Author: Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Week 19 Training Recap

Training for: The San Francisco Marathon

Focus- Training plan gets real. Stay strong with 4, if feeling good step up to 5 days.

Well, that was a mixed bag. This week was weird, not sure why, it just seemed off in some way. It also flew by. One moment it was Monday, the next it was Thursday. I can’t keep up! Like I said in Friday’s post, this was the week I most nervous about- the week marathon training got real. It started pretty well actually and ended with an oops.

Monday- 4 miles easy My legs were feeling pretty achy after SLO, so for once it was very easy to keep it easy. I always have a hard time with that. Well, truthfully, keeping any sort of consistent pace is hard for me- be it slow or fast. I had the day off of work so I headed out around noon. I had a doctor’s appointment in the early afternoon and I wanted to get it done before that. My legs were super tired but it felt good too get them moving. It was also my second run in my Skechers. Still doing ok.

Tuesday- ~~12 x 400~~ Rest When making my training schedule, I knew this workout might not happen. I knew that if I needed an extra rest day after SLO, it would be this day. I was hopeful that I could run it but of the workouts of the week, I deemed the tempo more important. My legs felt rough, I realized that I needed to run more hills after SLO. I should not have been that sore. I waited until the end of the work day but then decided the smarter thing to do was rest.

Wednesday- Rest This time scheduled. I ended up having a sponsor dinner after work that went way longer than I thought it would. But the food was good and the company hilarious.

Thursday- Tempo!!! 1.2 mile w/u, 5 mile tempo, 1 mile c/d I don’t know if I am more proud of the tempo miles or the fact that I actually completed a warm up and a cool down. 😝 Tempo’s freak me out, so to stack the deck in my favor, I headed to the lake path after work. I needed the odds in my favor for this first one. Once again, I was a rebel and ignored the path closed signs. I was more of lemming, I made sure that there were plenty of people out there breaking the rules too. I’m not sure I like the changes to the path that are in process. After my warm up, I started the tempo portion. I was trying to run by feel as best as I could, I only checked my watch twice for every mile. I thought I blew the whole thing when the first mile clocked in at 9:45, 30 seconds off my intended 10:18. Crap. I figured I would blow up in the second mile. But I didn’t. So I just kept running and tried to keep it comfortably hard and consistent. I counted each mile out loud and threw my hands in the air when I hit mile 5. Woo hoo!! I know my next ones won’t be this awesome but that’s ok. I needed this one.

Friday- Rest Oof. I worked open to close and it was a rough day. I felt a little ragged by the end of the day. Cue Pizza night.

Saturday- 8 easy miles. Hills for days!! SLO showed me that I have done a pretty good job of avoiding hills the past few months. I may have been putting in the mileage but the average elevation gain of each run was only in the 200’s. Oops. So I figured my easy weekend run could be all about the hills. Plus I may have figured out how to maintain the prescribed easy pace-hills! I ran what used to be my typical route last year but added every hill I could find. The run actually went well, it was also the farthest I have run in my Skechers and they did ok. I feel like my left foot could use more arch support but other than that, they were ok. I only took a few walk breaks which is kind of awesome. I just kept trucking up the hills. I was feeling pretty good after this run. 😊

Sunday- ~~8 easy miles~~. Oops. Entirely my fault, I let time get away from me. I set my alarm so I could run early but when it went off, I just couldn’t. New carpet is coming soon so my closet was repainted. I went to the movies (Captain America– amazing!) Saturday night so nothing was put away. I couldn’t even get to my bed as everything from the closet was on it. I tried sleeping in a chair but ended up sleeping on the floor in the closet. As awkward as it sounds, it was actually one of the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a while. My neck and shoulders disagreed and they took a few hours to loosen up. I was planning on running mid afternoon before any Mother’s Day dinner plans that we had but my car threw a temper tantrum. My automatic stalled. Then it wouldn’t drive without bouncing. Grrr. Dad, help! Between that, actually putting things back in my closet and dinner, I just ran out of time. Lesson learned- listen to the alarm.

So the week started pretty strong but hit a big speed bump on Sunday. Oops. If I was training for a half, I would feel good about this week. Missing Sunday’s 8 makes me nervous. On one hand, I am glad I finally got a good night’s sleep, so maybe they will balance out? We’ll see.

Diet wise– I’ve been kind of quiet. The weeks leading up to SLO were kind of a train wreck. Last week was hit and miss. Lunches and breakfast were on point but, ummm, 4 donuts happened last week. Giant miss.

How was your week?

Seen any good movies lately?

Should I be nervous about that missed 8?

Marathon Musings

Head games are strong with this one.

