Well…I have been a very bad blogger!  I know, there is no excuse for going to long without an update.  I haven’t forgotten about all of you (I swear!) but it’s just been a whirl wind since we got back from DC.  I’ve also been battling the sickness that started on the first day of our DC trip (we’re coming up on 2 weeks people!) that since morphed into a terrible sinus infection.  Granted, it has mostly been the usual day-to-day life stuff that has gotten in the way but feeling cruddy certainly has not helped matters.

So Now What?

Don’t worry, a Nike Women’s Half DC race recap is coming!  I want to make sure to do this awesome event justice though so you’ll have to wait just a little bit longer for that.  I have been running with this event in mind for so long that I really needed to regroup and thinking about my training from here.  I reached the end of my formal “training plan” but I want to continue to progress.

So here’s the plan.  I have my next 5k just around the corner on May 25th so I will continue to repeat the last week or two of my training plan until then.  This includes track workouts, tempo runs, and long runs as the key pillars and weekly mileage in the 30-40 range.  After this, we’ll head into a “base building” phase where the focus is almost purely on building up mileage quantity.  In accordance, I will pump the brakes on racing until the fall.  The summer is so darn hot anyway that it’s not a bad thing to focus on training and take a break from the pressure of racing.

My Race Calendar

I have my eyes on a couple of 5ks in the fall but my next long distance events will be the Tower of Terror 10 Miler in October.  I will be doing the Wine & Dine Half Marathon in November and then get a little break until January.  Then, things really ramp up!  I will be running the Walt Disney World Half Marathon in January and then the Inaugural Celebration Marathon (Half Marathon) just two weeks later.

Although registration has not yet opened up for this one, I am planning to run the very first Glass Slipper Challenge during Princess Half Marathon Weekend.  Although I have never done a “distance challenge” before, I think it will be a blast – and what better event weekend to give it a try than the one that started it all.  The Glass Slipper Challenge consists of 2 races – the brand new Disney Princess Enchanted 10k on Saturday followed by the Disney Princess Half Marathon on Sunday.  The reward: a special Glass Slipper Challenge medal in addition to the 10k and half medals.  I started running for the bling and I’m not stopping now!

What Have I Been Up To?

Here are just a few photographic highlights since the race ended last week:

We finished touring DC after the race including a much awaited visit to the National Zoo!  It was a great zoo and, better yet, is free to the public.  We even saw pandas for the first time (I think anyway – you just don’t find pandas on exhibit very often).

 

We had to take the poor little kitties for a visit to the vet this weekend.  They hated it (as always) and jammed themselves into one carrier while we waited for the vet to come into the exam room.  They survived and got a clean bill of health (minus the whale’s little – ahem – weight gain).

I am adding Saturday morning yoga to my routine.  My friend Nan (right) and I hit up class this week and kicked some butt!  We even managed to do headstands!  It was such a cool experience and I am looking forward to getting stronger week by week.

As a continuation of my wonderful wildlife sightings, I saw this not-so-little guy on my long run this week!

And finally…

I capped off the weekend with a fun-filled visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios with my parents.  While we only had a little bit of time for our visit, we managed to cram in some good stuff.

I hope you all have had a great couple weeks!  Hopefully I won’t continue to be so remiss in posting from this point forward…

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How do you refocus your training after “the” race is over?