Training Check-in/Encouragement Thread

[mickeyd]

Training - Weeks 12- 18
Goodness, I can’t believe it has been 7 weeks since my last update. Things have been pretty busy both personally, with a pregnant wife, and at work.

So when I left off (7 weeks ago!!) I was recovering from sore legs. The physio did great work and I was able to start building my distances again. That was until I got a man cold- which sidelined me for about two weeks! No fun to run when you can breathe! Anyway, once over the man cold, I was able to continue with my two weekday 5km runs and my weekend long runs.

The long runs have been building up:

• 11km
• 13.5km
• 16km
• 8km
• 19km
• 10km

I was particularly excited by my 19km (~12miles) run which I completed in 2:03:51. I never imagined that I could run this far (well, run/walk), and I now feel that I can now conquer the half marathon distance. Which is just as well because I have signed up to do the Run Melbourne Half Marathon on 21 July. This will be my first ever race and I’m hoping it will give me some good race condition experience before heading to Disney. It will also give me an official race time that I can submit to runDisney, and hopefully get me into an earlier corral (every little bit will help avoid the sweepers on Marathon Weekend.)

Unfortunately I have had a little bit of knee discomfort in the last week, so I have taken a week off my running to try and let it heal. Not ideal preparation for the half marathon in a few weeks, but better than aggravating it. So fingers crossed it comes good in the next few days so I can have a few runs before Run Melbourne.

I am enjoying the running, and have surprised myself by the distances I have been able to go – but the interruptions to the training plan (illnesses and injury) have been frustrating. Hopefully as my base fitness improves there will be fewer problems.

In another milestone, the Galloway Dopey Training plan started this week – which is exciting. For the time being I’m following Galloway’s half marathon training plan to get me to Run Melbourne on 21 July. After that I’ll switch over to the Dopey plan and my Dopey training will officially begin!.

Trip Planning
We have room only reservations for POR for the first 5 nights. Just waiting for the 2014 packages to be released by Disney to book the second part of our trip – which will be 9 more nights at POR. Packages are supposed to be released 10 July – so not long to wait. Out 180 days for ADRs is 11 July, so I am currently trying to decide where to book. The dinners after the race weekend are kind of a reward for us.

The plan so far is
- Ohana
- Liberty Tree
- Via Napoli
- Sanaa
- California Grill
- Yak and Yeti (Lunch)
- Rose & Crown
- Ohana
Happy to receive any suggestions

The only other thing to organise is our flight from LAX – MCO. I have been holding out for Virgin America to release their non-refundable fares for Jan – they still haven’t for the dates we want to travel. The fully refundable one way fares are $811!! I can’t imagine they will fill a plane with those fares. Frustratingly, while we have been waiting, the fares on AA (our second choice airline) have gone up $60. Oh well. I’ll give Virgin America until we get the Disney package booked in mid July, and if there are no non-refundable fares by then I’ll bite the bullet and book with another airline. Knowing my luck Virgin will release their cheaper fares the next day

Sorry it has been so long between updates! I promise to update more frequently!

[Christine]

Ouch! Those are hefty airfares!!!

Congrats on your mileage!!

And I second and third 'Ohana as a dining suggestion!

[JMTStone]

Your mileage is great. I've also been doing the "wait and see" dance with my favorite airlines. I'm less than 2 weeks from my next Disney trip and want to see if I can roll all of them miles up into 2 tickets for DH and myself. Good luck with Virgin!

I second Christine's vote and my second preference if you can't get that is California Grill.

DH Jon has been trying to get me to move to Florida and following Christine is making me wonder.... the true test will be heading down for 10 days in the middle of summer to see if I can take it.

[Christine]

It's plenty hot and humid having to train in the summer I can tell you that, but living in FL sure makes running in January so much nicer too!

[Disoriented]

What do any of you do for runner's knee? I am starting to feel it in my right knee around mile 4 or 5. I think some of it has to do with needing new running sneakers soon, but maybe I should try some insoles or a knee brace?

