Did She Get It?? And Lessons from My first runDisney Registration

Yesterday, as many of you know, the runDisney Wine and Dine Half Marathon registration opened. I had about nine friends, including myself, trying to get registered when 12 pm EST struck. Three of us got in right away- the two that had refreshed their pages at 11:59 and clicked the registration button early. The rest, well the page froze, nothing would load, and when it finally did, there was a 15-22 minute line before registration. Sadly, those with the long wait times got all the way to payment, but the payment would not process.

So, which group was I in? Well, let's just say that I will be running my first half marathon in November and it will be the WINE AND DINE HALF!!!!! Ahhhhh, I am so excited to make this happen, and strange as it may be, the three people who got registered were the three original who planned on running. We will be two teacups and a sleepy mouse running across that finish line in the wee hours of the morning on November 8th.

To make it even better, a few of those who were not able to register will be coming to cheer us on and celebrate at the after party with us. We will have sign making parties filled with glitter and encouragement and two great photographers along the race route taking plenty of pictures. As sad as I am that some of my dearest friends and family will not be running with me, I am also so happy to be running with the two amazing people/friends/family that will be at my side.

This has also spurred on my running bug since, obviously, we will try to register together again for the Princess Half! Then, my cousin in California and I have plans of running a runDisney race together out there and getting me my Coast to Coast medal in 2016!! What incredible goals these are, and they are things I would have never imagined doing two years ago!

So, what wisdom can I share from that registration process?? First off, it sells out FAST. However fast you are thinking, cut that in half.

Be Ready- Early

The entire half and 5k were completely sold out within 40-minutes. That is crazy! If you want to get in, be prepared and clicking ahead of time. My friend got on right before me and had no wait time, I got on at 11:59 and had a 2-minute wait with 100 people ahead of me. Those that got on at 12:05 had a 22-minute wait and some never even got to the registration page before it sold out.

For runDisney races, the early bird definitely gets that worm.

Be Actively Prepared

Second nugget of wisdom, have an active account already. Everything is filled out for you and you can speed through the process, thus ensuring you get a spot. Also, have your account information handy. I swear by 1Password for all my passwords and it saved me again for this.

Prepare to Feel Rushed- You Are!

And third, get ready to feel rushed. My super calm cousin who I have never seen stressed EVER (not even at her twin brother's wedding that she planned while being 6-months pregnant) told me how stressful that experience was. That thing sells out fast and you should be prepared to input all your information at lightning speed. I have not found that written anywhere and think it is important to know. Move fast to make sure you get in.

I am so excited to be running this and could not stop dancing/running around my house like a crazy person/clapping uncontrollably after realizing I had made it and so had some of my friends. If you are a Disney fan, you should definitely plan on doing a Disney race at some point. I have heard so many things about these and cannot wait to experience it for myself!! 

Side note- if you are super tired of all this runDisney stuff, tomorrow will be totally runDisney free. Actually, it will be pretty fitness free but something I think all of you will enjoy!

Motivation for Your Monday

Happy Monday! I hope your weekend and your Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful! We were able to have a great time with family this past weekend and I loved it. Now, we are into the holidays and today we will be putting the finishing touches on all that decorating. The tree will be going up today along with all garland and a few craft projects. I am thinking we might needs a house photo tour with all the Christmas decs up, but we will see :)

As far as motivation, this week we are keeping it simple. The holidays can so easily turn from a time to give thanks and be with family to a crazy material fest filled with stress. This year, I want to focus on what really matters during the holidays- family, love, gratefulness, and joy. To-do lists and presents will take a back seat to the real purpose of life; giving. 

Does your family have any special traditions for holiday giving? We always give a bit more time to the places we volunteer at over the holidays and donating gifts for those who may not get any. I would love to start doing a few more holiday traditions about giving and would completely love any ideas! 

As far as the blog goes though, we will still have plenty of holiday themed posts going on including a few DIY projects (mercury glass, anyone?), gift guides, and sale updates. And, talking about sales, I hope you are taking advantage of all these cyber Monday deals! Express, Target, J. Crew, Gap, and almost everywhere else are having some pretty great deals. A few places are 50% off your entire order! 

