Fairy tales can come true, you got to make 'em happen... it all depends on you. (comments welcome!)

[superchime]

Aug 21 - 27

This week was a mixed bag. My foot feels good, and I'm so glad for that, and I got all of my runs in as planned, but I'm so tired of the heat. I also need to focus on my nutrition. When it's hot I really don't want to eat much, and I'd rather just eat salads or fruit. Which is fine, but then I tend to skimp on the protein and I think I felt that this week. I need to start tracking again to make sure I'm hitting my targets.

Mon - Skipped Kung Fu - We had such a weekend! We have a friends group that used to get together yearly, but over time the events slowed and then, when Covid happened, stopped altogether. This weekend most of us got together again. It was so much fun but I am old now and can’t party that hard without consequences. Totally worth it, though.

Tues - Kung Fu - We got the lions out to start getting ready for some upcoming performances. Being a lion is not easy, and I’m usually a tail which means doing all of the moves bent at the waist (which is fine, because the head is way more complicated). Luckily there are people who are way better at lion than I am, so I’m just a last-case emergency backup for performances. I also finished learning my tournament form, which will involve more kicks than I am currently comfortable with, but if I can manage them it will be awesome!

Wed - (plan: 2 miles @ 20/30 @ 14:45/20:00 = 35 min)
2.00 miles, 35:17 total time, 17:33 min/mile
T+D = 137, Avg heart rate 129, Avg cadence 116
Splits: 17:12, 17:53
All of the run in the new shoes. Foot pain minimal.
Ran in the morning and did PT knee exercises in the evening.

Thurs - (plan: 2 miles @ 20/30 @ 14:45/20:00 = 35 min)
2.01 miles, 35:11 total time, 17:30 min/mile
T+D = 140 , Avg heart rate 131, Avg cadence 115
Splits: 17:52, 17:42

I know I might change my mind, but right now I’m enjoying adding these Thursday morning runs. I think the consistency of getting up and running every day is really good for me.

Kung Fu - I ended up missing class again tonight. I don’t know what is up but I’ve been having these sinus pressure dizzy spells. A sudafed will fix it but it takes about an hour and this one hit me as it was time to leave for class so I had to miss.

Fri - (plan: 2 miles @ 20/30 @ 14:45/20:00 = 35 min)
2.00 miles, 35:53 total time, 17:39 min/mile
Avg heart rate 124, Avg cadence 98

Scored the "secret" treadmill that’s in the women’s locker room. I love it because it’s quiet in there, and cooler than the cardio floor.

Sat - (plan: 2.5 miles @ 20/30)
2.51 miles, 46:49 total time, 18:37 min/mile
T+D = 155, Avg heart rate 122, Avg cadence 113
Splits: 18:37, 18:46
Ugh. I got out early to get this done but it was still rough. Air quality was “poor”, it was humid, and worker guys were all around the neighborhood. We’re supposed to get some cooler temperatures this week, along with a lot of rain.

Sun - Rest Day - It did rain last night but the temperature didn't drop any so, yay, more humidity. The kids have their School of Rock show today. They're both pretty excited and I love that they get to play on a real stage at a real venue.

 

[superchime]

Aug 28 - Sept 3

I’m adding in a little strength work this week, to see how it goes with the extra day of running.


Mon-
Kung Fu - What a good class! Hard. We did 160 kicks! But I didn’t die.


Tues -
Knee PT + strength (Chest/Triceps/Shoulders)
Kung Fu - another good class.

Wed -
(plan: 2 miles @ 20/30 @ 14:45/20:00 = 35 min)
2 miles, 34:21 total time, 17:09 min/mile
T+D = 153, Avg heart rate 128, Avg cadence 113

Knee PT + strength (Glutes/Hamstrings)


Thurs-
(plan: 2 miles @ 20/30 @ 14:45/20:00 = 35 min)
2 miles, 34.27 total time, 17:11 min/mile
T+D 134, Avg heart rate 123, Avg cadence 115
Splits 17:58, 16:20
The remnants of hurricane Idalia rolled over us last night and it is gorgeous out there this morning! I do think I need to move my glute/hamstring strength day to Saturday evening, so I have Sunday to rest before starting the week again. Yesterday’s workout wasn’t super strenuous, but I was still a little sore this morning and, if I dial up the intensity on those workouts I don’t want to put that added strain on my hamstrings in the middle of the week.

