Marathon Training - Walt Disney World Marathon

Since running the Princess Half Marathon in WDW I've really been bit by the running bug. The Princess run was one of the most amazing runs I've ever finished (as well as it being my first Half marathon). As soon as I crossed the finish line I was thinking about the next time I could run in Walt Disney World (it doesn't help that I'm a bit of a Disney fanatic :)

As of 2 weeks ago Josh and I decided we were going to bite the bullet and sign up for the 20th Anniversary Walt Disney World Marathon. I'm really excited but was like.. where do I start??

I used a training program for the Princess half ( I think I randomly found it online) but I really wanted to make sure I (and my knees) were ready for the full marathon. Constantly running/jogging for 26.1 miles seems rather intense!


So I signed up for the marathon... now what do I do??

When I started training for the Princess half I did too much too soon and had a LOT of problems with my knees (mostly due to previous injuries.) For this race I really wanted to start off on the right track. I did a lot of research online and wasn't finding much. Even though this is my first marathon it's not my first race. I know about proper attire, shoes, hydration.. etc. etc, general knowledge stuff. So I went to the very small library in town and found some books on marathon running. I think I have checked out every book they had that dealt with running! Some were ok, some were really generic (again, ...drink a lot of water... buy proper shoes..... DUH). However, I did hit the jackpot with one AMAZING book. I ended up buying myself my own copy and plan on referring it to future runs. It's Hal Higdon's Marathon, the Ultimate training guide: Advice, plans, and programs For your 1st marathon or 50. It's really an AMAZING book and I believe it's in its 4th edition? So very current :). Hal includes mistakes that he's made and ways he's learned from them. When he's explaining ways to help your running or suggestions, he also includes input from other reads on forums or survey's he's conducted with other runners (beginnings and veterans.) It's really hit my "nerd button" and even though I've already read it, I'm re-reading it again, now that I'm in training (as in before when I hadn't started training yet.) I really like that book doesn't focus JUST on beginners or veterans. It seems like something you can pick up before every marathon to see what you can do to make your run better!

APPLES TO ORANGES-Your training vs others
 From all my fitness research (and personal experiences) I am fully aware that what works for some people doesn't always work for everyone. One thing that I knew I would have to include this time was some type of strength training. Before I signed up for the WDW Marathon I was (and still am ) completing the Chalean Extreme/Turbo Fire hybrid program. I realized when we first moved here that I had let myself go a bit and wanted to tone back up, SO... with my running program (see schedule later on) I have made it a priority that I run every other day and on my days off from running I do cross training which is my strength training. Cross training is very important when training for a run. For my princess run, I didn't realize just how important it was until I got to race day. I had only ran 8 miles during training, on mile 9 my knee was almost gone ( so was my endurance ) I REALLY had to push to make the next couple of miles ( I also had some help from 3 AMAZING ladies I met on race day and tried to keep up with their pace). So because of that experience I really suggest cross training. Just with the running I've done in the past 3 months (training for a half and a few 5K's) I've notice how much stronger I've become as well as my ability to run farther. So, my suggestion, find what works for you and stick to it. Even if you just do cross training twice a week it helps you're running SO MUCH.  Cross training can include biking, swimming ( I would suggest this for those that have knee problems), a dance class (MY FAVE), or a workout class that revolves around cardio.

