Walkers Wanna Compare Notes??

[windwalker]

Alrighty, in response to my plea for advice on how to increase my speed, the main theme was INTERVALS. So, tonight was a 3-miler on the treadmill. After warming up for 5 minutes at my comfy 3 mph, I did intervals between 3.2 and 3.6. I'd made up my mind to shave a minute per mile off my 20 minute mile, so set the distance to 3 and the time to 57 minutes. Well, danged if I didn't finish up with 2:40 left on the clock! That's 54:40! Yahooo! I know it's easier with the treadmill "pushing" me, but it's a good start!

Nice walk Klh-or. Welcome to the walking thread.


Well the final week before Tower of Terror is upon us. Time to juggle funds around and try to figure out what you want to take with you. Oh the good stress.

I have really really enjoyed meeting you guys on the WISH site and can't wait to meet you all in person.

I'm sad I can't meet Denise and Miranda this trip.

Jeanne, Nancy, Connie, Kathy, Maria, Kim, Valentine, and Lisa, you pretty princesses are witty and fun and very interesting to talk with. Thank you all for sharing your training and and your feelings. You are all very real and very caring ladies. I'm really looking forward to meeting all of you and sharing the ToT experience with you.

Erica and I are very excited about this trip and ready to enjoy a week with good friends and of course the awesome fun of the happiest place on earth.

Dave

 

[jeanneg]

Welcome, Valentine Of course, you can hang out with all of us! The more the merrier! (And, yay for Brooklyn......my oldest child is living there now and I spent the first 30 years of my life in uptown Manhattan)

klh-or: great job on the interval training! You can do anything you put your mind to!

A safe journey to all those headed out for the World. We still have 6 more sleeps.

John and I have a 12-miler tomorrow (his first) It will be the longest training walk for him as he is only doing the Donald. His first actual half-marathon will be the City of Oaks Marathon the weekend following TofT. Then we have another easy one in early December so he should be in excellent condition for the Donald. I, on the other hand, will be entering unchartered territory real soon. I've only trained up to 14 miles and need to get from there to 22 (or at least 20) before Christmas. Should be interesting. At this point, everything is so mental......I can do it, I can do it!

 

[wdw4us]

Trust me Dave we are just as sad as YOU. I will be on vacation that week and could have gone down. But I had planned a trip to San Antonio and Houston with Mark instead. Now even those plans have changed due to funding and 2 trips to Disney coming up.

Our annual trip after Thanksgiving and then of course Marathon weekend. The pocketbook only goes so far and we are also saving for Miranda's wedding event a year from now.

I briefly checked on flights,air etc for a TOT mini-vaca,but the whole purpose of staying home was to avoid unnecessary spending in TX so swapping FL for TX was not a great idea. So the money we saved we'll be putting down flooring in the kitchen,dining room and hall. Not an exciting event but one that we'll enjoy for years to come.

We also plan on doing a LONG walk at that time to gauge our times and see where we need improving. AND quite honestly, with all that walking/training there has been little time for "romance" or energy for that matter so we'll be "busy" too.


klh-or - GREAT workout and keep it up. Yes I agree the TM is a great way to set a pace and keep at it. It's how I"m learning how to jog a bit. So I can do a combo powerwalk/jog and avoid the dreaded sweeper.

Valentine - Have a Awesome time, nothing like good friends - be they old or new in Disneyworld to make you feel right as rain!

Miranda, Mark and I did 3 miles at the track last night. Took about 40 min which is ok. It was dark by the time we were done but that's what's nice about the track, no traffic to worry about. Off today and then tomorrow we'll do either 4 miles or cross train, depends on the day.

Have a great weekend, I'll check in at some point.

denise

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Hi Everyone!

I've been getting hour-long walks in most evenings, and I do seem to be getting faster, finally! Last night I was up to 4.3 miles, so I felt pretty good about that. Now all I have to do is get some form, learn to do intervals, hills...yeah, plenty of room for improvement!

I am so jealous I will not get to enjoy ToT, and I already planted a bug is dh's ear for next year. It was not well-received, he still hasn't recovered from our super-duper vacation this summer. I just have to let some time pass and build something in the vacation account -- and maybe he will love the Disney Half so much he'll want to come back.

