2018 Fairy Tale Challenge Training Week 10: The Sunshine Returns to Morning Runs

Weekly Mileage: 28 mi

Another Monday morning meant the usual debate: Orange Theory or Yoga after work? Usually this decision is simplified by Emily, who heads to yoga with me, but since she was unavailable I questioned my routine. After what was probably too much consideration, I decided to go to Yoga since my IT band was bothering me after the weekend's runs. The class focused on shoulder opening, but of course opened with a loooong knee pile, which is basically my arch nemesis. It was as if the instructor somehow knew I had complained about that pose to Em over the weekend.

The regular routine was back on Tuesday, and the day started with Kasey's arrival at my house. We griped about the return of cold weather after a mild weekend, but at least the sun is starting to rise earlier in the morning so we are less in the dark. Kasey and I got in about 2.5 miles together before her morning deadlines called, and then I kept running solo. I felt like i was dragging myself through mile 4, struggling to find joy in my run. My mental game was poor, and I started to question why I run - lately I feel slow, and like I have  lost so much work. But then a flip switched - why was I treating myself like this? I would never beat a friend up like that, when there were up early, running, and putting in work! So I challenged myself to pick up the pace for the last mile, fight when it got hard, and to finish my run strong. I looked at my watch - I was averaging a 10:07 pace. If I could drop the pace down to 9:30 for my last mile, I could bring the run down to a sub-10 pace. So I dug in and got going - that last mile was a challenge, but it was the breath of fresh air that I needed. I managed to run it in 8:27, bringing my average pace down to a 9:47, and it was just the pick me up that I needed. When I got home I squeezed in a quick Nike Training Club workout. I just set up a new program to follow in the app, so I got the "benchmark" workout done. I felt good going into the day ahead of me, and thank goodness I had that positive attitude because it was a busy day at work. So busy that I wound up leaving late, and just barely made it to swim on time.

It was a big night of laps at swim, and after a quick warm-up we started with 6x50m repeats. Once we finished those, we started the main set of the night, and it was a big one: 5x300m repeats - 300 m in the pool that I swim in is 12 laps. Twelve! That is super far for me! Each repeat had about 30 seconds of rest between sets, but it was still a challenge for me, and I was proud that I got through it. We got to take it easy for the rest of the session, wearing fins as we worked on drills. 

The weather warmed up a little for our Wednesday morning run, and I even got to break out my light jacket - imagine that! Kasey wasn't feeling great, but managed to make it though two miles, and was only a little dramatic with her poses at the end of her run. I appreciated it. I had plans for another five-mile morning, and picked up the pace as I ran off from Kasey's house. The workout turned into an unintentional progressive run, which I was really pleased about, and I even managed to get that last mile into the 8s again, which made me happy. I had planned to get in a quick strength routine when I got home, but I somehow totally forgot that part of the plan, and didn't remember until I was already dressed and ready for the day... whoops. There was no workout for me on Wednesday night, as Dennis and I had big Valentines day plans: to watch a movie (Mulan) and eat nachos. If that's not love then I don't know what love is.

There was some error on Thursday morning - as I waited in the kitchen watching for Kasey to arrive, the minutes ticked by. I had been texting Emily in a group chat that her, Kasey and I share, and there had been no answers from Kasey that morning - an uncommon occurrence. As it got later, I started to wonder if Kasey was awake. So, I texted her brother who I figured would be up and getting ready for school to see if she was up, and moments later got a text from Kasey - she had accidentally set her alarm for 6:55 instead of 5:55 - Whoops! By this time it was already around 6:40, and since Kasey needed to be home by 6:50, her run was lost for the morning. Lucky for me, it was above 40 degrees, so Dad agreed to come out on his bike for the first time this year. Since I knew it was going to be a shorter than usual run, and I had been feeling up to challenging myself this week, I decided my goal for this run was to finish it with an average below a 9 minute mile - and somehow pulled it off! I was pretty pleased with myself, and excited that I completed my self-imposed challenge. 

Thursday night did not go as well as Thursday morning - while I was at work my throat started bothering me. So I checked it out and after looking at it was concerned that I might have strep - it was not pretty. For fear of passing sickness on to other athletes at swim, I stayed home for the night and made a doctors appointment for Friday morning. It was a bummer, but now I will have the push to get to the Monday morning swim session that I keep telling myself I am going to get to, but have yet to attend. 

I considered going for a run when I work up earlier than I needed to on Friday, but my IT band has felt tight lately so I decided not to push things. Instead, I did one of the longer workouts that Nike Training club offers – crunch and burn 2.0. The explosive movements in that one kill me, and I hate but love the side plank leg lifts.

After my workout was done I headed to the doctor’s office before work to get my sore throat checked out – I was relieved that it wasn’t anything serious, just Thrush, which is a common side effect from one of the inhalers I take, and can easily be cured with a prescribed mouthwash.

Saturday was my big mileage day for this week. Kasey and I had plans to run 10 miles, and it would be the first time that she ever hit double digits on a run! In addition to my run with Kasey I had agreed to meet up with a few friends from the tri team for some shared miles, so it was going to be a busy day. Before my run with Kasey, I started my packing list for the Princess half weekend, and extracted my suitcase from the closet, which was way harder than it sounds.

I had most of my race outfits together, but still needed to pack standard vacation Disney clothes (yes, this consists of things adorning mickey’s face). Piles of clothing were established, and I packed them all into my luggage cubes (yes, everything goes into a bag before it goes into my suitcase – it makes it much easier to find things in the hotel room! I use these bags). I made my list of what needed to be replenished in my first aid bag, and packed up everything that I could think of. By the time Kasey texted me that she was ready to run, I had most of my packing complete – I just needed to put some finishing touches on my race outfits.

It was a nice day considering it's February in New York, and I was able to head out for my run without having to swaddle myself first. I just wore a long sleeve running shirt and my light running jacket, along with some leggings and my momentum jewelry trucker hat – it was bright out! I pushed the pace a little in the first few miles, before thinking logically and realizing that I should be a little more conservative with the pace if I wanted Kasey to agree to join me on future long runs. About 4 miles in we stopped for water and sport beans before continuing onward. The weather was beautiful, and the miles just slipped away on the sunny afternoon. It was odd to see so many people out and about in the neighborhood, when I am so used to running in the morning when we see the same four people out walking their dogs every day. We made one more quick fuel stop at mile 7, then pushed through to the end. Guys, believe it or not, Kasey survived her first 10 mile run – hell, I would even say she was pretty damn successful at it, managing to keep an average pace of 10:07 min/mi. So yes, I will be continuing to rope her into long runs (**cough** Disney marathon 2019 **cough**).

After Kasey and I finished up I ate a quick snack (consisting of a tortilla shell with peanut butter smeared on it) and then started heading to Norman J. Levy Preserve – or “Garbage Mountain” as my dad likes to call it, since it was once an actual garbage dump. I somehow always manage to forget that running there makes for a hilly run, as you gain elevation as you go along the path. I added another layer to my running outfit, as the preserve is right on the water, and it was likely a few degrees colder there.

I met up with Tara and Allison, and we got going. The miles always slip away too quickly when I run with these ladies, as we always have what feels like a million things to catch up on. When I was training for my first marathon Tara helped me through so many of my long runs, and then after the Long Island Marathon Alison helped me to find running inspiration again as we ran together as she trained for her first half iron man. We headed up and down the mountain, and looped around it a few times, went out and back on the dock, and even had to dodge a gender reveal photo shoot that was happening, as to not photo bomb them. We wound up logging just over 4 miles, and then decided to take a jumpshot before parting ways, which had us all cracking up.