Kung Fu - Luckily this was an easy class tonight, although it’s interesting to see that what I consider “easy” would have kicked my butt six months ago!


Fri -
(plan: 2 miles @ 20/30 @ 14:45/20:00 = 35 min)
2 miles, 37:40 total time, 18:50 min/mi

Knee PT + Strength (Back/biceps/abs)


Sat (plan: 3 miles @ 20/30 @ 14:45/20:00 = 52 min)
3.01 miles, 54:00 total time, 17:58 min/mile
T+D = 145, Avg heart rate 124, Avg cadence 115
Splits: 18:14, 18:12, 17:25

Sun: Rest


A photo from last weekend. My kids play at School of Rock and they had their summer show last Sunday. With permission from his band leader, my youngest played his set in a taco costume.

 

[superchime]

Sept 4 - 10

Mon - Labor Day. No Kung Fu. I enjoyed the day off hanging out with family and getting a few things done around the house. If I had known how the rest of the week was going to go, I probably would have tried to get a run in this day.

Tues - Kung Fu. Not bad. Lots of work on our competition forms and Lion dance.

Wed - Everything goes off the rails. It was so hot here, actual temps near 100 and not even cooling down much at night, and I developed a headache that would not quit. None of my meds worked. I used to have pretty constant head pain most days of the week. That's gone now, thank goodness, but when I get headaches like this that won't go away it definitely affects me because I remember back to the time when they never went away.

Thursday - Still had the headache. I didn't run and skipped Kung Fu.

Friday - The heat was finally starting to break a little and my head was starting to feel a bit better. I did this run on the treadmill, so I did .25 miles at the end just seeing what a 16 min/mile walking pace felt like. That's some serious mall walking!
(plan: 2 miles @ 20/30 @ 14:45/20:00 = 35 min)
2.25 miles, 36:56 total time, 17:39 min/mi
Avg heart rate 127

Saturday - The weather finally broke and my head felt so much better. This was a very stormy day, though. I headed out early to try to get my run done before the storms moved in, and I almost made it. I was fine running in the rain, but when the lighting started I decided to cut things short and head home.

I was listening to a podcast about running form and playing around with different techniques during this run. Definitely something I need to pay attention to, because my foot felt great.

(plan: 4 miles @ 20/30 @ 14:45/20:00)
3.48 miles, 1:03 total time, 18:18 min/mile
T+D = 140, Avg heart rate 118, Avg cadence 112

Sunday - rest day. I started working on my costumes for Wine and Dine. For the 5k my son is going to be the Cheshire Cat and I'm going to be Alice. For the 10k and half I'm going to be Figment in different costumes (I'm thinking the knight and the pilot).

 

[GollyGadget]

I love the idea of multiple figments!

 

[superchime]

Sept 11 - 17

Mon - Kung Fu - Good class, very busy getting ready for the show

Tues - Kung Fu - Another good class, lots of prep for the show this weekend

Wed - (Plan: 2 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces, 39:18 total time)
The first day of my shiny new DB plan!

2 miles, 39:45 total time, 19:52 avg pace
splits: 19:57, 19:46
T+D 87 + 68 = 155, Avg heart rate 121, avg cadence 107

Thurs - (Plan: 1.5 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces, 29:29 total time)

1.5 miles, 29:08 total time, 19:21 avg pace
T+D 85 + 63 = 148, Avg heart rate 118, avg cadence 104

Kung Fu - the last class before the show!

Fri - (Plan: 3 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces, 58:57 total time)

Treadmill run
3 miles, 59:31 total time, 20:00 avg pace
avg heart rate 109, avg cadence 102

Kund Fu dress rehearsal this evening wasn’t great. The people using the stage before us went over their time, and the people scheduled to rehearse after us were anxious to get started at their scheduled time, so we didn't get all of our stage time. We did what we could in the parking lot afterwards but that stage time is so important, especially for the kids.


