Month: September 2015

Central Coast Cancer Challenge 5K- Recap

My first time running the Central Coast Cancer Challenge was 3 or 4 years ago. It was an entirely different beast then. It was smaller and 2/3 on trails with no warning about that on the website. Actually, I am not even sure it had a website. I ended up running into a friend on race morning and we ran it together. At the time it was the closest I had ever come to running a sub 30 5K. Well, until we realized the course was short. By a lot- we all registered around 2.6 miles. Turns out some course signage had fallen over and was not corrected prior to the race start. Oops. The past few years it has been part of the RaceSLO group so I had been wanting to check it out. Schedule conflicts prevented that until this year.

The race raises money for cancer research and a local charity. Cancer survivors can race for free and get a special race shirt with “Survivor” on the back. In memory/ In honor of bibs are free and participants can write names on them and wear them while running. I love the shirts for survivors but I think there needs to be another category. There needs to be a “Fighter” category for those who are still fighting their way to be a survivor.

As the race got closer I wondered what the hell I had been thinking. I haven’t raced a 5K in over a year, and my speed work has been more hit than miss and speed held for any length of time is problematic for my stupid stomach. So yeah. I had originally planned on trying to PR (current PR -27:48) this race but the closer race day got, the more I was leaning towards just holding on. If I could even break 30, I was going to throw a party. Then I saw the course and just laughed. The race has moved to the center of SLO over the past years and they shut down multiple busy streets for it. Having run some of these streets during the SLO half, I knew partially what I was in for. The course loops downtown and starts with a little less than half a mile sloped down, then you make a left and it’s pretty much uphill for the next 1.5 miles. It’s the kind of hill that you don’t notice driving but kicks your ass running. Ahh, crap. So new plan was to try pull off the following splits- moderate speed, slower speed, fast finish. Pretty simple right? 😃

Having picked up my race bib the day before may have made me too relaxed. Per usual my mom was along for the ride and we didn’t even get to the start line area until 7:45. I ended up bailing out of the car while she found a parking spot. Then I needed a restroom stop and there was a line. Another woman in line and I joked that at least races never seem to start on time. 😏 Took care of business and headed to the start. I hopped into the starting line chute at 7:54. I figured I could use the 6 minutes left until the 8:00AM start time to move my way forward in the crowd and get my Garmin situated. Maybe stretch a bit. Best laid plans right?The race whistle blew at 7:55.

5 minutes early!?!

Mile 1- 9:00

My Garmin was on but didn’t have a satellite yet. I just pushed start and figured I would deal with it later. I got hung up in a crowd crossing the starting line but managed to break free after a few blocks. A little too fast since my Garmin buzzed that I was running a 7:30 pace. Oops, slow it down there. Then we turned up the next street and that was taken care of for me. 😊 I passed the mile marker and checked my watch. I knew the mileage was going to be off but I wanted an idea of my overall time. Except the display was on some funky screen only showing the time lapsed in run/walk intervals. Ok then, guess I was running blind.

Mile 2- 9:42

This felt like the longest mile ever. I kept wanting to take a walk break but was arguing with myself that it was all in my head. I felt like we were climbing forever and it’s not even that steep! We only gained 133 ft. I felt like everyone and their brother were passing me. A woman came running up behind me pushing a stroller- uphill- looking fresh as a daisy. I instantly felt out of shape. I told myself I could walk at the water stop. But knowing that there was only one on the way up I had brought my own just in case. So I kept running. Seriously I felt like I was almost at the freeway on ramp, where the hell was the turn around? Oh there, thank you lord. My watch buzzed for it’s mile 2 a little before that and said 9:42. Ouch, definitely not PR pace. It was the only mile I had seen so I wasn’t even sure I was going to break 30. Grrr.

Mile 3- 8:17

I had hoped the downhill was going to help my pace but my stomach had started protesting around mile 1.5. I wasn’t sure how that was going to play out. I drew level with another woman and we had a little chat. She was surprised at just how much of a hill that had been. She said she hadn’t known. I said I had known but that didn’t make it any easier. 😖 We separated, I think I pulled ahead but I can’t remember! I picked up the pace and started reeling people in. I didn’t really feel like I was pushing the pace fitness wise but my stomach was telling a different story. I ran as fast as it was letting me and figured that was the best I could do right then. I could finally hear the announcer and people cheering. Yay, I was almost done! I could see the clock but it was far away and I thought it said 29:something. Then I realized it read 26:something. Holy crap- run!

Finish- 27:10 New PR!!!