3-2-1 Interval Workout

I. Love. This. Workout. It is not the most fun thing while you are doing it, but if you are wanting a great cardio session in under 20-minutes, you got it. 3-2-1 workouts have been around for a while and for good reason- they work. Runners who add 3-2-1 intervals into their repertoire of training find that it improves there run times. This has been true for me as well. Really, any interval training helps my newbie runner legs, but this one is my favorite :)

A 3-2-1 workout is ridiculously simple and can be set up with any smart phone app quite easily. If you are wanting free, Seconds Pro Free is a pretty great option. Seconds Pro is also great and saves workouts for a few bucks more. When setting it up, make ten sets of intervals of 30-seconds, 20-seconds, and 10-seconds, in that order. That's right, you will be running this interval ten times over. To vary it a bit and add to your workout, try doing ten 3-2-1, ten 1-2-3, and ten 2-3-1. Now, that is a 30-minutes workout that is worth the sweat effort!

When doing the 3-2-1, it is important to keep the walking, jogging, and sprinting times the same. That means that your run for 30-seconds, sprint for 20, and walk for 10. If you are new to running, try inverting this so you are walking for 30, running for 20, and sprinting for 10. It may not be as intense a workout, but it will be pretty intense, all the same!

App Review: Running for Weightloss

Sometimes, having something tell us what to do is easier than figuring it out for ourselves. That is my opinion when it comes to intervals. Those with great organizational and time skills may revel in watching the clock so they know exactly when to go to the next interval on the treadmill- not me. If the timing us up to me to watch, the workout tends to look on track for the first 5-minutes, but quickly derails with me jogging, walking, or sprinting for far too long- usually sprinting or jogging for too long and walking too short.

This, my friends, is what brought me to look for a good (and cheap) interval app that would give me updates while my music was playing and log my time. What I found was a weight loss bundle in the iOS app store including Fitness for Weight Loss and Running for Weight Loss pack for $3.99. Not cheap, but I though, "meh, why not?"

The workouts are about 40+ minutes each with a 5-minute warm up and cool down. There are three interval workouts per week. The intervals change on a weekly basis so you are slowly increasing your abilities. For this one, I opted for the intermediate level since running is not my strong suit. I am currently [still] on the first week since I only run intervals once to twice a week.

Up to now the intervals have been 4-minutes jogging, 15-seconds sprinting, and 1-minute walking over and over with one run being 3.5-minutes instead. It has been great and I work up quite the sweat doing it! I have also noticed that my running times have gotten a bit better with each interval workout. Score!

Some other pros of this app include a very easy interface, audible notifications of when to walk, run, and sprint, a multiple day and multiple week schedule, and the ability to go back or skip an interval or entire workout. That last feature is pretty great when I completely forget to listen to the audible cues. It happens.

Some quick, and only, cons are the point system. Everything has points and whenever I open the app, I am bombarded with ads asking me to redeem my points for shopping. If you like points for shopping, welcome to your mecca. If not, get ready to push the little "x'' button in the upper right about a billion times. As much as I love everything else about this app, I would almost stop using it because of this feature. This is especially bothersome considering the amount we pay for the app. To me, these little point reminders are the same as ads- something I do not expect when buying an app.

As for the other app in this bundle; I have not used it yet but it looks super neat. Like all others, you choose the workout level you are, then it gives you different workouts to do each day. The workouts are easily understood with an overview showing the time it will take, number of workouts, and reps. Both these workouts have a weekly plan but I am not sure if I would use the weekly plan for either- or if many would for that matter.

Most of us already have a weekly plan and would be using these as a supplement in that. This is how I have been using the Running app, and I have been seriously enjoying it. For this reason, I cannot say if the workouts have helped me lose weight, but can say that these are the kinds of cardio workouts most people look for when they want to drop a few LB's.

If you do use this as a complete workout calendar, please let me know how it goes!