Running Goober Catch Up Post

So it's been over a month since I last posted! To say May has been a busy month is an understatement. I have been out of town every weekend except for Memorial Day weekend and I'll be in town to work.

The first weekend in May started out with a bang! I was in Ocean City, MD for a wedding and a half marathon. It was a great girls weekend and to top it off I crushed my sub-2 half goal for this race, 1:53:10. My race recap will be up sometime soon.

The second weekend in May we traveled to North Carolina to see my brother-in-law graduate from college. It was a great visit with lots of family! Poor Cameron got sick the day of graduation and didn't go to the ceremony. The next day I went home to see my Mom for Mother's Day and we biked 20 miles together which was awesome!

The third weekend in May we traveled to PA for a brewery tour. I don't like beer, but I love food so I was along for the eats. I ended up getting some great food, a delicious glass of wine, an ok cider and the most amazing cider I've ever had. It was Spire Dark and Dry. Even the non-cider drinkers I was with thought it was good. It's from Washington State so I have a feeling it isn't going to be very common in my neck of the woods. 

Workouts

I have run a grand total of 3 times in the past 3 weeks. I took a total of 2 weeks off from running after my half marathon. My body definitely needed some serious recovery. I was sick last week with allergy/sinus junk so I took some extra rest days then too. It's kind of nice to just listen to my body and not have any necessary workouts for awhile. I have been enjoying the bike lately, and it even crossed my mind to sign up for a sprint triathlon in July. My nerves got the best of me even thinking about signing up so I didn't do it. 

Race News

Well I took the plunge and booked a cruise on the Disney Dream following Marathon weekend in January. Em and I are so excited to complete the Castaway Cay Challenge and relax in paradise after Marathon Weekend!

Source

Well, that's what's been going on in my life lately. What's new with you?

That's all for now!

Weekly Workouts April 13-19

This week was full of great workouts. I was happy to get in two strength training sessions this week. My speed work was definitely the toughest part of the week. I had to fight for every second of that workout! On Tuesday I did it...I signed up for the Goofy Challenge again for 2016! Call me crazy, but it was awesome in 2015 :)

We had a busy, but super fun weekend! On Saturday we met up with a group of people to go hiking and then we went to a winery. We were starving by the time we got to the winery and luckily they had the most delicious brick oven pizza, it really hit the spot! Out of all of the people we hung out with none of us are from the town we currently live in, we're all transplants, which was pretty cool. On Sunday I finished my last long run of this half marathon training cycle. I could tell my legs were sore from hiking the day before, but they eventually loosened up. I'm excited to be in taper town! Less than 2 weeks until race day!

April 13

4.61 miles in 45 minutes

April 14

10 minutes bike, Full Body Workout, 1 mile Elliptical

April 15

7 x 800 m @ 7:30-7:41 pace

Total: 4.85 miles in 50 minutes

April 16

Work

April 17

Work

April 18

0.75 miles Elliptical

Chest, Biceps, Triceps and Abs

Hike

April 19

12 miles in 1:53:24

Hope that you all had a great weekend!

Did you do anything fun this weekend?

That's all for now!

Friday Five: Brands to Love

I'm linking up with the ladies of the DC trifecta, Mar, Cynthia, and Courtney for the Friday Five. Be sure to check out their posts too. This weeks topic is brands to love. There are so many brands in the fitness world and I have tried out quite a few of them. Picking a top 5 was pretty tough, but here are my top five favorite brands.

1. Brooks
This is my go to shoe brand. The Ghost's are a great neutral shoe that work perfectly for me. Since August 2013 I've had 6 pairs of these shoes in all different colors. I also own some Brooks clothing that I absolutely love.

Source

2. Thorlos
The Thorlos Experia are my favorite running socks. I have enough pairs to get me stocked between running days because I pretty much refuse to run without them. They have great cushion and make my feet feel great while running.

Source

3. Sparkly Soul
These headbands are the best things ever! I wear them not only when I run and workout, but also at work. I have to wear blue or white scrubs at work so I love wearing these headbands to add a little pop of color to my outfit. They do not move at all and don't get stretched out either.

