My Latest Training Schedule (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

My first race of the year is coming up in a few weeks.  I started training back in January.  Because my knee is still in a fragile state, I have been very careful with how much I run and how fast.

The race I'm getting ready for is the Ukrop's 10k, which is on April 13th.  Because I have had many relapses with my knee, I wanted to make sure that I did this training right.  I really didn't want to have to work up to a 10k at this point, but I have done this race for many years.  In fact this will be my 10th year running it (not in a row).  And it's the third race to complete the circle.

What is good about taking it slow on my training is that this race is the most friendly walker's race I have ever participated in.  They have several waves that are dedicated to just walkers.  My friend last year led her blind friend to finish the 10k.  I know if I have issues and just need to walk it, I will be in good company.

I pushed it too much during a 5k last fall, and at the beginning of the year I was ready to start running on a regular basis, mostly 2 1/2 mile runs a couple times a week.  I kept it slow with a 30s run / 1m walk.  At the end of January I knew I was in a good place, so I started to look to create a training schedule.  Looking that I had 3 months and knew it would take me awhile to feel comfortable with upping my mileage, I had a decision to make.  I couldn't both up my mileage and make my walk breaks shorter.  Because Ukrop's is so walker friendly, my decision was easy.  Up my mileage slowly and keep my run/walk time where it is.  This will be one of my slower 10ks, but I will be happy if I can just finish with no pain.

So far it hasn't been bad.  Over the first few weeks, I got my runs to 3 miles, 3 times a week.  I started a new cross training class (post to come), which gave me a couple set backs with soar muscles, and being just so tired the next day.  My long run last week was 4 miles, with no pain, so that was huge.  This week I'll attempt 5 and next week 6.  Then a drop back week and then the race.  It's really weird to be excited about a long run of 4 miles. 

My next race will probably be the King's Dominion Run and Ride 5k.  I did it last year and loved it.  With the 2 months between the races, I want to keep to low mileage, and work my way to 30s run / 30s walk.  Even if I just get to 30s run / 45s walk, I'll be happy.  I like my 2 1/2 to 3 mile loops in my neighborhood.  With the weather getting nicer and the days longer, an early morning run before work is a good way to start the day.  And sometimes I'll even see a beautiful sunrise.

Then after that, there are no plans.  Along with a run or two, I'd like to get some biking in throughout the summer.  I do kind of miss having a race a month, like I did last year, but this is defiantly what my knee needs right now.

What's your race calendar like this spring?  How are you training for it?

I’m linking up with with Join Kookyrunner and Zenaida for the Tuesday Topics Link-up.

What Does 2019 Hold For Running (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

I don't make New Year resolutions.  Mostly because I do not want to make a promise to myself if I'm not sure I'll follow through.  I will make resolutions throughout the year when I know I have the motivation to do my best.

For example, I didn't make my resolution to do a race a month for 2018 till I was half way through the year.  It was a spontaneous one when I realized that I had done 6 months of that without even trying.  It allowed me to keep up with my running and rehabbing my knee because I wouldn't do any more than 5ks.  What I learned from this is that there are a lot of local races out there that are a ton of fun.  Most of the races I did last year were new to me races.

This year, I only have the Ukrop's 10k on my list.  I have done this race 9 times in the past - but not sequentially.  I'll also get the third medal in this streak to go with these two.

I have nothing else planned.  I'm not even planning on doing any runDisney races.  I've done at least one a year for the last five years and while I will miss the good times, I need to rest.  I have found that the weekends were just exhausting.

I'd like to try a few new races out this year.  But my real goal is to make sure my knee holds up as the year comes up.  This means more cross training on my calendar.  And making sure I do my stretches and exercises 5-7 days a week.

I think I'd also like to do the Ride and Run race again at Kings Dominion. That is a mini-runDisney race that was a lot of fun.  Who knows what the year will bring, but I hope it will be fun and my knee holds up.

I’m linking up with with Join Kookyrunner and Zenaida for the Tuesday Topics Link-up.

 

2018 Races in Pictures (Friday Five Edition)

In January all I had planed race-wise was two runDisney events and Ukrop's 10k.  By June, I had done at least one of each of the first 6 months.  I then decided to continue and do at least one per month for the rest of the year.  I sort of accomplished that.  All except December.  I signed up for one, but it was cancelled due to the foot of snow we got that weekend.  I still may be able to do one in December, on the 31st.  It's one right before midnight and the plan is to do it unless it's raining. 

I found that because of this, I did a lot of new to me races.   Except for Ukrop's and the runDisney races that I had already signed up for at the beginning of the year, I have not done any of these races.  All of them I would do again.  I don't know the plan for next year, and probably won't do the one a month race (though I still may), I want to continue trying new races out.  There are plenty out there that I haven't done yet.