FUEL
  This is the area I've been struggling with the most. I would consider myself a good eater (my friends would probably call me picky). I rarely eat fast food, stay away from fried foods, anything lathered (dressing, gravy, basically if something is dripping off of my food it grosses me out). My weak areas tend to be my sweets, I have a VERY big sweet tooth. I've been toying with this area a lot in the past couple of weeks (watch out for a post soon on nutrition). I could go on and ON about this for hours.. BUT I'm going to keep this short and sweet. During my research for "proper training nutrition" I was met with "eat healthy.. and eat carbs." That's it. ... websites and books would allure to what was proper to eat but wouldn't come out and say OR most advice was given for the day before, during, and after the race. SO, this area is still being experimented with. The biggest problem I've read in a lot of blogs are people complaining about weight GAIN during training. When you think about running you are your worst enemy. Do you really want to carry a 20-25lb weight around your stomach with every step you're running? NOW.. when I say this.. I'm not saying you need to diet to run a marathon PLEASE don't take it that way. I hate that 4 letter word. All that I'm saying is when we run, most people tend to lose about 100 calories a mile (just think if you ran 35 miles in a week THAT'S 1LB!!). The mind likes to play a horrible trick after a run and tells you "you just ran 1000 miles! You can eat whatever you want!!" and then we proceed to go on a snacking binge ALL day to refuel ourselves. My advice, watch what you eat. Personally I count calories, it sounds like a lot of waste of time but let me explain. I believe I could possibly border line hypoglycemic (lots of research, always hungry problems occur with low blood sugar, long story) SO.. I constantly wear a body bugg (a calorie counter familiar to the Biggest Loser) and track my calories with my fitness pal (Plug!) lol. There are some days where I CAN NOT get full. Most of the time these are on Mondays and Thursday (the days after the day I do my long run. Strangely on the days I do the actual runs or workouts I'm not very hungry). BUT because of the lows my body can go in due to the lack of food or after heavy workouts, I track everything I eat as well as my calories I burn during workouts. It helps me with binge eating as well I feel fuller and It has helped me see what I'm really eat nutritionally. Even though the food may look good on the calories,you could be in-taking really high amounts of other nutrients (such as sodium, sugar, or fat). I had to make myself track it every time I ate BUT after about 2 weeks of doing it, it's now a habit. If you choose to do this, I would HIGHLY suggest my fitness pal. It has a huge database of food. I buy tons of generic brand food from Target and it has all of the items on there. ALSO if you have an iphone, it has a feature on the app where all you have to do is scan the baracode on the actual package and it puts it all in for you. I hardly ever have to do it by hand.

The way food needs to be looked upon is as fuel, not an activity (I know, very hard in this society). But even though I'm in training, I allow myself little treats (yesterday I enjoyed an amazing blizzard from Dairy Queen). Food cannot be an all or nothing deal. I would not suggest starting out with an "ok, no sweets again" deal or you're setting yourself up for failure. Even though you are in training, and healthy food is important, doing things in moderation is key :) (more on nutrition later)

SCHEDULE
 Similar to the apple-oranges category this is different for everyone one, some people have night jobs, kids, husbands, wives, day jobs, or school.  Find what works for you. If you tell yourself "I'm going to wake up every morning and run" when you're known to hit the snooze button 5 times a morning, I would suggest another time of the day. I know some people run on the lunch breaks, some in the evening. Personally, I run in the mornings. After 10am the temperature rises and I'd rather run during the twilight hours,(not the vampire kind LOL) the time of morning when the sun is just rising and the birds are waking up. When I finish running it's still around 7:30-8 and I have time to shower and start my day. On days I don't run, this is also when I do my video workouts. I know I work better with a schedule, one that repeats itself.

This is my training schedule. I posted it on the fridge because I see the fridge everyday, at least 5-6 times a day (and more when I choose to do the dishes LOL)

I used Hal Higdon's schedule ( in the Appendix section of his Marathon training book) as well as a training schedule I found online. His program is written for an 18 week schedule, where I had 23 weeks. I made spreadsheet and am only printing it out month by month. If I printed out the entire thing I would just give up.

Here is the break down of Hals beginners (1-3 marathons) program:

Monday-REST
Tuesday- Small run day (the most you ever do on this day is 5)
Wed- long(ish) run day The most you go is 10 miles. This is your mid week "long" run
Thursday -Same as tuesday
Friday-rest
Saturday-LONG RUN (most is 20 miles)
Sunday-Cross training

This is merely a suggestion. Like I said earlier you need to tailor your schedule to fit you
As stated earlier, I know I needed to add more cross training for my knees and continue my group class I was participating in..

