Weekly Review

Oops, a day late with my weekly review again!  Yesterday was pretty busy at work with meetings in the evening too, but I'm happy to be posting today :)  I got in 3 runs and one strength training session last week.  Here are the details.

Monday - Rest day

Tuesday - Rest day

Shelby's still unsure about her bed, even though she's had it for a couple months

Wednesday - Snow day!  We had a snow day so today was strength training at home

I did this routine through twice

Thursday - 2.5 mile run

Most of the snow is melted

Friday - 3 mile run

Saw a couple sad snowmen during my run

Saturday - Rest day.  I had meant to go to body pump but was feeling pretty congested so made it another rest day.  We did have brunch with a good friend and her family and had another friend over to our place in the evening, so that was a plus.

Sunday - 5.5 miles.  It was warm but a little windy.  Still, pretty good running conditions for February.  I did manage to encounter a freak rain storm but it only lasted 15 minutes or so.

We also watched the Oscars in the evening.  I kind of enjoyed the new format without a host more than when they had a host.  I also had to go to sleep so didn't make it through the whole thing.  But I did end up with a list of movies that I want to see once they're available for streaming.

So that was my week!  Hope you all had good weeks too :)

Weekly Review

I hope everyone had a good week last week!  I'm a day late with my weekly review since I had a long weekend and the day off work yesterday.  It was a pretty relaxing Monday and I tried to keep it that way by minimizing my time online :)  But I'm ready with my recap now so here are the details of last week.

My plan of easing back into running continues to go well.  I had three runs this week, two runs the previous week and 1 run the week before that.  I'll probably try to get back to body pump this week.

Monday - rest day

Tuesday - rest day plus a training webinar in the evening

Wednesday - Strength training at home

Thursday - 3 mile run, temps in the low 50s!

Funny sign I saw during my run

Friday - 3 mile run, temps in the 60s!

I was able to run in short sleeves

Saturday - We had friends visiting and had a little mini reunion, so stayed at a hotel.  I did 30 minutes on the elliptical at the hotel gym and 30 minutes upper body strength training.

Going out in the evening... I do wear non-running clothes and put on make-up every once in a while

Sunday - 30 minutes on the treadmill at the gym plus lower body strength training.

And like I said, we spent most of the day relaxing yesterday.  We were productive with some errands and getting some paperwork done, including starting on our taxes.  And we treated ourselves to tacos for lunch!  I love Nada for all the veggie taco options :)

Tofu, Kale/mushroom, and Caramelized Cauliflower tacos

Weekly Review

I hope you all had a wonderful week!  I spent the week easing back into working out.  I had one run two weeks ago and two runs last week so I’d say the easing back in is going ok.  Here are the details for the week.

Monday and Tuesday - We had some unseasonably warm weather so I was able to take walks during the day.  I had a 20 minute walk in the afternoon Monday around my office building and a 30 minute walk by the metro stop after work on Tuesday.

Wednesday - strength training at home

Thursday - Another beautiful day with temperatures in the 50s so I had a 2 mile run outside

Friday - a walk around the neighborhood with a friend in the afternoon.  We also saw the LEGO Movie 2.  We really enjoyed it for the most part, though I did fall asleep in the middle.  I don’t know why I have such a hard time staying awake at movies.

Saturday - strength training at home.  We were also pretty productive with errands and I made a trip to the dentist.  We tried Peapod for grocery delivery for the first time since there was a coupon for free delivery for 60 days.  It was pretty convenient but I don’t know that I would do it if we had to pay the delivery fee.

Sunday - 3 mile run in the morning.  We went to another movie and went to see a Bollywood movie called Ek Ladki Ko Delhi To Aisa Laga.  It’s the first major Bollywood movie featuring a lesbian relationship.  We really enjoyed the movie.

So that was my week.  We’re starting this week with more wintry weather and a delayed start to the work week but we’ll see how the rest of the week goes. We should have warmer weather by the end of the week again.

I'm linking up with with HoHoRuns and Taking the Long Way Home for the Weekly Wrap.

 

Marathon training (the second time)

So I thought I'd talk a little bit about my marathon training last year.  I didn't really want to talk about it while training because I was afraid of "cursing" myself.  But it was pretty different from the traditional thought about marathon training so I wanted to share what I did differently this time from my first time training for a full marathon.

