ToT - Day Eight

I'm excited to write this post as a non-liar today. I did, in fact, run today. All 30 minutes. It was a tough run both physically and mentally. My legs were unhappy from Brazil Butt Lift yesterday (never again with the Bum Bum... only the one with leg exercises and no cardio... sculpt something or other?) and I was running right before dinner, so I kept wanting to quit to go eat. My mind sounded something like this the whole run- "I can stop with 5 minutes left." "No you can't, keep going." "I can walk the last 3 minutes." "Oh really? Are you going to do this in the marathon, too? The Peachtree? The 10 miler? Suck it up." It was hilarious and exhausting all at the same time.

Good news! My sister registered for the 10 miler today!!! I now have a traveling companion and a race buddy. She's pretty much the best option ever because she loves Disney nearly as much as I do. We haven't had a trip together in awhile and I'm really excited to share this with her. Plus, I still owe her a meal at Casey's or Earl of Sandwich (her choice) as her reward for trouncing me in fantasy baseball last season.

Now I'm off to let my sunless tanner continue to dry. Oh, the things we do not to look like dead people in taupe dresses...

75 days til the Peachtree!
162 days til the 10 miler!

ToT - Day Seven

Okay, I lied again. I didn't run today either. I figured I would rather do something else today and stick with my Tuesday/Thursday runs.

On that note, this post should be subtitled "Brazil butt lift is what nightmares are made of." My sister has the complete workout package and I have tried the original Bum Bum video once before today. I quit 10 minutes in, which is saying something because I don't quit when I'm working out. I made it 15 minutes in today. I'm hoping to work up to the full 30 minutes within a few weeks.

If you think you're in shape, go try Brazil Butt Lift and get back to me tomorrow.

76 days til the Peachtree!
163 days til the 10 miler!

ToT - Day Six

Fact: I did not run today. I thought I would have time after work and before my sister's birthday dinner (she's 26 - happy birthday, Whit!) to squeeze a run in, but there were crazy storms that slowed me way down and put me behind schedule. So I opted to do my strengthening exercises again tonight (the foam roller hurt significantly less today), and I'm going to run tomorrow. I'm hoping the weather trend from today carries over a bit and it's drizzly in the morning. I love to run in the rain. In any case, a significant amount of pollen has been washed away and I'm quite grateful for that.

77 days until the Peachtree! 
164 days until the 10 miler!

ToT - Day Five

Monday, Monday...

Mondays are usually yoga days, but today I just wasn't feeling it. I decided to go with some stretches and a few strength building exercises.

Bonus: My foam roller that I ordered showed up at my house today. I used it to massage my IT band and, man oh man, it was painful but in the BEST way.

I'm really looking forward to my run tomorrow. It seems like they just keep getting better.

This is a super short post, but at least it serves the purpose of logging my workouts. :)

78 days until the Peachtree!
165 days until the 10 miler!

ToT - Day Four

I can say without a doubt that I do not enjoy many feelings more than I enjoy the feeling after a great run. I managed to sneak in my 3 miles (and this post!) and I'm so glad that I did. It was just one of those runs where everything is working just the way it should. I felt strong the whole time. My favorite part of it is part that I am still enjoying - that feeling your muscles have after they work hard. I'm not sore by any means, but I have that great, just-worked-out feeling.

I stuck with my 30 second walk/run ratio the whole time (after a 5 minute warm-up). While the old me would be annoyed that it took me 45 minutes to run 3.02 miles, I'm glad that at this point in time I can focus on how awesome I feel right now and the fact that I ran the entire time pain free. Score! The last time I hit 3 miles my IT band certainly let me know that it did not appreciate me ignoring its need to be cared for. I definitely now appreciate the quality of my mileage over the quantity.

Time to slip back into the rest of my evening.

80 days until the Peachtree!
167 days until the 10 miler!

ToT - Day Three

Aaack! I almost didn't get my post in for today. It's 11:30 so technically I'm still okay. It really only matters for the sake of accountability, though. It's Friday (yoga day). There's nothing super exciting to report.

Although, this is relatively exciting... I actually had sufficient floor space for yoga today. Whoop! I spent the majority of the day cleaning my room out. I am pretty sure that I am singlehandedly going to cause Goodwill to need to open a new location. I have 3 trash bags full of things to take and I'm not even finished. Definitely the highest level of spring cleaning I have done in quite some time.

Tomorrow I'll be running 3 miles, though I'm not sure exactly when that is going to fit into my schedule. I have a bridesmaid dress fitting for one wedding and a bachelorette party for another. I may end up having to switch my rest day to tomorrow and run on Sunday. We shall see.