SO,
I broke my calendar into 3 sections: Running, Turbo Fire, and my RIPPED class I take on Mondays and Thursdays

 Mondays- NO Run- I do a small Ab video, and then have my RIPPED Class in the evening
Tuesdays- Small run- Chalean Xtreme weight Vid/Ab vid
Wed- "Long ish" run
Thursday-Ab Video/ RIPPED Class
Friday- Same as Tuesdays
Saturdays- Turbo Fire Cardio
Sundays- LONG RUN with local running group

I don't follow this EVERYDAY, There are some days that Josh and I will go off on an adventure (on non Mon/Thurs) days and if so we'll either be hiking or snorkeling and I'll count that as my workout.

I know it seem a bit much, but since college I realized if I have a schedule (AND A GOAL-FINISH WDW MARATHON) then I'm more likely to follow through.

I am currently working, so, some days that I do my small workouts may just be skipped, which is OK, some days the best workout you can give yourself is rest as long as you keep your "Big" days consistent. I believe Hal says " it's ok to give yourself days off but if it's more than two you start loosing progress."

 Now that I've been training for almost a month, I saw the first 2 weeks as more as trial and error. I even switched a few days around. For example, I had myself doing a Turbo fire video the same days as my RIPPED classes (stupid I know). By the time I was halfway through my evening class I could barley make it, so, I adjusted my schedule and made it easier on myself. YOU CAN do this, try a schedule for a week, see if it's ok, if not switch it around and make it work for you.

HOW DO I KNOW HOW FAR I'VE RAN?
 While running I like to keep track of my miles, pace, and time of my run. One thing I'm constantly looking at is my pace. A hard lesson I've learned on my long runs is if I let myself just go and run full out the first few miles, I can barely make it 3/4ths that in. After running with my tracker, I now know my "normal pace" and "race pace" and use both on short days, and use my "normal pace " on long endurance runs. Plug warning!, I LOVE using my Iphone to run. Nike plus ( +) is a free App that plays your itunes library, as well as mapping your route, tracks your pace, your distance, as well as your overall time. If you so chose too you can link it to facebook, when you're running people can click the "like" button and you will hear cheers through your headphones as you run. One of my FAVORITE features is that at the beginning of every run you can chose your goal, whether it be distance, time, or pace. I've been using the distance feature more often. It has voice feedback from Olympian runners that will tell you how far you've ran and how far you have left to go I love hearing "You're almost at your goal! Choose a power song (a list of songs that get you in gear, you have selected) to bust that goal".

I'm not too familiar with any other running trackers. I know a friend of mine LOVES her garmin watch. It tracks her splits as well as pace, overall, time, and keeps records of previous runs. This would be more ideal if running a race that does not allow audio devices (more and more runs are learning this way :( I say keep them in! LOL)

WELL I know this has been a bit lengthy and I applaud those that are still with me! I hope to be posting more frequently. I don't know if this helps anyone but I know it hits my nerd button and I LOVE talking about it. SO.. if you have any advice or have questions, please feel free to comment below!

ALSO, if you're running the WDW Marathon OR have ran it before PLEASE comment below, I'd love to hear how your training is going OR how the race went for you last year!

ALOHA!

Running around a Volcano-Rainforest Half Marathon

Wow, I can't believe it's almost been 1 month since I've last posted. I apologize but, most of my readers are on facebook and I really don't want to annoy people with double pictures and double posts... BUT I just recently completed my 2nd Half Marathon in Volcano, Hawaii (Big Island) and wanted to do a recap on it.