Denise -- I totally get the vacay vs. home repair decision. We recently had to put a new roof on our house, and that is making dh want to stay home for awhile. I just want to go, go, go!

Jeanne -- You are the little engine that can and will do it! I know you will be brimming with pride at the end of the race!

Dave -- I am definitely looking forward to meeting you and Erica at the Half -- I believe it was the Rose and Crown, just when I think I'm going to collapse, right?

klr-or -- It sounds like you had a great walk! Mind over matter!

Kathy-Valentine -- Welcome back to the thread! You are going to have so much fun with this group at ToT, it is going to be a moving dance3:

Kim -- Have a great time on those rides for me, and no hogging Capt. Jack Sparrow at MNSSHP -- I'm sure he will have quite a line!

Kathy -- I'm with you on the neat house. We have cat sitters, and I couldn't bear to think they're looking at my mess when they come in, so I always come home and only have to do laundry . I also need to look at the clean spaces when I get back. It's too depressing for me to see a mess, because I'm exhausted but I feel like I have to tackle it anyway.

Connie -- Eight days sounds like plenty of time to really relax and have fun. I hope you guys have a blast!

Ok, everyone who hasn't already left for ToT -- have a wonderful time, and give Indiana Jones or Han Solo (your choice!) a big kiss for me!

Safe Travels to Everyone!
Maria

 

[windwalker]

I'm to sexy for my, oops wrong post, sorry.

How is everyone today?

We are driving down to WDW on Tuesday, wasn't it delightful that gas went up 40 cents a gallon this week, oh goody. How did they know?

I'm watching the news about the "new" superbug that is spreading around the nation. Especially in schools, gyms, and anywhere there are large groups of people in close groups. They are saying the best way to not catch anything is the old rule, wash your hands regularly.

I use hand sanitizer after every patient at work and I very seldom even have a cold. Our health club now has those wipes despensers so you can wipe the machines down after, or before use.

I'm off to walk now, thinking 3 quick miles.

Walk strong princesses.

Dave

 

[jeanneg]

Hi everyone,

Can I talk about my bad experience yesterday?

I've been training since January and this have never happened before. I went out a 12-miler with my husband on a completely new course. Ostensibly it appeared flat but had some very long and gradual hills. I thought it would be a piece of cake compared to my normally hilly course. I had eaten half a banana and had half water/Gatorade with me. Everything was fine and I was going quite a bit faster than John. Because it was a new course, I slowed down alot so he could catch up. At around mile 8, I tripped on a broken sidewalk and went down. Luckily, when I got up everything was fine. But I started to feel like I was running out of steam. Nothing hurt, but I was definitely winded. At about 9.5, there was a long steep hill and I actually had to stop in the middle (I have never done that). At about 10.5, I felt I could no longer go on. Surprisingly enough, John was going strong. I had to stop to rest. At that point we could have turned around and shaved off about a mile, but John was doing so well, I told him to just go on. I would either catch my breath and go on, or wait for him and join him on the turn back. I managed to get my breath and eventually caught up with him. We finished the 12 miles, but I was completely spent. If that had been an actual half-marathon, I don't know if I would have had it in me to go another 1.1 miles. This has never happened to me before and has me deeply concerned because I don't know why. I'm thinking it was either the small amount of food I had or the fact that I was continually stopping and starting again and just couldn't keep up the momentum. Normally I only eat a half banana but we usually start much much earlier in the morning. This time we didn't start until around 9am so it was a little after 1pm when we finished. That may be enough to get me to 10am, but not 1pm. I also ran out of water at around mile 9.
Does anyone have any insight on what might have caused it? Up to now, everything has been going really, really well and I've been feeling somewhat invincible, but this has really caused me to have doubts about what I can do. If a 12-miler rocked my world like that yesterday, how am I ever going to be able to go 26.2? Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[Steffwalks]

Sounds like you ran out of gas....uhm, nutrition! If you are spending 100 calories a mile, you would have burned up 950 calories by the time you went to mile 9.5. If you are counting, that's approximately 900 calories more than you ate. Also, hydration is really important, running out of fluid slows me way, way down. Finally, think about the meals you had the day before. Was something unusual? That can provide a clue, too. Whenever you are going out for more than an hour consider carrying food. It can be Gu, or power ade, or pretzels, or gummies, just something to put the spark back in your step.

