Run like the wind bulls eye!

[xjillianpaige]

Welcome to the boards! I'm excited to see how you do!

For me, having a journal here is big motivation! I feel accountable to the people here, and inspired by their training! The past few weeks have been lots of skipped workouts, and getting back on track this week is motivated by myself first (so much of running is mind over matter) and the people here second! I want them to see that I'm running and improving and get their feedback and support!

 

[Katie Little]

Week 2 day 2 - check!! Today I braved the gym instead of the weather and I really hate running on the treadmill. However, on run 1 that I realized I was missing 1 very important piece of cold running gear - something to cover my mouth!! So I ordered a little mask thingy (Balaclava I think??). It'll be here by Thursday for my next run . I did 1.84 miles in 32:39 today on the rolling hills setting! (BTW Rolling hills implies that at some point you would go down hill... that is not the case )

So I have a bit of a delima. As you know, one of my goals is to run a race every month this year. In January, I'm doing a virtual 5k. In February, my 5k training will be complete so I want to do a race that's actually chip timed and with other people. There is only 1 remotely close to me in February and it's a trail run which I've never done before. I'm obviously still early enough in my training to incorporate some trail running, but I have never done any research and wouldn't know where to begin. Don't you need different running gear? I've heard people use different shoes and everything - am I overthinking this?! What would you guys do? Would you try and do the trail run with the atmosphere and the official time or would you do another virtual 5k and skip the trail run. There are a couple local 5ks in March, but I was kind of hoping to do a 10k by then (half running half walking of course with a full on running 10k in April). Thoughts, advice and suggestions?

 

[xjillianpaige]

Treadmills are the pits, man. Hamster wheels! I had my first hamster wheel run and BLEH.

Now, I am by no means an expert, and most of my runs are on roads, but every so often I take a short trail that gets me from my residential area to our local res/pond. I don't do anything special and I've only fallen once. I use the same shoes and do the same thing, maybe a bit more careful of all the roots and rocks. There are probably folks who have shoes for trail runs vs road, and running a trail is definitely different for your body than running on roads, but if I were making that decision, I'd do the race. Definitely do some research though! You might look into trail running and give some short trail runs a chance and decide it's not for you.

 

[Katie Little]

Treadmills are the pits, man. Hamster wheels! I had my first hamster wheel run and BLEH. .

I will never refer to the treadmill as a treadmill ever again!! From now on "Hamster Wheel" it is!! LOL It's such an accurate description of how you feel!

Thanks for the advice about the trail too. I think I am overthinking it, plus you're right. You never know if you don't try.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Just in case you haven't already looked but runningintheusa.com is a great resource for finding races.

As for the trail race, I'd say go for it. However be aware it can be very different than a road race because of the terrain. Take it slower than normal and be cautious where you step. I tend to barely life my feet off the ground (I scuff on road running sometimes) so I have to be really cautious on trails because I'm prone to tripping.

 

[Katie Little]

I might even run a marathon!

So I think it’s safe to assume that if you are reading this, you also have a ton of Disney music loaded into your running playlist. One of the songs on my playlist is Hannah Montana’s “I might even be a rock star.” This came on Tuesday and I caught myself singing along (as you do) but instead of saying “I might even be a rock star.” I was mindlessly saying “I might even run a marathon..” That seems like the cheesy kind of thing that I should share here, so now you know.

Today’s run will likely not be as inspiring. I was all set to run outside tonight. It will be a nice tropical 22 degrees. That shouldn’t be an issue for me now that I am fully armed with all the cold weather gear. Small problem… my weather app doesn’t account for the -8 wind chill. So I guess hamster wheel it is. I’m also struggling with a head cold so it’s just going to be a challenge. I keep telling myself that it’s just like a roller coaster. The hardest part is sitting down and pulling the little thing over your head. From there, you’re just along for the ride. For me the hardest part is getting to the gym. Once I’m there I go into auto pilot and by the time my warm up is complete, I’m genuinely happy to be there.