I felt as if I had trained pretty well for it. I did a lot of strength training videos (Chalean Xtreme/Turbo Fire), I ride my bike everywhere, I take 2-3 Cardio/Weight Lifting classes a week, and I would run in the mornings, and then had my long runs with an amazing group on Sundays. I always seem to have problems with my knees but have felt that they were really strong with all the strength training I was doing. I have had some problems about 2 weeks ago with my right hamstring. I did a 5 mile run with my new finger shoes and the following week it hurt so bad I thought I had torn something. I really babied it and rolled it every night on my foam roller, by the beginning of race week it felt back to normal. The Thursday of race week, right before class, I turned my body and my knee didn't go with me. I felt the all too familiar knee pain I used to encounter on a daily basis. I was so mad at myself and at my knee because I thought my knee was stronger than this by now. I still went to class, but tried to baby my right knee as much as I could. When I got home I rolled out the muscles under neath it and put icy hot/Ice on it for a few hours. I was so upset and even thought about pulling out of the half. The next day I wore a brace while walking doing other activities. It still hurt to put a lot of weight on it and grew even more frustrated.

Saturday, was packet pick up day. Even though this was a smaller race than the previous ones I've ran, I still get excited to pick up my number and whatever else they want to give us. Our grab bag was a see through plastic bag from Runners world, A Hane's cotton tshirt with the race logo on it (really cute), a poster of local plants/flowers, and 2 granola bars.

They also had a complementary wine and dine event. There is a winery in the area that sponsored the event so, they had complementary cups of wine as well as a big buffet of pasta, chips, bread, quiches, salads, and punch. It was really nice!

Volcano is 4,000 ft high in elevation. Normally when we drive up to it, it drops about 5-10 degrees in temp. The morning of the race I was freezing!!! Luckily it was beautiful and the sun was shinning (most of the time it's overcast and raining). I had a hoodie with me but took it off right before I rain. Being a smaller race (about 212 people) running the half, I wasn't expecting a very big event BUT they had a band playing local music, a Hawaiian welcoming, and a MC to kinda keep the spectators engaged while everyone was running.

 Me goofing off before the race

Opening Ceremony Before the race

Saw this before the race started and knew I would be so happy the next time I saw it

1-2-3 GO!

5K! done

Running on Rocky trail

Beautiful Mauna Kea

Almost 1/2 way done!

This is where the hill started.. for the next 1.5 miles

Just finished the big hill, about to start another

A hill PLUS a mile of trail running, I thought for sure I was going fall

FINALLY GOING DOWN HILL. I got my 2nd wind here, I caught up with someone, she looked at me and said "we can do this!" a 5K left to go!!!

ALMOST THERE

HOORAAYY!!!!!! 

The race was really hard, one of the toughest courses I've seen/raced on. I was very surprised by the organization of the race. There were LOTS of water/Gatorade stations planned out through the race, always seemed to be perfect timing. There was lots of snacks/food for after the race (bananas, chex mix, water, watermelon, papaya, and Gatorade). I was very impressed. They had a very efficient print out of my time, pace, and where I had placed in my division as well as the race.

If I had to do it over, I would have trained for the hills more but was very happy with how strong I felt throughout most of the race. I wore two small knee braces around my knees, and compression capris (for the cold) and for the support. I was very surprised at how well my right knee was doing. Later on it became very stiff but went home and swam to loosen it up.

The money for the race was to help support the Volcano Arts Center that features local artists work and paintings of The Big Island.

Great day for a run :)

Big Island Lava Adventure

(To see how to get to the lava without having to pay for someone to take you, Click the following link to see my article out about how we got there, also pictures of lava flowing into the ocean!) Lava Flowing in the Ocean-our Local adventure)

So sorry for the lack in updating my blog lately, I haven't really felt a huge need to update BUT .. My husband and I are BACK on the Big Island again, same apartment too!

One of the things that was on our bucket list, that didn't get checked off last time we lived here, was to see live flowing lava. We were slightly disappointed that Volcano National park isn't actually a place to see live active lava, more so a live museum of flows from the past.

On the map above, on the southeast portion, You can see the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Part of the park, Chain of Craters Road, will take you all the way down to the ocean where a past lava flow has entered the water.  The part where the box says "Road Closed" is where active Lava flow has actually flown over the road and is no longer drivable.