 

[wdw4us]

Well let me tell you I know what you are going through. If you look back at my posts a few weeks ago something similar happened to me. Mark and I were at the track -completely flat, soft surface and ideal area for me to walk and work on my jog. Because the track is part of the football field they have astro turf from the bathrooms to the field that cross the track. No big deal we go by it all the time. Well on one of my walks(not a jog) I tripped on it and fell on the track. Hurt my left wrist and skinned both elbows (I am a lefty). I was really shaken. I got up slowly and checked out the damage and I praised God that I had not hurt my legs. BUT it drained me. I walked around the track 2x to cool down and then went home. We had planned a longer route but I was finished. I give you credit for what you did.
I also feel that at times we don't always listen to our body when it tells us things. Like, take today off, your tired, your legs need a rest, you need to mentally take a break.

Last night we went to the track mostly in the dark since we were doing 5 miles. I didn't trip, my legs were GREAT we did awesome. I also had Friday off. I waited till it was in the evening when it was cool I also took today off. We will have to work hard come Marathon weekend, gees, let's not overdo now and risk injury. Take it easy on yourself. Last week we did a 5k road race as walkers. My shins hurt the whole way I was deeply disappointed but my times were good. Embrace the positive, learn from the negative, drink more, eat more, you need the fuel. I plan on 8-10 miles next week, we just didn't have enough time this week. A bit more each week till the main event and we'll all be charging through looking fab when we cross that finish line.

Good luck.

denise

 

[klh-or]

Wow, jeanneg, that must have been both scary and frustrating. I've read about the concept of "hitting the wall" and I have yet to walk far enough to have that happen, but it sounds like that's what happened to you. I'm trying to get smart before my first 1/2 in January about what to eat in the few days before, the morning of, during, etc. Anxious to hear how your next workout goes. Fingers crossed this was a one-time nutrition/hydration let down.

Today was my "endurance" day. The end of week 2 of my 14 week countdown training for the 1/2. Last weekend it took my oldest daughter and I a pit-iiii-ful 1 hour 50 (no, I'm not kidding) to do 4 miles. Partly because we had our two dogs (an 8-month-old German Shepherd puppy and a 3-year-old doberman/lab), and they were being obnoxious. Today I took my OTHER daughter (the 16-year-old who runs cross country), and we did much better....5 miles in 1 hour 37 minutes. I was hoping for 1 hour 35 minutes for a 19-minute-mile (which would be a big improvement for me), but I'm happy to be making progress. The dogs were much better behaved, too! Crazy boys...

Here's to a new successful week for all of us!!

Karla

PS: I splurged and ordered a Garmin 301. Should be here in the next few days.

 

[Steffwalks]

I didn't think of it as "The wall" when I did it, it was more like walking through a 12 foot high pile of jello for miles! (green jello, at that)

 

[windwalker]

Jeanne and Denise, when you guys fell on your walks and then ran out of energy here is what more than likely happened. When you fell your heart rate rapidly accelerated, this caused your body to go into the "flight or flight mode". This hightened state of your body drains your energy rapidly. It's the same thing that happens if you are badly frightened you can react with increased strength and speed but only for a short time. Like the stories of people doing seemingly impossible things such as lifting a heavy weight to free a trapped love one. When something like that happens it's best to just relax for a few minutes or you will have a reaction like you did.

I just returned from an all day training in Lexington. I had to get up at 3 am to go and just got home. I hope no one abused me on the boards while I was away.

Dave

 

[getnthinr]

Jeanne and Denise -- Just wanted to reassure you both that your "off days" should not be too worrisome to you. (If every day seemed like an off day that's a different matter!) I often let a bad day (or a lack of continual improvement) worry me, but those days are nearly always followed by a mysteriously good day that seems to come out of the blue later. I've heard many very fast runners say, "Today was just not my day" -- and I think everyone has days like that. The absolute worst case (and I have only had it happen once in a lot of races) is that on race day you might feel as though you are walking through jello, but knowing you've trained for it enables you to finish despite that. The best case, and far more likely, is exactly as you suggested, Denise, that you will have learned what to do to make a very good day more likely -- the right combination of rest, fuel, hydration, pace, etc.