January

Frostbite 15k

February

Princess 5k

Princess 10k

Princess Half

March

Lucky Charm 10k

April

Ukrop's 10k

Star Wars 5k

Star Wars 10k

Star Wars Half

May

Uncorked 5k

June

 Run & Ride 5k

 

July

Pony Pasture 5k

August

Pink Power 5k

September

Speak Up 5k

October

Ashland Harvest 5k

November

Donut Run 5k

December

Run-a-Latke

I'm linking up with Fridays with Fairytales and Fitness and other healthy lifestyle bloggers.

My Journal and Running (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

Last week I went into some basics of the journal I have been keeping.  A big part of it revolves around my running.  Here are a few items that are specific to that.


I have my 2018 Race Calendar.  I list all of the races that I have done or plan to do throughout the year.  If there is a race I'm thinking about, I list it with it's date in pencil.  For next year (2019), I want to add an extra row at the bottom for the 2020 race dates that I'm interested in.  That way I'm not always looking up a specific race/date online.

My plan in the next couple weeks is to create a list of races that I want to do again, or interest me and the month that they are usually run in.  That way I can do a quick glance of races and the time of year.  And the great thing with the discbound journal is that I can slip that right in after my 2018 Race Calendar as well as put it into my 2019 journal.

Right now I am just running 2-3 times a week with nothing specific to train for.  Before, when I am training for a race, I would use different things to track my schedule.  Mostly, I would print out calendar months and put the mileage on them.  I do like having it in my journal better because I always know where it is and it's not all crumpled up cause I put it in my work bag or something like that.  I had put what I planned to do in pencil (since that seems to change every so often depending on my schedule or injury) and then came back and put the mileage in pen.  I don't think I really want to change much to it, except, maybe making it neater. :)

On a weekly basis I track two things that have to do with my running.  The first is my mileage.  When I was in training, I would put how many miles I planned for the week, but now it's just a plan to run that day.  I also list my Functional Training class that I take at the gym.  The R/S to the right is if I rolled and stretched.  I like to keep track of that because when I am sore, I can look back and see if I did my stretching and if not, that's probably why.  And it's a good reminder to do it every day.


The other thing I track on a weekly basis is my water intake.  While I'm usually really good about drinking water, there are days that I just don't get enough in.  Tracking it helps me remember to keep drinking as well as looking back from a bad run to see if I had enough.


On a weekly basis, I don't really comment on my runs.  I use a separate log for that.  I've used this log for the last few years and like the format that tracks my stats.


I have thought of just doing the list of stats somewhere in my daily journal to see if I can see fluctuations between heart rate, spm, average pace, etc.  I created a page, but never got very far with it as I'm not sure if I like the format I set up. 


The last thing that I do keep in this journal is my race recap.  A race recap is too long to keep in my running journal.  They are also too long to include on my weekly pages, so I have separate pages for them.  I like to hand write my recaps before I post them here on the blog.  Mainly because I can put all the boring facts and feelings in there that would bore most of my audience.  I want to keep my race recaps for the blog to be the fun and interesting things.  The fun part of my handwritten recaps is that I try to find fun washi tape that matches the theme of the race to mark the pages so that they can be found easily.  For the Run and Ride, I found amusement park washi tape.


For my runDisney Star Wars, I found a ton of cool Star Wars washi tape.  I also like to use themed or running stickers as well as cutouts from handouts that might be passed out during the expo/packet pickup.

If you keep a hand written journal, what do you keep track of for your running?

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

Run and Ride Kings Dominion 5k (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

There is a series of races around the country that has races through amusement parks.  No, this is not part of runDisney, but the Run and Ride series.  They put on different length races in four different amusement parks around the country.  I am lucky enough to have one of those four close to home, Kings Dominion.


This is the third year of the race and the weekend includes a 1 mile and 5k on Saturday and a Quarter Marathon (6.5 miles) and half on Sunday.  They also offer a ticket in the cost of the registration, but you had to use it the same weekend.  You could choose a lower costing registration that did not come with the park ticket as well.  There is also a Total Inversion challenge.  This included the Half or Quarter Marathon and the 5k.  The only thing that was on the web was that you get a 30% discount on the 5k.  I didn't even know that it existed except that I saw it was a cheaper option when I signed up for the 5k.  I went to try and figure out what that was and I couldn't find any other information.  I don't think they give any extra swag beyond what comes with each race.  I chose the 5k which took place on June 2nd.

I had been debating on doing this race for a few months.  As time got closer I was having issues with my knee and really didn't know if I should sign up and run another race with my knee acting up.  At the same time, this was a race that I really had wanted to do for the last couple of years.  In the end, I signed up for the race.  On Friday.  The day before the race.  I opted not to get the park ticket as I had to use it that weekend and I've been there several times in the past.  Even without the park ticket, signing up the day before made it an expensive race.