(Taken by Me)

 That road used to be the main way to what used to be Kalapana and Kaimu black sand beach. The city of Kalapana used to be home to the historic Kalapana gardens. This was the home to many generations of Hawaiians and Tahitians that were descendents of the first generations that landed on this side of the island. They settled and raised family here. Sadly out of that subdivision there is one house still standing.

My husband and I really wanted to see live lava flow so, we decided to hike from the Volcano National Park side (west) driving to the end of chain of craters road however, it was not a successful hike. We enlisted the help of a few other traveling nurses but I'm afraid instead of lava we gave them sore legs and exhaustion. We ended up hiking 4 hours round trip, about 8-12 miles, not sure. We got to the point where the sun was setting and we could see the red lava on the hills but there was a huge rain storm starting to pour on us. So, sadly we ended up hiking the 2 hours back defeated.

After much needed rest (and a week or two later) we decided to try to find the lava from the east side of the road. We drove through Pahoa down to the dead end street, before Kalapana.We were greeted with restricted access signs, government workers (monitors) and another dead end. We finally gave up, did some research, and signed up for a tour. We hated spending the money, But, it was worth it.

We booked a tour through: 
Kalapana Cultural Tours
(LOVED IT) 

We were undecided which tour to take. There are 2 tours, one that leaves at 4pm and one at 5pm. We wanted to see the lava flow at night but didn't want to be hiking the entire time in the dark (hiking on mountainous lava rock is hard, but doing it in the dark with only a tiny flashlight is even harder) We were very happy our choice of the 4pm tour.

This picture does a great job showing what kind of rock we were climbing over sometimes.

We saw some pretty awesome sites along our way to finding lava

We found our first lava!
Our guide was pretty awesome. He said he wasn't very happy with this lava and went off to find us something more impressive



After another 5 minute walk we found a river bed of lava and was able to watch it flow faster and faster by the minute

We had an amazing time! A great memory we will never forgot!

Hiking back was pretty crazy! We were walking on newly cooled lava that was flowing yesterday. So it was still pretty hot to walk over and you could see the red lava flowing what was already cooled. Past that was still pretty new and fragile rock, pretty loose and thin stuff.

We were amazed with the sight and had a great time! We hope if you ever get a chance to visit the Big Island we definitely  recommend this tour!

Mahalo!

Warm up and stretching- To pass or not to pass, that is the question

                With so many daily tasks looming over our heads, getting to the gym can be a rare treat. Once in the gym it’s very common to jump from machine to machine trying to get as much done in the quickest amount of time. Even though our brain works like a clock, our muscles don’t.  If you will, think about our muscles being similar to a rubber band. It’s stretchy but seems to always maintain the same shape.  If you play with it in your hand for a while it becomes more flexible and warm. It is able to expand around a bigger item than it would right out of the bag. However if you try to put it around a rather large item, right out of the bag, it snaps and breaks. Our muscles can act the same way if they’re not given proper care before a workout. A good warm up helps the joints around the muscles to have a better range of motion, it engages your heart gradually for use, and it help focus you for the upcoming workout. For a proper warm up, there are 2 steps, the warm up and the stretching.  The first part of the warm up includes small aerobic/cardio work that doesn’t involve strenuous activity.  Here are examples of some machines/warm ups to use to get your heart rate up

1. 1.       Walking on a treadmill at a 2.5-3.2 level
2. 2.       Using an elliptical at a level 1
3. 3.       Stationary Bike at a level 1
4. 4.       Setting your hands at waist level and tapping your knees up to your hand one at a time

After you feel slightly warmer than when you first arrived, find a place off to the side to stretch. The most common thought on stretching is the stand and hold method, known as static. This is helpful but even runnersworld.com says that type of stretching should be saved for your cool down. Right now we want to focus on dynamic stretching, movement that helps prepare your muscles for the work they are about to perform. For example, if you’re focusing on cardio (running, biking, etc.etc) some dynamic warm ups/stretches you should perform are

1. 1.       Forward/Backward lunges
2. 2.       Leg lifts
3. 3.       Walking lunges
4. 4.       Squats

If you’re workout includes weight lifting some warm ups/stretches you want to perform are

