Trumps Did Not Start

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This can be really hard to remember, but it's so important. When you read blogs and magazines and websites about running, they're all geared towards serious athletes that are out there trying for their PR. It seems like everyone wants to be fast... everyone wants to be elite. That's all fine and good, but it shouldn't take away from us slow pokes who are just happy to be out there doing anything. You may do a 15 minute mile and think how slow you are, but I'm working hard to try and break 18.  The Disney pace goal of 16 seems impossible to me, so I'm choosing to not even think about it.   I just have to get out there and do it.

I wish I knew how to remember this, and believe it all the time.   It's okay to be slow... it's okay to be last... just get out the door and start. 

Reasons Why I Can

Tori and I walked 2.17 mile last night and for the first time in 6 months I was back under a 20 minute mile.  Yay me!  We were actually also faster in the second half of the walk than in the first which made me feel strong.

It was a really rough walk though, my feet were killing me.  It was like walking in pins and needles.  Afterwards we went right to the store and bought me a new pair of shoes.  Hopefully that will make a huge different.   I can't imagine that it would make it worse.

The best part though is even after three straight days of serious walks or work outs I don't feel like I'm going to die today.  I'm a little achy but it's nothing major.  I also cleared a big mental hurdle today about the Princess 1/2.  I looked up the race results for 2012 and saw that the last person from Florida crossed the finish line at 4:32:25.  That means that they were just over a 20 minute pace and they didn't get swept!

Oh my god... I may actually be able to do this.  I was having a huge mental block about having to get down to 15 minute miles.  I have NEVER been at a 15 minute mile, but maybe I don't have to?  Maybe really the only thing that I need to worry about is my endurance.  It's a lot easier for me to just focus on one goal. 

Image Source: zsazsabellagio.blogspot.com via Debbie of on Pinterest

I won't give up...

I've been crazy, and busy, and stressed out beyond belief over the past two weeks.  I really hadn't gotten a chance to go work out, and I haven't really felt well.  Last night it all caught up with me, I was watching the news while finishing up some work and when they reminded us to set our clocks ahead I was so upset at the thought of losing an hour of sleep when I was already exhausted, I just plain broke down in tears.  Seriously.

Geordon sent me to bed, and when I woke up 12 hours later I felt a whole lot better.  I'm still behind at work, and have a lot to do, but I decided to make sure that I got back to the gym today.   The little alarm on my iCal had gone off this morning reminding me that there are only 49 weeks until the Princess 1/2 Marathon.   I'm not going to get there sitting on the couch, no matter how bad I felt last night.

 Amanda Tinney had checked in with me last week with some encouraging words and they'd been echoing in my head for days. "Don't give up!" I won't Amanda... I won't give up and your reminder that folks are cheering for me means the world.

The skies here are gray, it's cold, and wet, and gross. It was warm and dry inside the gym though. I hopped on the bike and started pedaling. It wasn't a fantastic work out, I only went about 3 miles, but it was 3 miles further than I had been in two weeks.

Presidential Active Lifestyle Award +

Saturday I spent a couple of hours creating My 2014 Princess Half Marathon Training Plan in iCal.  It's my Ride-Walk-Rest schedule with the mileage ramp-ups from Jeff Galloway's 2013 Princess Plan mixed in.  I've got 52 weeks to make this happen and I'm as determined as ever, getting that plan to fit in nicely with the rest of the family's schedule... that's another story, but we'll see how it goes.  Tori doesn't want to go to the gym before she goes to work, so we're going to have to get some evening work outs in the plan so that she can move forward in her training plan too.   There's going to have to be some sort of compromise made.


This morning I signed up to participate in the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award + Challenge.  It dovetails nicely with my training plan for the 1/2 Marathon, so I figured why not.   Through the challenge website you can log your progress and track your goals.  The program requirements for adults age 18 years and older are:

• Physical activity. You need to be active 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week, for 6 out of 8 weeks. As an alternative, you can count your daily activity steps using a pedometer (goal: 8,500).
• Healthy eating. Each week, you’ll also focus on a healthy eating goal. There are eight to choose from, and each week you will add a new goal while continuing with your previous goals. By the end of the six weeks, you’ll be giving your body more of the good stuff it needs.