In 2017, training for a January 2018 marathon, I follow a fairly traditional marathon training plan for a beginner and went up to a long run of 20 miles.  However, I'm really slow.  And this resulted in three long runs that took over  hours, 16 miles, 18 miles and 20 miles.  By the time the race came around, I was having a lot of knee problems and my knee locked up during the race, causing me to get swept around mile 20.

 

20 mile training run in 2017

So when I decided to try again, I knew it made sense to try something different.  There was someone on an online board I read that provides coaching services (Blaser Coaching Services) and his philosophy is that the training plan needs to be specific to each individual.  In addition, he believes in a max 150 minute long run (or 180 minute for run/walk). So for some that's 20 miles, and for others it's only 12 miles. My longest run during marathon training this time was 14 miles.

Longest run in 2018, 14 miles with tempo miles

Which sounds crazy.  Was I really going to be prepared for a marathon if my longest run was 14 miles?  I expressed this to the coach and asked about whether I could go up to at least 16.  He indicated that he really believes in these limits and it would make more sense to add another day of running to the week.  So we increased from 4 days of running to 5 days of running during the week.  The thought is that the 14 miles are on tired legs after the cumulative miles of the week are really more like the last 14 miles of the marathon instead of the first 14 miles.

And it wasn't easy.  There was still speed work and there were multiple days of running in a row.  In fact, having back to back runs is a big part of the cumulative fatigue.  In addition to back to back runs, a lot of my long runs included tempo miles and learning to run at that pace on tired legs was really useful.  There was a cut back week every other week which really helped too.

Last 5 miles were the fastest ones

Going up to 20 miles hadn't worked for me so I figured trying something different couldn't hurt and I just had to have faith in the method.  And it worked!  I was worried about finishing, and I was able to finish this year.  I was worried that I would be in pretty bad shape after the race given that I had only gone up to 14 miles in training, but I didn't feel any worse this year than I did after last year's race.  In fact, I felt better since I didn't have the knee problem to contend with.

The training plan wasn't the only thing I changed so I should mention the other things too.  I did see a PT about the knee issues and she told me about my tight calves and weak hips.  I was diligent about the PT exercises through the year.  I also kept up with going to body pump this year.  I was better about stretching and foam rolling in general.  The electronic foam roller (i.e. car buffer) really helped.  I also got massages regularly during training.

 

Some of the PT exercises I was given

I don't know if these helped or not but the other things I added were taking a turmeric pill (anti-inflammatory) and vitamin D pills (my vitamin D levels tested really low).  I also changed the dosage on my thyroid medicine as it turned out it was too high (which was weird since I'd been on the same dose for like 20 years) and that had been causing my heart rate to be too high.  I think these things probably helped with my health in general.

So that's it!  Turns out you don't need to get up to 20 miles in training for a marathon, and if you're on the slow side, it may do more harm than good.  I was really happy with how my training experience went this year and I'm planning on continuing to work with this coach. In addition to the completely customized training plan, he was always readily available to answer questions and help me make adjustments if needed.  The plan was really detailed with specific numbers for pace for each type of run and that made it pretty easy to follow.

Weekly Review

I hope everyone had a great week!  Mine was good for the most part.  I decided to give my self another week of rest before getting back to running and yesterday was my first run since the marathon.  Fingers crossed that the three weeks of rest was enough :)  But here are some other things I did during the week.

Vacation planning - we booked flights for our Fall vacation and started planning details.  We're going to take a Mediterranean cruise and spend a couple days in Rome.  It will also be our 10th wedding anniversary.  The years sure do fly by!

Snow - We got some snow Tuesday and sub freezing weather.  It was nowhere near as bad as the mid-west but I still was glad I was able to work from home on Wednesday.  I went into the office Thursday and felt like my legs were going to fall off in the time it took to walk from the garage to my office.  We got a bit more snow on Friday but it warmed up over the weekend and it's mostly gone by now.

Video Games - Kingdom Hearts III came in last week and we spent some time playing.  I really enjoy how the video game visits different Disney worlds and incorporates them into the story.

Food - We went to Silver Diner and they were testing out new items for their menu.  A lot of the test items were vegetarian so I tried a roasted cauliflower sandwich and an appetizer of tofu skewers.  We filled out a form with our feedback and got a gift certificate for a discount on our next visit.

Kitties - We had to take poor Shelby to the vet.  She really hates it and gets super anxious.  For next time, the vet gave us a prescription to ease the anxiety so hopefully it will get easier.  Perry's been enjoying sitting on our laps while we play Kingdom Hearts.  I don't think he cares about the game so much though, he just enjoys warm laps :)  We did watch the kitten bowl and the puppy bowl yesterday and it was so adorable!

