My plan for the future is to continue running regularly and keep following the training schedule that I used for class. I’m going to include intervals and fast runs in my routine which I wasn’t doing before taking this class. I’m also going to work on achieving my goal of running in the Disney half marathon sometime in the future.
I’m really glad I took this class. I learned a lot of great things about running, nutrition and overall fitness which will benefit me for the rest of my life.
I also met some really great people who were super supportive throughout the semester. You all made this class so much fun and I really enjoyed it because of you guys. I’m definitely going to miss this class a lot but hopefully I’ll see everyone on campus next semester!
Today’s race was a lot of fun. I was worried right before the race that I wasn’t going to finish under my goal time of 29 minutes because of my ankle. I tried to ignore the pain in my ankle during the whole race and push myself through it. At the end, when I made it to the track and saw my time, I said to myself, “There is no way I’m letting myself finish over 29 minutes!” So that’s when I really picked up the pace and finished strong at 28 minutes and 58 seconds. I’m surprised and really happy that I was able to finish under 29 minutes even if it was only by 2 seconds. I’d like to run another 5K sometime when I am not injured to see if I will improve my time even more.
Everyone did a really awesome job today too! You all are so great and I just want to say thanks for all the support and encouragement you’ve given these last 4 weeks. I’m sad that we will no longer be running together after today.
I decided not to do the 3 mile run this weekend because I don’t want to risk hurting my ankle more before the race. I’ve been putting ice on it all weekend so hopefully it will be good enough to run on tomorrow for the 5K. In the meantime, I will be “resting” by babysitting my little cousins, which, in my opinion, is as much of a workout as running 3 miles anyway.
Week 4 was our last full week. Monday we had a 3 mile easy run and Tuesday we had a tempo run. Tuesday we did the Jillian Michael’s 30 day shred which was different and fun and I could definitely feel it working. Unfortunately after doing the video, my ankle started to hurt. I iced it Tuesday night, hoping it would feel better by Wednesday. On Wednesday we had another 3 miles easy. I wasn’t sure if I should run it with my ankle hurting but I did it anyway. I wish I hadn’t because by Wednesday night it was swollen. Also on Wednesday, the track guys showed us their warm up routine and Sam had us do some soccer drills. Ariel and Professor Rapatski showed us their mad skills in karate which was fun to watch and take part in because I have never tried karate before. Thursday was the timed mile. I was really nervous Thursday morning because I didn’t think I would be able to run the timed mile due to my ankle and if I did, I was afraid I wouldn’t have had any improvement from my time 3 weeks ago. I’m glad that I did actually improve but I’m a little bummed because I think I could have done better. I did enjoy watching everyone else run the timed mile and it was fun to cheer for everyone as they ran by. It was also great to see how much everyone improved since the first week of class, you all did awesome!
The 5K is on Monday. My ankle isn’t as swollen as it was on Wednesday and Thursday which is good but it still hurts a little when I walk on it. I’ve been putting ice on it all weekend so hopefully it will be close to 100% better by Monday. Hope you all are enjoying your weekend and getting some rest before the big race. See you on Monday!
I was never really into exercising until a few years ago and when I did start exercising, I started with running. Running has been my favorite exercise activity since then but I have tried some other workouts that I like to do when I don’t feel like running or when I actually have the time to do them along with running. In the summer, I go to the gym at the school that my mom works at because they have a bunch of different machines there that I can use for free. I like to use the elliptical machine and the stationary bike and next week I will be able to add them to my workout again when their school session ends. I also enjoy swimming in the summer when our pool is open and I also play a lot of volleyball in the summer as another way to get some exercise. In the winter, I mainly run on the treadmill but I have followed a workout video in the past when running on the treadmill gets boring. The video is actually a lot like the Jillian Michael’s workout video we did in class in that it has 3 different levels of workouts and incorporates cardio and strength training in each workout.
I think after this class I’m definitely going to start adding other types of workouts to my fitness routine. I’m interested in doing yoga again since I enjoyed our yoga session in class and I looked at some of the workouts on On Demand that I think I might like and I’d be able to do when I have more free time on my hands.
I know our next writing assignment for class was to find a 5K race in NJ that we would consider doing but, while working on the assignment, I couldn’t help thinking about another race that I have been more and more interested in lately: the Disney Half Marathon.
Although I am certainly not at the level to run a half marathon right now, it is something that my dad has been asking me to do with him since I started running. So, the newest goal for me is to run in a Disney Half Marathon at some point in my life.
Who knows when this goal of mine will actually be accomplished but I figured I could still give you all some information about the Disney Half Marathons in case you are closer to running a half marathon than I am:
There are four half marathons held by Disney: the Disney Princess Half Marathon and Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon at Walt Disney World and the Tinkerbell Half Marathon and Disneyland Half Marathon at the Disneyland Resort.
The Disney Princess Half Marathon is just for women and is sponsored by Lady Foot Locker. The Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon takes place during the Food & Wine Festival at Disney and the race is actually at night rather than during the day. The charity that these two races benefit is the Leukemia & Lymphoma Societywhich is “dedicated to fight against blood cancers.”
The Tinkerbell Half Marathon, which is Disneyland’s women-only race, and the Disneyland Half Marathon benefit theAnaheim Community Foundationwhich is “dedicated to providing and improving programs, services, and facilities not ordinarily supported by the government, which enrich the lives of Anaheim residents.”
