Hanging up my running shoes

[KSellers88]

Sooo all this celebrity marathon talk had me intrigued...Katie Holmes and Pamela Anderson both ran around a 5:30, Andrea Barber (Full House) ran a 4:58, Oprah ran a 4:30, Kevin Hart ran a 4:05, Sarah Palin ran a 3:59, Will Ferrell ran a 3:56, Ryan Reynolds ran a 3:50, and George W. Bush ran a 3:44. I have no idea why this is so fascinating to me, celebrities are just regular people too, right? LOL.

 

[ZellyB]

Sooo all this celebrity marathon talk had me intrigued...Katie Holmes and Pamela Anderson both ran around a 5:30, Andrea Barber (Full House) ran a 4:58, Oprah ran a 4:30, Kevin Hart ran a 4:05, Sarah Palin ran a 3:59, Will Ferrell ran a 3:56, Ryan Reynolds ran a 3:50, and George W. Bush ran a 3:44. I have no idea why this is so fascinating to me, celebrities are just regular people too, right? LOL.

I also had looked some of these up. I'm not sure why I was fascinated by it, but I was certainly curious enough to look it up. LOL

 

[SarahDisney]

Sooo all this celebrity marathon talk had me intrigued...Katie Holmes and Pamela Anderson both ran around a 5:30, Andrea Barber (Full House) ran a 4:58, Oprah ran a 4:30, Kevin Hart ran a 4:05, Sarah Palin ran a 3:59, Will Ferrell ran a 3:56, Ryan Reynolds ran a 3:50, and George W. Bush ran a 3:44. I have no idea why this is so fascinating to me, celebrities are just regular people too, right? LOL.

For the record ... Andrea Barber used to run the Tinker Bell half every year. I think the marathon she did was non-Disney, but ... she's a runDisney-er. Gibbler is one of us!

 

[ZellyB]

TRAINING UPDATE​

8/6 - 8/12
SOLID WEEK

​

We are really in the meat of the training schedule now and I'm still feeling like things are going well. Obviously the 2 weeks with vacation and illness caused us some missed runs, but we seem to have been able to jump back into the schedule without too much difficulty.

Monday 8/6 - I shared last week that this was scheduled for a 4 mile at easy continuous pace, but my groin was being a bit cranky, so we just did 3 and walked some of it. We also decided to push Tuesday's run off to Wednesday to give my leg time to recover.
Tuesday 8/7 - Rest
Wednesday 8/8 - 4.5 miles at Easy/LR pace. My legs felt fine here. I think the groin was just some fatigue from the long run on Sunday, so the rest was a good choice and I was back to feeling normal running again. Overall pace 12:13
Thursday 8/9 - 6 miles. 1 Warm up + 4 at Marathon Tempo + 1 CD. This run felt good. So good, in fact, that I still had a good endorphin high going later when I posted my BHAG.

But, really, it felt solid and pretty comfortable. I'm still trying to really get a good feel for what that pace feels like because we often end up going too fast during the tempo portions, but we were much more consistent this time and I feel like I'm getting the right pace going.
Friday 8/10 - Rest
Saturday 8/11 - Galloway group run. This was supposed to be 6 miles per my DB plan, but the group was running 8, so Billy said we could do the 8 on Saturday and just do 4 on Sunday rather than the 6 + 6 on the plan. Good run here although it was pretty warm and humid, but actually not horrible for August. So ended up with 8 miles at 12:35 pace.
Sunday 8/12 - 4 miles at Easy/LR. So, let's call this a blind run shall we? Chris and I both had watches on, but we were talking about a bunch of things that had us really engrossed and I honestly never looked at my watch until the very end of the run. So, we ended up a bit fast. 11:47 average pace. Oops. But, it honestly was still a very easy run, so hopefully that was okay.

So, there you have it. A good week and with a little less than 2 months to go until Chicago, so far so good! I'm a happy runner right now.

Question for you Coach, @DopeyBadger , school is starting back this week for us already so Tuesday (tomorrow) is an early day for Chris. We are schedule for a pretty long Daniels T run and it will be tough for us to get that in before Chris has to be at school and we really don't want to get up even earlier that day because it will be a long, tough one for Chris. Any problem if we just move it to Wednesday morning instead?

 

[LSUlakes]

BHAG

OK, not that kind of HAG, but a A Big Hairy Audacious Goal !!
​

So, recently there's been a lot of talk on the marathon thread about Proof of Time and Corral placement for the Disney marathon. Last year and this year, we've used my HM PR from a race we ran back in October of 2017. I had thought that time was 2:12:07, but when I looked recently the official result now says 2:11:54. I don't know why it changed, but, HEY!, sub 2:12 now. LOL That time scored us a spot in the D corral for Dopey in January and from this nifty chart that @DopeyBadger created from various data points,

looks like we are firmly in D again. That was a great placement for us and I'm happy to get that again.