I had planned to finish up the rest of my costumes on Saturday night, but I was just too tired after all the, literal, running around. Instead, I spent the night hanging out with Emily and my brother, Tommy, catching up on a new Netflix series.

Sunday somehow slipped through my fingers, with all of the errands that I had to get done. But on the upside, all of the dresses have now been picked out for the wedding in October, as we managed to find Jr. Bridesmaids dresses that everyone was happy with!

Now, since this is the last recap before the Princess half marathon weekend, I’m going to bring you up to date through Wednesday, since that was when I left for Florida. Then, the next posts will be all about the race weekend!

I managed to get things back on track Monday morning, when I headed to swim at 6 A.M. to make up for the class I missed Thursday night. I had off from work for president’s day, so I felt a little crazy setting an alarm for 5:30 when I went to bed Sunday night. The class consisted entirely of laps, starting with alternating between sets of 25m repeats and 75m repeats, eventually bringing us to the big set of 4x250 m repeats, before a quick cooldown at the end of class. There was a hard end to the class at 7:30, as there was an event going on at the pool. After swim I got breakfast with my parents, and then finally found the time to finish up all of my race outfits and get them packed away. I even managed to put together a few pairs of mouse ears, following a tutorial that Laura Bowers, from Joyful Miles, put together.

Emily and I still wanted to head to our usual Monday night yoga class, and I felt like that was a great idea, to take some time to slow down and stretch after the busy three-day weekend and before the traveling that would occur this week. Did I fall asleep in class? Yes. But can you really fault me for that - and I woke myself up before the class progressed too far without me!

We had a foggy morning on Tuesday, but Kasey and I didn’t let it get in the way of our run. I made sure that I was well-lit before heading out. I was more asleep than usual when the run started, but the mild temperature, despite the fog, had me in a good mood by the end of the run. Plus, Kasey felt that this run finally broke her streak of mediocre-to-bad runs that she’s had going lately! I only ran three miles, since race day is quickly approaching, and then did a few pop-pilates videos before heading to work.

The evening was busy, starting with a session at the yoga studio that I almost forgot about. At Emerge, they offer some therapeutic services in addition to yoga classes, one of these being the “biomat.” Emily had raved to me about it, so when she offered me one of her sessions that would expire before she had the chance to use it, I jumped at the opportunity. I had to use the session before leaving for Florida, but naturally managed to forget about it all weekend. Luckily, when I asked about availability after Monday night’s yoga class, there was a time slot open Tuesday night, so I could squeeze in a session between work and swim. I headed right from work to the yoga studio, and they brought me into the room with the biomat, which is basically a squishy, body sized heating pad, paired with an essential oil diffusor. It was a 30-minute session, but I set an alarm on my Garmin for 6:09 incase they let me run over, because I needed to check into my flight at 6:10 – and thank goodness I did, or I would have missed it! But the experience itself was great, and very relaxing. Plus, the heat of the mat felt great on my sore hip.

I went right from Emerge to Swim, and it was another night of mostly laps. For the most part we alternated between 100 and 200m repeats, focusing on consistency and making sure that the pace for the 200m repeats was the same as the pace for the shorter repeats. The last 20 minutes or so of class we spent doing drills, and then I headed home to triple check that I had everything packed for my trip to Florida (I didn’t… it took me 30 minutes to find my headphones, which turned out to be in my knitting bag…. Which was of course, in my carry-on bag for the plane. So I guess technically they were packed?).

I had one last run before vacation began, and it was again a foggy morning on Wednesday. Kasey wasn’t as happy with this run as she had been with Tuesdays, but we quickly ticked away the miles. After she finished her run I got another half mile or so in, and dropped my pace so that I could bring my average below a 10 min/mi. With the run done, my training for the princess half weekend was complete. All that was left to do was bring my luggage downstairs, so that my Dad could load it into the car- my parents were picking me up from work so we could head right to the airport, and begin our vacation.

All in all, I am happy with how training for this challenge went. I feel prepared to complete back to back races, and my biggest concern is the heat, which at the end of the day I have no control over. Training was derailed in January when I caught a nasty cold and dealt with asthma issues for almost a month, but now I'm back to 100%, and ready to hit the road in Disney!

2018 Fairy Tale Challenge Training Week 9: Training includes Running AND Sewing

Weekly Mileage: 27.2

After a quick weekend trip to Atlanta, GA and a not-too-late night flight home, I was back in NY on Monday morning, and taking a recovery day. Emily and I headed to our usual Monday night Yoga class, bend into bliss, and it was like Vanessa (the instructor) knew that I had run up one too many hills the day before. We spent the class really opening up our hamstrings, with a little bit of hip work as well. We left the class blissed out, and headed to my house to enjoy some pizza after – there’s a reason I don't blog about healthy eating - I suck at it.

Looking at the mess that is my training plan, with so many of its track days neglected after getting sick, I decided Tuesday would be a good day to do a progression run, something that I used to do once a week, but hadn’t attempted in months. I probably should have warned Kasey of this plan, but she caught on quick enough. Kasey ran to me again to start the run, and my first mile came in at 10:01. After that I knocked about 15 seconds off each mile, with my splits coming in at [10:01, 9:42, 9:26, 9:13, 8:56]. Kasey ran about half of the run with me, but had to bail before I hit 5 miles so that she would get to school on time. I got home early enough that I was able to get a quick core workout in, and completed the Nike Training Club video called “Quick Hit Abs.”

Tuesday night I had swim, and it was an exhausting session! When we started warmups the lane coached warned us to take it truly easy warming up, because there would be a lot of laps ahead of us, and no drills. Honestly, I left this class so exhausted that I wondered if my arms would ever agree to move again, and the only interval I can remember is swimming three laps on 1:30, and I remember this because it was too fast for me – usually I swim in lane one or lane two, but tonight the coach moved me up to lane three tonight, and the struggle was real. I survived the primary laps in lane three, but when we got to the last 20 minutes of class I dropped back to lane two rather than putting on flippers to keep up, so that I could really focus on my form as I swam.

The early morning wake-up that occurred Wednesday was aboard the struggle bus, and Kasey and I were texting each other, evaluating our life choices before we even got out of bed. It was just one of those cold mornings that had us questioning why we get up so early, and considering just staying in bed… but complaining to each other got us moving, and despite sleepiness I got dressed and began my run towards Kasey’s house. We kept the pace easy, and as always were glad that we dragged ourselves out of bed to get our miles in. Plus, the weather was tolerable, despite an impending storm. 

That night I worked on my outfit for the Disney Princess 5k, where I am hoping to pull together an outfit inspired by the floating lanterns in Tangled, since that is the theme for this year’s race. I purchased capris that have the lanterns going down the side, and am working on sewing and decorating a skirt to look like one of the lanterns – with any luck I will even be able to get it light up.