Alright, time to stop rambling before my post is technically "tomorrow."

Peace out.

81 days until the Peachtree!
168 days until the 10 miler!

ToT - Day Two

Day two! Whoop.

 Today is a Thursday which means I had a 30 minute run. I had every intention of waking up at 7:15 and running this morning - until I looked at the weather when I woke up and it was 37 degrees. I'm sorry. I'm from Georgia, and 37 degrees in April does not compute. Truth be told, there is a treadmill in my basement, but I realized at that point that running meant showering and not running meant sleeping in. Not a hard choice for me when I knew I had time to run this evening.

 Confession: This is not truly the first running day I have had in this little endeavor. I ran Tuesday. However, it was a trial to see if I could run the whole 30 minutes without any IT pain. It was a success, so here we are.

 My Tuesday run, I'm not going to lie, flat-out sucked. I had run ONCE since the Disney Marathon (January 8) and I certainly could feel it. I'm taking it super, super slowly this time to preserve all of the work I've been doing to strengthen my leg. As in starting all the way back at a 30 second run/ 30 second walk interval instead of the 3 minute run/ 1 minute walk I was doing at marathon time. I plan to use that ratio for this week and next week and then I'll bump up to 1min/1min and go gradually from there.

 The good news about today... MY RUN DIDN'T SUCK. I attribute this to the fact that my body realizes we are going to be running again and is planning accordingly. Well, that and the fact that I was running on the treadmill so the evil forces of pollen were thwarted today. I am incredibly ready for the pollen to get the heck out.

 Alright, back to my run - I warmed up 5 minutes, ran with my ratio for 25 minutes, and cooled down for 5 minutes. I felt great the whole time and I was so grateful.

 Bonus: thanks to my sister I have discovered the sock bun. Oh my goodness... MAGIC, people! My hair is super long and has gotten pretty heavy as it has gotten longer (duh). It really has been a pain trying to figure out how to keep it secure while I run. The only thing that has held well is french braids, but I don't always want to run with those. Enter the sock bun. God's gift to runners with long hair. I threw my hair into one today and, lo and behold, at the end of my run it was still in tact! Brilliant!

On that note, I'm signing off.
Go put your hair in a sock bun... For real.

82 days until the Peachtree! 
169 days until the 10-miler!

ToT - Day One

It seems strange to have a post that starts at "Day One" when I've already had one. Clearly, I was unable to keep up my effort to chronicle my training for the 2012 WDW Marathon. Fact: It already happened. Fact: I completed it. Fact: There was a very short time around mile 18/19 where I thought I might give up. Those thoughts are always very brief for me because the thought of ending a race with a DNF is pretty much unbearable. I was in the choir at the Passion 2012 conference and it was amazing - just not for marathon purposes. I had been on my feet for close to a week (not to mention bouncing and dancing around) and then two days later headed down to Orlando. Instead of the balls of my feet hurting at like mile 17, I was hurting around mile 6. Lesson learned.

Ah, well. Bygones. It is time to move on to the actual point of this post... The Tower of Terror 10-Miler!!

As soon as this race was announced, I knew I was going to run it. A) It's at night and I have yet to experience a WDW night race. B) I will receive an inaugural medal (and let's be real, I am ALL about the medals). C) If I can have a reason to head down to Orlando, I'm there.

Bonus: The Little Mermaid standard rooms at the new Art of Animation resort open September 15, and the race is September 29. New resort stay, anyone? I think YES. OH, and reason D... the Disney Villains Hollywood Bash that occurs after the race. Late night rides in Hollywood Studios? Don't mind if I do.

Training-wise I'm currently going to be running 30 minutes on Tuesday/Thursday and no more than 3 or 4 miles on Saturdays. I'm in the process of figuring out all of my IT band issues. I went for a run recently and only felt a slight bit of tightness and virtually no pain which means... TADA! The stretches and strengthening exercises I've been doing are working! I have a foam roller on the way and I can't wait to try it out. I'm thinking I will enjoy it much more than using my Nalgene...

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I'll just be doing yoga for now. I will potentially add in some other type of exercise, but for now I'm trying to take it easy and treat my body nicely. At the end of May I'll be starting one of the official Jeff Galloway training plans specific to the 10-miler. This works unusually well for me, because it coincides almost perfectly with the training I need to do for the Peachtree Road Race on July 4.

Today, Day One (for me), is a yoga day. Not much to report on that except that I dadgum love me some yoga.

I'm officially registered for the 10-Miler and the Peachtree and I am raring to go. Nothing like the spark of a registration to jumpstart your training!

83 days until the Peachtree!
170 days until the 10-miler!