Disney Princess Half Marathon Training- Week 4- 19 Days!

 Jan 30-Feb 05

 HELLO!
 Finally got some time to sit down and write this . It's been a very busy week!

I already recapped my 8 mile run on Tuesday January 31st, so I will start on Wed, Feb 1st

Feb 1st, Josh and I went to Honeymoon Island and Caladesi Island. It was a beautiful day. We did do a nature trail and walked a lot on the beach, even though I wasn't running I was moving the majority of the day.

Feb 2nd, We spent the ENTIRE day at Busch Gardens. I wore my body bug  ( I was interested if it would show my heart rate spike on the roller coasters). It said I took 15, 607 steps. Still not running but lots of walking. Good for working the legs for a long period of time

Feb 3rd, we went back to Busch Gardens (we have a season pass) and walked even more. We spent the majority of the time at the zoo part instead of riding rides. We ended up taking something around 18,000 steps. It was a long day but we had fun, one of the best parks I've ever been too.

Feb 4th I knew I needed to run so I did some interval training by sprinting every 30 seconds and resting every other 30 seconds. I started by wanting to walk the 30 seconds I was resting but the buttons on the treadmill are really old. It's weird everytime you turn the thing off it starts all over. You hold the buttons in and it goes from 0.5-2.5 then stops..then you have let go and hold it again and it goes from 2.6-3.5 it's very annoying, SO  I figured I would do it Biggest Loser style (OK OK I AM OBSESSED). I kept started out at a 6.3. The machine was already at an incline of a 2.0 so I was like..ok and put it down to a 1.5 (there is a ramp on the interstate we have to climb during the race, so I figured I might as well get ready for that. Everywhere to train around here is FLAT. MUCH DIFFERENT than the hills of Hilo ). SO I did 6.3 3 times then knocked it up to 6.6. 7.0. 7.3, 7.6, 8.0. Once I got to 8.0 I was stretching it. It was a little fast for me but.. I knew I needed to stretch my strides, my lungs, and my legs, SO i punched it up to 8.3 and eventually 8.6. At 8.6 I was sprinting to stay on the belt. I knew that was MAX, so I stayed there for 3, 30 second intervals. I did the same thing going down. Once I got back to 7.3 I was like OMG this is SO SLOW.. LOL So I cranked the incline and tried to make it a little tougher. I want to get back to the treadmill sometime next week and make the intervals 45 seconds to a minute each, increase the incline, as well as the speed up to a 9.5, maybe a 10! That would be awesome.. if the Biggest Loser contestants can do a 10.0, why can't i?! :)

  I also did 2 Turbo Kick video's (Core and Sculpt) with my new resistance bands. I LOVE THEM. It starts out with                                       Yellow (2-5 lbs of resistance)
                                                             Green, (5-8 lbs) I started the videos in Jan with these
                                                             Red (8-12 lbs)
                                                             Blue (12-16 lbs)
                                                             Black (16-20 lbs)

Today I did every rep with the red band, first time all the way through. Now it may not seem like a lot but she does some pretty intense reps, NOT a lot of reps but normally 3 or 4 sets of 8's. The first/two sets of reps are any where from 2-4 count reps with some type of low body movement... Lets say ... Bicep Curls, you are stepping on the band with your shoes  and the handles are in your hand (duh). The same time you are doing Bicep curls you are also doing squats.   

1.     1st rep She makes it 2 counts down.. 2 counts up.. warming up your body
2.      2nd rep it's slow 4 counts down and 4 counts up.. REALLY taking momentum out of your body and making your muscles contract on their own.
3.     3rd rep she makes you hold your arms out and do just squats, JUST HOLDING THE BANDS OUT is a workout. It makes you flex your arms to hold the bands
4.     4th rep you stop your legs and you do just the arms. If they haven't already started shaking they will then! LOL. It's crazy when you add your highest resistance and do that much with it. 

When i was doing this series in Hawaii (for a month solid) I saw results but not this much in this short of time. I was using another generic band I bought at Target, I'm sorry but when you're serious about fitness it helps to have the equipment that works for you. These are amazing!

Sunday, February 5, was a bad day. First half was good. I did a Turbo Fire Lower Body video. MAN it really works you. She has this elastic band (usually used for stretching) tied in a knot around your ankles. She has you do all sorts of kids and extensions that really work your hamstrings, quads, ankles, and glutes..OH it was amazing :) def going to do this every other day!
      I took a little break afterwards and decided I needed to get my long run in. I don't know what it was, I just couldn't get focused, or motivated, minor knee pain, I don't know. I ended up just doing 1.65 miles on the treadmill. I was about to leave and figured I might as well do something else, So I sat on the stationary bike and 3.07 miles, not the greatest but better than nothing.

SO, Some good, some bad. I finally got my outfit for the race figured out. I need to finish my Tutu and go to goodwill to get a few things. The race STARTS at 5:45 (we have to be at our gate by 5), from various blogs (AND getting up with Josh at 5:30 for work) it's chilly. SO I've been told to find something I don't want to keep (hence the goodwill run) to stay in until the race starts.People will throw their clothes off into the side of the track before the race starts and volunteers walk around and donate the items to a charity. Pretty cool :)

My husband says if I keep my pace (as well time allotted for quick pics, a few water pit stops as well) I should finish somewhere between 2:15-2:30 (hours:minutes) for my time at the race. I'm not sure, honestly nothing will make me more proud than the moment that I'm all hot and sweaty and have that Medal around my neck, just after passing that finish line. LOL if you asked me 4 years ago if I would finish a 1/2 marathon.. I would be like NO WAY?!!! are you crazy?! I can't run!! Well, maybe i can :)...Not fast, no records, but.. I can :)

Thanks for reading (sorry it was so long winded!)