Poor Shelby trying to hide at the vet's office

Sunday, I did meet up with a friend for a run.  We did 5 miles and it was beautiful with the snow but temperatures in the low 40s.  The trail we initially planned on was still covered in snow so we went an alternative route and though it had a couple icy spots, it was mostly dry.  My foot seems fine afterward but I had some knee pain.  It seems to loosen up after I walk a bit so hopefully using today as a rest day will be enough and tomorrow will be back to normal.  I'll see how it feels.

So that was the week.  Fingers crossed but it looks like we should see some nice weather this week :)

I'm linking up with with HoHoRuns and Taking the Long Way Home for the Weekly Wrap.

 

Disney World Trip Report, Part 2

Here's the last post on my time at Disney World for the 2019 marathon.  You can read about part 1 of the trip and your can read about the race itself here.

Monday was the day after the marathon.  We didn't have a plan to get up early but I guess our bodies had gotten used to it by then and I automatically woke up around 6.  So I took advantage of the extra time to take an epsom salt bath and it seemed to help a bit with the soreness.  My quads were pretty sore the rest of the day and going down stairs was comical, but everything else felt ok.

We grabbed some pop tarts we had brought from home for breakfast and then we were off to the bus stop to go to Epcot.  We didn't have much of a wait for the bus at all and so ended up getting to Epcot about 30 minutes before the park opened.  We waited in the crowd for a bit and then went over to Soaring with what seemed like a lot of the crowd.  Once we finished that, we had some fun taking photos with characters and then took a Starbucks break.  After that, we took a ride on Spaceship Earth.  It's apparently closing soon for a lengthy refurb so I was happy we got one last ride in.

Lilo and Stitch Disney Bounding

After that, we headed over to the World Showcase area of the park to meet up with some online friends who had also run the race.  We met them in the Mexico pavilion and indulged in margaritas and nachos.  After that, we wandered around the countries, rode the boat rides in the Mexico and Norway pavilions and just enjoyed strolling around.

We then took a bus back to our hotel for a mid-day nap.  We returned to Epcot in the evening for more rides, shopping in the huge store in Japan, and dinner at one of the restaurants in France.  We left shortly before the fireworks so we were able to get a bus back to our hotel pretty easily and without too much of a crowd.  We got back to our hotel and decided to stop at the lounge to try the boozy beignets.  They were delicious!  There was one with Kahlua, one with Baileys, and one with Rumchata.

The alcohol was in the pipette so the beignets didn't get soggy

Tuesday, I was 90% soreness free!  I felt pretty good with just some lingering soreness in my quads.  The chafing was probably the pain that lasted the longest after the race.  This was also Magic Kingdom day.  We managed to get a bunch of rides in this day, as well as a few character photos and the afternoon parade.  We got lucky and it didn't seem too crowded while we were there, though it did take a turn for some colder weather and we were pretty cold by the evening.  Lunch was at Casey's (they had a vegan hot dog!), we had an early dinner at Be Our Guest (and got to see the Beast go by several times but we didn't want to wait in line for a photo) and then a dessert party with reserved fireworks viewing.  The party was pretty cool because the desserts were after the fireworks.  So we managed to avoid the big crowd leaving the park, it was pretty empty by the time we left, and we didn't have to wait too long for a bus.

Plant based slaw dog from Casey's

Judy Hops and Nick Wilde Disney Bounding

Wednesday was our departure day.  But first, we spent the morning in Animal Kingdom.  We had a Fast Pass for Flights of Passage, which was good because that line was still several hours long.  We also saw the safari, rode the Everest roller coaster and met Scrooge McDuck.  So a pretty full morning.  We then had lunch at Nomad Lounge.  It was bar seating and they had a lot of veggie options on the menu, along with yummy cocktails.  We had the gobi manchurian (fried cauliflower), truffle fries, and sliders (veggie for me and meat for Mike).  The food was delicious!

 Impossible Burger sliders with Yucca fries

We spent a bit of time in the afternoon perusing shops at Disney Springs and then it was off to the airport to fly home.  We got luck again and are plane only had 27 people on it!  There was room for everyone to have their own row if they wanted it :)

So that was our trip!  It felt like just the right amount of time to stay down there to be able to recover from the race before flying back.