Thursday morning wasn’t so bad, and at least I got to lay in bed for an extra second since Kasey was running to my house. It was another morning that called for two pairs of leggings, and I was flip flopping between my medium weight and light weight coat. Dad pointed out that the “real feel” temp. was less than 20°, so I went with the heavier of the two. Despite it being cold out, I probably would have been ok with the lighter one, as there was no wind when I stepped outside. I even eventually wound up pulling my gloves off to cool myself down a little. The first mile of this run as a little difficult, and my legs just felt stiff and heavy. But eventually I settled into it, and managed to drop the pace down to a sub 10 minute mile. I kept waiting to see the sunrise, but instead just got a bright patch of sky under dark clouds. Kasey veered off at the usual time, but I kept going for another three miles, working some fartleks into my run. Fartlek is a Swedish word meaing “Speed play,” so this basically means that instead of keeping a consistent pace in my miles, I would spot a landmark and then pick up the pace until I got there. After completing some neighborhood loops I hit 5 miles, and headed home to once again and managed to get a quick core workout in. The tri team coach, Jackie, is always telling us to do more core work and to do more yoga, so I have really been trying to sneak in sessions of the two whenever possible. Today’s workout was a pop-Pilates video instead of Nike Training Club, and 10 minutes later I was moving forward with my day.

Turns out the second night of swim class this week would be just as challenging as the first, which is unusual. Most weeks one night is laps and the other is drills, and since Tuesday had been all laps I expected Thursday to be an easy drill day, but boy was a wrong! Maybe it’s just that I was placed in lane three again, but I suppose only time will tell what I have gotten myself into. The class started with the usual warm-up laps, easy enough. But then we started doing 25m repeats, that were a little faster each set (they were all fast for me, if we are being honest here). After each set of 25m repeats, we would get 1-2 easy laps to recover, but they basically went like this – [3x25 on 60s; 4x25 on 50s; 5x25 on 45s; 3x25 on 40s]. It may not sound like much to some, but it was a challenge for me! After the speedwork was done, we did a little bit of drilling, and then moved on to 200m repeats. By the time class was over, I was starving and looking forward to meeting Kasey and Emily for dinner.

I brought my gym bag with me to work on Friday, and headed right to orange theory when I got out. It was an endurance day, and I managed to start the class on a treadmill. They called the class an “Olympic” workout challenge, and while we warmed up at our base pace the coach split us up into groups of 4, and three members of the group would run at a push pace while one person rowed, and when the rower hit a designated distance the next person would move to rowing. Every time we completed a round of the workout we would increase the incline on the treadmill, and the row distance would get a little longer. By the end of the block I had gotten through 2 miles and 900m of rowing. The weight room portion of the workout had a good amount of upper body work, and left my arms a little sore all weekend.

The weekend started on a confusing note, as plans to run had been discussed in the tri team group all week, but nothing really ever got finalized, so I wasn't too sure of who I would see when I got to the hilly loop that we frequent. Kasey and Rachel had both agreed to come running, and we were tenatively thinking that we would run like 8-10 miles..... That was up in the air too. 

The first change in plans came when Kasey texted me upon waking up - she wasn't feeling well and had to bail on the run. I was a little bummed but totally understood, in all the months of Kasey and I running together this was the first time she ever had to tap out, so I knew she must really be feeling rotten.

I picked up Rachel and we headed to Old Westbury, and decided that we would only do one loop, and save longer mileage for Sunday that way Kasey would be able to join us if she was feeling better. When we got to the parking lot a few other people from the tri team were milling about, and we all headed out into the hills together. The weather wasn't too bad, and Rach and I stuck together uphill and downhill. When we finished the 4.5 mile loop we headed home, and met up with Emily to get some Saturday morning bagels. After we were showered Rachel and I headed to target to pick up shirts to use with our princess half outfits, and then her, Emily, and I hung out and worked on our outfits until eventually Dennis picked me up for our valentines date - he surprised me with tickets to see the Lion King on Broadway, and we headed into Manhattan for a great night out.

Since they were predicting rain from Saturday night to Sunday night, my hopes were not high for getting out to run a good distance on Sunday. So, when I got up and saw it was pouring, I headed to Orange Theory. It was a switch routine, so while I was on the treadmill multiple times, I only got about a mile and a half of running in. My IT band was bothering me when I was running on the treadmill, so I knew that I would be better off not attempting to get more miles in on the gym treadmill after class. So, after the hour was up at OTF I headed home to work some more on my outfits and hope that the rain would let up a little.

The rain did not seem to relent, so around 2 pm I decided to go out and just get a few miles in. With race day quickly approaching I limited my time running in the cold rainy weather, since I had already tempted fate the week before when I ran the Hot Chocolate 15k in Atlanta in downpour conditions. I got in a little over 4 miles, then headed home and got ready for the rest of the nights plans. I beat myself up a little bit for not getting a long run in this weekend, but at the end of the day I know that I will still be able to get through the glass slipper challenge.

When I went into this training plan, I had hoped that I would be able to race the 10k part of race weekend, and possibly even set a new PR. But then I dealt with respiratory issues for most of January, and the more I think about it, the more I feel like this is not an event I want to “Race” – it is more an event I want to savor every minute of, regardless of my pace. Do I still want to run a sub 50 10k? Yes, that goal is still on the table for me. But I think for this particular race, I just want to have a good time and get the full runDisney experience… after all, there are plenty of 10k’s that I can race right here on Long Island.

Race Recap: Atlanta Hot Chocolate 15k

Over the last year or so I had been experiencing serious race-envy as I watched people complete “Hot Chocolate” race events, but being from NY where one is not hosted, it was not a race series that was easily accessible to me. I had played around with driving to Philly for the 2017 15k that they held there in April, but when that didn’t pan out I put the thought of doing one of the “Hot Chocolate” events on the back burner, and said “Maybe in 2018.”

So, when my cousin Jen first started running last summer, you better believe that I started researching races that coincided with dates that I would be available to visit Atlanta. After she decided to sign up for the Star Wars Half Marathon, which will take place in April of 2018 in Florida, we decided that February would be a good time for me to visit Atlanta, and a 15k would be about where she was up to in her training for the half. So, I proposed running the Hot Chocolate 15k that would take place on February 4th to her, and (not so) secretly did a happy dance when she agreed to run it with me, excited that I would finally get to experience one of these races that everyone spoke so highly of. Plus, I would get my hand on some nice race swag – a half zip, a giant chocolate shaped medal, and a big bowl of chocolate goodies.

I booked a flight for Friday night that I could take after work, and Dennis dropped me off at the airport. My flight was supposed to takeoff at 8:20, but due to high winds I had an hour and a half delay. As I waited in the airport, after I made the adult decision to have a pretzel for dinner, I realized that southwest had another flight heading to Atlanta, that was supposed to have left at 4:10 but was getting ready for an 8:20 departure… so I headed over to the gate agent, and by some tiny miracle they were able to change my flight so I could get out on the earlier plane! I am pretty sure I was the happiest customer on that flight, despite being a little squished by the broad-shouldered gentlemen who was seated next to me. Once we were in the air I turned on “The Office,” and before I knew it we had landed in Atlanta.

Jen picked me up at the airport and it was a joyful reunion, as always. I threw my stuff into the trunk of her car, and we headed to pick up her boyfriend, Will, before turning in for the night. The best part about picking up Will? I got to meet the cutest little golden retriever puppy, named noodles, and she was truly an excited ball of fluff.

By the time we got to their apartment and got my bed for the weekend all set up, it was around 1 am and we were all ready to call it a night. On Saturday we were planning to grab brunch, and then head to the race expo!