Each half marathon is a weekend long event which includes other events and activities that participants can take part in. Some of these other events are kids’ races, health and fitness expos, parties, and a 5K race that goes with the theme of the event.
All of the half marathon events sound like a lot of fun but I think the half marathon that I would be most interested in running with my dad is the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon because it takes place at night and then is followed by a party in the park after it has closed.
One of my nutrition goals was to try to eat out less on the weekends because I usually end up making some not so healthy choices while out. So far I haven’t really been doing too well with this goal but whenever I do go out, I’ve been paying more attention to the nutritional values of the food that I choose. If I know what restaurant I will be going to, I usually go to their website to check out the nutritional information that they provide. I also use the loseit app on my phone to see if they have the restaurant listed under Restaurant Foods. It seems a lot of places are also adding a lot more healthy options to their menus or providing the number of calories for items on their menus. This definitely makes eating out a lot easier and less stressful when you are trying to watch what you eat. Even though I haven’t been sticking with the no-eating-out goal as much as I want to, I’m not entirely disappointed since I have been choosing healthier options over the items I usually get.
If you want some other tips for eating out, here’s a link to a blog that offers a few. Also, if you get a chance, check out some of the other posts on this blog too. It is full of great ideas for low-calorie meals and snacks as well as reviews of new diet foods and where you might be able to find them.
Today was an interesting day for me. My dad and I decided that we would run later in the day rather than the morning. We both had things to do during the day and we figured it would be better to run in the evening when it got cooler out. Then I felt sick all afternoon. I think it was just a migraine but I couldn’t concentrate on anything and I felt really drained so I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do our run today. Luckily I started feeling better later in the day and we ended up running around 7:30pm. We ran 6.25 miles and, I don’t know why, but I felt great! It could have been the fact that it wasn’t disgustingly hot out but I wasn’t out of breath by the end of the run and I wasn’t feeling sick anymore. I think I might have to run at this time from now on because it was so much better than running in the heat during the day.
Who else feels like these weeks are just flying by?! Week 3 ended yesterday and now we have one more full week and then our 5K race. I’m pretty excited about that.
Last Monday was Memorial Day. I ran my 3 miles with my dad since he had off from work on Monday too. The schedule says I was supposed to do an easy 3 miles but I ended up going a little faster than my usual easy pace. It was in the 90’s that day so it was not a very relaxing run and I was glad 3 miles was all I had to do.
Tuesday we ran intervals again. I gotta say, it’s hard to come back from a 4 day weekend and then run intervals…I so did not want to do them. We ended up doing 7x400m instead of 6x400m. We took a break after the 5th to grab some water and walk around the track once. I like that we take this break because it helps me catch my breath a little before the last 2. I also don’t think I would have been able to do a 7th one if we hadn’t taken that break.
Wednesday was an interesting day. The run was another easy 3 miles but the interesting part of the day was the yoga lesson we had in the classroom. I had never done yoga before and now I think I want to do it again. Sure some of the stretches and poses were kinda hard and sometimes I felt a little ridiculous doing them, but I enjoyed it anyway. I think everyone did a really great job too and it was nice that everyone was willing to give it a try.
Finally, yesterday, Professor Rapatski and I ran our fast 3 miles. During our warm-up I told Professor Rapatski that I was actually dreading the fast 3 mile run more than the intervals. I think it’s a little easier to do intervals because we get to do cool down laps after each one and that really makes a difference. Well, it actually worked out in the end because even with dreading it I was still able to beat my 5K goal time of 29 minutes! I ended up running it in 28 minutes and 25 seconds and I was very excited! When I got to the end, I was worried Professor Rapatski was going to say a time that was way over 29 minutes, not 28:25! I’m hoping I can do even better during the 5K race and now I’m definitely eager to find out if I can.
Honestly, there is a broad range of things that I think of while running. Usually, if I’m not trying to stay at a certain pace or beat a certain time, I think of things that will keep my mind off of how I’m running and how tired and exhausted I am getting and more on things that keep me going. This includes stuff about my day; what I have to do today, what would I like to do today, who am I going to see, etc. Usually thinking about these things makes me think of something else which leads to something else and so on and then before I know it I’m almost done with my run.
When I go for my weekend runs, they are usually longer than what I’m used to so I think about making it to different locations along the way in order to get me through it. I usually run through my neighborhood so it’s easy for me to say to myself, “ok, once you make it to the end of this road, the next location to run to is the traffic light by the post office.” Breaking up the run like this makes it easier because I’m not thinking about how much further I have to go to get back to my house. Instead I just concentrate on making it to the next location and eventually I’m close to home.
When I run on the treadmill, I listen to music so I usually concentrate on the song that is playing and sometimes I even sing. I’m in my basement, nobody can hear me, so why not? Probably singing while I run isn’t such a good idea because it makes it harder to breath but I don’t care, I do it anyway! Usually while on the treadmill, I’ll look to see how much longer before I reach my intended distance and then I’ll think about how many songs that would be. Once I go through these songs, I’ll check the time again to see that I’m almost done.
Last but not least, intervals. I’m usually thinking about how fast I’m going and whether I feel like I’ve slowed down. To get me through each interval, I make note of when we have gone halfway around the track and I also think about being able to slow down for the cool down lap once we finish.
