Venture outside your comfort zone: the rewards are worth it! KSellers88’s Journal (Comments Welcome)

I forget how spoiled I am living in the middle of DC - I can't imagine driving further to a race than it takes to run.
 
I forgot you live out in the sticks. Yes having to drive to get to a 5k and run it for fun is not really fun. I never ran 5ks when i was out in the sticks, now at least i can pick 5ks that literally start less than .5 mile from my condo. Those are the best. I warm up jog there and don't have to get up early. i am not sure on the 10 miler how fast it fills up. i have not signed up yet either. i am still toying with doing the triple peach, the PRR, the 10 miler and then the half on thanksgiving. I am leaning towards doing it. i really need a half marathon to do and for a change i will be in town for thanksgiving.

Hopefully not for too much longer though! We will be moving about 25 minutes closer to town and then only be around a 15-20 minute drive to races. I would definitely do Triple Peach if it were not for the Thanksgiving Half, my grandmother would not be happy with me for being late to the festivities. I will sign up for the 10 miler in the next month or so most likely!

Living in the sticks blows. Most "local" race require at least a 30 minute drive.

Right now I am a good 35-45 minutes away, but I am hoping to change that soon!

I forget how spoiled I am living in the middle of DC - I can't imagine driving further to a race than it takes to run.

LOL, it just doesn't feel right or like a good use of gas!
 
April Update

April was a whirlwind month of listing our house, going on a cruise, and traveling for work. It was also the first month in 17 months where I have not had a race on the calendar. I was supposed to have two 5Ks on the schedule, but y'all know how that turned out. LOL. I did manage to keep my streak of 100+ mileage months and make it to 30 months! Barkley also had a good month, even with 12 days of boarding and no walks!


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Below are some pictures from our cruise. I managed to stick to my plan while on the trip due to the running track on the ship. I hate the treadmill so I did a total of 128 laps around the ship to get these 32 miles in! This was our tenth cruise and we went to Key West (second time), Cozumel (fifth time), Costa Maya (first time) and Belize (first time).

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I'll be back tomorrow or Wednesday with a training plan update, depending on work!
 
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Cruise looks like fun, I really need to do one of those some day. Your dog looks awesome, my wife only lets us get ankle biters, Yorkies and Shih-Tzus don't make the best running partners. And congrats on 30 months of 100+ miles, that's incredible!
 
What a great month for both you and Barkley! I am so impressed by your consistent 100 miles+ months! And also, I could sure go for a cruise right now.... ;)

PS How is it already May?

Thank you! I could go for another one too, this real world stuff is no fun. LOL

Cruise looks like fun, I really need to do one of those some day. Your dog looks awesome, my wife only lets us get ankle biters, Yorkies and Shih-Tzus don't make the best running partners. And congrats on 30 months of 100+ miles, that's incredible!

They are so much fun, y'all should definitely do one! We have two ankle biters (Pomeranians) too, but they do not run. Thanks so much!

I love cruising!!! Were those ruins in Costa Maya?

They were in Belize, the Lamanai ruins. We took a speedboat to get to them. One of the best excursions we have been on!
 


Let's try this again...

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1.5 weeks into my new-old training plan and NO MISSED RUNS! I did have to shift some runs around due to our open house and some weren't quite as long as they were supposed to be, but at least a portion of every run got done. LOL.

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So what happened??

4/29- 4 miles @ 9:50 pace

4/30- 6 miles @ 9:03 pace

5/1- Rest Day!

5/2- Blind progression run, my new favorite! 10 minute warm up (supposed to be 20 but that didn't work out with my schedule) + 15 minutes steady (1.7 miles @ 8:42 pace) + 10 minutes faster (1.2 miles @ 8:11 pace) + 5 minutes fastest (.65 miles @ 7:46 pace) + 5 minute cool down

5/3- Rest Day!

5/4- I had to move my long run to Saturday since our Open House was Sunday and it got cut short by two miles, but I am happy with the results. Plan was 7 miles @ 8:58 pace and 2 miles @ 7:54 pace.