I think I finally figured out why I was so panicky the week before SLO. Other then the leg issue, that was real. I know my last few ~~years~~ races have been rough but it seemed like I was stressing more than I should for a race that I wasn’t planning to try for a PR at. A course I had run twice before so I knew what I was in for. I don’t think my panic had anything to do with SLO, it was about this week. This is the week where marathon training got serious. #shitgotreal

What I haven’t mentioned is that I chucked my training plan out the window. I spent weeks mashing my McMillan plan with a Higdon Novice 2 plan. I gave myself an Excel headache over it. 😝 The more I looked at it, the more I didn’t think it was enough. I also realized how poorly I had followed McMillan last year. The only thing I remember really doing was hill repeats, all of the speed work outs looked completely foreign to me. Apparently, denial also runs strong in this one. Oops.

So I started over. I did the research, a lot, and I found an 18 week plan that I liked. It seemed intense for a Slacker like me but it also seemed doable. Doable if I put in the work that is. That is always the question. In fact I don’t even want to say how I’m training as I know it’s the crazy train for a Slacker. Even after a modification, it’s a little scary on paper. Let’s see if I can get through the next month without flaming out.

The first 5 weeks were easy- as I was already running more than the mileage scheduled, I was supposed to wait until the plan caught up to me. It caught up. Ahhh, crap. Thursday’s run in particular was freaking me out. A 5 mile tempo not counting warm up or cool down? After work?! Tempo’s scare the hell out of me. Which is why I wanted them in my training plan.

SLO kicked my ass and I couldn’t even really explain why. What was I thinking signing up for a marathon? My confidence took a beating and my past history with tempos wasn’t helping. I can’t remember the last time I ran without taking a walk break. I was thinking of numerous ways to rationalize bailing on the whole thing or cutting it short. But I’d already made one adjustment this week since SLO hurt a little more than I had planned so I told myself to get over it and just run.

Spoiler: I kicked that tempo’s ass. Probably a little too much as it was 30 seconds fast; I was aiming for 10:18. Considering I didn’t even think I could maintain a 10:30 pace for 5 miles, I’ll take it! Plus, for me, that is remarkably consistent pace.

I needed that, I really did. Even if the rest of the month knocks me down- and I know it will- this one run will keep going through the misery. 😝

Now, hopefully my legs will like me in the morning.

What run scares you?

What do you hate running? Love running?

Wednesday Words: I had to. … http://wp

Wednesday Words: I had to. … http://wp.me/p3GI4p-2Eh

2016 SLO Half Marathon Recap

Sometimes it’s just not your day. And that’s not always a bad thing.

Race day came early but I felt like I had slept ok. Much better than last year at least, my Up band tells me I got around 5 hours of sleep. Could have been worse. I had no idea what I was going to wear until I put it on. It was not one of the outfits I had tried on the day before. 😝

My mom was my driver once again (thanks mom!) so we headed out around 5:45. She was able to drop me off at the same place as previous years, so I only had a short walk to the start line. I ran into Heather along the way. Perfect timing! We headed straight to the porta potties. Lines for days! Seriously, for the second year in a row I started way behind all the pacers. The race started right on time at 6:45. I had no clue what I was going to run- I would have thrown a party for a sub 2:10 but also been happy with a 2:10-2:15. While April was a very strong training month, I was tired. Perhaps more than I thought.

Miles 1-3: 10:08, 10:07, 10:49

Not too bad. Miles 1 and 2 were about what I was expecting Mile 1 is downhill and 2 is uphill so keeping at that pace was where I wanted to be. Heather and I were running together and it was cool getting to race together. Mile 3 is where one of the longest climbs starts. Last year I motored up it with no problems. This year, it was kicking my ass. It should not have felt that hard.

Miles 4-6: 11:06, 9:47, 10:48

And my first walking break. I was already tired, I couldn’t seem to get into gear. Strange thing- my toes went numb on both feet around mile 4. Umm, what? It leveled off a bit and we picked up the pace. I don’t remember that mile feeling any different but it clocked in at the fastest. We made it past where I fell last year and kept running. Mile 6 was where we started uphill again. This is not a course for the faint of heart.

Miles 7-9: 11:44, 10:47, 10:29

Hello, walking again. This time longer. I am so thankful for Heather sticking with me, I was realizing that this was not going to be my best showing. We passed through the Cliff shot zone and I grabbed a citrus shot in hopes that it would help. The turn around comes a little past the 7 mile mark, then we get some downhill to enjoy. There was more walking in those miles as well. Heather knows everyone, so we made some friends along the course. 😊

Miles 10-12: 11:19, 10:45, 11:19

With only 4 miles to go and it being mostly flat to downhill, I was optimistic that I could pick up the pace. I say I because I was the one slowing us down. I was dragging, couldn’t find another gear to get into and had to use my inhaler a few times. It had turned out to be a very warm morning and was a little more humid than I would have liked but those things shouldn’t have effected me that much. Mile 12 has a bridge that we have to switchback up then down and it kicks my butt every year. This mile also had the last aid station. It was manned by volunteers from one my work locations- and my boss’s boss- so I tried to at least smile at them when we past. It may have looked more like a grimace. 😝