Illiotibial band or IT band syndrome, AKA runners knee. Most people that suffer from this, sense the pain on the outside portion of the leg just below or on the bottom portion of the knee.

The IT band runs along the outside of your leg from the hip to the shin bone and helps stabilize the knee joint.

The pain you feel is inflammation and if you don’t it let heal, can become quite painful and could possible result in scarring.

When I was afflicted by this last winter I was amazed of how much disagreement I found concerning causes and treatments I came across in doing my research.

It seemed like nobody agreed on everything but there were a few things that most of the experts who ranged from physical therapists to athletic trainers had in common.

The big hitters for cause are trying to run too many miles too soon, running too fast, running too many days of the week (kinda goes with too many miles too soon), poor running form and too long of a stride (which goes with poor running form)

As for remedies the big one is rest along with the foam roller from h*!!
It was about equal for those that recommended stretching and those that said stretching would buy you absolutely nothing.

For me I did the rest thing, along with the foam roller which I still use from time to time even though I’m not having IT band issues at this time. I also tried some exercises that were designed to help strengthen the non running muscles of the leg but I do not know if they made any difference in my recovery and I have not done them for a few months and my long runs currently are between 20 to 26 miles long.

As for shoes I only found one person that thought shoes in this instance could be the cause of the problem, but if you have heavily worn shoes and suffer from Over-pronation or Supination then I could definitely see that as being a cause since that would fall under the running form category. Shoes have an average life of around 500 miles and you should be keeping a log of your milage. The average person training for a half or full marathon will go through about 2 pairs a year. Since you are having this issue at the 4 or 5 mile mark this could be your primary issue. I didn't experience my issue until I hit the 20 mile distance.

But all is not lost, endurance running is primarily muscle conditioning and you gain as much muscle conditioning walking as you do running the same distance so even if you have to take some time off you should still be able to walk without pain and still maintain some of your conditioning for when you are able to run once again.

[PirateLover]

Thank you all for keeping this thread alive! With all the craziness going on lately we still have yet to get back into a routine and it stinks!

I've actually avoided this thread, which was dumb, because the reason I started it was to share all of our stories and be inspired. And that is what just happened now. I feel so inspired again by your journeys.

There is a nice lake near where we moved that we plan to run around, but we are in a massive heatwave again so we will be signing up for the local gym Monday morning. I will miss having our little apartment complex gym. Hardly anyone was ever in there so it was like a private gym! I'm hoping I will be able to make use of a trainer. MY DH, lord bless him, has lost 50 lbs in about 1/2 a year. I in the meantime keep yo-yoing around the same number. I've just been in a but of a funk and I need to stop the late night snacks and get serious about working out again. My DH is too nice to be firm and tell me "no" when I grab the pretzels and mustard at 9pm... I have to get motivated again to discipline myself. I promise to check in more frequently!

[Melanie]

Well, I've finally gotten out of my funk and off my lazy bum and gone full force into at least getting where I can finish the 5K in 45 minutes. Hey, that's good for me.

Really, this is all a change of lifestyle for me. I have to do it in steps, or it won't work. For a couple of months now, I've really changed how I eat (mainly portion size), and now I'm working on the walking/exercising. My son needs to work out for baseball, so we joined a gym yesterday and I'm happy I'll be able to hit it when the weather turns cold again. I don't mind the heat so much.

Maryanne, the 9pm snacks aren't my issue. It's the 9pm glass of wine or couple of beers. I hate drinking my calories!!! I'm slowly but surely going to get a hold of that, but it's taking some time.

Love reading everyone's progress and suggestions!

[BriarRose0708]

Has anyone ever done a glow in the dark 5K? They are having one here where I live in October that I think I'm going to run. Looks like fun; although there isn't a lot of info on the website yet.

Also might do the local 5K in August that benefits the track team for my DD16 high school.

