Week Nine: Disney Princess Half Marathon Training

Week Nine

Monday – yoga

I didn't feel comfortable during this class. I just wasn't centered, zoned in, etc. My body was aching and I just couldn't get the stretches comfortably and hold them to actually help me. I felt like I was forcing it each time. Spent a lot of time in downward dog or child's pose to rest. But I still sweat like a crazy person, so I guess I was doing something right.

Tuesday – run

I’m working on doing more running and less walking in my intervals. Also working on picking up the speed. I used to “run” at 4.0, so I think this is an improvement.

5 min warm up at 2.8
3 min run x5 (2 at 4.3, 3 at 4.4) with 2 min walks (at 3.0) in between
5 min run at 4.3
5 min cool down at 3.0 

Entire workout 40 mins – 2.42 miles (16:32/mi)

This run pushed me over the 500-mile mark for 2011. 500 miles of running, biking, swimming, elliptical-ing, walking and whatever else I did. Wonder how far I can get by the end of the year!

30 mins – 1.946 miles  (15:24/mi)

Wednesday – rest

This was my last rest day for a long time. I joined the 30 For 60 Challenge and decided to fit exercise into my life every day for the months of December and January. No rest days. I love rest days. I’ll miss them. But I’ll do my best to make my “rest days” active and do at least 30 minutes of something active every day to stay on track.

Thursday –run

Speed pyramid workout in which I got up to 6.5mph as my fast peak. That may seem like a walk in the park to most runners, but that’s pretty damn fast for me. It worked out to one of my fastest paces.

Entire workout 40 mins – 2.608 miles (15:20/mi)

30 mins – 2.132 miles  (14:04/mi)

Friday – spin

I hadn’t been to a spin class since September and this class most certainly kicked my butt. I guess I need to put it on my schedule more often. Though maybe not in between run days next time - my legs certainly got a beating this week.

Saturday – long run – 7 miles

Reindeer Run 5K – 3.14 miles in 51:44

After the race, my friend and I did another larger loop around the 5K course for almost 4 miles to add up to the 7 miles needed for the long run. There was more walking and less running during this portion of my run for today. The last 2 miles or so were really slow and painful. I have to thank my friend Beth for sticking with me for the last 4 miles. They were pretty unbearable and I was hurting towards the end of it.

In the car ride home, I talked crazy talk about taking an ice bath.

And then I did it.

And there is video proof: First Ice Bath

7.08 miles – 2:07: (16:30/mi pace)

Sunday – house work

I had to get 30 minutes in today and I was exhausted from my 7 miles the day before. So I decided to count my vacuuming, floor scrubbing & laundry as my activity for the day.

house work - 55 min

My legs are still a little sore from Saturday’s long run. I’m a little nervous about the next long run of 8 miles and the 9 mile one after that! Here’s hoping I can survive the next 2 months with no rest days!

Nov 28- Dec 4

84 days until the Disney Princess Half Marathon!

Tavern to Tavern VIRTUAL 5K (and practice triathlon) Race Report

The Tavern to Tavern 5K was supposed to be held on August 28th. It was a point-to-point race in Cambridge, MA.

From Central Square to Porter Square

I had never done a point-to-point race, so I was curious to see how I was going to get back to wherever I parked my car. I figured I’d take the train back to wherever. As it turns out, I didn’t have to deal with it. Hurricane Irene came barreling through and decided to wreak havoc on New England. Of course by the time it got to us, it was only a tropical storm, but the damage was done (no pun intended). They rescheduled the race for September 4th and after a barrage of rudeness from the people who were in charge of the race and a discussion of their lack social media marketing, I decided not to go. I had plans in NH for Labor Day weekend anyway, but I was toying with the idea of driving back down to Cambridge for the race and back up after the race. It would have been a 2-hour drive, but I was willing to do it since I had already registered, they weren’t giving refunds, and they were giving out medals to all finishers. You know I’m all for a good time, but it’s even more of a good time when there’s a medal involved!!

However, on their twitter feed, @Tavern2Tavern5K they made rude comments about people being upset about the reschedule date and used sarcasm to solve everything. They have since removed the offending tweets, but the damage was done. And a lot of people noticed. I can definitely say that I won’t be supporting their race next year. A sure-fire way to deter participants from coming back the next year is to be rude to them. Mission Accomplished, guys!