The primary thing is not to let the occasional bad experience discourage you. You are both so awesome!

Hey, Jeanne, right now I'm planning on doing the City of Oaks half as well. It's kind of a stupid idea because I'm doing Richmond marathon the following weekend but I plan on taking it really, really easy. Maybe we'll see each other!

 

[jeanneg]

Thanks so much everyone for all the support. I was really bummed out over the weekend, but am back to my old invincible self today. Besides, I have ToT to look forward to and meeting all you great WISHers. Now that I look back on it, I think my bad training session was due to a combination of alot of little things just all coming together like 7s on a slot machine....only this time it brought bad luck. Like Dave said, John also thinks the fall did it for me because I started feeling bad shortly after that. Whatever......It's all in the past now and I'm not going to dwell on it. I'll be a little more careful about making sure I'd adequately nourished from now on. Would raisins be a good thing to bring with me? I could take one of those small little boxes in my pocket and not worry about it getting crushed.

Wendy: I'm so excited about you doing the Raleigh marathon! We will definitely be able to spot one another. The event has only a small number of walkers so I'm sure we'll be together at the start. My husband and I will both be wearing WISH shirts and will be the ones other people look at and say "THEY'RE doing a half marathon??????" I know you walk a good deal faster than I do, but I'm gonna try to keep your dust in sight! I haven't signed up for the Randleman event yet, partly because of the bad weekend experience, but I plan to do it today. I'll post more about it on that board.

 

[windwalker]

Jeanne Darlin, don't flash the New Orleans AirLines planes at the airport, they will not throw beads. Might be fun to see a Boing 727 smile though.

Wendy, you are a supergirl.

Kim, get your sweet self down here safe.

Connie, Yea!!! Vacation time.

Kathy can't wait for that hug.

Valentine, Party Time.

PrincessRunner Disney, Disney, Disney, WhoooHooo!!!

Everyone ready to get their party hats on???

Party Panda

 

[Hockeychic]

Dave you and Erica have a safe trip down as well.

Will you drive straight through or stop somewhere on the way down????

OK so Dave and Erica leave tomorrow

Mike and I leave on Wed night.....

who's next???

 

[wdw4us]

Jeanne and Denise, when you guys fell on your walks and then ran out of energy here is what more than likely happened. When you fell your heart rate rapidly accelerated, this caused your body to go into the "flight or flight mode". This hightened state of your body drains your energy rapidly. It's the same thing that happens if you are badly frightened you can react with increased strength and speed but only for a short time. Like the stories of people doing seemingly impossible things such as lifting a heavy weight to free a trapped love one. When something like that happens it's best to just relax for a few minutes or you will have a reaction like you did.

Dave

Dave – you are exactly right. I felt as if I had been in a car accident. Quite shaken up. I actually fell a year ago in a parking garage when my sandal got caught in a crack in the pavement. I didn’t hurt myself but I sure did feel drained after. Funny I was power walking in the dark at the track the other night was wasn’t the least bit concerned about falling. I guess I felt that I had overcome that. I suppose if bad things happen to us, it’s at least while were still home and have the time to recover. Although as the time gets nearer to the ½ I surely will be more careful about where I walk so as to not injure something. Keeping my fingers crossed that the snow waits until after 1/1 so I can get as much training on the track as possible.

I'm sure I'll check in here and there but for those of you leaving soon, HaVE A BLAST!! Miranda and I will be thinking of you every step of the way.

denise

 

[jeanneg]

Safe travels to everyone leaving tomorrow! Can't wait to meet everyone! Bring beads......lots and lots of beads!


Speaking of party hats.......Nancy doesn't know this yet, but I bought her a Halloween hat. Dollar Tree had these utterly ridiculous witch hats that were black and lime green striped......I couldn't resist! They are perfect to wear with our WISH shirts at ToT without going the full costume route. If she won't wear it, the hat is up for grabs, but my guess is she'll go along with it!Certainly we won't look any more ridiculous than grown men parading as Village People!

 

[Steffwalks]

In thongs.

 

[windwalker]

In thongs.

Oh Grrrrrrrrrrrr! Huh


Party Panda, who is on vacation TODAY!!!!

 

[ultramickeymouse]

In thongs.