Mile 13: 10:43 -13.1 (8:31 pace to finish)-

Seriously, I was in a dark tunnel of misery here. Not really sure why. My calves were achy but nothing major, I was just beat and really needed to see that finish line. Once again, Heather was awesome- I probably would have walked so much more without her keeping me going. There is a tiny climb right at mile 13 that feels like a mountain and then it is all downhill to the finish. That road seemed so long!!! I spotted my mother along the side and tried to smile but again I think it was more of a grimace. I dodged some people and crossed the finish line.

Finish- 2:21:55

We got our medals and headed for the water. The expo area was kind of a hot mess when it came to recovery. Water was the only thing that was easy to locate. It took some effort to find the food and then more to find my mom. Once I did, we took some pics before heading out. I may have stuck around a little longer but that gel hadn’t settled well with my stomach so I was ready to get going.

Not the race I was hoping for but you can’t always get what you want. However, the day was still good. I got to run a course I love- hills and all- and it has pretty great spectators. I got to run with a great friend and there is nothing bad about that. 🙂

Training Week 18 Recap/ April Wrap up

Upcoming Race– SLO Marathon 13.1

Focus– Keep calm and don’t freak out about the weird leg pain 😝😓

By Monday morning, my left leg was feeling better so I was hopeful that was the end of my weird leg pain. I was optimistic about returning to running as usual. However if you read my Prepping for SLO post, you know I was suffering what must have been the taper crazies. Except as I write this, I realize that I didn’t taper. My mileage stayed the same. Oops.

Monday- 4 miles I headed out after work for what I hoped would a nice, easy run testing my new shoes for the first time, Skechers GoRun Ride. I kept it pretty easy and my legs felt ok. My shins were a little achy but overall it was a good run. The shoes felt pretty good but I wasn’t going to push it. 4 mile test run and then I put the shoes away for the rest of the week.

Tuesday- 5 miles More easy paced miles. I had only planned on running 3-4 miles but I felt pretty good so I kept going. I ran a slightly different route than usual and it ended with a pretty sweet downhill. I’ve noticed that it takes me a good 2-3 miles to warm up now so most of my runs feel better at the end. I actually negative split this run. I also got to run past the creepiest ice cream truck ever. First of all, I didn’t even know they still existed. Also you could see where they had painted over the old logo on the truck. Apparently, in its former life it was an electrician’s truck. Ummm, no thank you.

Wednesday- Rest Pizza night and it was pretty yummy.

Thursday- 3 miles My leg felt fine all week and that lasted until around 4 PM Thursday. I was standing at my boss’s desk talking to her and I felt the same muscle/ tendon/whatever shift again. Seriously?! Cue a dull ache and some limping. Grrr.

I caved and headed to the lake. With my leg being off, I figured flat and easy access to my car would be a good thing. I ran headphone free and with my pepper spray and paid extra attention. Which was also a good thing as there were some new additions to the path-

Friday- Rest Stupid leg. I wore heals today as my legs usually feel better in them than flats. I also sat a lot.

Saturday- SLO Expo day!! I wasn’t running but I knew the expo would be a bit of walking, so I made sure to wear actual running shoes instead of flip flops. My leg/hip felt a little better but again I was planning on moving as little as possible. The expo was laid out different than previous years and seemed smaller. But let’s talk about the really important part. SLO Ambassador meetup!!

It was great getting to catch up with everyone I met last year as well as meeting the new ambassadors. Our jackets are super nice if a little big. 😏 I’ve been feeling super fluffy lately and not liking pictures of myself but I had to share this one. Check out that photobomb!

Sunday -SLO Marathon 13.1 I didn’t fall!!! Other than that, the details will be in the recap on Wednesday. 🙂

Overall, it was a varied week. Running was ok but my weird leg thing kept lingering. Thursday ached the most and Friday was uncomfortable. Apparently I forgot how to do math since 25 miles is on the higher end for me. Oops. Speaking of mileage, let’s talk about April–

Hot damn, I think that’s my second highest mileage month ever. Maybe third. Wait, no, I just checked- this April was my highest mileage month ever. I really thought I had had a higher one. Guess there all no limits to the denial I was living in. Higher mileage aside, April was a stressful, emotional month. All of that meant poor sleep; combine that with all the running and I am so tired. I relied on a little too much coffee and soda to keep me going. Going into May, my mileage should keep increasing but I am hoping for some better sleep and less reliance on caffeine, fingers crossed.

Bring it May.

How was your week?

Anyone race this weekend?