Right now I just need to create the healthy habits of going to the gym 5 days a week and watching what I eat a little better than before.  My Ride-Walk-Rest schedule gets me moving 5 days a week, so that's right on point.  This week my food goal is to drink water instead of a sugary liquid.

Now... if I can just remember to fill out the tracker. LOL!

Are you looking to create some healthy habits?  Why not join me and sign up for the PALA+ yourself!?

Struggling Today, but I Am a Princess

I'm really struggling today reading all the tweets and posts from the girls down at Walt Disney World for the Princess Half Marathon Weekend. I went last year and had such a fantastic time. We were supposed to be down there this year again, this time running the Half. Instead I'm at home sitting on the couch thinking about how much I don't want to go clean the snow off of the car. Sucks.

Realistically I know that life in general got in my way and I couldn't do a race this weekend even if I had the money for the trip.  I've just started back to the gym, and my foot has not healed enough yet to put any sort of real distance down.  Traci is still recovering from an injury that occurred last year.  Becks is going crazy with work and Wedding planning.  There's no way that it would have worked out for any of us us.  None the less, I really really wish that I was there.

I need to take this angst and turn it into motivation to keep going, train hard, train safe, get healthy and really rock out at the 2014 race next year.  That being said, I need to get my butt off of the couch and get to the gym today.  I need to remember that I am a tenacious Pirate Princess.


I'm sending all my love and pixie dust down to the 2013 Princess Half Marathon Weekend participants.  I wish I were there with you celebrating the strength and vibrancy of women. I'll be online Saturday and Sunday morning cheering you on through texts and tweets.  Next year... next year I'm coming to party with you.

Excuses excuses excuses

I really, really didn't want to go to the gym today.  I woke up exhausted, I had a lot of work to do, and it just seemed like a good day to blow it all off.  I was successfully chillin' on the couch tweeting with the Princess Party Crew looking for support in my laziness when I get the following from my dear best friend Becks.

 

Okay, so really, I knew that gross hair was not a good excuse to not go to the gym, but it was the one I was going with.  Yes, yes I did think it would work and I would get some sympathy.  It didn't out work that way and I had to fess up.

 
It was.. the last walk was super rough and had be doubting myself so much. I felt horrible afterwards and I didn't want to deal with that again. Then, there it was... "Jeff says so!" She really did it, she went all coach on me. 

The "Jeff" in question is Jeff Galloway, who is the official runDisney Training Consultant.  But even before he took on that role, he was someone that I really looked up to for his years of experience, and most importantly Jeff Galloway gives props to walkers.  It's not always easy to find people in the running community that give walkers their due, but Jeff... Jeff actually wrote the book on walking.   He also developed the Run/Walk training style that so many athletes today use to get themselves to the point they want to be at.  As a walker vs. a 'legit' runner I still have to give up the props to what Jeff says. 

I got off the couch, got dressed (wearing compression shorts for some extra back support) and headed to the gym.  I walked 1.5 miles in 35 minutes, the pace was slow (23 minute mile) but I felt pretty good.  I need to work on strengthening my hips some because about 20 minutes into the walk they were feeling fairly weak.

My entertainment while walking today included Travel with Rick Episode #189, which takes you along on the Castaway Cay 5K.  Check it out below!



Hopefully I will continue to feel strong throughout the day.  We'll see. 

So tell me, what stupid excuses have you come up with in the past to talk yourself out of a work out?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

2014 Princess Party Cruise!!

I'm *so* excited!! I've been having a really hard time wrapping my head around what my 2014 vacation will look like. I wanted to do the Princess 1/2 Marathon, but at the same time I had promised my daughter Victoria that I would take her to Disney for her 21st Birthday so that she could drink around the world. Finances being what they are, I just will not be able to afford more than one vacation next year. Tori also needs to go on a cruise in the next year before she applies for her "dream job" with the Disney Cruise Line and discovers she can't handle being at sea.

So with a nod of approval from my frequent travel companion Erik, we decided to book a 4 night cruise directly after the 2014 Princess 1/2 Marathon! Woot! Princess Party Cruise! I'm so excited!! Not only are we booked, but Bestie Becks has said that she's in for the cruise as well! I put the idea out there to the other Princess Party Crew gals that if they thought they could swing it, they should hop on board as well.