Results were 6 miles @ 8:53, 8:58, 8:58, 8:57, 8:57, 8:59 and 1 mile @ 7:43

5/5- 6 miles with Barkley while our open house occurred. I didn't use my watch to track this because I wasn't in a hurry and he tends to get distracted, but it took a little over an hour and fifteen minutes.
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5/6- 4 miles @ 9:46 pace

5/7- Plan was 1 mile warm up + 4 sets of (.5 miles at 7:41 + 2:00 @ 6:54 + .5 miles @ 7:41 w/3:00 recovery) + 1 mile cool down

I had to cut the 4 sets to 3 due to time constraints, but the results were:

  • .5 miles @ 7:43 + 2:00 @ 7:10 + .5 miles @ 7:46
  • .5 miles @ 7:50 + 2:00 @ 7:37 + .5 miles @ 7:45
  • .5 miles @ 7:55 + 2:00 @ 7:48 + .5 miles @ 7:56
I was struggling with those 2:00 intervals and none of them came close to the expected time. The T&D was well into the 150s though so I am happy overall with the results.

5/8- Rest Day!

Upcoming Training Schedule:
Th: 6 miles @ EB (9:13) and Strides
F: Rest day!
Sa: 6 miles @ EB (9:13) and Strides
Su: 2 mile WU + 5x1 mile @ T (7:41) w/1:00 recovery + 4x3:00 @ I (6:54) w/3:00 recovery + 1 mile CD
M: 4 miles @ EA (9:53)
Tu: 2 mile WU + 3x3:00 @ I w/2:00 recovery + 1 mile CD

In other news, we finalized our Wine and Dine plans this week. My mom and I will be at Pop from 10/31 through 11/8 and plan to go to the Halloween party on Halloween. She recently retired so the length of the trip is really dependent on me and my work schedule now. I am running the 10k and Half and I think I am the odd one out because I am pretty happy with the themes.
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Thanks for letting me know where those ruins are. We are taking the kids on a cruise at the end of the month and are seeing the ruins in costa maya. Chacchoben I think is the name?

It seems like we just got rid of the heat and humidity! I’m whimping out this year with a treadmill. I love the Americana Mickey theme for the half. I can’t wait to see the medals! Good luck with the sale of your home!
 
Great job mostly sticking to the plan despite the open house stuff!

Also ... I'm with you on the themes. I mean, I don't totally get the connection to food/wine, but I think they're good themes and I like them a lot even without a super strong food connection. I'm super excited to see what those medals look like.
 
Your pacing is really good! And 150+ is tough for any speed workout in the spring, as I am finding out.

Thanks! It is tough, but seems to help once fall gets here so I try to remind myself of that. LOL

Thanks for letting me know where those ruins are. We are taking the kids on a cruise at the end of the month and are seeing the ruins in costa maya. Chacchoben I think is the name?

It seems like we just got rid of the heat and humidity! I’m whimping out this year with a treadmill. I love the Americana Mickey theme for the half. I can’t wait to see the medals! Good luck with the sale of your home!

We almost went to those and I kind of wished we had now, we went to the beach in Costa Maya and I was not impressed...seaweed was everywhere!

I'd prefer hot to cold, but it is just so unbearable at times. I cant wait either, super excited!! Thank you so much, hoping it will sell fast!

Great job mostly sticking to the plan despite the open house stuff!

Also ... I'm with you on the themes. I mean, I don't totally get the connection to food/wine, but I think they're good themes and I like them a lot even without a super strong food connection. I'm super excited to see what those medals look like.

Thanks!

I don't get the connection either, but of all the options I am overall happy with them. I don't have a medal with any of those characters on it except Mickey, so I cannot wait to see what they look like either!
 
A week of eventful exercise...

This week was absolute madness and I had some of the most unlikely things happen to me (which is basically the story of my life). It started on Saturday when my husband and I went for a 15 mile bike ride. We park in the parking deck at his work every time we ride and go to Fort Benning and back along the Chattahoochee River. As we were leaving the parking deck, my husband went first and rode his bike around the gate arm located at the entrance/exit of the parking deck. When he rode over the sensor, the gate arm went up so I thought "I'll just ride through where the cars go instead of going around the gate."

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As I am approaching the gate I see it start to close, but there is no way for me to turn and get out of the way. So of course, it slams down right on my head. Thank goodness I had a helmet on or I probably would've had a concussion. My husband didn't even see it happen since he was in front of me, so all he heard was me yelling, the loud noise and my laughter that followed. I'm sure whatever security guard was watching the cameras got a good laugh as well. After straightening my helmet, we continued on our ride with no other issues.

