Leslie Blogs

writing about my life on a tiny island

Week in Training: July 6-12

One day I’ll be happy I’m starting to keep up with this, right? So this was officially week 1 of Wine and Dine Half Marathon training. I’m following Jeff Galloway’s plan for that since I’ve found that I love his run-walk-run method of running. His half plan calls for two 45 minute runs during the week, plus a long run on the weekend. This has worked great for my last half and the last two Tower of Terror 10 Milers. Since I’m still doing 4-5 days of my gym’s Mission Fit Possible boot camp program, I’m trying to figure out how to train smart. The MFP program is a mix of cardio, some running, and a lot of strength/weight training. I love it….but I know that once the semester starts back and I’m back to teaching full time it will be hard to fit everything in (and I’m not sure how much my knee will take). I think Week 1 was a success though!

Monday (7/6): 60 minute MFP class. This was the first day of a new 8 week cycle, so today was fit test day! (3 miles, pushups, sit ups, squats, and burpees)

Tuesday (7/7): 60 minute MFP class

Wednesday (7/8): 60 minute MFP class

Thursday (7/9): 60 minute MFP class, 3 mile run

Friday (7/10): REST (but did walk 3 miles)

Saturday (7/11): REST (but did walk 3 miles)

Sunday (7/12): 3 mile “long” run, 3 mile walk

2015 American 4 Miler

Yesterday I ran the American 4 Miler, part of a Run for Your Life series, with my favorite 7am workout buddies. I thought it was a great race! 

Packet pickup was super organized and simple, and the course was well marked, had plenty of volunteers, and took us through pretty neighborhoods with lots of shade! I could have done without several of the hills, but we can’t really get away from there here! 
After the race, there was live music, good music, and free beer! We took advantage of the finish line being right at Toast and ate breakfast there. 
I didn’t try to “race” this run, but ran it as a training run using Galloway intervals of 30:30. Even though I stopped for a full 30-40 seconds in the first mile to look for friends, I was happy to have finished in about 48 minutes. What made me even more happy was when I looked back at data from a training run from last September (when not only was I much slower, but felt like I was dying the whole time). Take a look at the difference!
This is a race that I’ll definitely be on the lookout for next year!

Disney World Tips: When to Book


When should I book my trip to Walt Disney World? 

So you’ve decided to book a trip to Walt Disney World Resort and you definitely want the best deal. So, when should you book? Unlike trying to figure out when the best time to book a flight, car rental, or hotel room at another destination, it’s actually pretty easy to decide when to book your Walt Disney World Resort stay! Book as soon as you decide on your dates.

But what if a special offer is released after I book? 

The great thing about Disney is that they actually make it pretty simple to get the best deal. Booking early assures that you get the resort and room type that you want, because resort space can fill up quickly depending on the resort of your choice and they time of year you’re planning to visit. However, if Disney releases an offer such as a room discount or free dining, as long it is applicable to your resort and dates, you can always call (or have your travel agent call) and modify your reservation to apply the discount. I’ve done this to apply both free dining and room discounts (on separate trips) to my own personal reservations and it was super easy.

So take one item off of your to-do list- book your resort, then you can spend your time on the fun part of planning such as deciding on dining!

Update: I am now a travel agent specializing in Disney destinations- so let me handle your booking and worry about looking for discounts! Email me at leslie@marvelousmousetravels.com!

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