Helloooo, everyone! It's been a little while since I've updated y'all on how my training is going. Honestly a LOT has been happening in my running life lately so I thought I'd do a larger update encompassing everything for you instead of my usual training log style update (though if you'd like to see my training log, skip down to the bottom of this post!). Let's not waste any time and hop right into what's been going on!
1. Milwaukee Marathon Postponement & Change of Plans
The biggest update that I have for you guys is that the Milwaukee Marathon - the race I've been training for all winter - made the announcement last week that they are postponing their race until October. I totally understand why they made the call and I agree that safety of the public is priority #1, but I was super bummed when the announcement came out! Training has been going pretty well this winter and I was excited to head out to Wisconsin and see what I could do after a year off of marathons. Unfortunately Milwaukee wasn't in the cards for me this spring, so I immediately went into problem solving mode.
My first instinct was to find a replacement race. There are plenty of April races that are still on the books (for now), but I didn't want to risk registering for another race that ended up postponed or switched to virtual. Additionally, I was looking for something in a state I haven't completed yet or do not already have a race I'm registered for. It was honestly slim pickings! However, I came across the Carmel Marathon in Carmel, Indiana which seems *very* confident the race will be going off without a hitch. It's the weekend before I was originally scheduled to run Milwaukee, it has full support of their local government, and it seems to have some excellent COVID-19 safety protocols in place as well. So I decided to take the gamble and register!
2. Virtual Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend
A couple of weekends ago I participated in the Virtual Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend! Running these races at home was definitely not the same as running at WDW (for obvious reasons), but I did my best to make the most of it by dressing up each day, listening to Disney tunes, and trying to partake in Princess-like activities during my non-running time. I even had Snowy running with me most of the time! Doing these races has me so excited to finally return to a runDisney race, whenever that might be. I have my heart set on Dopey being my runDisney return, but I honestly wouldn't hate participating in another Princess weekend if that's the earliest we can get back to it! Anywho, here's some photos from the weekend:
(I actually have 16 miles to run on this day, so I finished the half in a random spot on my route. Definitely needed to stop and commemorate the moment, though!)
I vlogged my entire Princess Weekend experience as well, so if you'd like to see everything
~in action~ take a look at the video below! 👑
3. Strength & Stretching (or lackthereof)
This training cycle my strength training and stretching game has been abysmal. I know this is going to bite me in the butt when April rolls around, so I really want to get back on the horse of being disciplined in this department. It's already starting to come into play for me - I did a 5 mile run on Wednesday and was randomly SO SORE yesterday? I'm still feeling really sore today as well. That's.. not normal haha. I really need to do better! So for these last few weeks I'm going to intersperse a bit of strength training (without going too overboard) and a lot of stretching. I also sit on my butt most of the day, so I need to make sure I'm getting up and moving around a bit more often throughout the day. Hopefully all of that helps and I'll feel good through 26 miles on race day!
4. Training Log!
As promised, here's all of my training data from the last month. Aside from 2 skipped runs, I've been VERY consistent about getting my miles in which I am super proud of myself for. There's been so much going on in my personal life that it would be so easy for me to skip out on runs in favor of other things, but I've been dedicated to this training cycle. I'm hopeful for a good race this April and to finish this training cycle strong. 💪
Week 6: January 25, 2021 - January 31, 2021
3.21 mile run @ 11:05/mile + 1.5 mile run @ 11:52/mile
13.12 mile run @ 11:06/mile + 2.89 mile run @ 11:15/mile