Then I had an eventful walk with Barkley on Sunday night. First we saw a snake that we had to avoid, then two of our neighbors' dogs had escaped (a Husky and Rottweiler, both males) and I didn't have my pepper spray with me. As I was standing on the side of the road with a stick trying to get them to go away, another nice neighbor drove by and let us get in the back of their Mercedes and take us home. So thankful they drove by and no fights took place.
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Luckily none of my runs have had any types of issues, other than having to be cut short due to Mother's Day activities.

Training recap:
5/9: 4 miles @ 8:37 pace on the treadmill thanks to thunder and lightning.

5/10: Rest day!

5/11: 4 miles @ 8:33 pace on the treadmill. This was supposed to be 6 miles, but I have such a hard time on the treadmill. We also biked 15 miles that day at an average speed of 14.1 MPH so I think that made up for those two miles.

5/12: 4 miles @ 8:32 pace on the treadmill. This was supposed to be a 10 mile workout, but it didn't happen due to Mother's Day plans. It was storming that morning which prevented me to get it done before lunch, and then my mom wanted to go see Dumbo that afternoon so my time was limited. That movie was SO good though, of course I cried!

5/13: 4 miles @ 9:53 pace. My EA pace is exactly 9:53 so I thought this was pretty cool.

5/14: Workout was 2 mile warm up + 3x3:00 @ I (6:54) w/2:00 intervals + 1 mile cool down. Actual run was: 1.5 mile warm up + 4x3:00 @ I w/2:00 intervals (because I cannot count) + 1 mile cool down. Splits were:
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5/15: Rest day!

Upcoming training schedule:
Th: Blind progression! 20 minute WU + 15 minutes steady + 10 minutes faster + 5 minutes fastest + 20 minute CD

F: Rest day!

Sa: 6 miles @ EB & Strides (9:13)

Su: I am going to shift last week's workout to this week since my plan called for a HM I did the first time I used this plan. So 2 mile WU + 5x1 mile @ T (7:41) w/1:00 RI + 4x3:00 @ I (6:54) w/2:00 recovery + 1 mile CD

M: 3 miles @ EA (9:53)

Tu: 1 mile WU + 5 sets of (.5 mile T + 2:00 I + .5 mile T + 2:00 I w/4:00 recovery) + 1 mile CD

W: Rest day!

Also got some happy mail this week from WDW and this adorable hat featuring two of my favorite things: pizza and Disney! I hope you're all having a great week, and major kudos to you if you've read this novel this far. LOL.
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What a week!

For those O/U coming up, I did my first one this week. I'd say the pace should be more-so between CV and I. So for you, somewhere in the 6:59-7:32 range. And probably closer to 7:15-7:25 as a tighter window. I think the I pace might be too aggressive. Just something to keep in mind in the moment. Do what feels "hard" in the moment as you try to increase the pace mid-T interval.
 
What a week!

For those O/U coming up, I did my first one this week. I'd say the pace should be more-so between CV and I. So for you, somewhere in the 6:59-7:32 range. And probably closer to 7:15-7:25 as a tighter window. I think the I pace might be too aggressive. Just something to keep in mind in the moment. Do what feels "hard" in the moment as you try to increase the pace mid-T interval.

Got it! I failed at those the last time I did this workout, so maybe that is why. It is also starting to heat up here (90s starting tomorrow through the next 10 days) so I'll be adjusting more for T&D soon too. Thank you!!
 
Crazy week, eh?!! You do know we’re in month 5....right! :DLol

I’m glad you escaped snakes, dogs and concussions!! Lol!

Yay to upcoming Disney vacays and Mickey pizza hats!!!
 
Crazy week, eh?!! You do know we’re in month 5....right! :DLol

I’m glad you escaped snakes, dogs and concussions!! Lol!

Yay to upcoming Disney vacays and Mickey pizza hats!!!

LOL! It is nothing if not an adventure.

I'm so excited to get back to Disney, it's been too long!
 
Crazy week, eh?!! You do know we’re in month 5....right! :DLol

I’m glad you escaped snakes, dogs and concussions!! Lol!

Yay to upcoming Disney vacays and Mickey pizza hats!!!

OMGGGGGG I cannot stop laughing. I just realized why you made the month 5 comment! I was typing my new update and typed 3/17 and thought "It's not March, it's May!" :rotfl2::rotfl: I clearly need some time off of work, because I am losing my mind.
 

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