Sat - (Plan: 3.25 miles @ 20/30 @ 14:45/20:00 56:54 total time)

3.25 miles, 55:35 total time, 17:02 avg pace
splits: 17:34, 16:38, 17:17
T+D 79 + 60 = 139, avg heart rate 131, avg cadence 115

The show was good. I think pretty much everyone came off the stage worried about something they didn’t do perfectly, but that’s usually the case. It looked great, the weather was fantastic, and it was a lot of fun.

I came home and crashed for a bit, not sure if I would actually get off the couch and run today or push it to Sunday. But the weather was so nice, so after a little nap I decided to go ahead and get it done. As is often the case, getting out the door was the hardest part, and once I was out there I felt great (and ended up doing the run a bit faster than I was supposed to).

Sun - Rest

Adding a pic of my kids and their lion. This was only the third time they'd performed lion (and the first time they've done an entire lion dance without swapping out with other kids). They did great!




And here's a link to our show, in case anyone is interested:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2XQar88LmCiwUXiKeqZ0orN9nAAYAPst&si=Qap5QaT3K9cpRJeK

 

[superchime]

Sept 18 - 24

Mon - Kung Fu - Oof. With the show behind us and the tournament a month away, I knew today’s class was going to be hard, and it was. Almost an hour of nothing but nonstop conditioning. 140 kicks, 100 side lunges, 5 minutes of this holding squat thing we do, and we went through all of the material we know. I am going to be so sore tomorrow.

Tues - Kung Fu - Another fairly intense class. We don’t have class on Thursday so I don’t know if that’s what’s fueling this or if he’s just trying to get us in shape for the tournament or what, but.. whew.

Wed - (Plan: 2 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces, 39:18 total time)

2 miles, 38:25 total time, 19:12 avg pace
splits: 19:10, 19:09
T+D 78 + 62 = 140 , 111 avg heart rate, 110 avg cadence
Tired from two days of intense Kung Fu. I really didn’t want to head out this morning but the weather was beautiful and I knew moving would make me feel better (and it did).

Thurs - (Plan: 1.5 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces, 29:29 total time)

1.55 miles, 30:25 total time, 19:32 avg pace
T+D 70 +62 = 132, Avg heart rate 110, avg cadence 108

Kung Fu - No class tonight!

Fri - (Plan: 3.25 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces)

Treadmill run
3.25 miles, 65:08 total time, 20:00 avg pace
splits: 26:48, 19:02, 19:13
Avg heart rate 111, avg cadence 85


Sat - Rest
I had planned to run today but Tropical Storm Ophelia came through. I knew after she was gone the weather would be amazing, plus I’m not one to waste the opportunity to enjoy a good storm so I sat on the couch and knitted socks and listened to the rain all day.

Sun - (Plan: 3.5 miles: 0.5 mile @ Easy + 3 sets of (0.5 mile @ 60/30 sec @ 14:46/20:00 paces + 0.5 mile walk)

This was new to me and a lot of fun, breaking things down into half mile segments made the time just fly by. I did have trouble figuring out the right pace and I definitely ran the running segments faster than I should have.

Total time 1:06:31
T+D 85 + 65 = 150
.5 mile Easy - .54 miles, 10:59 total time, 20:29 avg pace,
.5 mile 60/30 8:03 total time, 15:07 avg pace,
.5 mile walk
.5 mile 60/30 7:55 total time, 14:19 avg pace,
.5 mile walk
.5 mile 60/30 7:24 total time, 13:59 avg pace,
.5 mile walk

 

[superchime]

September 25 - October 1

Mon - Kung Fu - Not a bad start to the week. Class was good. We worked a lot on our tournament forms and I also learned some more of my first weapons form.

Tues - Kung Fu - I had a headache this morning and took an Aleve, so my knees felt great for class tonight. I took advantage of that and worked hard on my kicks (which need all the help they can get). Will probably feel it tomorrow.

Wed - Legs weren’t too sore this morning and my knees still feel fine so I’m calling last night a win.

(Plan: 2 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces, 39:18 total time)

2 miles, 38:48 total time, 19:20 avg pace
splits: 19:17, 19:17
T+D 65+59 = 124, avg heart rate 119, avg cadence 111

Thurs - (Plan: 1.5 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces, 29:29 total time)

1.51 miles, 29:20 total time, 19:25 avg pace
T+D 66 + 59 = 125, Avg heart rate 120, avg cadence 113
I think the temps are going to increase again but I have really been enjoying this little bit of fall-like weather lately.