We wore Sparkly Soul Headbands during the Enchanted 10K for a headband and for Cinderella's necklace.

4. Nuun
I am a new fan of Nuun. I had tried two flavors in the past and couldn't really tolerate the taste. I have tried 3 more flavors and now really enjoy it! I love that it has the electrolytes I need pre and post-run and that it's not sugary/full of calories.

Source

5. Pro Compression
These socks are absolute life savers. I wear them every time I work and they prevent my legs from feeling really achy by the end of my 12 hour shift. I also rely on these for recovery. Typically I sleep in them the night before a long run/race and then wear them post-run also.

Source

Other Favorites: Sparkle Athletic, Sparkle Skirts, Lululemon

What are some of your favorite brands?

Goofy Challenge: What it Takes

With registration for Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend opening today at noon for Disney Vacation Club Members and Annual Pass holders I thought I'd talk a little bit about my experience with the Goofy Challenge from this year. Note: Registration for the general public opens April 28 at noon.

Training for my first marathon as part of the Goofy Challenge was draining both physically and emotionally. I started too feel burn out a few weeks before the race. In the end the Goofy Challenge was an incredible experience and I wouldn't have wanted to run my first marathon any other way.

Mile 25

Credit

Training Plan
I started training on June 30. That is over 6 months of training! I modified Jeff Galloway's training plan that's on the runDisney website. My plan included 6 weekends where you run Saturday and Sunday with the longest being 10 miles and 20 miles. If I had to do it again I would not train for that length of time because I think I could get into marathon shape in a shorter period of time which would have then helped with some of the burnout I felt towards the end.

It's Going to Hurt
There's a certain pain that comes with training for a marathon. It's a different kind of pain than the pain that comes with injury. There's a burn in your muscles and bones as you push your body to run distances that you never thought was possible. Prepare yourself to be mentally tough to push past this feeling.

Dedication is Extremely Important
Logging the miles is the most important part of marathon training. The key to Goofy Challenge training is the back-to-back runs on the weekends. Those runs prepare your mind and body for race weekend. I never worried about pace for the long runs, just completing them.

Vision is Helpful
During my last few long runs I have envisioned running at Disney World and crossing that marathon finish line. It gave me just a little extra boost throughout my runs. At one point I told Em while running, "I keep forgetting we get to run at Disney for the races and it's not going to be this boring."

Any other tips for the Goofy or Dopey Challenge?

I'm still on the fence about what races I'm going to sign up for today (I've got 2 1/2 hours to decide)! The Goofy Challenge is definitely a strong contender.

That's all for now?

Weekly Workouts April 5-12

Not too much went on this past week. My run on Easter felt terrible. My legs were absolutely dead from the 5K the day prior. I was surprised at how long it took me to recover from that race, but I gave my legs the rest they needed. I've really been trying to focus on nutrition and sleep lately. I've been getting adequate sleep over the past week or so and it makes such a difference.

Lately, my sweet tooth has been out of control, especially at work! I've been eating dessert impulsively and some of it isn't even dessert I really care for! I stocked up on some Luna Protein bars to curb the cravings (I think they have too much sugar in them, but I figure it's better than eating cake or cookies). I'm trying to wean myself off of these bad habits so that when I start my taper for the Ocean City Half at the beginning of next week it won't be such a shock to my body.

Source

April 5

2.7 miles in 26:32

April 6

Work

April 7

Full Body Workout
4 x 400 m, Total: 1.3 miles in 11:20

April 8

Work

April 9

Work

April 10

10 miles in 1:32:46

April 11

15 minutes bike, Full Body Workout, 1 mile on Lateral Elliptical

April 12
Work
30 minutes Lateral Elliptical, Push-ups, 15 minutes bike

Only 1 long run left in this training cycle! I can't believe race day is less than 3 weeks away! I'm both nervous and excited to try and go sub-2 in the half marathon distance. 

Tomorrow is early registration for DVC/AP holders for WDW Marathon Weekend, anyone signing up? Which race/races are you going to run?  

I'm still not sure what I'm going to sign up for!

That's all for now!