On Saturday morning I woke up before Jen and Will, so I read for a little bit and then got ready for the day. Once they were up we put our names in on the brunch list at a place near their apartment called “First Watch,” which was right by their apartment in Chamblee. We met up with Jen’s friend Nicole to eat, and this place had so many delicious sounding options. We all agreed to split an order of maple glazed bacon (which was an excellent choice), and I ordered a Chia Pudding power Bowl, which came with whole grain toast covered in almond butter, with a side of biscuits and gravy (mainly because I love this dish and it’s not something that is easily found in NY). Everyone else ordered some variation of eggs, and when the food came out it was a sight meant for a food-lovers Instagram. We passed around tastes of all our dishes, each trying to decide which breakfast was best. While they were all delicious, I still maintain that the winner was my chia pudding, topped with fresh fruit and granola. If I ever wind up having brunch here again, it would truly be a struggle to talk myself into ordering a different dish.

Once we were all well-fed we headed downtown to the race expo. I had never been to downtown GA beyond driving through it, and it was cool to see places that Jen goes to on a regular basis in her every-day life. We cut through the CNN center to get to the convention center where the race expo was held, and it was easy to navigate through the Georgia World Congress Center and find our expo hall, as there were signs pointing us in the right direction. The expo was on the smaller side compared to NYC or Disney expos, but still gave us a good selection of gear to check out.

Our first stop was at bib pickup, where we gave our last name and received our bibs before moving over to shirt pickup. They handed us our half-zips in plastic bags, and we also received hats with the race logo on them, as we had signed up with a promo code that gave us a “premium item” upgrade for free. There was an area to try on the shirts, so we went over there and made sure that the sizing was good, and both decided to stick with the size we had ordered (by which I mean I tried on a shirt and Jen declared that was good enough for her).

Then it was time to check out some running gear. Jen bought a new SPI belt, since she’s getting into higher mileage these days and will need to start carrying running fuel in addition to her phone and inhaler. Then we stopped by the “BFF electric foam roller” booth and tried out the massager they sell. While we all agreed that the massage felt great, holding the unit made our hands feel weird after a minute from all of the vibrating, so between that and the price we moved along. Both Jen and I took advantage of expo pricing and bought some Nuun, and even got to try out a few new flavors. They were giving out a “hot chocolate 5/15k” water bottle when you bought three tubes for $15, so that was the path we took. I even managed to pick up a tube of grape flavored Nuun for Kasey, who has been having trouble finding her favorite flavor locally. We sampled some chocolate snacks that were a sample of what was to come on race day, took a photo in front of the giant inflatable hot chocolate mug, and wandered around the entire expo, before making one last stop back at the track shack booth, where Jen decided to pick up some good priced gear – a Run Atlanta shirt and a water resistant jacket, since the forecast was calling for rain on race day. Lots of rain. And I know, every runner will tell you “nothing new on race day,” but I think we have all broken that rule at least once.

We took the rest of the day easy, heading to the movies to see “The Phantom Thread” and then getting dinner at The Olive Garden. Any excuse to eat breadsticks and pasta will get me into an Olive Garden, and Jen and I were excited for our pre-race meal, even if we maybe didn’t need THAT many carbs for a 15k.

Once dinner was done, we called it a night and headed back to the apartment to get everything together for race morning. We had been checking the weather all day in hopes that the forecast would change and maybe it wouldn’t rain, but as we put our outfits together, it was all but certain that we would be running in a downpour. After debating between several options, we both went for ProCompression socks, full length leggings, half zip long sleeve shirts, hats, gloves, and running jackets. Raining and 30 degrees… lovely weather for a 15k, right? I put thermal blankets, ponchos, and our race day fuel into a plastic bag that we could easily bring along the next morning, and we all headed to bed, our alarms set for 6 am the next morning.

Both Jen and I managed to have pre-race anxiety dreams, and it was indeed POURING when we woke up. My brain quickly entered a happy state of “You’re going to get soaked, but you can still enjoy this race. Make the best of what you have,” while Jen entered the state I had been in the night before, of what the heck are we getting ourselves into?!

We loaded into the car, which was thankfully in a garage so at least we stayed dry for the time being. Will was nice enough to drive us to the start area, and walk us through the CNN center before we parted ways. We had the luxury of indoor bathrooms, and after using them wrapped our feet in plastic bags and pulled out the thermal blankets and ponchos, which Will helped us assemble ourselves into, before heading out into the storm. We started following a group of runners heading for the start line. It was about a mile walk to get there, but lucky for us we were able to spend most of the trip indoors, cutting through the Georgia World Congress Center. We pulled off our shoe covers once we were inside, but kept the ponchos and heat sheets on until we got to the start line. It was a short outdoor walk once we got outside, and we got to the entrance of corral C just before the first corral began their race. We pulled off the ponchos and heat sheets, putting most of the stuff into a near by trash bin. I decided to fold my heat sheet up and put it in my pocket just in case conditions took a turn for the worse, but thankfully we did not need it. We clicked our Garmins into run mode as soon as we got into the corral, so they would have time to pick up the satellites before we started running, shuffled forward as the earlier corrals began their races. Then it was our turn – already wet from rain before the race had even started, we crossed the start line, which was under a bridge of giant inflatable marshmallow men.

Now, as I don’t know the geography of Atlanta well, and spent most of the race focusing on not stepping in puddles, please excuse my less than specific recollection of the race –

We crossed the start line in a mass of people, mingled between 5k and 15 k runners. As a result of the rain, the race had announced that people due to start in the second wave were now allowed to start in the first wave, and no one had been checking bibs as people entered the corrals, so it was truly a mixture of every speed as we started this race. There was a lot of weaving in mile one, and we soon came upon the course split where the 15k and 5k parted paths. We kept right, and continued on our journey. There were plenty of hills on course, leading us up and down, and when saw the first aid station we made our way to the right side of the road, thinking we would be able to grab some water. Our plan for the race was to walk all of the aid stations, and try not to do any walk breaks beyond that. But what we had originally thought was cups of water turned out to be little cups of chocolate chips! A cute touch for a chocolate themed race, but I passed because it just seemed like that would be too messy with all of the rain. Thankfully just after the chocolate chips the volunteers were handing out Nuun and water. Despite the rain, the volunteers throughout the whole course were happy and encouraging, which was super uplifting! Once we had finished our drinks we started running again, uphill of course.

Soon after this water stopped we started to encounter some street flooding, which meant our feet went from “kind-of wet” to “completely soaked,” as there was no way to navigate around these little rivers that ran through some intersections. The sloshing of wet shoes began, and we hoped that we would manage to get through the race blister free. After the first mini river, I turned to Jen and proposed a bet – the person with the least damaged feet at the end of the race buys drinks! That way if one of us wound up with a narly blister they would at least get a free drink out of it. The miles kept floating by as we battled hills, and Jen and I started high-fiving at every mile markers (there were a few fist bumps thrown in there too, as I eventually pulled all of my fingers into a fist in the center of my gloves). There was an aid station with marshmallows just after the 5k mark, but I again passed up the treat as the rain had left everything soggy, and the thought of taking off my rain soaked gloves to eat them was not appealing. We agreed that we would take a Gu when we hut the next aid station, and by then I had removed my gloves to see if my hands would be better off not in cold water soaked gloves – it was equally miserable in case you were wondering, but I opted to keep them off after that because they were holding so much water. As we walked through the third aid station, which was around mile 5, we passed by Jen’s friend Danielle, who she often does training runs with, and were quickly introduced to each other – I am so happy that Jen has found runners that she can share miles with in Atlanta! When we finished our Gu (salted watermelon for me and jet blackberry for Jen) and waters, we discarded the cups and started climbing the hill that was ahead of us. It was still raining at this point, and we were soaked to the bone, but honestly we were in such good spirits, and really enjoying the race together.