Kung Fu - Pretty ok. I stepped out of a couple of activities that were tweaking my knee, so I’m proud of myself for recognizing that. Otherwise just a bunch of tournament work. The tournament is in two weeks!

Fri - (Plan: 3.25 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces)

Treadmill run. I couldn’t get the treadmill to sync with my watch, so I don’t have stats but I got it done.


Sat - (Plan: 3.75 miles @ 20/30 @ 14:45/20:00)

3.76 miles, 1:09:44 total time, 17:35 avg pace
splits: 18:31, 17:11, 17:16
T+D 71 + 61 = 132, avg heart rate 127, avg cadence 119

I had to get up super early this morning to take my son to a robotics thing, so I took the opportunity to experiment with early morning foods that might work for a race weekend since it’s always a struggle to find something my stomach will tolerate before my usual breakfast time.
The run itself was just ok. Getting started was rough. I was tired and my knees felt a bit creaky. No pain, just a little stiff. It was overcast, though, and not hot, so even though I got started later than I wanted the weather wasn’t bad at all.


Sun - Rest


And my September totals
Distance: 31.0 miles
Avg pace: 17:37
Hours: 9:05

The Moon Festival started on Friday, so here's a pic of our moon cakes!

 

[superchime]

So busy! This weekend we were in Orlando for a Kung Fu summit. Our style of Kung Fu has schools across the US (and a few internationally) but the main school, and our Grandmaster who started it all, is in Orlando. The summit included classes and seminars, a birthday celebration for our Grandmaster, and hanging out with our "Kung Fu Cousins" from schools in other cities. Some of these cousins will be at the tournament next weekend too.


October 2 - 8

Mon - Kung Fu - Good class. Getting down to the wire, the tournament is coming up soon and we’ve got a summit this weekend that will eat into the week, so I think my tournament form is about as good as it’s going to get. Maybe a few tweaks still but no miracles are going to happen at this point.

Tues - I knew I had a busy weekend coming up so I rearranged my runs this week in an attempt to get everything in.

(Plan - originally Thursday’s run: 1.5 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces, 29:29 total time)

1.52 miles, 28:41 total time, 18:46 avg pace
avg heart rate 124, avg cadence 110


Kung Fu - Class was good. Lots more tournament practice.

Wed - (Plan - as scheduled - 2 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces)


2 miles, 38:41 total time, 19:18 avg pace
T+D 78 + 57 = 135, avg heart rate 122, avg cadence 109


Thurs - No Kung Fu tonight since my teacher had to head down early for the summit.
(Plan - Originally Friday’s run: 3.25 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces)

3.26 miles, 1:05 total time, 19:54 avg pace
splits: 19:18, 19:30, 19:07
T+D 74 + 63 = 137, avg heart rate 130, avg cadence 108



Fri - Travel day - no running but lots of walking!

We got up at 2am to catch our 5am flight. Got to Orlando without at hitch, grabbed our rental car, and drove to the hotel (the Dolphin). I was amazed to be told that our room was ready when we got there. So, after a brief stop at the room to drop bags and freshen up, we were off to Epcot for the first part of the day.

My husband hasn’t ridden Guardians yet, so that was a priority. I was also excited to ride Soarin’ since they’re showing the California version right now and I haven’t see it before. We accomplished both of those things, then wandered around, eating from Food and Wine booths and ducking into shops to enjoy the air conditioning.

We didn’t stay at Epcot all day, though, because we were meeting some of our Kung Fu family for dinner. I’ve never really explored Orlando beyond Disney and Universal, so it was nice to see a bit of downtown. Our Kung Fu teacher used to live in Orlando so he wanted to eat at his favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Little Saigon (on Colonial Dr). It was great.

After dinner we made a quick trip to the Kung Fu temple to try on some silks that we need for our tournament next weekend. Then we stopped by Target for drinks and snacks, and were very happy to be back at the hotel and in bed soon after. It was a long day!