Although I didn’t go to the 5K today, I did my own 5K at the gym up here in NH. I did the time and I’d like my prize please.

Source

Hey Tavern to Tavern, will you mail me my medal? I was a finisher and I even have a picture of the treadmill after I finished to prove my distance and time.

See?

Contact me for my address. Thanks. You’ll get a much better review from me if you do. FYI.

Thanks for my t-shirt anyway.

Speaking of reviews, someone on my dailymile feed mentioned the race. He wasn’t very impressed. I’m not surprised. He said that the course wasn’t too well marked off. It started at Central Square, went through Harvard Square and ended in Porter Square. None of the streets were shut down and although some police escorts were at certain intersections, they weren’t at all and runners were running in the street at times! There were free beer, burgers and hot dogs at the finish, but there was no food or drink at the start. The water stations were concerned about running out of water early on and things weren’t very well organized. He said he had a good time and it was a good atmosphere and overall people were enjoying themselves. I guess I didn’t miss out on much.

In addition to my virtual 5K, I also did an hour spin class, which averaged out to about 20 miles. My legs were killing me!! Then, I went home, ate lunch and went to the beach with plans to swim a mile. I don’t know who put the crazy in my coffee this morning, but I certainly drank it all up!

I tried out my new tri shorts for everything today and was most curious as to how they would hold up during the swim. I also tested out my rash guard/surf shirt for the swim. I figured if all went well, I could wear it for the tri and not worry about changing clothes in transition. Due to the material, the shirt kept sliding up and wouldn’t stay in place. I tucked it into the shorts and that seemed to help. A little.

I only did 2/3 mile because my legs were cramping up and I was getting cold. Plus the sun had gone behind some darker clouds and I didn’t want to get stuck in the middle of the lake during a thunderstorm. Of course when I got out of the water and sat on the beach, the clouds went away and the sun was out full force. Instead of getting back in the water and swimming the rest of it, I sat in my chair and tried not to fall asleep. I figured I had done enough for the day and tried not to mentally beat myself up about it. I was also coming off of not working out for 4 days because I hurt my back (which by the way was completely fine today! No pain!).

When I first took off swimming, I almost sucked in a gallon of water when I gasped because there was so much drag on the waistband, it felt like they were going to be pulled right off me and I’d be mooning the whole beach. Hot stuff. Once I got across the lake, I stood on the rock and re-adjusted. I re-tied the drawstring as tight as I could and as I took off for a second time, it slid down and dug into my lower abdomen. Awesome. I wonder if the shirt wasn’t tucked in if it would help with the drag from the pants. It wasn’t so much of a drag that it slowed me down tremendously and it didn’t seem to affect my time, but it was enough that I noticed it and it felt different that just my bathing suit. Maybe I’ll look into a tri shirt during the next week to see what I can find, but if not, I’ll just make due with what I have.

The way I figure it, I basically did a triathlon today and everything worked out, so I’ll be fine next Sunday.

Spin class survivor

I survived my first spin class today. No, that’s a lie. My first ever spin class was taken about 6 years ago when I lived in Florida and went to a ritzy (expensive) gym. I think I took one class and never went back. I don’t remember hating it, but it just wasn’t appealing to me. Exercise in general wasn’t appealing to me. Obviously.

When I started this triathlon journey, I planned to take spin classes once I brought my endurance up on the bike. But I kind of forgot about it. Mainly because once my endurance was up and I felt ready to take the spin classes, it was becoming so much nicer outside and I didn’t want to be stuck in the gym on a beautiful day. I’d rather be outside on my bike. This weekend I finally got around to doing a spin class. At 7:15 am. On a Saturday. I’m not a morning person.

Besides waking up earlier on a Saturday than I do during the week, I loved the spin class. The instructor was great and the 50 minutes just flew by. Well, not really. I specifically remember looking at the clock at 7:20 and thinking, Oh God, it’s only been 5 minutes. But after the initial shock to my system, it flew by. 

During one of the hill intervals, the instructor said “Dig deep, no one is getting you up this hill but you”. How’s that for a kick in the gluteus maximus? I’ll have to remember that one when I’m out there struggling to get up a hill.

I plan to go back for more spin classes. I really enjoyed it. I also will remember to wear my bike shorts. For some reason I thought a bike seat on a spin bike wouldn’t try to crawl up my butt and stay there. Live and learn, kids. Live and learn.

Do you take any classes at your gym?

What would you recommend?