And depending on DD16 HS soccer schedule, I may run the Color Run in Providence with her, my sister and niece.

I'm signed up for the 8:30 p.m. heat! Hope to see you there!!!! It's going to be so much fun!

What is the 5k in August? I'll sign up to help the school!

[RedSoxFan]

I'm signed up for the 8:30 p.m. heat! Hope to see you there!!!! It's going to be so much fun!

What is the 5k in August? I'll sign up to help the school!

The 5K run in August is the Lighthouse Run at Myers Park. You should be able to google it. I believe it's August 10 at 9am.
I have not signed up for the Glow Run as I'm waiting for a friend to sign up so we get the same time as it's more a group fun run and not being timed (as far as I know). I don't want to run it alone --- no fun there. And DD16 has no desire for either run this time.

[PirateLover]

Maryanne, the 9pm snacks aren't my issue. It's the 9pm glass of wine or couple of beers. I hate drinking my calories!!! I'm slowly but surely going to get a hold of that, but it's taking some time.

Ummm I forgot to add that the reason I typically crave the snack is because I've had a or 2

[Melanie]

Ah, yeah, I hear ya, Maryanne. Fortunately for me, the ONE thing that has rubbed off on me through the years with my fit, disciplined DH, is not eating at night. He will rarely eat after 7pm, 6pm if he can help it. We eat dinner early, and I only eat late if I'm on vacation or at a sporting event, etc. The is a different story. But we can do it!!!

[JMTStone]

But we can do it!!!

I'm down 40 lbs so far. Seriously, the people from ICOT15 may not recognize me by January. I'm using MyFitnessPal on my iPhone (insert John scoff here) and Cardio Kickboxing in addition to Jeff Galloway Couch to 5K program (also on my iPhone). It. Can. Be. Done. Now I regret not signing up for the 10K. But the 5K may be better for a *first* at runDisney. But I will cheer all of you on!

Go runICOT!

[disneygoofball]

I'm down 40 lbs so far.

Congratulations!!! That's a huge accomplishment!

It's great to hear everyone's stories. Keep it up guys!

[GMRO]

I'm down 40 lbs so far. Seriously, the people from ICOT15 may not recognize me by January. I'm using MyFitnessPal on my iPhone (insert John scoff here) and Cardio Kickboxing in addition to Jeff Galloway Couch to 5K program (also on my iPhone). It. Can. Be. Done. Now I regret not signing up for the 10K. But the 5K may be better for a *first* at runDisney. But I will cheer all of you on!

Go runICOT!

GOOD FOR YOU!!!

Aren't the iPhone apps the BOMB!!! There are soooo manyyy to use to help keep motivated.

Where do you take the kickboxing? My brother just franchised thru his Karate school a kickboxing program. BUT for wife and I it's just too far for us to drive to on a regular basis. Would love to do it but over an hr for a drive 1 way. His school is PKA.

Keep up the great work!

I ran 3 10k's from July 4th thru the 7th for practice while off over the holiday weekend. Using JG's 5K app with the setting of IMPROVED 5K has really helped me since I've been using it. Seems I over-run his timing/workouts though I tried to tune it to the best of my knowledge. Nike Sportswatch shows the true data. So when he has me do 5.50m during a workout I end up at 6m or so due to my comfortable pace thru run/walk/run. I just add a little more length to the workout and get the 6.2 in. Thus far I'm just under 1 hr for the 6.2m workout. Pretty happy about that!!!

[Melanie]

I'm down 40 lbs so far. Seriously, the people from ICOT15 may not recognize me by January. I'm using MyFitnessPal on my iPhone (insert John scoff here) and Cardio Kickboxing in addition to Jeff Galloway Couch to 5K program (also on my iPhone). It. Can. Be. Done. Now I regret not signing up for the 10K. But the 5K may be better for a *first* at runDisney. But I will cheer all of you on!

Go runICOT!