Sat - Rest, but not really. Today we were up bright and early to attend our Kung Fu seminar. We got to visit the Wah Lum temple, attend classes all morning, and have birthday cake in honor of Grandmaster Chan’s 85th birthday. He even came out and did some Kung Fu for us. If I could be half as good now as he is at 85 I would be thrilled. The Kung Fu school there is now run by his daughter, Mimi Chan, who was the animators’ inspiration for the animated Mulan. The temple had a ton of old news articles and photographs, so it was a lot of fun to walk around and see all of the Kung Fu history there. The school also performs in the China pavilion at Epcot, especially around Chinese New Year.

Our Kung Fu events ended early in the evening and I debated heading to Magic Kingdom because they were open until 11, but I decided to go to bed early so I could get up early and run. Look at me, making responsible choices! Who even am I?

Sun -
Well, I’m now one of those weirdos who gets up early on vacation so I can go for a run. But it’s so much better than running at home. It’s so funny, though. I got up and dressed in the dark, so I wouldn’t disturb my family, and I was thinking about how this made it feel like a race weekend. Then when I came outside I saw people with bibs on! The convention group had organized a run this morning. They were going to Hollywood Studios and back, so I just did the .8 mile loop around Crescent Lake because it was less crowded.

Plan - Saturday’s run: (0.5 mile @ Easy + 2 sets of (0.75 mile @ 60/30 sec @ 14:46/20:00 paces + 0.5 mile walk) + 0.5 mile @ Easy)

I don’t know if there were sunspots or what was going on this morning, but my watch was having trouble (and Genie + wasn’t working, probably not related). Tech was not tech-ing very well this morning. I've been putting off posting this week's report just because I've been dreading cobbling together the segments I recorded, and I've finally decided it's just not going to happen. So let's just say I got this run done but tracking it wasn't pretty.

This is turning into a trip report, but… I grabbed the ciabatta breakfast sandwich (aka the best veggie breakfast option at Disney) from Boardwalk Bakery and went back to wake up my family.

We were headed to DHS this morning. Genie + was back up and running, but the park was open now and I had missed the opportunity to get Rise or Slinky, so that was disappointing. We rode Star Tours, and I was able to book RnR and TSMM. We had lunch in Galaxy’s Edge, did a little shopping, and headed back to the room for a little break.

We had dinner at Il Mulino and headed to MK for the evening, my favorite time at that park.

And... to sum up because I just need to get this done, we had a great rest of the day!

 

[superchime]

Oct 9 - 15
Mon - Disney - We had one more partial park day, then headed to the airport for our flight home. Not a lot to say, Epcot was super crowded. The weather was fantastic, though.

Tues - Kung Fu - Only a couple more classes before the tournament. A few people came home from the weekend not feeling well, so we’re really hoping it’s something mild.

Wed - Doing a little swapping because we have to leave for the tournament on Friday and I won’t really have time to get my Friday run done then, so I'm swapping Wednesday and Friday.

Friday’s run - 3.5 miles @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces
Tried to go outside but it was so smoky, I ended up on the treadmill. The one we have at home is not very fancy, so I only have the bare details.

Total distance: 3.5 miles
Total time:1:05

Thurs- As scheduled - 1.75 miles @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces

Rainy and “cold” outside this morning and no time to get to the actual gym, so it’s back on the home treadmill again.

1.75 miles, 42:06 time


Fri - Wednesday’s run - 2.5 at the Y. 47:32 time.
Knocked this out then headed home to pack up and hit the road for our Kung Fu tournament.

Sat - Tournament - We attended this tournament last year with only a few people, just to see what it was like. This year we brought way more people, including some awesome kids. It was a fun weekend and I really enjoyed having time to get to know people better. I also enjoyed being able to watch some amazing competitors. It was a long day, but my youngest son came home with a gold and a silver medal, and my oldest and I brought home a bronze each! This was my first time competing so I was thrilled!

Sun - do Saturday’s run - 4.25 miles 20/30 @14:45/20:00
The plan was to wake up early and get this run in before we had to head home, but my oldest son had a ton of school work he needed to get done before midnight, so we had to just get up and head out early. I thought I’d just get the run done once we were home, but I was wiped out from the weekend. And, because I’m growing as a person, I’ve learned that pushing too hard when I’m already tired is a great way to hurt myself. So, although it wasn’t ideal, I decided to wait and do the weekend’s run on Monday morning.