1. 1.       Side bends
2. 2.       Squats
3. 3.       Leg swings
4. 4.       Arm swings
5. 5.       Shoulder circles

 Your warm up routine should comprise of exercises that bring up your body temperature up as well as increase movement in the muscles you are preparing to exercise. You want to make sure you are always targeting the bigger muscles first (hamstrings, quads, biceps, deltoids, and pecs)  . As referring back to the rubber band analogy it’s easier to work with a loose rubber band that needs to be used as opposed to one that stiff and cold. The same works with your muscles. A good warm up helps prevents injury and increases flexibility for future activity and workouts.

Wishing upon a star....

Wishing on a star is a lot like praying. With eyes closed you think with your heart and wish what it desires. It may not come true but somewhere, You have faith that it could possibly happen. God says you're supposed to have Faith in Him. He knows what your heart desires, he knows you more than we know ourselves. Hebrew 11:1 Says

"faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" NKJV

                       "  We live by faith, not by sight" 2 Corinthians 5:7

We are supposed to give everything to God. Our worries, our doubts, our love, and our dreams having faith He hears us and takes care of us whether it's in our path of life or not.

1 Peter says "Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares for you." 

 But I guess my question is where does Faith and personal intervention begin and end. It's been proven that prayer is a very powerful source. It's been the source of many miracles as well as many unexplained divine interventions (as Priscilla Shirer calls them). But where do we intervene?  

Hebrews 13:5 says "Never will I leave you nor forsake you." 

Yes, the Holy Spirit is with us but what if we pray, hear/feel nothing, make a decision that wasn't designed for us and leads us down another path. Yes, It has been preached that as long as we pray and love God, even if we take a different path than designed, He will follow us, be there with us the whole way. In taking matters into our own hands does that mean we lack the faith in God's timing? OR What are the consequences of just relying on Faith and never taking actions ourselves? What if we just continue to "Wish upon a star." It's hard not to plan our entire life out with the whole rat race, against yourself, others, and time. We only have one shot at this game and it helps to do things the right way the 1st time.  Do we have faith enough in ourselves to give all our worries to God? Not stressing about something, whether it big or small, is hard enough, believe me I try to on a daily basis. I'm a constant worrier. I go on a constant cycle of "well this is something that I really need to pray about, but I'm stressed about it, well I need to give it to God Well, I'm STILL worrying about it and I'm not listening for his voice..ok, quiet time" 1 Minute passes and I'm already sidetracked by something I forgot to do today or plans for tonight's dinner, THEN I feel guilty for getting sidetrack and the cycle happens all over again, I'm sure I'm not alone.

I know there needs to be a happy medium of both God's timing and our actions. It's definitely a call and response form.  Sometimes we do the calling and pray for God's response OR vice verse (in Jonah's case) God does the calling and we do the responding. I can't imagine the faith Abraham and Moses had to have had leading their people around, before technological advances, through the desert. God had only given them the first half of the clue no end, no longitude nor latitude. For it is written in Genesis 12:1

" The Lord had said to Abraham "Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family and go to the Land that I WILL SHOW YOU"  

No mention of a name, no state, no country. He just says, pick up your staff, leave everything you know behind, and follow me. It blows me away. How much would it bug you if, you as the driver, got in the car with someone and they were like "just drive, I'll let you know where we're going when we get there." HOW BIZARRE, that doesn't happen! LOL. It's not until Abraham travels a great distance ( I see no factual account in my bible of how far that was) that God reveals the land that He has planned for Abraham and his descendants. 

I'm honestly not looking for a specific answer, there may not be one. I'm merely casting this question out. I guess you could say thinking out loud? It just might be one of those questions that may not have a right or wrong answer. I guess as long as you and I pray and let Him know what's on our hearts, God will lend us a helping hand one way or another.

Mantra

I did not take this picture and therefore take no credit it for it ..BUT I did photoshop the words in...One of my new favorite verses

Texas Flowers

Pretty Awesome :)