Our goal for Chicago is a sub-5:00 marathon. So, 4:59:59 and I'm a happy running girl. I think that Billy however believes that our HM PR would indicate we can do better than that. I'm not at all convinced of that. BUT, I know Billy also says that writing out your goals makes you something like 76.24% more likely to achieve it or something like that. I've also heard the philosophy of setting a Big Hairy Audacious Goal to really push yourself to achieve it and just maybe you can.

So, here's my BHAG. Score a C corral placement for the Disney Marathon in 2019. The Chicago Marathon is October 7. The cutoff for PoT submission for the Disney marathon is October 9. So, let's really push it and try for a 4:30 marathon time. Per Billy's chart, that gives us a decent shot at a C corral placement. That's an average pace of 10:17. Our marathon tempo pace is 10:30 or a marathon time of 4:35. So, kinda close right? The thing is, I don't really struggle that much to hit that pace. In fact, most of the time we are running a bit faster than that on our tempo runs. BUT...it's for just a few miles at a time and I worry a lot about being able to sustain that for 26.2. A weakness of mine is that endurance piece and can do I honestly believe that I can do it for that long. Look, I know it's a big stretch goal, but I feel like I need to get some kind of major carrot out there for myself to get a fire in my belly for Chicago. And, just maybe with all the right conditions, I could surprise myself and pull it off. I'm stoked about it, but worry that I won't have the DRIVE to really push myself on the race, so nothing like a Disney carrot to get me motivated...

My only caveat to myself is that I not allow myself to be disappointed if I manage my sub-5:00 but miss a 4:30 (huge time difference there first of all) because that has always been my ultimate goal and goal-creep can steel away the accomplishment I'm primarily after.

So, there you go dear readers, am I crazy?

Without a doubt. But, hey, why not go crazy sometimes right?

I say go for it!

I used a data screen on my Garmin called ‘Race Screen’ and I manually lapped the watch at every mile marker. It would give me updated predicted finish times as I went, and it was pretty fun watching the prediction keep getting better and better as the race went.

I need to play with this feature one day. @MissLiss279 do you have to turn off the lap feature to use it or does it automatically do so when using this setting? I've seen it on my watch before but have been hesitant to try it out.

 

[ZellyB]

I say go for it!



I need to play with this feature one day. @MissLiss279 do you have to turn off the lap feature to use it or does it automatically do so when using this setting? I've seen it on my watch before but have been hesitant to try it out.

I'm curious as well. I don't have this feature on my watch, but Chris does so we discussed maybe using it for Chicago.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Question for you Coach, @DopeyBadger , school is starting back this week for us already so Tuesday (tomorrow) is an early day for Chris. We are schedule for a pretty long Daniels T run and it will be tough for us to get that in before Chris has to be at school and we really don't want to get up even earlier that day because it will be a long, tough one for Chris. Any problem if we just move it to Wednesday morning instead?

Yes, moving it to Wednesday should work. I'd drop Thursday down to 4 miles, instead of 4.5 as well.

 

[MissLiss279]

I say go for it!



I need to play with this feature one day. @MissLiss279 do you have to turn off the lap feature to use it or does it automatically do so when using this setting? I've seen it on my watch before but have been hesitant to try it out.

I did turn off the auto lap, but you wouldn’t have to. When you press the lap button you can set it to reset the mileage shown on that screen to the closest mile.

If you didn’t turn off auto lap, but then went ahead and pressed the lap button at the actual mile marker, it would still round off to the nearest mile. But then when you go into Garmin Connect after the race, you would have a lot of extra laps, and not really know what your average for a mile was... Garmin will still keep track of your total mileage even though Race Screen will ‘round the distance’ at each lap press. If you just used auto lap, and never ‘reset’ it at any of the mile markers, it wouldn’t give you a good ‘estimated finish time’, because the likelihood of ruining the exact mileage is pretty slim. That’s confusing... sorry.

TLDR: I like to only have one lap for each mile in Garmin Connect, which is why I turned auto lap off.

For Chicago, I would definitely recommend turning auto lap off, otherwise you will not have any idea of your pace or time per mile for several sections of the race. I think it had me going a mile in about 4 minutes during part of it. At least if you are manually pressing the lap button at each mile marker, you will know how long it took you to do that mile.

I’m also not sure how not having a good GPS signal would affect the Race Screen data field - if Garmin says you have gone almost ‘2 miles’ but you’ve really only gone 1 mile, when you press the lap button for that mile would it round to that second mile?? (I kind of think it would, because if you forgot to lap it for one mile, I think that’s how it has worked...)

