Let The Training Begin!!

Workout Today: Stretching and Strength.  40 minutes

So: I have this10k coming up in 3 weeks.

 I started incorporating running into my fitness program last November.  However, if you read my blog, or follow on DailyMile, you know that I have done less than 10 or so runs actually outside.  Now that the weather is getting nicer here in Michigan, I am moving ahead with an actual training plan, and running outside as much as possible.

The training plan I selected was one I have seen a lot of on other running blogs.  It is developed by Hal Higdon, and he has many training plans for various lengths of races.  I selected the Novice 10K Training program:

Training for your first 10-K

Click Here for a printer-friendly version of the Novice schedule.

WEEK	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN
1	stretch & strength	2.5 m run	30 min cross	2.0 m run + strength	Rest	40 min cross	3 m run
2	stretch & strength	2.5 m run	30 min cross	2.0 m run + strength	Rest	40 min cross	3.5 m run
3	stretch & strength	2.5 m run	35 min cross	2.0 m run + strength	Rest	50 min cross	4 m run
4	stretch & strength	3 m run	35 min cross	2.0 m run + strength	Rest	50 min cross	4 m run
5	stretch & strength	3 m run	40 min cross	2.0 m run + strength	Rest	60 min cross	4.5 m run
6	stretch & strength	3 m run	40 min cross	2.0 m run + strength	Rest	60 min cross	5 m run
7	stretch & strength	3 m run	45 min cross	2.0 m run + strength	Rest	60 min cross	5.5 m run
8	stretch & strength	3 m run	30 min cross	2.0 m run + strength	Rest	Rest	10-K Race

Since I have come to the Training Party a little late in the game, I started my training on the Wednesday of the 5th week.

Week 5:
Wednesday: 5 miles
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 3.1 miles
Sat: Rest
Sun: 4.5 miles

The following information below is courtesy of my Garmin 405, of which I now Love!!  I had my struggles which I talk about here and here.

I am still learning all I can about how to best use the watch, and all its features.  This past weekend, I finally learned how to transfer my runs to the computer to generate all this fun info.

Laps5

Summary

Distance:	4.50 mi
Time:	48:59
Avg Pace:	10:53 min/mi
Elevation Gain:	171 ft
Calories:	504 C

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 48:59.0 4.50 10:53 1 11:06.1 1.00 11:06 2 11:05.7 1.00 11:06 3 10:51.9 1.00 10:52 4 10:28.6 1.00 10:29 5 5:26.7 0.50 10:51 So that is my training in a nutshell.  Today was a fun day to do some stretching videos and some weight videos.

Have a great day!
MFM

Nice 5 miler today!

So:

Vacation is over, and Spring in Michigan is...well....WINDY and COLD!!  But not today!!


Today was a beautiful sunny, non windy picture perfect morning.  So, I ditched the treadmill to try once again to start running outside.

I have really struggled with running outside.  I am one of those who love the treadmill.  I love catching up on the news, or shows on television.  But alas,  I cannot take my treadmill with me to my 5k, 10k and half marathon that I have scheduled this year.

So outside I went.

I decided to walk until the satellites synced up with my Garmin.  That only took about 2 minutes, and it kept me from starting my run up hill.

Then I was off.

I had music in one ear.

I watched the sidewalk for twigs, cracks, etc..

I watched for cars and trucks.

I actually looked around at the beautiful trees and smelled some really nice flowers.
(hmmmm....you don't get that on a treadmill!!)

And before I knew it, I had run a mile and 1/2.  Wow!!  That was fast. (It wasn't really, in fact it was pretty darn slow according to the watch, but I trekked on.

And I trekked on and on until I hit 5 miles.  5MILES!!  OUTSIDE, WITHOUT STOPPING!!

Here are the splits:
11:43
12:17
11:50
11:33
10:56 

For an average of 11:30.  I will take that.  This gives me a starting point.

I am ready for the next 5 miler for sure!!

Have a great day!!

MFM

Random Thoughts while running

Workout Today: Treadmill 3.1 miles (10.30 avg.)

So Today, I started my run in complete silence. Just me, the treadmill and the lovely grey brick blocks which are my basement.