Hell yeah! How I took 38 seconds off of my previous time, I have no idea. I felt like I was crawling up that hill. Now I am left thinking that if I had pushed a little harder on the hill, I could have been sub 27. Fitness wise, I didn’t feel like I gave it my all. I know part of that was due to some serious cramping in the last half but part of that was also due to my pre-race doubts. Or maybe me deciding to just hang on and not stress about the race was what got me that shiny new PR. Who knows. I do know I was happy about the race. I ran according to my plan and managed to pull off a fast time for myself. Maybe next time I will push a little harder. Now I just need another 5k. 😃

Oh and the women with the stroller was rocking the 10K. So fast!

What’s you favorite distance to race? Least favorite?

Week 13 Recap- Hell Yeah

13 out of 17 done! Hmm, my math seems off, I may have to check race day again. Not that I would complain about an extra week right now, though. 🙂

Monday- 9.35 miles bike

My neck was still feeling sore and stiff from Friday’s run in so I opted to not run that day. Instead I headed home and got on the bike. I’ve been testing out the resistance workouts on the bike and so far I like them. I was also thankful that I bought a recumbent- it made things easier on my neck. 🙂

Tuesday- Rest

My stomach was a total asshat all day so I ended up taking a rest day. The night before I had indulged in some candy and while I knew I was probably going to regret it, I didn’t think it would be that bad. Did you know sour straws were made of wheat? I had no idea! While I don’t necessarily have a wheat sensitivity, my stomach has never been too fond of it. Combine that with sugar and ouch. Don’t think I will crave candy for a while though.Wednesday- 3.2 miles

This run was thisclose to not happening. After a rough run on Sunday and 2 days off, I left work looking forward to running. Somehow, I drove past the lake without realizing it. Oops. Ok, I would head to home town. I stopped at Target along the way to pick up some prescriptions. Since I was getting a later start, I bypassed the river path and figured I would run from my old work spot again. Except there was road construction everywhere. Seriously?! It was almost 7pm and a primarily resident area. I was so close to just bailing but I had said I needed to get out of my own way, right? So I ended up parking at the bottom of my driveway and squeezing in a few miles before dark. I even saw one mile in the 9 min range. Sweet.

Thursday- Rest

Since I had a race on Sunday, I had a crazy idea of getting my long run done today. However, work had other plans. We were 45 minutes late getting out of work. By the time I would have changed and headed back to town, I wouldn’t have enough daylight even for 3 miles. Seriously, when did the days get shorter? I thought about the gym but Thursdays are pretty busy and I didn’t think hogging a treadmill for 2 hours would go over so well. Plus I wasn’t too fond of the idea of 2 hours on a treadmill. 😝

Friday- 10.1 Miles- Hell Yeah!

Confession- I ate a donut. 🍩 And it was awesome. Curious thing- so was my run. I worked the early shift so I was optimistic for a long run after work. Being Friday and a busy day at work though, I was doubtful of my follow through. I didn’t even think about the Labor Day traffic until I was on my way to the river path to run. Crap. I wanted 10 but decided 8 would be fine to if traffic was too crazy.I had woken the night before with a horrible charlie horse and I had felt it all day. I walked the first 3/4 of a mile just to make sure it wasn’t going to be a problem. Things felt good when I started running, better than they have in months. I told myself not to get cocky, I was only in mile 2! My goal was just run a nice comfortable pace and maintain it as long as I could. Which, let’s be honest, these days that is about 3 minutes. However, I just kept running, my legs felt good, my breathing wasn’t labored at all and things felt great! I had a lollipop route planned that I thought would put me around 8 miles when done. My math was so wrong. I figured it out around 4.5 when I hit a point in the route that I thought would have been 6.5. Oops. I had to decide if I wanted to go back up for another loop and hit 10 or head down and circle the river bed trail until I hit 8. I was still feeling good so I headed back up the hill for another loop.

