Anyone else out there running Disney's Princess Half next Fe

baptistgirl23

I joined MFP 5 weeks ago. I'm trying to get in shape to finish Disney's Princess Half Marathon next February with a decent time. Anyone else out there on the same journey? I'm hoping we can get a group together and find some encouragement. The longest I've run (jogged, really) so far is 3.5 miles in 40 minutes. 13.1 miles is starting to look daunting...what have I gotten myself into? )

Sherrielsb

Jogging the 1/2 marathon in January at WDW. THis will be my second there, You are way farther ahead than I am as far as traiing. My first 1/2 was the Air Force last Sept. My friend and I walked the whole thing in 4 hours, 15 min. Did the Disney one last Jan and finished in 3 hours, 35 min. I have been trying to get my stamina up more so than my speed, 3 times a week I go 4 1/2 miles, jogging about 2- trying to get up to jogging for an hour straight, but have been doing splits of 10 minutes of walking and 20 min jogging. It is an undertaking but you have plenty of time to get ready and the race is really fun. you will do great, just work at increasing in small steps so you don't overwhelm your body. I add 1 mile each week on my Saturday long training run. You will have a great time and nothing beats the feeling as you cross the finish line!

baptistgirl23

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm running the race with my sister-in-law (who's been running for 2 years now). I'm not worried with keeping up with her (I told her I'd meet her at the finish line!) I just don't want her to wait on me for an hour after she's done...lol. Right now I'm doing intervals as well. I started in May doing 2 min. walking (3.8mph)/2 min. jogging (5mph). I'm now up to 2 min. walking/ 12 min. jogging (1 whole mile each time! YEA!!). Once I've run 3 miles, though, I'm exhausted. I've tried to increase my speed to 5.2 and 5.5mph but I get burned out too quickly (after a few min...lol). I'm only running twice a week...I bike ride and play tennis/aerobics classes the other days. I'm going to try to add 1/2 mile distance every week (then I'd be at 13.5 miles/run by January..."fingers crossed") and hope that my speed will improve gradually. Maybe I should run more days out of the week? Happy running! )

springtrio

It's your first 1/2 I'm assuming? Don't worry about your time. Just finish.

savlyon

Oh Goodness, You will do great! If you don't have a training plan, I suggest Hal Higdon's half marathon training for novices. I started training for mine which is next week, about 5 weeks ago. At that point I was running 6 miles about once a week. You will do fine and you are right on track!

baptistgirl23

Thanks for the encouragement. Yes, this will be my 1st half. The longest I've jogged/walked has been 3.5 miles in about 43 minutes. I've been so focused on increasing my speed, I've neglected to extend my distance. I think the next time I run, I'm just going to focus on running 60 min. and not worry about the distance so much (even if I have to walk the last 15 minutes!). My goal as of today is to increase the amount of time I run. That should increase my endurance, right? My worries about the half marathon have just been how long I would be running at one time. Even if I kept a pace of 12min/mile throughout the entire 13.1, I would still have to run over 2.5 hours (probably 3)! Wow!! I play tennis that long at a time but you get to stop after every point to catch your breath...lol. How in the world can a person run 2.5 hours straight? Of course, I would have never thought losing 15 lbs. in 34 days was possible either...so maybe I do have a shot. ;o) -Kristy

Sherrielsb

On the website where you sign up for the race off on the side they have a spot where you can download Jeff Galloway's running plan. I am trying to incorporate that into my plan, he puts a lot of emphasis on combining the walk/jog/run. It might be worht at least looking into. Hoping the weather will be nice tomorrow to get in a long run. You may also want to try adding one of the electrolyte types of Gu or the chews. The consistency is like a mix between peanut butter and a banana and you need to drink a little after but on my longer runs especially it is a huge help to keep me from getting exhausted. Try lots of lfavors though, some are really good- well as far as they can- and some are downright nasty. I use one about once an hour and they are only 100 calories,

baptistgirl23

Thanks for the idea on electrolyte chews. I remember reading about them once but had forgotten about them. I can always use an energy boost!

baptistgirl23

I did it, I did it!! Yesterday, I walked two minutes and then ran 3.1 miles straight without a walk break in 35:30!! Woo-hoo!! My goal was just to go 2 miles but once I got there I just decided to try to get as close to 5K as I could. And I DID IT!!! My new goal is to add 1/2 mile to the distance each week. That should get me to 13.1 my February. I'm finally feeling like I can do this! :happy:

Sherrielsb

Awesome, that is just fabulous! How are your muscles doing now? I have a running friend that swears by drinking 1/2 of tonic water int eh evening it wards off leg cramps at night. I have been doing this and it helps, I notice my muscles are the most sore about 12 hours after a big run. Sounds liek you have a great plan set out for your marathon! Keep up the good work

baptistgirl23

Awesome, that is just fabulous! How are your muscles doing now? I have a running friend that swears by drinking 1/2 of tonic water int eh evening it wards off leg cramps at night. I have been doing this and it helps, I notice my muscles are the most sore about 12 hours after a big run. Sounds liek you have a great plan set out for your marathon! Keep up the good work

I haven't had much soreness/cramps so far. I usually just do the 3 miles every other day, though. I'll have to think about the tonic water if I notice more soreness once I'm able to run farther. Thanks for the tip!

baptistgirl23

So, today I got dressed and went to go hop on my bike and I had a flat tire! BOO! Apparently, I must have done some kind of damage to it on my last ride because it will not reinflate...:o( BUT, on a brighter note, it did force me to finally run outside (because I was NOT driving all the way to the gym just to run on a treadmill!) And, I had a personal best mile today! I ran the 1st mile without stopping in 10:10. I stopped for a minute, drank some water and then ran the next mile (with a walk break) in 11:40. I was so beat after that, I just walked the next 2.2 miles in 28 min. But, hey, I did go 4.2 miles in 50 min! Now I just have to work on adding 2 more miles for the 10K in November! )

lisasbig30

I wish, but I go later in the year.

Molly_Pitcher

Hey! When is the marathon? What is the date? I don't think I could run a marathon yet, but big goals are fun and Disney is just down the street from me!

Sherrielsb

So, today I got dressed and went to go hop on my bike and I had a flat tire! BOO! Apparently, I must have done some kind of damage to it on my last ride because it will not reinflate...:o( BUT, on a brighter note, it did force me to finally run outside (because I was NOT driving all the way to the gym just to run on a treadmill!) And, I had a personal best mile today! I ran the 1st mile without stopping in 10:10. I stopped for a minute, drank some water and then ran the next mile (with a walk break) in 11:40. I was so beat after that, I just walked the next 2.2 miles in 28 min. But, hey, I did go 4.2 miles in 50 min! Now I just have to work on adding 2 more miles for the 10K in November! )

That is absolutely fabuous, you willb e doing great by then.

Disney has a a few races, 2nd weekend in January is the marathon and 1/2 marathon they also have relays and shorts races.
End of February is the Princess 1/2 marathon