Mike loves Disney. If he had his way every vacation we took would be Disney related. And in a way so far they have been. I am not as much of a fan though Disney World has grown on me. Which is why his first half marathon was at Disney World. You see running the Disney half marathon was a way for my husband to get to go back to Disney sooner rather than later. I had told him I didn't want to do another Disney vacation after our Honeymoon and then a 14 day vacation to Universal Studios and Walt Disney World last summer. But I told him we could go back for marathon weekend since it was his first half marathon. This was the first trip I was really able to manage my blisters well and was in very little pain. I truly enjoyed myself the whole time with little difficulties. Thus my first half marathon will be at marathon weekend at Disney World as well. I don't think I will ever be as much of a race enthusiast as my husband but the Walt Disney World marathon weekend was pretty special. And like many things Disney does it is done right. They have character picture opportunities along the course, bands playing and you run through Epcot and the Magic Kingdom during the race. Sounds like way more fun than a normal race.
So back to what I have been doing. My husband lost 60 lbs so far with diet and running. Well, I could stand to lose a little weight and certainly need to get back in shape. So during marathon weekend at Disney World I got the idea that maybe if I trained for a whole year and took it easy I could walk a half marathon too. Perhaps this would toughen up my feet and solve some of my blister problems. So I started walking. Just a simple 3 mile loop. And I will admit during January, February and the beginning of March I was not super consistent training. Though I think I have done pretty well in the grand scheme. As I said, I started walking a simple 3 mile loop. However, the Disney races all require a person to be able to at the most walk a 16 minute per mile pace. If you can't manage that during a race they will sweep you and you will not be allowed to finish the race. I have managed 14:30 minutes per mile just walking. That is pretty fast. But I wanted to be even faster so I would have time to take pictures with the characters along the way. My husband said he would do the half with me and then do the full marathon the next day (this is called the Goofy). So I thought it would be fun to get as many character pictures as possible. This meant I needed to start working on running as well.
Mike is a big supporter of the run/walk program for athletes. It is proven to cause less injuries doing structured run/walk intervals. So I decided to try running. Now before this I was walking in Reebok EasyTone shoes. These are not meant to run in but are great for walking. Completely comfortable. I could get the run version but thought it better to get my gate tested and see what the pros think I should wear. I went to our local running store that offers gate analysis and spent a couple hours trying different shoes. I ended up with the female version of the same shoes my husband wears, Brooks Adrenaline. And I started adding in running intervals. I do 30 seconds of running and 5 minutes of walking currently. I plan on upping my run time and lowering my walk time.
My schedule right now is run/walk 3.1 miles twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and I am working on distance walking on the weekends. I am currently up to 5.6 miles of walking. I learned after one disastrous week that I have to have at least a day between each workout. Still healing from the huge blister I got that week. So now my plan is to continue to my 3.1 run/walk during the week while concentrating on running more and walking less and walking a half mile more each weekend. This plan has been working, so far.
Though this week has been hard. I learned last week, as I suspected, that I have had a minor sinus infection for the past couple of months and just finished the antibiotics for this. But on top of that I have a cold. Which means this week I walked for both 3 mile walks. It set back my increasing my running some as I was going to try 45 seconds running and 4 minutes walking. Oh well, I guess that is for next week.
You see Mike and I signed up, as a team, for the Walt Disney World (I know, I know, yes, we are going again) Expedition Everest Challenge. This race is a 5k run with obstacles interspersed along the course and after we get to do a scavenger hunt. All of this is done through the Animal Kingdom, at night! Super fun. Means I will run about 3 miles and then walk about another 3. So I need my pace to be a little faster to keep from being swept during the 5k (right now I am run/walking about a 14 minute per mile pace) with obstacles. So next week increase running and over my long walk I might try run/walking 3 miles of my 6.6 miles. We will see how that goes. I was hoping to be running 1 minute and walking 4 minutes by the race. I guess I still have 3 weeks till the race. Though the week we leave I am going to be taking it extra easy, maybe just one run/walk. I am excited for my first race since I started training in January.
Well, I guess I better wrap it up for now. I will post about my 6.1 mile walk tomorrow.
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