mile recovery walk and then another half mile at easy. On Monday and Wednesday I started to feel a little bit of pain at the first half mile. The recovery walk helped and I was fine for the 2nd half mile interval. On Saturday, however, I’m happy to report that it was virtually pain free!!! YAY!!!!!!!!

This coming week my Monday and Wednesday runs are 2 miles with 2 intervals of 0.75 miles at easy pace and a half mile walk between. Thursday is a swim and Saturday is my 5k. No race day goals for the 5k. Just to have a fun pain free time!

Every time I get an email from the historic half marathon, I want to cry. I’m struggling with the DNS for that one. Other than that - I feel great! I feel strong and I thought the walking intervals would really upset me because it’s a step back, but I’m actually experiencing the opposite effect. I enjoy getting out there and I haven’t had to talk myself into a run this week. Even on Saturday when it was pouring rain!
 
So on Tuesday, I’m doing Mondays run because even when I’m feeling great, somethings will never change. The run was over and I was almost home. I felt great. This was the first run I haven’t had to stop for a recovery interval since my PT ended.. so even though it was an easy run I decided to push it and sprint up the last hill just for fun. It was less than a tenth of a mile so I wasn’t worried about damaging anything. Then I stepped on a pot hole in a weird way and face planted. I’ve busted my right knee open and scraped just about every other limb. Thankfully things are skin deep and I’ll be back out there tomorrow. Just thankful that it wasn’t worse. It was such a good run, that the fall didn’t even effect me mentally as much as I think it would have in the past. So yea. Kind of a funny story thought I’d share!
 
So little things keep happening and I keep having this feeling of “yes! I’m finally back!!” I’m starting to realize just how far off the the wagon I had fell!

I feel like having registered for princess half and finally having runDisney officially on my calendar may just be the icing on the cake. What better motivation do you need than Disney right?! I think that last little bit of oomph I needed was a race calendar I can get excited about.

That said.. I need my accountability back, so I’m going to start weekly updates again. I’m also chewing with the idea of mixing up my current race plan to focus on shorter distances until November when training starts for princesses.. more to come on that.

But yea. See you guys on Sunday at the latest with a weekly recap!!
 
Planned miles for last week -6.5 plus a swim!
Actually ran - 6.5 miles - no swim.

Plan for next week - 9 miles and a swim.

I’m doing this from my phone so sorry that it’s not the normal format. Any who having run Disney on the calendar has giving me the motivation of need for now. I realized the I haven’t had a goal since last year and I think that’s been a big part of my struggles recently so I’m coming up with a new list to be shared soon! But for now, what are some of your running goals? I’m trying to come up with of mix of things that scare me to death and then some that are easily obtainable so reading other runners goals help me!
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top