So in order to get myself to the gym (for the 2nd run in a row - grr) I’ve decided to list out my “why.”

• If I train for a marathon, my husband will be so proud that he will not care about the cost and I will get an extra trip to Disney in order to run through the castle.
• Once I get to the higher miles, I’ll pretty much be able to eat whatever I want (within reason).
• I like to shock people. I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when I start listing off a laundry list of running achievements. The street cred for Marathoners is real.
• I’ve experienced “runners high” - it’s real and I want to feel it again and as often as possible.
• I like the alone time.
• If I get a good fitness base now, then hopefully my body will only be a little wrecked whenever I decide to have a kid (Moms in the room, I beg of you… do not pop this bubble for me).
• I really really really love getting the medals and t-shirts!
• Because I can.

I'll check back in tonight after the gym to let you know how it goes!

 

[jennamfeo]

Go girl! I love your "why" list. I have a list of things I keep stored in my head to tell myself when I am trying to get out of bed in the morning, or when a run gets hard/boring. Just remember why you are doing this and you'll be all set!

 

[Katie Little]

Done! 2 miles in 35 mins. I took it a little easier today since I'm sick (AKA no rolling hills)! Hopefully the weather will be good enough to get out there on Saturday!

 

[Katie Little]

Training Update Week 1!

Total miles ran - 5.51
Year to date - 3.91 (Technically day 1 was in 2017 )
Fastest pace - 16:17
Planned work outs:
Sunday - 5 mins warm up - 1 min run + 1.5 mins walk (6 times) - 5 min cool down
Tuesday - 5 mins warm up - 1 min run + 1.5 mins walk (8 times) - 5 min cool down
Thursday - 5 mins warm up - 1 min run + 1.5 mins walk (8 times) - 5 min cool down
Saturday - 5 mins warm up - 1.5 min run + 2 min walk (4 times) - 1min run + 1min run (2 times) - 5 min cool down

Missed workouts - Saturday due to a 100 fever and a husband who hid my car keys and refused to let me go to the gym.

Things I learned this week -
20 degrees is my limit for running outside.
It’s okay to include your warm up and cool down in your run keeper app (AKA Strava for me).
Also took time to list out my “why.”
My addiction to emoji's is real...

Days till next race - 11 days until the “Braver than you are” virtual 5k.

Plan for week 2!

Monday - 5 mins warm up - 1.5 min run + 2 min walk (4 times) - 1min run + 1min walk (2 times) - 5 min cool down
Wednesday - 5 mins warm up - 1.5 min run + 2 min walk (6 times) - 5 min cool down
Friday - 5 mins warm up - 1.5R+ 1.5W, 2.5R + 2.5W (2x), 1.5R + 1.5W - 5 min cool down

Question for you:

What is your favorite song to run to? My all time fave is "I'll make a man out of you."

 

[Capang]

Fave Disney song or any song? Lately mine is Good to be Alive by Andy Grammar. I like that towards the end of long runs. I'm with ya on the 20° thing.

 

[Katie Little]

Fave Disney song or any song? Lately mine is Good to be Alive by Andy Grammar. I like that towards the end of long runs. I'm with ya on the 20° thing.

Any song! I just looked up this Alive song and it is now on my playlist so thanks for that! I can't wait to run to it!!

 

[Katie Little]

So had to update the plan for this week. Shortly after I finished my update Sunday, I started feeling like death again. Went to the doctor and had the pharmacy thrown at me (seriously 4 prescriptions!!!). Since I was written out of work yesterday, I felt that I probably shouldn’t run (My boss started following me on Strava…) However, I’m back at work today and instead of skipping 2 runs all together, I’m going to adjust this week. This changes things for the 5k I’m doing on the 18th, but not by much. I’ll just have to do that days training plan as part of the 5k instead of doing my own thing and resuming training as usual on the next run.