I’m thinking that Race Screen may not be very good for estimated finish times for races that have bad GPS blocking areas, unless you are using a footpod or something to help with the actual distance when you can’t get a signal.

You guys could try it on a regular run. You would first need to go into the settings for Race Screen, and set up the distance you are running and anything else you want. Turn off auto lap, and try and watch for when you get near one mile, then press the lap button. See what it does, and what it shows you.

Here’s how my settings look for a marathon distance:

 

[ZellyB]

I did turn off the auto lap, but you wouldn’t have to. When you press the lap button you can set it to reset the mileage shown on that screen to the closest mile.

If you didn’t turn off auto lap, but then went ahead and pressed the lap button at the actual mile marker, it would still round off to the nearest mile. But then when you go into Garmin Connect after the race, you would have a lot of extra laps, and not really know what your average for a mile was... Garmin will still keep track of your total mileage even though Race Screen will ‘round the distance’ at each lap press. If you just used auto lap, and never ‘reset’ it at any of the mile markers, it wouldn’t give you a good ‘estimated finish time’, because the likelihood of ruining the exact mileage is pretty slim. That’s confusing... sorry.

TLDR: I like to only have one lap for each mile in Garmin Connect, which is why I turned auto lap off.

For Chicago, I would definitely recommend turning auto lap off, otherwise you will not have any idea of your pace or time per mile for several sections of the race. I think it had me going a mile in about 4 minutes during part of it. At least if you are manually pressing the lap button at each mile marker, you will know how long it took you to do that mile.

I’m also not sure how not having a good GPS signal would affect the Race Screen data field - if Garmin says you have gone almost ‘2 miles’ but you’ve really only gone 1 mile, when you press the lap button for that mile would it round to that second mile?? (I kind of think it would, because if you forgot to lap it for one mile, I think that’s how it has worked...)

I’m thinking that Race Screen may not be very good for estimated finish times for races that have bad GPS blocking areas, unless you are using a footpod or something to help with the actual distance when you can’t get a signal.

You guys could try it on a regular run. You would first need to go into the settings for Race Screen, and set up the distance you are running and anything else you want. Turn off auto lap, and try and watch for when you get near one mile, then press the lap button. See what it does, and what it shows you.

Here’s how my settings look for a marathon distance:
View attachment 343442

This is great information. Thank you!

 

[SarahDisney]

I've noticed that it takes me a while to settle into my tempo paces. But it sounds like you're getting there with the marathon tempo, which means you're in a good place for success in Chicago.

Congrats on a solid training week!

(Also ... I'm always amazed at how early people go back to school. We don't start until after labor day around here. School in August sounds like a nightmare.)

 

[ZellyB]

I've noticed that it takes me a while to settle into my tempo paces. But it sounds like you're getting there with the marathon tempo, which means you're in a good place for success in Chicago.

Congrats on a solid training week!

(Also ... I'm always amazed at how early people go back to school. We don't start until after labor day around here. School in August sounds like a nightmare.)

Yeah, it's a little weird here in the midwest. I remember when I was a kid growing up here we didn't start until after Labor Day, but then it just crept up from there. I've heard before that it's because we have a lot of rural schools around and that this schedule works better for kids who live on farms and need to work there during the summer because an early start means they are also out by mid-May. I don't know if that's actually true or not though.

 

[SarahDisney]

Yeah, in NYC the only farms are the urban farm collectives run by hipsters in Williamsburg in their backyards .

 

[Bree]

Woot woot! Another good week for the both of you! I can't believe Chicago is coming up so soon!

 

[ZellyB]

Woot woot! Another good week for the both of you! I can't believe Chicago is coming up so soon!

I know! I'm actually starting to get a little freaked out by how close it is!

 

[ZellyB]

ACCOUNTABILITY POST

​

I've got to get back to the straight and narrow with my eating. A year or so ago, I went to a low-carb/ketogenic diet and managed to lose almost 20 lbs. It did great things for my running! I managed to keep that weight off for many months even as I gradually got less strict about my carbs (even though I still tried to be careful). But, the last few months, I've been getting more and more relaxed about watching what I eat and as a result, my weight has been creeping back up. I really need to lose 5 lbs to get back where I was and ultimately would like to be down more like 8-10 lbs. So, that means time to get serious!! So, starting yesterday I went back to using My Fitness Pal to track my carbs. I'm also going to track my water intake as I've gotten bad about drinking enough water as well, so expect some boring entries here as I try to get more disciplined. Feel free to ignore this.