Me and my gigantic children. Our pants are a little long. We just got them last weekend, so I haven't had time to get them altered.

 

[Scootin'By]

This looks like am amazing trip! What a great way to blend Disney, running and Kung Fu together!

 

[superchime]

Oct 16 - 22
Monday - finally got Saturday’s run done, on the treadmill. 4.25 miles in 1:16
Then on to Kung Fu that night, which was a fairly chill class. I guess we're getting a little break after the tournament.

Tues - Kung Fu - did something to irritate my hamstring, great. No idea what, because class was fairly mild.

Wed. 2 miles @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces
Glad this week’s distances are shorter. I need a little break. Did some stretches and foam rolling to get my hamstring to chill out. It feels better, but not 100% so I’m going to keep an eye on it and take it as easy as I can.

Back on the treadmill, getting the miles in while I supervise school work.
2:01 in 39:06

Thursday - 1.5 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces
1.5 miles in 28:24

Kung Fu - class was easy again. I laugh because "easy" tonight consisted of at least 150 kicks. I'm remembering back to my first class, when we did maybe 20 kicks and I was sure I was going to die.


Friday - 3.25 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces
3.36 miles in 1:05

I think I’ve decided to do my easy runs on the treadmill until I leave for Disney. The weather here has definitely cooled off, so I don’t want to lose the heat adaptations I’ve developed. I will probably have to do my hard runs outside still, though, because my little home treadmill can’t go that fast (it’s really just a walking treadmill).

Saturday - 3.5 miles 0.5 mile @ Easy + 1 mile @ 60/30 sec @ 14:46/20:00 paces + 0.5 mile walk + 0.5 miles @60/30 sec @ 14:46/20:00 paces + 0.5 mile @ easy + 0.5 mile walk

3.5 miles total, 1:02 total time
T+D 60 + 48 = 108, avg heart rate 137

I had to do this run outside, so I wore a short sleeve tech shirt, a long sleeve tech shirt, and a hoodie to keep my core temp up a bit more. It was a beautiful fall morning. This week was emotionally hard, for reasons I don’t really want to hash out here, but it felt really good to just be outside running, doing something physically hard for a change. I probably pushed the running segments more than I should have, because of this.

One week until we leave for Disney, and two weeks until Wine & Dine. Costumes are coming together. My son, who is doing the 5k with me, decided he wanted to wear a Cheshire Cat onesie as his running costume. I’m worried he’s going to be hot, but we’ll be taking it slow so it probably won’t be too bad. I’ll be Alice, so hopefully we’ll get some nice photos.

For the 10k and half I’m doing two different Figment costumes. Knight Figment for the 10k and Pilot Figment for the half. Pieces are still rolling in but, for my pilot costume I had the brilliant idea of using a cooling cloth for my scarf, instead of a regular winter scarf. I still need to make horns for both days. I’ll put some pics up later, as soon as all the costumes components are ready.

 

[superchime]

The costumes are mostly ready to go.

For the 5k I'm just going with Alice. My son will be the Cheshire Cat, so we should make a nice pair!



For the challenge I'm wearing two different Figment costumes.

For the 10k I'll be Knight Figment. I really hope the shield and sword are ok with the new costuming guidelines. They're small, and foam, and they were cheap so I won't be too sad if I don't get to keep them but they do make the outfit more complete. The hat is probably going to be warm, so we'll see if I can leave it on or not. It's hand-crochet and I got it for $8 on Amazon!





And Pilot Figment for the half. The scarf is a cooling towel, although if the chance of rain remains it may come in handy for drying off! The goggles are cute but annoying so they will probably spend most of the race on top of my head, and only cover my eyes for photos.



I am way out of my comfort zone with all of this pink and purple, but I do love Figment so it'll be worth it. Only one more week to go!

Oh, and some googling has led me to realize that my hamstring pain is actually piriformis pain. It makes sense because I did a lot of sitting in the days before it started bothering me, and that has led to this pain in the past (long car rides). Sitting and lying down still don't feel great, but being up and moving doesn't hurt so I guess it's good news that I'm heading to Disney tomorrow and will be spending a lot of time on my feet. Stretching and foam rolling seem to be helping too.