New plan -

Tuesday - 5 mins warm up - 1.5 min run + 2 min walk (4 times) - 1min run + 1min walk (2 times) - 5 min cool down
Thursday - 5 mins warm up - 1.5 min run + 2 min walk (6 times) - 5 min cool down
Saturday - 5 mins warm up - 1.5R+ 1.5W, 2.5R + 2.5W (2x), 1.5R + 1.5W - 5 min cool down

 

[Katie Little]

Training Update Week 2!

Before I get into the updates here – I just want to take a sec to congratulate everyone who participated in Marathon weekend last weekend.

Total miles ran - 5.18
Year to date - 9.09
Fastest pace this week – 15:37
Planned work outs:
Tuesday - 5 mins warm up - 1.5 min run + 2 min walk (4 times) - 1min run + 1min walk (2 times) - 5 min cool down
Thursday - 5 mins warm up - 1.5 min run + 2 min walk (6 times) - 5 min cool down
Saturday- 5 mins warm up - 1.5R+ 1.5W, 2.5R + 2.5W (2x), 1.5R + 1.5W - 5 min cool down


Missed workouts – None! But I did have to adjust the original plan a little since I was still sick.

Things I learned this week -
I Love running more than my fear of the doctor.
I have the best husband in the world! (I kind of already knew that, but… I don’t have enough upper body strength to seriously foam roll. So to help combat my half ***-ery, he rubs my legs and feet after every run!! Seriously?! How lucky am I?)

Days till next race - 5 days until the “Braver than you are” virtual 5k.

Plan for week 3!

Monday - 5 mins warm up - 1.5R+ 1.5W, 2.5R + 2.5W (2x), 1.5R + 1.5W - 5 min cool down
Thursday – Braver than you are virtual 5k.


Question for you:
How often do you like to update your training journals here?

 

[Katie Little]

Virtual 5k Plan (Side bar- towards the end, this turns into my history with running - I have no idea how that happened, so sorry if it’s too wordy)

Okay so Thursday will be my first race of the year - I’ll be doing the Braver than you Believe Virtual 5k!!

I’m a little less than half way through the training plan so my A goal is 45 mins and my B goal is less than an hour. I feel like this is pretty reasonable. My fastest overall pace to date is 15:37 - so it’ll be a challenge but not impossible.

Since I had to move some stuff around to deal with my upper repertory infection, I didn’t want to skip another work out (I know it doesn’t count as skipping if you are doing a much longer workout instead… but I can’t handle not having the little check mark by the work out.) My work out on Thursday was supposed to be 5min warm up - 2r +2w /3r +3w (2x)/ 2r + 2w - 5 min cool down. My plan is to do this work out twice. Based off my averages so far, that should take me to the finish line in 50mins J.

Some technical things:

I moved my work schedule around so that I could hit my local running trail before they close. This is a completely flat surface so I’m hoping that that’s where the extra 5 mins will be shaved off my time (My normal running loop is quite hilly.) The weather should be 39 degrees and sunny at this point; however, it may snow Wednesday, so there is a chance of icy trails. My back up plan is to run the 5k on the treadmill (so please please please send up prayers that I don’t have to do that!). I’ll also be using 2 run trackers to track my time. Strava will include my warm up and cooldown, and I’m going to use “Run Tracker” when I start actually running for the 5k and I’ll turn it off right after I hit that 5k mark. That way, I can change the settings to notify me after each Kilometer instead of mile and I’ll have a little bit better idea of pacing.

(This is where the wordiness starts)

I know it’s just a virtual 5k, and I know that I’m not breaking any speed records or anything like that, but I seriously get nervous butterflies thinking about it. It’s pretty liberating tbh. I never ran the mile in high school and whenever people would talk about liking to exercise I always laughed at them. I always knew that one day I’d have to get serious about my health and join a gym but knew 1 thing and that was that I would NEVER be a runner… Funny how that worked out.

