Pumpkin to Princess ~ Let The Training Begin

From Pumpkin to Princess

The Road to Fit and Fabulous

Here We Go!

Well I guess it's that time...to stop just talkin' and start doin'. We are all so excited to have so much support and involvement in our road to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10-miler. If you don't know about it yet, click here to join our event. Also, don't forget to check out our previous post here about the group discounts that have been set up for us.

We officially have 37 weeks left until the race which is PLENTY of time to get you all ready. Given that we have so much time to train, our running adviser, Owner and Head Coach of Best Foot Forward Running Club, Stephanie Riis, has decided to break down the training into three sections, 5K (3.1 miles), 10K (6.2 miles) and 10 miles to give us goals along the way. 

First, we are going to train for a 5K. We have been getting a lot of feedback regarding the need to start slow because we have some people that have never even thought of ever attempting anything like this in their life and we understand that the idea of going directly to a 10-mile training plan can be quite daunting. 

With that said, we're going to spend the next 10 weeks training for a 5K. Notice I said "training" not winning a 5K. We are just interested in getting everyone to a place where they can finish under a 16:00 minute mile pace. If this training plan is too slow or too advanced for you, please feel free to modify it yourself and come back to us with any questions or support. 

Our very good friend Didi Marie (owner, author, and creator of DisTherapy.com) will also be starting a series this Tuesday on her blog entitled Train Like a Princess. Be sure to check out her first article on January 22nd when she kicks off the series with an article entitled "Top PT Tips for Beginner Runners". Every Tuesday, Didi will be providing us with more tips where she will address things like running for beginners, shoes to buy, running on different surfaces, picking a program to follow, where to train at WDW, equipment, etc. She has graciously offered her advice to our efforts here so if you have a question, please feel free to reach out to her on the event page (so we can all see the question and answer). Didi is a certified Physical Therapist and we are honored to have her expertise.

We will be completing the 5K training on March 23 and we have some homework for you. Check your local papers, municipal websites, local blogs or my favorite active.com and see if you can find a local 5K to enter in late-March or early-April. On active.com, you can search by 5K, distance from your zip code, date range, etc. If you've never done a race before, you will quickly see that being in an official race setting can be very motivating and pushes you further than you could ever do on your own plus it helps keep you on track during your training.

WEEK ONE

Okay, now to the good stuff. We are going to start this first week by not worrying too much about mileage but feel free to keep track of it for your own records so you can watch yourself progress. Our goal is to hit the pavement (or treadmill) three times this week for 10-15 mins, following a 5 minute walking warm-up. We'll be starting with jogging for 1 minute, walking for 2 minutes, jogging for 1 minute, walking for 2 minutes, etc. Like I said earlier, feel free to modify it to your liking and fitness level but we have plenty of time so there's no need to push yourself too hard here. 

Walkers just walk a minimum of 2-3 times this week and next week and try to work yourself up to 1 mile by the end of two weeks (February 2).

That's it! We'll meet back up next Saturday to discuss our goals for week two and talk about how we did on week one.

Now, here are some Tips from The Disney Gals:

Disney Gal Tricia:  I LOVE my walk breaks! Click here for walk break tips from official runDisney training coach Jeff Calloway. By alternating walking and running from the beginning, you speed recovery without losing any of the endurance effect. I found that when training for my first half-marathon, the walk breaks were a huge motivator for me and never really took away from my goal!

Stay conversational on all of your exercise sessions. This means that you should be exerting yourself at a low enough level that you could talk. It's okay to take deep breaths between sentences, but you don't want to "huff and puff" between every word.

I also love the Jeff Calloway training tips available here to all of the runDisney fans!

Disney Gal Kelly:  I am so excited to begin this training with everyone! The treadmill and I are old friends but for brisk walking at most, running will be a whole new experience. I can already think of a question or 2, such as what speed is considered a jog and should this be done with zero incline? Having a running adviser and Didi on board brings me a greater feeling of security that this can be accomplished, and done injury-free!

If you are working out alone, don't forget to bring your music along. Jammin' to your favorite tunes makes the time pass quicker and is certainly better than listening to your own heavy breathing. :)  If you don't have a playlist, you can download the tunes the Biggest Loser contestants use here. Enter the code FREEBL4 and enjoy.

Disney Gal Judy:  I too like Kelly and Tricia cannot wait to get started with everyone.  I will be the slower of the group and I am the one who got a new knee in May, but that is not stopping me that is actually inspiring me.  I might not be able to do the 10 Miler, but that will not stop me from the 5K, so it doesn't matter where you are on the training scale, we can do it and we can all do it together!

**These tips and plans will not be a perfect fit to every runner/walker and we encourage everyone to consult their doctor before beginning any training plan.**