I was going to do one mile in this solitude.  It was all that I thought I could take.

First Mile completed.

Hmmmm..Maybe I will do another one.....

2nd Mile completed.

Well, I've come this far, might as well do the whole 3.1 in silence.

And so I did.

And what did I think about????

I did some praying
I prayed for my husband, children and an Aunt who could use some prayers today.

I thought about an eye dissection (sheep)  that I would be participating in this afternoon in my second graders classroom.

I thought about Little League starting tomorrow.

I thought about my first 5k and 10k coming up in less than a month.

I thought about what I was going to write in my blog.

I thought about troops still in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I thought about Ted Nugent and the Secret Service.

I thought about the Tiger Game that we will be attending this weekend.

I thought about turning on the television.

I ended my workout with more prayers.

It was a great workout!!

Have a great day!!

MFM

Trip Report Islands of Adventure "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter"

Universal Studios:

We loaded up the family and moved from our timeshare over to a Universal Studios Hotel.  We checked in at 7:30am and hopped aboard the shuttle boat so that we could be at Harry Potterville prior to 8am.  We entered Islands of Adventure and took off run/walking all the way to the back of the park to where Harry Potter awaited us.  

These are photos of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft.  This is where the primary attraction for Harry Potter is housed.  This is the ride that many people wait over 2 hours to experience.  On this first day, we waited approximately 40 minutes.  It was well worth the wait.  Now, a 2 hour wait???  I am not sure about that!!  The ride is a mixture of twisting and turning, jump out at you scary creatures, as well as the feeling that you are falling half the time.

This is the warning sign for the ride.  That alone scared me!!

These photographs are of the talking and moving Pictures that are frequent mentions in the Harry Potter books.

Ahhhh...Butterbeer.  This stuff was so good!!  We drank the frozen kind and it was very tasty.  Kind of sweet, so if sweet isn't your thing, get one to share!!

Universal Studios did a great job in recreating the town and stores surrounding Hogwarts.If you are a Harry Potter fan, this is a must do for sure!!

HoneyDukes is the store to find all the candy that was mentioned in the books.  Here we found, the Everyday Beans, the chocolate frogs, and a variety of other Harry Potter candy

The chocolate frog.  Cute, but not the best tasting chocolate!!

They had a great replica of the Hogwarts Express.  People were taking pictures with the Chief Engineer.

This is another entrance.  I guess right when this part of the park opens, the crowds are extreme.  We came about a half hour after opening, and had no trouble walking right in.

#2 had a great time chatting it up with one of the employees!!

All in all, we really liked The Wizarding World.  A top tip is to stay at one of the Universal Hotels.  For the extra money, it really works out to your advantage.

Have a great day!!!

MFM

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Workout today: Rest day.  Big day yesterday, #3 son made his first Holy Communion.  Post to follow....

Disneys Animal Kingdom:

Not as early a morning this am.  We had looked at the Disney app yesterday for Animal Kingdom, and the line waits didn't seem that bad, so we rolled the dice and slept in a little.

Once arriving, we headed right over to Expedition Everest.  The wait was only 10 minutes, so we grabbed some fast passes for a later time, and got in line.  

Wow!! what a crazy ride.  It is a roller coaster full of dips and turns.  Then they race you up the track, stop the cars and you do the entire ride backwards.  I was done after one ride, but the boys were able to go two more times with the short wait and the fast passes.

After riding Everest, we headed over to the Killamanjaro Safari.  I had read in the book that you are to do this in the morning to see the most action out of the animals.  This ride didn't disappoint.  The pictures speak for themselves....

After the safari, we were walking around, and of course our little dancers had to join in and shake their maracas!!

#1 and #2 wanted to get a little wet, so off they went on the Khalahari Rapids.  

We then went and caught the Lion King live show.  I loved this show.  It had a lot of attention getting acts, and it was really broadway like.  Singers, dancers, acrobats.  It was another highlight.

We then went over to Dinoland.  This was more of a carnival type atmosphere.  The setting is of an old parking lot, with a lot of carnie type rides.  I was able to capture a nice picture of the boys on this ride.  They didn't like this one too much.  Too Jerky..