I can't wait! Nothing quite as nice as a cruise after running my first half marathon. Any other Princesses want to join us?

A Rough Morning Walk

This turned out to be a great walk a couple of days ago. Even though it started out pretty rough we ended up with our best pace in about 2 years with two miles at 18:15 a mile! I love it when we can see the progress!

Training Update and Life Kvetching

I'm sick this morning, stuffy nose, sore throat, just really not feeling well. However my hips/legs seem to have recovered from our great walk on Thursday so I knew I really should get to the gym. If I take more than one day off, this will never get done. So bright and early, off to the gym Tori & I went.

We biked for an hour while I listened to WDW Radio. The machine said that I made it 9.4 miles, which is not as far as I went last time, but hey, I'm sick! At least I went out and did it. Mostly motivated by the fact that so many of my friends were down in WDW this weekend running the Marathon.

I wouldn't say today has been a good day so far and it's only 11:00am.  I discovered some financial issues that we can't call about and see what's going on until tomorrow at the earliest.  My brain is dwelling on it though, and as I'm trying to prepare for the worst I'm feeling sort of devastated right now.  I hopped that the workout would help, it didn't.  It's nothing bad that we did, I have a feeling that our health insurance has gone up more than expected.  It's a factor I wasn't expecting that may have very depressing consequences.  I guess the failing economy and rising costs may have finally caught up with my family too.  Of course that's just a guess at this point, like I said, we have no way of knowing what's going on until tomorrow at the least.  I just want to cry.  I don't do well being in "limbo".

Training Day 13

I'm really happy with how our workout went today! We keep going farther and our pace just gets quicker and quicker.  I'm so proud of us!  Mental training still sucks, but I can see little improvements every day and that makes me so happy.

I wanted to give you a link to these great polar fleece jackets that I bought at Target.  When I got to the site online, they were even more on sale!  $13 online for fantastic plus size fleece jackets.  Perfect for your Princess Training!

Training Day 11 - Doom & Gloom

  This video is where I bitch and moan for 1.41 miles down the river path. Apologies in advance, but the nice thing is that I've warned you. So... have you noticed yet how much I say "so"? Thanks to @RNawaymama for getting me out the door.

Training Day 8

What a great walk!  It's taken almost two weeks (we started walking a week before I decided I was "training") but I'm finally feeling good after being out there walking.  That is instead of feeling like I'm going to die after walking.  I knew that if I just kept at it eventually it would be okay, I'm thrilled that it came after only two weeks instead of a month or more.


We decided that we would do another week at 1.3 miles since we're feeling good with that distance there's no reason to stay at just 1 mile. We'll do 1.3 for a bit and then by the end of next week I think we'll move up to 1.5 miles for our regular walk. We'll probably be doing 2 miles by mid-November if the weather holds out and we can keep walking outside.

After our walk Tori and I stopped at Target and got some more work out gear, long sleeves so that we can keep training outside as the weather continues to get colder.  I'm hoping that we have at least another month before the snow hits and we have to move to the treadmill in the Y. I am dreading the move inside, walking on the treadmill just isn't the same as being outside. Are you training? How has it been going for you?

Training Day 6

7:55AM -- Today was a hard day to get motivated.  I hurt and it's dark and rainy outside, not motivating.  I'm just not hard core enough to go walk out in the rain.  So, I took some Advil (who I think should sponsor my life let alone this blog), I ate a little breakfast (frozen waffles for the win), and now I'm sipping some coffee.  Motivation will come, I'll make it.

Training Day 4

I thought that put up a link to the Hal Higdon 5K Walking Training Plan in case any of my fellow beginner Princesses are looking for a place to start.  It's a great if you're looking to do you're first 5K as a walker.  Hal Higdon is a highly respected name in the running and race walking community.

http://www.halhigdon.com/5K%20Training/5-Kwalk.htm

I also recommend Jeff Galloway's book "Walking:The Complete Book".

 

Jeff has teamed up with Disney as the official runDisney Training Consultant. Most of his runDisney training focuses on running, but this book is a fantastic place to start for walkers too! It will give you a better idea of not only what happens in your body when walking, but talks about how to better burn calories, offers training plans, advice on gear and offers suggestions as to what may be going wrong when you get those aches and pains. I notice that my copy is well worn as I pull it out once again to get moving.