As we passed the 10k mark I got a text from my Dad – who was tracking us from NY – and pulled out my phone to respond. I had my phone wrapped in a zip lock bag to give it a little protection, even though it is supposed to be water resistant, and when I tried to answer the text my phone started freaking out! It was not wet, and I took it out of the bag to check it out, it was just freezing! I tried to shut it off so that it would stop flashing its screen on and off, and in the process managed to trigger the emergency response feature that the iPhone 10 has – eek! As we entered mile 7 and the second to last aid station, I tried to cancel the alert, and since no emergency response team showed up I guess I was successful? It made for a few stressful moments either way.

We ran through our last water stop of the race as I tried to calm my phone down, eventually just putting it away to deal with later. As we walked through the aid station, Jen said that she really wanted to run the rest of the race, and not have to walk at all for the last 2-ish miles. At this point, some of the streets were so flooded that we were being diverted around intersections and onto sidewalks to avoid puddles that were deeper than our ankles. Right before mile 8 we had a short out-and-back on the course, and I am pretty sure that this quarter mile or so was the ONLY flat stretch of road on the entire course. After we passed the mile 8 marker, the rain started to clear up. At this point we were entirely soaked, so it didn’t really aid us in any way. Jen remarked that she was upset that it had stopped, because it would have been a more bad-ass finish photo if it was pouring… I can’t say I disagreed with that thought. But at least my hands would be a little less wet, and I could just worry about trying to warm them up a bit and not about drying them off. The last mile of the course was a bit winding, but we were still going strong.

Finally, We approached the overpass that would be our last uphill climb, and deliver us to the finish line. This was nothing after the bridge we climbed during the Savannah bridge run back in December. We could see the split for the 5k and 15k participants, directing us to stay to the right as we entered the finish chute. As we made the final turn, we spotted Will and Nicole cheering and holding up signs, and Jen and I both teared up as we got closer still to the finish line – and then it was done. In a state of happy bliss, smiles as wide as could be, soaked to the bone, we crossed the finish line. Jens longest run to date – a 15k, clocking in at 9.5 miles rather than 9.3 on our garmins.

We were handed our medals, and in a moment of blissed out runner-brained panic Jen turns to me and says “Did I have to step on the finish line!?”

I laughed and reassured her that she was ok since she had passed over it, and we made our way passed the finish line to find Will and Nicole, and hugs were shared by all. Jen and I pulled the tag off of our bibs to get our finishers mugs, full of chocolatey treats, and once we had our mugs we made our way inside and snacked for a few minutes before heading to the car.

Despite less than stellar conditions, Jen and I both agree that we had an amazing time running the Hot Chocolate 15k. We love the half-zips we got, and the HUGE medals that we earned. When you have great company the miles fly by regardless of the weather, and I feel like I will always look back on this race fondly. Plus, now when we worry about the weather leading up to the Star Wars Darkside half-marathon in April, odds are we will be able to say we have raced in worse weather, no matter what gets thrown at us.

I hope that one day I can run this race again, hopefully in better conditions. But it will have to wait until after 2019, as next years race falls on the same day as the Walt Disney World Marathon.

Oh, and as for that blister bet- both of us came out unscathed, so Will agreed to buy each of us a drink. I would call it a win-win situation.

2018 Fairy Tale Challenge Training Week 8: Bringing the mileage back up

Total Mileage: 28.6

With each week of training being ticked off from my calendar, we get closer to the big event: The Disney Princess Fairy Tale Challenge! Well, and the 5k too because I just could not resist signing up for that one. Week 8 of training was eventful, and even included a weekend trip from NY to Atlanta to visit my cousin, Jen, and run the Hot Chocolate 15k with her.

Monday morning was slow moving, so as usual my workout was saved for after work. Since I had made it to yoga on Sunday, I decided to head to Orange theory on Monday night, as I was not sure if there would be any other chance to go this week. It was an endurance day, and I loved the challenges that this class presented. I started on the treadmill, and it was a run/row day, so we switched between blocks on the treadmill and the rower for the first half of the class. It was a distance challenge, so we had to see how far we could run in 5 minutes, then row for 600m, making sure to note how far we got. On the treadmill I made it to 0.661 miles before moving over. The middle block was a 0.5-mile run, with another 600m row. Finally, we had one final 5-minute run on the treadmill, with a goal of at least matching our distance from the first block, and I managed to squeak out just a little more distance then I had gotten the first time around. For the weight room, it was a total body workout, and we incorporated resistance bands for the first time at orange theory, and I liked the new variation to the workout.

It was supposed to snow a little on Monday night into Tuesday morning, so Kasey and I made plans to meet at the gym on Tuesday. We drove separately, as I wanted to get in 6 miles and that would take more time than she had to spend at the gym that day. We met at the treadmills, and I began the too-warm monotony that is running on a Planet Fitness treadmill. After 2 or 3 miles Kasey headed down to the weight room to get a core workout in, and I stayed on my treadmill, getting through the miles. I had just downloaded this weeks “Not Real Runners” podcast, so at least I had that to entertain me. If you are ever looking for a light hearted, humorous approach to a running podcast, I would 100% recommend not real runners, as Sarah and John crack me up every week. They also run a TON of races, so they always have a good race recap to listen to.

Tuesday turned into a rough day at work for me, and I just was not feeling up to swimming on Tuesday night. It’s not often that I decide to skip a workout, but I just needed some time to myself to mentally recuperate and recharge, and that was exactly what I did Tuesday night. The most responsible thing to do training-wise? No. But what I needed that night was to eat a burrito bowl and sit on the couch, and that was exactly what I did.

But the next morning I was back to business as usual and I dragged my butt out of bed for my morning run. I ran to Kasey’s house, and quickly became aware that this run was going to be a cold one. The weather – well, the forecast had claimed that it would be about 30 degrees when I checked the night before, but I woke up to discover it was 19° out – with a “real feel” temperature of ELEVEN DEGREES. E L E V E N. What is summer? Can someone please remind me? Also shake me if I ever complain that it is too hot to run. At least when I run and its hot my skin doesn’t dry out so much that moisturizing hurts….

ANYWAY, when I layered up for my run I added an extra layer to the clothing that I had laid out the night before and pulled a buff over my face. I only have one buff and have been washing it so much that I should really invest in a second one at this point. As usual, Kasey was not wearing a jacket, so that is also something we should probably look into getting (please, for the love of God someone talk this girl into getting a running jacket, she is giving me gray hair…or just send her one, I’ll be eternally grateful).

Regardless of the cold conditions, we survived another morning run and I got in a total of 6 miles on the last day of January. When I got home Dad agreed to make some tiny waffles for breakfast while I got ready for work. My total mileage for the month was 98 miles…. I seriously considered going out again at night to get those last two miles, but the cold weather and recent cold kept me inside – I didn’t want to risk getting sick! Can I just count a few of my swim miles towards the total?

When I posted my monthly mileage Kasey texted me asking how, when I was sick for half of the month, did I manage to do 20+ miles more then her, when most of our miles are done together. I actually had an answer for her – the one half marathon I completed I did solo, and that’s 13.1 miles right there, and the other 7 ish came from the short run to her house and home from it. So naturally on Thursday morning, the first day of February, Kasey ran to my house and we started our month of running together with her a half-mile ahead of me. We pushed the pace a little for the first run of the month, and when I finished I had just over 5 miles done.