We finished out the day by riding Dinosaur.  It is a super scary ride, as shown by this screenshot.  That is dad, #3 and #2 in the front row.  I'm glad I skipped this one.

We had a very nice day at Animal Kingdom.  It was our last Disney Resort, and we all felt like we didn't miss out on anything.  Tomorrow we move over (literally staying on site!!) to Universal Studios.

Have a great day!

MFM

Disney Hollywood Studios

Workout Today: Treadmill 2 miles (11min mi). Then I rested for 5 minutes and busted out another 10 minute mile. (I wanted to end on a happy note!!)

Disney Hollywood Studios:

Another early morning for the fit mom family!!  Today's plan was similar to yesterdays, only I was the one running to retrieve the fast passes. 

Dad and the boys booked it over to the Tower of Terror.  I went on this attraction 4 years ago, and swore that I would never do it again.  True to my word, I let the boys go and get their "terror" on.

Disney does such a super job of the details.  The Hollywood Hotel facade was filled with cracks and crevices.  Very interesting to look at.

My job was to head over to the Toy Story ride and obtain fast passes.  Good thing that I did this.  Our fast pass time was for later in the afternoon.  These fast passes went unbelievably fast!!!  As I was getting the passes, the wait for the ride jumped to 75 minutes.  So Crazy!!!

I met the boys back at the "terror", and dad and #1 and 2 rode it again.  #3 wasn't so sure about the whole thing.  He opted to sit and chat with me on a bench.

After they got their terror on for another ride, we headed over to the Disney back lot tour.    We had just missed the next tour, so we had to wait a little bit.  That's when an employee came up to us looking for volunteers.  Of course I jumped right in!!  All for the kids right???

There were four of us picked, and it was our job to be the actors in a movie.  I was picked to be the captain of the ship.  They took us to "costuming" and we were handed these lovely blue wet suits.  Hey....No one told me I was going to get wet!!

We were given our instructions on how to act during the "war".  Mainly I was to be on the phone acting like I received the wrong pizza, while gallons of water was splashing us.  Unfortunately, the video didn't turn out very well, so you are spared all that!!

The kids really enjoyed my performance, and it was a lot of fun!!

The rest of the back lot tour consisted of seeing where the costumes are made and the props are stored.  They also re enacted a crazy scene with really hot flames and a tidal wave.

#1 opted for the outside seat so he could get a little wet!!

As we exited the Back Lot tour, we saw a really short line to have our picture taken with the characters from Monsters Inc.  We hopped in line, and just as we get to the front, the photographer announced that it was break time, and they would be back shortly.  Great Luck.  We were not waiting, so here is the photo that we took.  Hey...At least the characters were somewhere in the photo!!

A neat picture of a street backdrop...

#3 is a huge Lightening McQueen fan.  Luckily Lightening didn't have to take a break, and we were able to get a nice shot.

Next up was the Lights, Motor, Action stunt show.  This was a huge hit with my boys.  Lots of racing engines, fire, chase scenes, jumps.  Action Packed.  Don't miss this show if you ever go to Hollywood Studios.

My favorite show was the American Idol Experience.  They choose three people from the park to audition, then we as the audience choose which person will perform in the night time show.  I loved this.  You really felt like you were at the real show.  They had three judges, one of which was the rude Simon person.  The three singers were actually quite good.  In my opinion, however, I thought one of them was a Disney employee.  She was just too bubbly and seemed quite rehearsed.  The ultimate winner receives a front of the line pass to an American Idol audition which they can keep, or pass along to a friend or relative.

After a pose in front of the Mickey hat, we were finally on our way to the Toy Story ride with our Fast Passes.  Below is the "Holding Room" for the ride.  The ride has a 3d aspect to it, as well as an arcade feel. You move through the ride and try and score points by pointing your laser at various targets.  The laser is fired by a pull string which was a fun way to play.  I could see why the kids enjoy this one.

So the end of the day came, and we had another successful day at a Disney park.

Tomorrow: Disney Animal Kingdom, shaking our maracas, and climbing Everest.  The fun never ends!!

Have a great day!

MFM