My general goal is to stay below 50g of carbs a day. Below 30 is really ideal, but also very tough to manage, so I'm just going to stick with 50 and if I do better than that - awesome! So, each day I'll post the following:


Weight - +/- from starting weight
Pounds to go - How many pounds left to lose to hit my goal weight
Carbs - As mentioned, I'm shooting for this to be below 50.
Calories - Although I'm not counting calories as a weight loss strategy, My Fitness Pal uses that to calculate what I can eat daily to lose weight, so it's an added helpful measure. They tell me 1300 calories to hit my goal. Eating low carb it's usually shockingly easy to hit my calorie goal. Carbs have tons of calories y'all! (My Fitness Pal gets cranky with you if you are below 1000 calories here)
Exercise calorie debit - My Fitness Pal also gives me a credit on exercise calorie burn, so I'll include that as well
Net daily calories - Food calories minus exercise calories
Water - Oz of water consumed - Shooting for 48

I may throw in the occasional food/drink item as well just to keep myself (and possibly you) entertained.

So, with that said, let's talk about yesterday:

Weight - 0
Pounds to go - 8.6
Carbs - 40
Calories -1094
Exercise calorie debit - 265
Net daily calories - 829
Water - 28

Off to a good start, for all but water consumption. *sigh* I keep a 32 oz mug of water by my desk, but I just don't consistently sip on it during the day. I indulge in a Coke Zero for lunch and then usually have water at home with dinner. So, I have to make a concerted effort to drink my 32 here at work. I do drink this often and it helps.

No calories and no carbs and it is easier to drink more of it, so I just have to buckle down and be sure I get my 32 oz in every day at work. Weekends tend to be harder for me as well, so need to work on being better there as well.

Like I said...not exciting stuff, but writing it all out here will help me stay on track I hope. I'd love to have at least 5 lbs gone by Chicago if not all 8, so wish me strength and luck!!

Good-bye Reese's Pieces. We had a good run.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

I'm on the low carb train with you! Keto is too much for me (I can't commit to staying in ketosis), but I have had some great success eating lower carb since July (-10 lbs!). I am not really that concerned about weight, but am more focused on eating a lot less processed stuff. And then we usually eat a meal or 2 out on the weekends and I eat whatever I want. #Tacos #Pizza

Please share alllll of your meal/snack ideas!

 

[jennamfeo]

And then we usually eat a meal or 2 out on the weekends and I eat whatever I want. #Tacos #Pizza

A girl after my own heart....

I feel like I have been slacking on people's journals and yours is always so fun because you are the #GifQueen! Sounds like training is going well! Chicago is so close and I can't wait to root for you all! (I actually tried to plan a trip to just spectate but it was wayyy more expensive than I thought it would be, womp womp.) And good luck on your low carb journey! I have nothing to add or help with that because I can't not carb. Haha.

 

[TheHamm]

I feel like I have been slacking on people's journals and yours is always so fun because you are the #GifQueen!

I agree this is part of the fun of reading, but I did end up with coffee out the nose with the Leslie Knope gif this morning, making it more difficult to read at work than posts with graphs that look like work.

 

[ZellyB]

I'm on the low carb train with you! Keto is too much for me (I can't commit to staying in ketosis), but I have had some great success eating lower carb since July (-10 lbs!). I am not really that concerned about weight, but am more focused on eating a lot less processed stuff. And then we usually eat a meal or 2 out on the weekends and I eat whatever I want. #Tacos #Pizza

Please share alllll of your meal/snack ideas!

I was much more inventive when I first started the diet with finding fun/exciting things to eat...then I got lazy and decided a chicken breast and green beans every day was fine. But that's also when I crack and start wanting to eat all.the.bread.

I shall try to be more committed to some more enticing foods!

A girl after my own heart....

I feel like I have been slacking on people's journals and yours is always so fun because you are the #GifQueen! Sounds like training is going well! Chicago is so close and I can't wait to root for you all! (I actually tried to plan a trip to just spectate but it was wayyy more expensive than I thought it would be, womp womp.) And good luck on your low carb journey! I have nothing to add or help with that because I can't not carb. Haha.

Gifs are the best, am I right?

I am thinking that I'll give myself one day per week to exceed my carb count to try and avoid the eating of all.the.bread breakdown as mentioned above.

I agree this is part of the fun of reading, but I did end up with coffee out the nose with the Leslie Knope gif this morning, making it more difficult to read at work than posts with graphs that look like work.

Maybe I should put all my gifs behind spoiler text to help disguise work-day journal reading. Like so...

Spoiler: No, really, I'm working!

 

[SarahDisney]

Good luck with the low carb - I hope it works out well for you again! I keep trying to post accountability stuff on my journal and then I don't, so I'm interested to see how staying accountable here helps you (and maybe that will motivate me to stop eating the chocolate and start being accountable ).

Also ... drink more water!