Perhaps you have heard of the challenge some runners are taking on, to complete 2018 miles in 2018. To do this, you have to average about 5.5 miles a day. So, for the month of February I am trying to average 5 miles a day, to see how difficult a mileage goal like that would be, and to evaluate if it is something I want to attempt for the year. There would be a little bit of catch-up involved though, since I averaged about 3 miles a day in January.

Despite this goal, there were no miles completed on Friday or Saturday, since I was busy traveling to and enjoying a trip to Atlanta to visit my cousin Jen, and to run the Hot Chocolate 15k.

With just two more weekends to train before the Disney Princess Fairy Tale Challenge, I am counting down the days to Disney… Less than 10 days between me and Florida!

2018 Fairy Tale Challenge Training week 7: Back on Track

Total Mileage: 27.4

I came into this week feeling good, after having a great race at the Fred Lebow manhattan Half. I finally felt like I could start putting more into my training again and was ready to dive into some quality workouts.

As is often my plan, I took Monday for recovery and headed to a “bend into bliss” yoga class, which focused on easy movements, release, and ended with some restorative poses. It released a lot of the tension I had in my body from the weekends running and set me up for a solid week of training.

Tuesday came, and I was ready for a morning run. There was rain in the forecast, but Kasey and I managed to get out and all the way through our run before the sky started falling. The downside, it was very dark for the whole run. But we were decked out with blinking lights that my brother had gotten us for Christmas, and of course the usual reflective gear. My legs were heavy, but it was a good run. I did a Nike Training Club core workout when I got home, in an effort to work on a little strength training. Swim on Tuesday night was all about back stroke drills, building the foundation from the bottom up.

I wanted to start to get back into the habit of track workouts being a regular occurrence, as they haven’t happened consistently since I was training for NYC last fall. So Wednesday morning Kasey and I got up a little earlier than usual, and made our way to the local high school. Once we had a mile warmup done, we broke into 400m repeats. Normally I vary the distance of the repeats I do at the track, but I wanted to ease back into things. The sun slowly rose as we did our laps, and Kasey had to be home by 7:00 to get ready for work, so when it was time for her to go I ran her home and then headed to my house to try to get another quick core workout in. I pulled up the Nike Training club app and picked a workout I had never tried before called “core countdown,” and got that done before getting ready for work.

After work I decided to head to orange theory for a class, as I have trouble fitting their classes into my schedule lately, but still want to get as much as possible out of the membership that I pay for. Since I had already done a challenging run that morning, when I got there I asked the coach if it was okay if I just did the weight room routine twice, and since there were empty slots in the class, she said that would be fine. It was a routine with a lot of rowing, and by the end of the class I had rowed over 4000 meters.

Thursday morning we were running outside again, and while the weather had been predicted to be in the low 30s, it was actually in the low 20s with a “real feel” of 13 degrees. Needless to say, it was a two layers of leggings kind of day, and I completed the look with a buff over my face. My legs were feeling the previous days workouts, but I am glad I got in my miles. Thursday night swim was a combo of laps and drills. The set of laps were 2 x [1x300, 2x150, 6x50], and then the rest of the class was once again, working on backstroke.

I took Friday as a rest day, and was ready to get moving Saturday morning. I had made plans with Kasey and a few ladies from the Merrick Bicycles Tri Team to head to a local college to get a run in, as the terrain is much more dynamic and has a lot of rolling hills. Got to vary up that training, right? I picked Kasey up just after 7 am, and we drove over to the college to meet Sami and Laura. The roads were a little bit slippery, so we were careful to watch our footing as we ran.

We started with a warmup lap in the parking lot before moving onto the main loop of the campus, where we would encounter some hills that we would love to hate. I chatted with Sami and Laura as we went around, and Kasey only flipped me off one time for dragging her out to run hills – normally we run on the south shore of Long Island, which is flat as a pancake, so this was significantly more challenging. As we made our way around the campus we added a loop around one of the parking lots, and did a quick out and back before making our way into the lot we were all parked in to make sure we got a full 6 miles in. We all managed to avoid wiping out on the patches of ice that we encountered, although I had one close call as we did that last out and back. We were exhausted when we finished, but proud that we had pushed ourselves outside of normal comfort zones. After running I got breakfast with my parents at a diner, and then spent the rest of the day working on my skirt for the princess half marathon.

My original plan for the weekend was no miles on Saturday and then 10 miles on Sunday, but when I was invited to run hills Saturday I couldn’t resist. Since my training schedule has not exactly gone according to plan up to now, I figured another switch up wouldn’t really hurt me anyway, and decided I would just run 6 miles Saturday and 6 miles Sunday. Kasey agreed to run with me both days, but we didn’t make any solid plans for Sunday in terms of what time we would run, since it was supposed to rain all morning.

When I got up Sunday it was indeed raining, and I decided to make my way to Emerge for a yin/restorative yoga class, and the hour and fifteen minutes spent relaxing with yoga props was glorious. After the class I was ready to get moving, but the rain had not lifted. Eventually the sky cleared up a bit, and Kasey and I headed outside to get a 6 mile run in. I got to try out my new hat from Momentum Jewelry, which I won through a giveaway hosted by Carlee McDot, and I loved it. It was not only cute, but a totally comfortable running hat. Our legs were a little tired from the hills on Saturday, but we easily enough got through 6 miles, and the weather was much warmer than we had been used to lately.

The weekend ended with a taco night, where Dennis hosted Kasey, Emily and me, and we watched the first thor movie as we each ate our own dinner creations. There were only four of us at dinner, yet we wound up with 3 different protein options for the tacos – ground beef for Dennis and me, Chicken for Kasey, and tofu for Emily. It was a great way to end a busy weekend, and I even got some time to work on another skirt for the princess half weekend while we watched the movie.

So, with my mileage coming back up, I am starting to get excited for the races on the horizons. 

NYRR 9+1: 2018 Fred Lebow Manhattan Half Marathon

So, one of the goals that I set for myself this year is to run at least one half-marathon every month, and I signed up to run the Fred Lebow Manhattan half as my January race. When I signed up for this race it was the third event on my calendar, but with race switches, cancellations and transfers it wound up being my first event of the new year.

With being sick for the last three weeks, I was a little nervous about jumping into 13.1 miles. Don't get me wrong - I am finally getting over this cold, even if I hardly have a voice, but I am far from 100%. The night before as I pulled my gear together for this race I was nervous, and was dreading the race the next day. What if I couldn't finish?

Thankfully, Dad agreed to drive me to the race, and hang out in central park while I was running. We left the house around 6 am, and I tried to eat a peanut butter sandwich and hydrate as we traveled. We got to central park around 6:50, and Dad started circling around as he looked for parking. At 7:00, he dropped me off by the entrance to the park so I could pick up my race bib while he continued to look for parking.

I headed into the park with several extra layers on. It was easy enough to find race day central - I just followed the masses holding gear check bags and wearing sneakers. Race morning bib pickup was a dream, with no wait to get my hat and my bib. At NYRR races they use a QR code for quick pickup, and I learned today that every runner is assigned one QR code, which is used for all of their events - it's not a different code for each race as I had previously thought. So, I'll share the tip I got from the woman who was working bib pickup today: screen shot your QR code and save it in your phone, that way you always have it on race morning.

