Unbelievably, the end of July is upon us and it’s quickly getting down to crunch time for the 10th anniversary of the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon weekend.

As of today, there are just 92 days left and we hit the 12-week training mark next week, which means there is no room now for excuses. If the reveal of the medals didn’t motivate you, then this should: If you’re staying at a Walt Disney World resort for that weekend as I am, then that 60 day window to make your FastPass+ selection is approaching even faster than the run itself. In my case, I get to make my selection at the end of August, and August is JUST TWO DAYS AWAY!

10k Training Plan

With the reality of it all beginning to kick in, I’ve spent the past little while designing and planning a motivational training plan that will work for me.

At the beginning of the year, I did train for the Star Wars Rival Run Challenge (10k + half marathon) and, other than following Jeff Galloway’s training plan, I just made a conscious effort to eat well and get in my runs and workouts. That worked fine, but I must admit, having to cancel that trip at the last minute and not testing that training plan on an actual run, has left me nervous this time around.

This time I’m ‘only’ doing the 10k (recovery from my accident doesn’t really allow me to train for more distance than that…for now) and I want to do my best and put my all into it. Now when I say ‘only’, I don’t mean to minimize the distance in any way. This will actually be my first 10k and I am intimidated a little bit, but I’m just saying it’s not the full challenge distance I had signed up to run earlier this year.

Motivation

So, being a big planner, I purchased a Happy Planner (or two) and Frankenplanned (yep, that’s a thing) my own personalized training planner specifically to hold both my workout schedule and my meal plans. Putting it in a book and having to be accountable in writing to myself every day is a huge motivator for me. It also means I’m constantly immersed in all things healthy and active – another win.

In the very front of the planner I added a few motivational pages: quotes, a goal sheet…whatever helps when I’m having a weak moment. It’s something I can turn to the front of the book and read to help keep me on track, and it’s a section I can add to as I go along.

It all means I don’t have time to forget what I’m doing and who I’m doing this for – me!

 

Meal Plan

I have another section specifically for my meal plans. My three meals each day are written down on a weekly layout complete with a grocery list that I can tear out and take to the grocery store a couple days in advance. I am already used to spending time on Sundays doing meal prep for our family meals (it makes the work week a lot easier) so I’m sticking to this schedule. This way my meals are easy to grab straight from the fridge or freezer.

I also have a morning and afternoon snack but I don’t put them in the plan itself. Instead, I have a list of snack suggestions noted on a piece of paper in my planner that I can refer to, and I make sure to always have the necessary items on hand for those.

While the photo below shows a weekly layout BTP (before the pen), my meals are generally scheduled two weeks in advance using this format. One thing I’ve noticed about myself over time is if I have to think about what to have for a meal, I’m more likely to eat the wrong thing. If it’s in pen and put in front of me, I will mindlessly put together whatever it says and eat it. It’s just easier.

Each day I record everything I actually ate and did (workout-wise) in a different weekly layout in the planner.

My weekly food & exercise log.

This way, I can compare it to what I had written down on my weekly meal plan and see whether or not I stuck to it. For this training plan, I’m also recording successes and failures to help in future training (I still want to go for that challenge medal!). So if I went too long between meals or snacks and then went crazy and ate off-plan, I write that down. If I skipped an outing for ice cream with my family and stayed home to have Greek yogurt instead, I write that down and how I felt (after the moment, not during). Hopefully reading all this down the line, will help.

Training Plan

I’m a big fan of the Jeff Galloway training plans. You can find them on the runDisney site, here.

I put a copy of his 10k training plan in the front of my planner and then wrote out the distances I need to run each weekend on monthly pages. This allows me to see the training plan in a monthly layout at a quick glance. It also helps me when booking appointments, making family plans, or scheduling my other workouts.

 

Get Out There and Run

With my training schedule downloaded and printed, my meal plans in place, my fridge and cupboards stocked with food that will support my goals, and my running gear all charged and at the ready, hopefully I have my best run ahead of me in a little more than 12 weeks.

Whatever else, these hot and humid Canadian days of summer should be good prep for what I’ll face in Florida.

If you have a planner or something that helps keep you on track for a goal, please share!

And now, with today’s run behind me, I can sit down with a cup of coffee and try to figure out my costume for the Wine & Dine weekend.