In 2016 may company paid for me to participate in the Virginia 10 miler. This is a special event because in addition to the 10 mile run, there is a 4 mile run and a 4 mile walk. I signed up for the walk. At the time, it was nothing for my boyfriend and I to go for a 5 or 6 mile walk on the weekends. We showed up and when I say I was hooked… I was hooked!! I walked the 4 miles and even ran the last 200 yards to the finish line.. On the way home, I signed up for my first ever 5k and downloaded the 5k runner app. From that moment on every time I left my house I set a new personal best. I was having the time of my life and planning for the 2018 Disney world 5k. Then I saw the prices of runDisney and decided that I should probably hold off until I was running much further distances. As a compromise, I did the Virtual running shorts in June, July and August and hey I also ran the Virginia 4 miler in September 2017. If you read my first entry into this journal, you know that’s when things started to go downhill for me. I was exhausted, over trained and over spent. Then our Honeymoon happened (at Disney). As I was walking through the parks, I remembered my dream of a runDisney Marathon and came back revitalized. Bought some new running shoes from the running store in Disney Springs and then started over. There were quite a few things that I did wrong the first time, but I’ve learned from it and I’m stronger for it. I can’t believe that I’m planning on running the 10 miler this year and a half marathon by December…

Anyway - I guess I’m nervous about this 5k because I know it’s the first step towards much bigger goals and it’s me saying I’m actually doing this… No turning back now.

Wish me luck!!

 

[Katie Little]

Braver Than You Believe Virtual 5k Race Recap!!

5k in 47:46!!

KM Time Pace

1 8:46 8:46

2 17:49 9:01

3 29:03 11:13

4 38:05 9:02

5 47:39 9:34


So I didn’t get to do my run on the 18th as planned because of snow. There was ice on the trail and driving to the gym was not going to happen because of the above mentioned ice!

I ran it today in my neighborhood and to be honest it was pretty boring. Since I was doing double my hardest workout to date, I wanted to keep it pretty flat and when you live in a town known as “Hill City,” that’s easier said than done. I mean we are no San Francisco or anything but I did have to keep it to one street that I ran back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth and back and forth. But I did it! and when my phone buzzed that I was on the 4th kilometer, I lost it. I just started cheesin from ear to ear and may have even cried a little!

I’ve seen a lot of hate for virtual races lately (not here – nothing but positivity from this crew). I had started to believe it. I had started to think that I just wasted $25 and bought myself a medal. I started thinking I was dumb for taking this so seriously and that nobody else who had signed up for this race was going to run it or take it this seriously. I started putting myself down because its not like this was a “real race” and had even started trying to find another 5k that wasn’t crazy far away and wouldn’t cost a fortune.

But today as I ran the last kilometer of my 5k all of that went away. I realized, it doesn’t matter what everyone else did, and I didn’t waste my $25. I ran it… I ran it and was 2 mins slower than my A goal and achieved my B goal with flying colors!!! I had the dedication to get out there – there is still plenty of ice on the roads so I totally could have bailed and nobody would have judged me. But I did it. I did it! I did it! I did it!! I did it!!! and that’s seriously all that matters.

I’m so excited right now! I can’t even deal.

 

[jennamfeo]

Woo! Go girl!

 

[Katie Little]

Woo! Go girl!

Thank you so much!!!!!

 

[Katie Little]

Training Update Week 3!


Total miles ran – 5.2
Year to date – 14.29
Fastest pace this week – 15:15
Planned work outs:
Monday - 5 mins warm up - 1.5R+ 1.5W, 2.5R + 2.5W (2x), 1.5R + 1.5W - 5 min cool down
Thursday – Braver than you are virtual 5k.


Missed workouts – None! But I did have to adjust the 5k due to the weather.


Things I learned this week -
Flexibility is very important in your training plan!

I still have the best husband ever! Today during my 5k, he sent me cute little encouragement text messages.