I grabbed a gear check bag even though I wasn't checking anything, that way I could throw my coats in it and easily pass them off to Dad when the race started. I made a quick pit stop at the porter potties, and then headed towards the start area and hung out on a bench near the start line while I waited for 8:00, when the race was scheduled to begin. By this time, Dad had found a parking spot and met me in the park. There were runners all over the place, and lots of people walking their dogs. Before 9:00 am it isn't required for people to have leashes on their dogs in central park, so there are always lots of people out with their pets on race mornings.

At 7:45 I started to get all of my stuff together. I took my pre-race Gu and loaded three more into my SPI belt, along with some Sport Beans in case I wanted a mid-race pick me up. I also set up my headphones and stored my inhaler in the back pocket of my leggings. Dad and I headed towards the corrals, and I handed over my jacket. I made a last minute decision to keep my gloves and headband because I was cold at the time, but knew I would be sick of them by mile 3.

Once I was in corral E I only had time to take my inhaler before the national anthem was sung, and we were off. Dad texted me that he would be on the left side of the course just before mile marker 3, so I made a mental note of that as I got moving.

I didn't have big expectations going into this race. I figured that I would aim for a pace in a 10:00 - 10:30 range, and hopefully feel okay. I didn't pay too much attention to my pace in the first mile, I just tried to settle into the pace of the runners around me. As we approached the first mile, my watched buzzed and let me know that the pace had been a 9:11, and I felt pretty okay. I had gotten caught up in the excitement of the race starting and had gone out faster than expected.

With the second mile came Cat Hill, and I slowed my pace a little as I took on the first hill. I knew I would be hitting this hill two more times and had two trips up Harlem hill in my future as well. Mile two slipped away, and I spotted dad for the first time just before mile three, and flailed around a little to make sure he saw me approaching. Sure enough, I had ripped off my mittens and ear warmers before mile three, and attached them to my SPI belt, where they would live for the rest of the race.

Next, the race headed around the north end of the park, and Harlem hill approached. As I trotted up the hill there were more spectators than could be found elsewhere on the course, some with signs and some just cheering runners on as they headed up the hill. Mile 5 came in at 9:38, which would wind up being my slowest mile of the race. As I conquered the hill, my watch buzzed with a text from Dad that he would be just before the water station that was near the start line, where I would complete loop one of the race. I wasn’t too far from there when I got his text, and caught him by surprise as I ran by.

Had to get a selfie with the Fred Lebow statue as I ran by!

As I made my second loop around the park I was feeling really good, and when I hit the halfway point of the race I considered my mile splits – they had been pretty good so far, ranging from 9:12-9:38, and I wasn’t feeling excessively strained, so I decided to pick the pace up a notch. I ran by dad again just before mile 8, and this time he was ready for me to run by and snapped some photos.

With the pace sped up, the course and its hills had become instantly more challenging, but I was ready. I kept my fueling strategy consistent, taking a Gu every 4 miles and some beans when I felt like I needed an extra push. Around mile 10 I got sick of hearing music as I ran, and the headphones got shut down so I could just enjoy the sounds of the park, the people, the runners feet pounding the pavement.

When my watch hit 11 miles, my time was at about 1:43…. 2.1 miles left to cover - if I could do that in 17 minutes I would break 2 hours. Now, my half PR is 1:58 and change, and the fact that it was possible to finish anywhere near that pace today blew my mind. So, I picked up the pace one last time, in hopes that I could at least finish the race in just under two hours – but what I didn’t consider here was that my watch was running about 0.15 mi ahead of the course mile markers.

I really pushed to get through the last two miles, which despite the hills came in at 8:42 and 8:12. When my watch hit 13.1 miles, the time read 1:59:38. But at this point I quickly realized that I still had a bit more to run before I came upon the actual finish line, which I crossed in an official time of 2:01:03, and I was elated. I had not only finished, but I had finished in a time that was (at least in my speeds) fast!

Was it a PR? No. But for me, it was a personal best, even if I had not hit a record. For the first time, I had managed to run negative splits for a race. I felt great at the finish line, which was a victory in and of itself after how I felt at the NYC marathon finish line. Most importantly, I felt strong, and was reminded that I needed to stop telling myself that things are impossible – because I can complete races that once felt impossible.

I collected my medal and walked happily through the finishers area. I had missed Dad at his last on course location, which was just before mile 13, as I was more focused on getting to the finish line. When I started this race, I questioned what kind of day I would have. Heck, I had even considered not doing this race, but boy am I glad that I ran it.

So let this be a reminder to you: You can do impossible things, you just have to give yourself the chance.

2018 Fairy Tale Challenge Training Week 6: Racing and Running and Swim

Total Mileage: 33.4

After an excellent long run with Kasey and Rachel on Sunday, we dedicated Monday to recovery. Rachel and I met up after work to get our legs moving with a few easy miles, and then met up with Emily at yoga. It was a chilly night, so we layered up and headed out. It was different from my usual runs in that we were outside at night, when most of my runs these days happen in the morning. But we both were decked out in reflective gear for safety, and chatted through the two miles that we got done. The yoga class that we headed to after was called "Bend into Bliss," which was a slow flow class with some restorative work. We left the class blissed out, and I was glad that I took time for recovery.

I had been house sitting for my Aunt through the weekend, and Tuesday was the final morning before I got to head home. Since I was too far away to get a morning run in with Kasey, I got a few miles in on their treadmill before taking the pup for a walk and heading to work. Tuesday night I had swim class, and we were going back to the basics with a night largely consisting of drills. It's still early in this session for swim, so we are foundation building to make sure that we are doing the strokes correctly, and this class focused mainly on back stroke, since we usually swim freestyle. 

On Wednesday morning Kasey and I had tentative plans to run outside, but knowing that it was supposed to be near freezing and raining, we set alarms and decided to make a final call in the morning. When our alarms went off at 6 it was raining, so we decided to not run outside andinstead headed to Orange Theory Fitness when I got out of work. It was an endurance day, and while the treadmill block was super manageable, the weight room session involved a TON of squats, and by the end of class our legs were burnt out and we definitely had that post leg-day limp by the end of class.

Thankfully the weather was more on our side Thursday morning, and we were able to get outside to run. Both Kasey and I regretted not just sucking it up and running in the rain, but after having a cold that is lasting for weeks I am trying to play it a little safer. I was able to get in some solid pre-work mileage, running 3 with Kasey and three miles solo before heading home. As is the usual Thursday routine, I headed to swim after work, and again it was a night full of drills, focusing on kicking and backstroke. 

On Friday morning, I woke up exhausted so decided to take a rest day. I'm still recovering from this never ending cold, with my voice being intermittent at best, so I listened to my body. 

Come Saturday I was feeling much better, so I was glad that I took it easy on Friday. I had plans to run a half marathon on Sunday, so Saturday's plan was to take it . Rachel needed to get 10 miles in since she is going to be out of town next weekend and unable to do a higher mileage run then, so I agreed to bike along with her after I had run 6 miles. Once she got to my house we headed out and got two miles done before running by Kasey's house so she could join us. The three of us then ran 4 shared miles, and I was struggling to talk through out the run as my voice is still not at 100%, so I played some music through my phone to break up the silence. Once I hit 6 miles we looped by my house, and I hopped on Dad's bike to chase Kasey and Rachel. A mile later, Kasey decided to join me on bikes, and we both cheered Rach on as she got closer to her goal of 10 miles - soon enough she hit her goal, and I was so proud of her for going strong through all of the mileage. Even though Rachel has finished marathons, this was the furthest that she had ever run continuously, and I am so excited to get to watch her grow as a runner. While on this run we used my house for the two fuel pit stops we made, and Dad was ready to check in and cheer us on as we got the workout done. 