 

[GollyGadget]

Those costumes are so cute! I like that you went for different variations of figment.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Looks great!

 

[Scootin'By]

Can't wait to see the costumes on race day! Have fun

 

[superchime]

Ok, home and (almost) recovered from Halloween + Wine and Dine at Disney! I want to write about that but I've got a little catching up to do first.

Oct 23 - 29

Monday - Kung Fu - Hamstring is still feeling a little spicy. Not painful at all, just noticeable? I was super careful with it in class tonight, or so I thought, but I can still feel it a little more after class than I could before class. Considering taking the rest of this week off from Kung Fu. We’re not prepping for anything right now, and I’d hate to get injured right before Wine & Dine.

Tues - With some investigative googling, I think my issue is not my hamstring but my prirformis. This definitely makes sense with my symptoms, and I was sitting a lot in the days before it started bothering me. I’m going to take the rest of the week off from Kung Fu just to be safe, but walking and running seem to be ok. So that’s good news, but can I get a break? At least my foot and knee feel fine right now, so it’s only one thing at a time.

Wed - Easy - 2 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces - took this really slow and easy, just to be safe. Since I’m not going to Kung Fu tomorrow, I switched my wed and thurs distances (usually thurs is shorter so I’m not as tired for class).

Thurs - Easy - 2.75 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces - Taking it easy again.
2.75 miles in 54.58

Fri - Easy - 3.75 mile @ 25/30 sec @ 19:15/20:00 paces
The treadmill at the gym wouldn't sync with my watch, then I hit the stupid emergency stop button and lost all my progress. Roughly remembered where I was when it stopped but I don't have anything official for this one.

Sat - M Tempo - 4.75 miles @ 20/30 @ 14:45/20:00
We were leaving for Orlando that night, so I got this one done before we left. Still taking it pretty easy. 4.76 miles, avg pace 18:07.

Our flight was uneventful. We got our bags and rental car, stopped at Carrabas for dinner, then headed to Fort Wilderness. I've wanted to stay in a cabin there at Halloween for ages, and with news that they may be going away to make room for DVC I was super glad that I had finally managed to make a reservation. We got in after dark and walked to the campsite where we were picking up our golf cart, so we only got a little glimpse of the Halloween decorations but we were already bowled over.

Sun - rest (but at the Magic Kingdom for MNSSHP!)
Took it easy during the day, toured the campgrounds a bit, decorated our golf cart, then headed to MK around 2:00 for the party. We have annual passes and I'd made us park reservations for the day so we could get in before the party crowds started forming.
My husband and son went to ride BTMRR and I sat on the ground nearby (why is there no good seating in that area?). I remember feeling queasy at this point, and finally figured out a couple of days later that my vitamins were making me sick. I guess they changed the formula? Bummer because they were great before, but I was just glad to realize that I hadn't picked up a stomach bug. Anyway... I got some popcorn, started to feel better, and we just hung out until the party started. Had dinner at Pecos Bill. Had a black fanta slushy that turned my teeth black. Got all of the magic shots I wanted. My husband got to ride Tron for the first time. Saw the fireworks... ok this was weird. I walked up to the hub on the Plaza side of Main Street probably 15 minutes before the fireworks started and found a great place to stand. It was not crowded at all! At a party 3 days before Halloween. Anyway. Saw the second parade, rode Haunted Mansion to end the night, got a ton of candy. It was a good party. I'll try to add some pictures in the next post.

 

[superchime]

 

[nancipants]

That first Magic shot is amazing.

 

[superchime]

That first Magic shot is amazing.

That's the one I wanted the most! We waited in line, only to find that we were one photographer off and the one we were in line for didn't have that shot (he still had other great magic shots, though), so then we had to move up one photographer and wait again.

 

[superchime]

I still want to post my Wine and Dine report, but I don't want to get farther behind on my training log so I'll skip it for now and come back and do it when I have more time.

But first.... I am so proud of this. I had to rearrange a few, but I didn't miss a single training run leading up to Wine and Dine! Now to see if I can continue this trend all the way to Disneyland.