I never really looked at my pace on my Garmin, I only recall seeing it once during mile 5 and it showing my ave pace in the 9’s. Slow down! Things were going well, I didn’t want to mess things up! 10 miles completed just as the sun was fading. 10 awesome miles. I ran the whole damn thing not counting the warm up and it felt awesome! I only started to feel sore for miles 9 and 10. Which was to be expected as this was my longest run in over a month but I still managed to pick up the pace a bit there too. In full disclosure- I admit that while I never walked or intentionally took a break, I did hit 5 or 6 stop lights. I was so freakin’ excited by this run. I was still smiling about it on Saturday. That one run will get me through another 2-3 months of crap runs. 😃😃

Saturday- 6 miles bike

I didn’t want to run since I had a race the next morning so I hopped on the bike. I kept things easy as I was a little sore from the previous day’s run. I also headed down to SLO to pick up my race packet so I would have one less thing to worry about on race morning. I missed the shirt deadline so this was a very small packet. I was kind of really worried about this race. I haven’t raced a 5K since July 2014 and I wasn’t sure I was even in 5K shape.Sunday- Central Coast Cancer Challenge 5K

Argh, nerves. After all you can’t have 2 good runs in a week right? Recap in next post. Spoilers on Instagram. 😃Overall, this was the best training week I’ve had in a long time. Like since April. While my mileage didn’t increase I finally feel like I put in 3 quality work outs, oh wait, I cross trained too- 5 work outs! Woo hoo!!! I also followed through with a plan and pulled off my long run before the weekend. Which for September I may have to do more often. Unfortunately, Fridays won’t be an option going forward. With my boss gone, I will be working open to close, so that will fill up most of Friday. So time to do some thinking!

Paleo- B

Overall I made better choices last week, candy and doughnut aside. I have zero guilt about that doughnut though, I give it partial credit for my run on Friday. 😊 My weakness right now is these chips-

Since I won’t be able to leave the building while my boss is gone I am hoping to use that time as a way to make me stop eating them. I still need healthier dinners though. I did enjoy my pizza cheat on Wednesday and it was awesome. 😉

This week will be tight, with work and the Avocado Margarita Festival but I am hoping to get a solid week of work outs in. The heat wave coming in is concerning. Triple digits are predicted for all week. Last week’s cooler weather was just a tease. I may have to be a little Thomas this week- ” I think I can, I think I can”.

How was your week? Is the weather cooling down in your neck of the woods?

How was your Labor Day? Anyone else race?

Do you have a snack food you just can’t stop eating?

Adios August

Goodbye August, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Well, actually, on second thought…😝😃

I started August with such high hopes but unfortunately it seemed like life had other plans. Between work stress, getting sick, crazy heat and humidity, headaches, crazy drivers and car accidents, I was so happy to see August end. To add insult to injury I have some crazy, creepy bug bite. I felt something sting after my good interval workout last week. It just felt like I scratched myself so I ignored it. Come to find a huge red lump below my ear on Friday. It was so creepy that my coworkers are helping me keep an eye on it. I can’t see it really well and cannot seem to get a picture of it either, so they and my mom have been super helpful. It’s still a lump today. So long August!

But let’s get to the numbers-Not what I was hoping for but at least I am going back up in miles. Even if it’s a tiny bump (half a mile), it’s still up. I deliberately took the month off from racing as I was feeling achy and tired. I was having some leg/foot/shoe problems that I needed to figure out as well. Which led to buying new shoes. So far I am really liking the Pure Flows. My only concern right now is I am wondering how long they will last. I am afraid that what makes them so comfortable will not last long. Only time will tell. 😃

This look back made me notice some things. While my running was pretty consistent at 3x a week, my actual workouts were hit and miss. I thought I had done better than that. I never ran farther than 7.3 miles. Which if this was a non training period would be fine. However, I am training for a goal half marathon, followed a month later by another half and a week later by a 25K. This was not the month I needed. I have been doing some serious thinking about that goal half but have yet to come to a conclusion. Between the heat this month and my stupid stomach, I try to not even look at my splits. Looking for a positive spin, maybe I am base building for 2016?

So hello September. As much as I am looking forward to September, I have some serious scheduling issues. Every single weekend is booked. Between a work weekend, race weekends and Avocado Margarita Festival ~~conscription~~ volunteering, I have no idea how I will get my long runs. Well I do. Get out of my own way and get up early. But can this Slacker do that? Combine those weekends with my boss going on vacation for 2.5 weeks, which means I can’t even leave the building, and September will be busy. Can someone set up a Diet Coke delivery? 😄 My planner looks a little scary. I am trying to only look at 2 days at a time, 2 days is manageable and lets me breath. All that chaos aside, I am still looking forward to September. In denial that the year is 2/3 over but still looking forward to September.

Starting with this weekend- first booked weekend- 5k! But I have Monday and Tuesday off!!! Monday is Labor Day and I told my boss I needed a mental health day before she left so I asked for Tuesday off. 😉 I also haven’t raced a 5K since July 2014 so this could be a train wreck, we shall see.

How does your September look?

Any plans this weekend? Anyone racing?

Should #getoutofmyownway be my new motto?