Thankfully they had packet pick-up before the race, so I didn't have to make two trips there.  I got there early to make sure I had time to get my bib and put everything in the car before the race.  I was glad I got there early as there was a huge line already.  It took me about 10 minutes to get through the line.  The swag was a hat that came with race registration.  I ended up paying to get the shirt too, because it was Snoopy themed.  Hello, cute!


The start area was right outside the park.  The theme was Peanuts, and they had some cute signs decorating the area.


This was my favorite.

I took my stuff to the car and came back to the start area.  I noticed that Charlie Brown was coming out.  I of course had to get a picture with him.


I hung around the start area and stretched some.  Soon, Snoopy came out.  He headed to the finisher backdrop and quickly a lined form to get a picture with him.  Glad I knew to follow him so I didn't have to stand in line.


The Clown Band had come out as well to entertain us till the start of the race.  They kinda reminded me of a marching band from school.  They played some songs for us and also told jokes.  Some were corny and some were actually a bit funny.


The band finished up about 5 minutes before the race and we were instructed to head to the start line.  The only issue there is that they filled up the area from front to back.  Since I wanted to be towards the back, I had to work my way through all the people standing at the front to get behind them.  They should have had us walk around to the back to fill in.


They soon played the national anthem and then we were off.  It was in the mid 70's with high humidity.  For the heat and humidity I don't think it bothered me too much.  At least at the start.  The first part of the race went through the parking lot, but very soon they had us in the park.  As I was running through I realized that it had been probably 15 years since I actually was in the park.  As I saw all the new things, it made me wish I opted for the park ticket. 


We came around and they had us running on the car track, but only for a very short time.


We then came to this dinosaur area, Dinosaurs Alive, that was new to me.  It looked like a path with life size replicas of different dinosaurs.  They were huge and some had buttons where you could press and have different parts move and make sounds.


Really cool. 

Then they had us go through a gift shop, which I found amusing.  My knee hurt a little at the beginning of the race, but by this time it worked itself out and felt fine. 


We went around the Wind Seeker, which was new to me.  It looked like a very tall swing type ride.


Then we came around to the Twisted Timbers.  This ride area used to be the Wayne's World coaster.  It is now the newest ride that they keep advertising on TV.  It is part wooden and part medal.  Not sure how that makes it different, but it's the newest coaster.


The next area they took us to was the water park side of the amusement park.  Last time I was here, they had some water rides, but I never actually been on them.  The heat had started to get to me and I realized that we hadn't had a water stop yet.  And I was thirsty.  The first part of Soak City we went through was a wave pool.  They actually had us run right next to it (with a life guard on duty).  I saw a guy ahead of me take his hat and get it full of water to dump on his head.


We ran by a splash pad, where water comes out of the ground and other designs.  This one was off and I was disappointed as I wanted to run through the water to cool down.  We ran through another wave pool area.  More people were splashing water on themselves.  We then ran past another splash pad and this one was on.  I ran through it and it felt so good.  A young girl followed suit behind me and then she complained that she was wet.  LOL.  We then ran by the Lazy River and I so just wanted to jump in and relax on one of the floats.


It was time for us to leave Splash City and head back into the other side of the park.  We ran by the Drop Zone.  That has been there since the last time I was there.


We cam back around to the area where the Shock Wave used to be.  That was a roller coaster that you stood up on.  They tore it down a few years ago.  We finally came to our first and only water stop.  I took 2 cups I was so thirsty.

We ran past the Country Kitchen.  That restaurant has been there since the first time I went to the park.  When we went as a family, we always had a meal there.


We then entered the Planet Snoopy section.  This is an area full of rides for little ones.


They turned us so we went into Safari Village.  This section of restaurants and shops was exactly how I remembered it.


We ran by my favorite ride of the park that I remember, Volcano.  It is such a smooth ride with a very fast take off.


We headed back into Planet Snoopy.  It really is a cute area of the park.


With Snoopy.


And Woodstock.


We came around and there was a hill towards the very end.  That is mean.  I turned the corner and there was the finish line!

After I got my medal I made a beeline to the water.  They were out of water bottles except for one case that was being opened as I go there.  Seriously, with it as hot as it was, I couldn't believe the lack of water.  I grabbed a bottle and downed it right there.  I was going to grab a second, but I noticed a jug to fill up water bottles and went over there to refill my bottle.  They did have plenty of chocolate milk, but I just wanted water.


I headed to my car and at that point I was glad I didn't get a park ticket.  I was hot, thirsty, and hungry and all I wanted was to take a shower to cool down and clean off all the sweat.


Except for the lack of water, this was an amazing race.  It kinda reminded me of runDisney at the beginning before they sold out in a day.  I am defiantly doing this one again, but will sign up earlier so I don't have to pay as much next time.  I'd sort of like to do the Quarter Marathon as well, but looking at the course, we spend half of it in the parking lot.  You really get great park time with the 5k.

Have you done a Run and Ride Race?  Do you prefer water or chocolate milk after a race?

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.