Sunday was my big run-day for the week, as I was registered to run the Fred Lebow Manhattan Half Marathon. How did it go? Check back on Wednesday to read my race recap!

This week I finally felt like I was back on track with my running, after three weeks of missing mileage due to sickness. While my goals for the 10k portion of the fairy tale challenge may wind up being out of reach this go around, I am still going to give it my all, knowing that there will always be another race if I do not succeed this time. 

2018 Fairy Tale Challenge Training Week 5: Getting back on the wagon

Total Mileage: 19.9 

This week started in Disney World, which is a pretty great way to start a week. On Monday, Dennis and I were enjoying the last day of our mini vacation. In the morning we packed up our hotel room at Disney's pop century resort, checked our luggage with guest services, and headed into Magic Kingdom. We has fastpasses made there and the plan was to grab breakfast,  get in a few rides, then head over to Epcot to eat lunch before the dreaded magical express trip to the airport, and our flight back home to NY. 

I had seen people posting delicious looking fruit and nutella covered waffles on instagram that they got in Magic Kingdom, and that was the breakfast I was after! On the way into the park we stopped to watch the new muppet show in Liberty Square, and it was so cute! After we used a fastpass to ride haunted mansion, we got inline and my breakfast was secured. Let me tell you, this waffle was worth the wait. If you follow me on instagram, it is no secret that I am a big waffle fan, as Dad often makes them for me after my runs. This waffle was the perfect consistency, and the nutella was warm and gooey. The fruit on top included bananas, strawberries, and blue berries, all dusted with powdered sugar. Once my belly was happy we headed to tomorrowland, to get in rides on Space Mountain and the Tomorrowland speedway, since it is going to be closing to make way for a new ride. While waiting for our turn to drive I managed to make a new fastpass for test track in Epcot - score! Having only two people in our party made it much easier to make last minute fastpasses, and worked to our advantage a few more times that day.

After we had finished using our Fastpasses we started making our way over to Epcot. We hopped on a monorail which took us to the ticket and transportation center, and then moved over to the Epcot monorail track. The Monorail started moving, but they had to turn us around and send us back to the transportation center, as the station at Epcot was malfunctioning and would not be able to accept us. Instead, we had to get onto a bus that then took us to Epcot.

On the bus we decided to try the new "mobile ordering" feature that the "My Disney Experience" app now offers, and set up some burgers for pickup at Electric Umbrella. I know, I know - Who eats at electric umbrella when there is a whole world showcase!? Us apparently, because we were both craving burgers and did not have time to do a sit down restaurant. After eating our okay burgers, we headed over to test track and designed the most ridiculous car we could before getting on the ride. 

Then it was time for a walk around world showcase, and stops in the America Pavilion for a Red Stag Lemonade for me and in the France Pavilion for ice cream for Dennis. Then we headed onto The Land, which is Dennis' favorite ride at Disney. I managed to score fast passes first for Soarin, and then for space ship earth, so we rode one and then the other as we made our way out of Epcot, and over to the bus stop back to the hotel, to begin our long journey home. After a few flight delays, we eventually got back home to with winter chill of NY, and after de-icing the car at the airport got home around 2 am.... lets just say the next day at work was a little rough.

So, I took it easy Tuesday, went to bed early, and started easing back into training Wednesday. The doctor had said to take 5 days off to let all of my meds kick in, and Wednesday was my go day. As a new rule, Kasey and I agreed that for the rest of winter if the temperature is less than 20 degrees, we would take our run inside and onto treadmills, albeit a little begrudgingly. There was also still snow on the ground, so that was the nail in the coffin of running outside.

So, we started our morning a little earlier than usual, and I picked Kasey up at 5:50 to head to the gym. I hopped on a treadmill and got my music going. My breathing was better than it had been the week before, but I had to pause a few time for cough breaks. I kept the pace easy, and got in 4.5 miles. Thankfully later in the day it warmed up enough that the snow melted off most of the sidewalks, and we were able to head back outside on Thursday.

It was dark as usual when we started out Thursday morning. There was still a chill in the air, so I made sure to bundle up and cover my face with a buff to warm the air up a little while breathing. It was a pretty run, with the snow still hanging out in trees and on the grass. We got five good miles in, and then I headed inside to warm up. I was finally starting to feel better, but was definitely in my own head a bit, feeling like I lost a lot of fitness over the last two weeks of being sick. I was grateful that I could get out there and get moving again, but a little bummed out that I am not where I used to be.

Thursday night I got myself to swim class. It was a lot of drilling, so not the most challenging of classes - which I was glad for, as once again there were a few cough breaks. I made sure to use the nebulizer right before the class, and it felt like it helped! The laps were challenging, but we didn't spend the whole class just doing laps as we sometimes do, so it was manageable.

Friday I opted to take it a little easier, in the interest of not rushing back into things too quickly. I did a quick nike training club video in the morning, and the only thing I got up to after work was a craft night with some of the ladies from the tri team, which was a ton of fun! I love running with everyone, but sometimes it's great to just hang out and socialize.

Saturday morning I headed to an early spin class. With all of the swimming I have been doing the last few months, it felt like it was time to start adding some form of biking to my routine, and spin is the easiest approach to that. While I know it's not the same as being on a real bike, I feel like it's a step in the right direction. It was a good, sweaty class, done under hanging slinkys in a black light lit room. After spin I had a few hours of downtime before I was meeting Kasey and Rachel at Orange theory, so I headed home and had breakfast with Dad, who had agreed to make us some Egg Sandwiches with bacon. Orange theory was a good class, with some long rowing blocks, and a really solid upper body workout. 

The plan for Sunday was to get a long run in. I didn't want to push things to hard, so Kasey, Rachel, and I agreed to run 8 miles together. None of us had any real plans for Sunday, so we slept in a little and met up at 10:30 to get moving. We layered up for the weather, and headed out into the neighborhood. Since I was still a little under the weather, I wanted to stay close to home so that we could stop if necessary. Rachel met me at my house, and from there we ran to Kasey's. It was a quieter run than usual as I don't quite have my voice back, so chatting was difficult. I had my SPI belt on to hold my phone, so I played the soundtrack from "The Greatest Showman" while we were running, since Rachel and I have both been obsessed with it since we saw the movie a few weeks ago. The miles slipped away, and Rachel did great - she hadn't run this far since we did the Brooklyn Half back in May, so its been a hot second. Once Rachel and I hit 8 miles, we swung by my house and Rach headed home. Kasey had a half mile to go, so I decided to run her home and hit a total of 9 miles at the end of the run. Kasey and I picked up the pace for that last mile, and it felt great to get moving. I was more sore than I expected to be the next day, but it had been a while since I really pushed it. 

I was glad that Rachel was able to join us for our weekly long run, since she is going to be doing the fairy tale challenge with me next month! When RunDisney released the medals she loved the challenge medal, and we got lucky and were able to find a travel agent that still had race bibs available. Our plan for now is to each race the 10k alone, but then enjoy the half marathon together, and really take in the whole RunDisney experience - and even cross the finish line with a drink in hand if we can find one before the finish line!

Hopefully I will continue to recover from my cold, and be on the mend in the coming week. My plan for next week is to try to play catch up just a little bit, and make my way back to my usual mileage. How is your training going? Let me know in the comments below!