You go, Mel! That's awesome! You are right, anyone can do it.

Tell me about MyFitnessPal. Right now, I'm just using MapMyWalk on my phone and then we've officially started at the gym. I'm honestly so excited to make these changes in my life. The past few years have been extremely stressful, and I let things get out of hand. I feel better already with the eating and exercising changes I've made. I want to be able to really run some of the 5K, instead of just semi-jog like I did last year.

[GMRO]

You go, Mel! That's awesome! You are right, anyone can do it.

Tell me about MyFitnessPal. Right now, I'm just using MapMyWalk on my phone and then we've officially started at the gym. I'm honestly so excited to make these changes in my life. The past few years have been extremely stressful, and I let things get out of hand. I feel better already with the eating and exercising changes I've made. I want to be able to really run some of the 5K, instead of just semi-jog like I did last year.

Mel,

Just don't "HIT" it too hard and cause an injury or discouragement. I'm sure your husband will help.

Your body needs to recover too.

GOOD LUCK TO YOU on your new life-style. IT is self-addicting! The more you do, the more you want to do. The better you will feel...the better still you will want to feel.

AWESOME!!!

[Melanie]

Mel,

Just don't "HIT" it too hard and cause an injury or discouragement. I'm sure your husband will help.

Your body needs to recover too.

GOOD LUCK TO YOU on your new life-style. IT is self-addicting! The more you do, the more you want to do. The better you will feel...the better still you will want to feel.

AWESOME!!!

Thank you! Yes, I'm only a few weeks in with the walking, and I definitely want to do it now and want to do more. I want to get to the point where I truly understand my DH's desire to run. He truly gets edgy if he goes more than a few days without running. He's definitely great encouragement for me though, and is great for advice. I'm thrilled my sons have taken after their dad and run as well. My youngest is excited about doing the 10K in January.

[JMTStone]

GOOD FOR YOU!!!

Aren't the iPhone apps the BOMB!!! There are soooo manyyy to use to help keep motivated.

Where do you take the kickboxing? My brother just franchised thru his Karate school a kickboxing program. BUT for wife and I it's just too far for us to drive to on a regular basis. Would love to do it but over an hr for a drive 1 way. His school is PKA.

Queue "Its a Small World After All"

I am at PKA 5 days a week. My daughter is testing for black belt this summer. She's in the Core class with a little blond girl you know. I've been taking kickboxing with Mr O and Khom since January then they added the franchise. Small world, eh? You can find me on their facebook page.

I love the apps too!

[JMTStone]

Tell me about MyFitnessPal. Right now, I'm just using MapMyWalk on my phone and then we've officially started at the gym.

I'm excited for you. I love the kickboxing. Its great for stress too; cheaper than therapy and lawyers.

The MyFitnessPal tracks calories/carbs/proteins/exorcize. I've been using it for almost 150 days straight and its helped me immensely. You can take pictures of bar codes and track calories that way. I hear its a lot like the Weight Watchers app. Its a free app. You can do it in addition to your MapMyRun.

Keep it up Mel - we'll look GREAT in our runICOT shirts cheering for the others!

[GMRO]

Thank you! Yes, I'm only a few weeks in with the walking, and I definitely want to do it now and want to do more. I want to get to the point where I truly understand my DH's desire to run. He truly gets edgy if he goes more than a few days without running. He's definitely great encouragement for me though, and is great for advice. I'm thrilled my sons have taken after their dad and run as well. My youngest is excited about doing the 10K in January.

You just hit the nail on the head!!!

EDGIE!!!

That is exactly how I feel if I don't get my runs in... At work I run 5K at lunchtime M thru F. I run with the wife in the evenings as she works towards her JG program.

Folks always ask can't you take a day off!!! I actually rather NOT and just RUN! The mind and soul clenzing <sp> it does is well worth it.

Very happy for you and your family! The family who runs together...gets there FASTER!!! heheh