Days till next race – 36 days till Humble Creek 5k.

Plan for week 3!

Sunday (making this optional since this would only give me 1 rest day after the 5k) – 5 min Warm up – 3r+2w/ 4r + 3w (2x)/ 3r + 2w – 5 min cool down
Tuesday – 5 min warm up – 3r+2w/5R+3w (2x)/3r+2w – 5 min cool down
Thursday – 5 min warm up – 3r+2w/5R+3w (2x)/3r+2w – 5 min cool down
Saturday – 5 min warm up – 5r+3w/ 6r+3w/5run – 5 min cool down

Question for you:

Which came first for you Disney or running?? (For me it was Disney)

 

[Katie Little]

Guys! I've picked my half marathon for the end of the year!!! Don't judge me because I'm letting my southern girl show just a little (okay A LOT)! but on 11/17/18 I will be running my very first half marathon ever in Mt Airy, NC!! That's right, if you grew up anywhere near the bible belt, you already know where I'm going with this one... I will be running the Mayberry Half Marathon!!!! ** Insert whistles here** Just wanted to pop on and share that I'm crazy in case you guys haven't figured that out yet.

 

[Katie Little]

Needing some major encouragement y'all!

Tonight was probably the worst run of my life (and yes I am a dramatic person by nature). Within the first mile of a new route, I was attacked by a small dog, I passed a gentlemen who was twice my size and smelled like alcohol from 10 feet away and realized that I forgot my pepper spray (something I never leave the house without) and then every muscle from my toes to my butt started cramping. By the 2nd mile, I also had the worst stomach pain set in and I truly did not think I was going to make it home.
So I know I just threw a lot of info at you so I'll break it down.

The dog attack! So mind you that this route is right next to a pretty major side road. I'm running on the side walk and I hear a dog going nuts. I look ahead and see a beagle type thing in someones yard. I assumed he was on a lead and kept on running (who lets their dog out with out any leash or lead or anything when you live on a busy road!!! People really piss me off). As I got closer the little guy came running right at me!! I didn't know what to do!! I just stopped in my tracks and managed to sound excited. I said "Hi little guy," and he jumped up on me and ran back to the front door of his house!! I realize that the word attack is used loosely here but that's seriously what it felt like in the moment. Then as I ran on, I started to get really really mad. Seriously, it's a pretty major street and we have leash laws! That poor little dog could have been hit by a car! Why do people get animals if they refuse to take care of them??

So I'm doing the thing I do where I plan to kidnap this dog if he's still in the front yard on my way back and I look up and there is a guy walking towards me on the side walk. Anytime I see another person while I'm out I do the same thing. I stick my hand in my pocket and grab my pepper spray and keep my hand in my pocket until I can at least see their face and assess the situation. So imagine my panic when I realized I didn't have it with me.. No worries it's a well lit busy street. I should be fine. The whole pepper spray thing is basically paranoia any way. Except as we get closer I smell him and boy does he reek of alcohol and as we get closer I realize he's a pretty big guy. I can't hold my own. I run past him and start to feel better and better as he gets further and further away.

At this point its walk time and I shake everything off. I think to myself the important thing is that you are running! You feel great and as if by magic or dark sorcery at that moment, my foot stroke the pavement and then everything started hurting. My calves were burning and felt like I had been running uphill the whole time (even though it was a pretty flat except for the 1 hill I walked up during my warm up). My toes were somehow sore and my booty hurt with every foot strike. I just turned around and walked home. The run was supposed to be composed of running and walking intervals and I had only made it through the first 2 runs.

I won't go into detail about the stomach pain that's pretty self explanatory and I've rambled on for a while now. I'm feeling pretty ****ty, about this run. I know in my head that since this was an optional run it doesn't matter that I only did half of it, But this feeling still sucks hard core. I've been doing so well. I'm so disappointed. The determination was there in the beginning but it fizzled out after a couple minor obstacles.