Winning with Wellness 5K Race Recap

Last Saturday I ran the Winning with Wellness 5K. After achieving my 10K PR goal at the Shamrock 10K two weeks prior I knew I had it in me to PR in the 5K distance so I signed up for this race. To say the odds were against me that day would be an understatement. We woke up to temps in the upper 30's with 20 mph wind gusts plus a chance of rain.

For some reason I decided I would get hot running in a jacket (not!) so I wore my light running pants and my wine and dine long sleeve shirt. It ended up being fine once I warmed up, but boy did the wind go right through that outfit! Once we got to the start line I hit the button to start my Garmin and it seemed like a short time later I hear the race director counting down 5-4-3-2-1 GO! I looked down at my Garmin and the location meter had only halfway filled! I wanted to cry. I then told myself, "You never used to run with a watch, you don't need your Garmin for this race. JUST  GO"

We started on the track and when we hit the second straightaway the wind was gusting against us and rain was pelting us in the face. IT. WAS. MISERABLE. I felt like I was carrying 100 extra pounds running against the wind. My mental game went downhill from here. I have never negative talked myself so much in a race before. Definitely not something that I'm proud of. Not even music helped out.

Overall, the course was pretty flat which was nice with the gusting winds. You ran around a building then there were two out and back sections and then you ran around a different building and then finished on the track.

So I was out on the course blindly trying to PR and decided to get as close to Cameron as I could during the race. He started slightly ahead of me and I ended up catching him and pacing off of him at mile 1. Mile 1.5 brought the first out and back section. Cameron went around the cone and I could see him turning to look for me and he couldn't see me because I was right behind him. The look on his face when he turned around to see me there was priceless!

At the second turn around I was able to count the girls in front of me and see how close the next female finisher was. I was currently the 3rd woman overall and there wasn't another female for awhile. I used that as major motivation to push through. Cameron and I started running beside each other at about mile 2 or so. He ran this race the year before so he coached me on what was left. At mile 2.5 I started to push with everything I had and pulled away from Cam. When I came down the last straightaway on the track I could see the timer was under 22 minutes and I wanted to finish before it hit 22 and I did!

As soon as I finished and was able to talk again I asked Cameron, "Did you let me win?" He pinky promised that he didn't which was a relief for some reason haha. Post-race they had water, granola bars, fruit snacks, apples, and Chick-fil-a chicken minis! We stuck around for the awards and I got 3rd female overall. They called Cameron up to get 3rd place male 20-29 and when he got to the table they apologized and said, "We're really sorry you got 4th in that age group." It was sad and hilarious all at the same time.

Official times weren't posted until late afternoon which killed me because I wanted to know my official time. My goal was to be under 22:51 which was my high school PR time (our races were 3 miles, not 5K). I ended up finishing the race in 21:50 (avg pace 7:03) which I am absolutely ecstatic about!

Have you ever surprised yourself when running in less than stellar race conditions?

That's all for now!

Weekly Workouts March 29- April 4

Source

I hope everyone has a great Easter and that you get the chance to spend time with your loved ones. I'll be spending the day with both my husband's family and my family so it should be a fun day. 

I had some great workouts this week. I had picked up overtime at work and was disappointed that I would then most likely only get 3 workouts in. Well Sunday after work I was so full of energy that I went to the gym and got that 4th workout in! During my speed work on Monday my legs felt strong and solid. I did my long run on Wednesday this week because I had signed up to run a 5K on Saturday. The further into my 10 miler I got the better I felt. I proved to myself that all of my speed work has been paying off by earning a huge PR at my 5K race. I'll post a recap in the next few days. 

March 29

Work

15 minutes bike, Chest, Biceps, Triceps and Abs

2 rounds of a HIIT circuit

March 30

7 x 800m @ 7:30-7:42 pace

4.95 miles total in 50 minutes

March 31

Work

April 1

10 miles in 1:33:29

April 2

Work

April 3

Work

April 4

Wellness 5K 21:50 (recap coming soon!)

Only 4 more weeks until my sub-2 half PR attempt!

What are you doing for Easter?

That's all for now!