Author: Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 9

Week 9… how is that possible?

Yikes.

Last week was odd. I had to cover another location for a few hours on Monday, and my tire pressure light was on. Not cool when you’re driving all over the county and it’s raining. Oh and I had all my tires checked, rotated balanced the previous week. Grrrr. I was supposed to have 2 vacation days due to a tennis trip but it was canceled due to projected rain so I canceled of those vacation days. The weather was hard to get a handle on as no app or meteorologist could it get it right. There were other things that added to a very scattered feeling week. I still feel like I am forgetting something.

Oh and after getting my air checked on Monday, my tires were fine until Sunday when the damn light came on again. There’s a stinkin’ nail in my tire.

The Plan-

week 9.PNG

Life-

Monday -Wednesday- No Running There should have been but there wasn’t and right now I can’t remember if any of the reasons were actually really good reasons for not running. I know one day work ran really late but as for the others?

Thursday– The vacation day I gave back. Boo.

Friday- 6 miles The vacation day I kept as a kind of mental health day. I slept in and headed out for a run in the afternoon. It looked clear on the weather app but it lied. It rained off and on the whole run. I wanted 7-8 miles but I was so damn cold I couldn’t. 6 rainy miles were good for me.

Saturday- 6 AM miles, 11 PM miles-17 miles total Hit the snooze button a few too many times and I knew I was splitting my run but it wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be 13 AM and 4 PM. However, again the weather app lied.

I headed out in the AM planning for 13 but my legs were feeling a little sluggish and my stomach was a little off in a weird way. At mile 4, I rerouted and reversed my middle loop so I would hit the park with the bathrooms around mile 6 instead of mile 10. All hell broke loose just after mile 5. It started with a few drops of rain followed by a few more then the skies opened and just dumped buckets of rain and hail. Girls running a track race down the street past me started screaming, I tried to run for cover as hail was bouncing off cars. My shoes were drenched with moments as well as both pairs of socks. I had a choice to make- try to push on or bail. It was the shoes that decided it for me. I don’t want a blister with only 8 weeks of training left. I also knew I’d passed the high school a mile back and my mother had a tennis practice that she was probably canceling too. I had a small window to hitch a ride. I called her as I ran for cover under some solar panels dodging giant puddles.

After lunch and a short nap, I headed out to finish my run. Oh good lord, my legs were not on board. This was struggle bus from start to finish. The sun was out but half the miles were in a flippin’ wind tunnel and the other half had zero air movement. It was a slog. Nothing hurt, my legs just didn’t want to work and my little break had let me figure out what was wrong with my stomach, a surprise visit of the hormone variety, so my stomach was still not right and I was feeling more fatigue than usual so I just let it ride. I basically crawled 11 miles. Ok, it wasn’t that bad it just felt like it. But I finished it.

Sunday – 3.5 mile trails Took my shakeout run to the rails. Went for elevation gain over pace. Which was my original thought process back when I created my training plan but considering this is week 9 and it’s the first time I got my butt up a mountain- oops. Every time I’m out on the trails, I remember how much I love getting my shoes dirty.

26.59 miles for the week. So now if I could just figure out how to get the beginning of the weeks on track. 😛

How was your week?

Rambling On 28

Dude, what day is it?

I should be on my way to a tennis tournament as a chaperone just like last year but rain put a kibosh on that. I’d planned on taking a vacation day on Thursday to get in my long run since the tennis trip would be Friday and Saturday. When the tournament was canceled, I gave back the vacation day for Thursday. It was like any other week but getting up to go work seemed harder than it should be. 😛

That said, I kept Friday as a vacation day. 3 day weekend anyone?

A crazy storm system has moved in so running should be interesting. They were talking 40 to 50 mph winds on the news. Ummm, no thanks.

I couldn’t help myself and bought a new shirt.😍 I mean- it’s perfect for me!

I love it already and it’s not even here yet.😛 We’ll say that impulse purchase helps takes the sting out of the new washer purchase.

Speaking of the washer- I feel short. I can barely reach the clothes on the very bottom of the load. It didn’t look that far down in the store.🤔

What are you up to this weekend?

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 8

Or the one where I almost got mowed down by a car.

Even before that though, this week wasn’t going so well. Between the less than helpful test results, a busy week at work, a sudden cold weather snap and a bout with the stomach flu, I watched a lot of Netflix.

Monday- Rest I planned on running, I mean a day off from work meant a perfect day for running right? Yet somehow, between cleaning my car, inside and out- it was so dirty, getting my tires rotated and balanced and then my doctor’s appointment to get my test results, I just never made the time. Plus it was super windy and cold.

Tuesday- Rest I never take my running gear on the Tuesdays after 3 day weekends knowing that work is likely to be crazy busy. Plus I knew we were down 2 people so I was calling it being prepared. It actually wasn’t anywhere near what I thought so I probably could have brought my gear.

Wednesday- Rest I felt off, kind of moody, odd. I brought my gym bag into the building to change but just wasn’t feeling it. I couldn’t figure out why.

Thursday- Sick Ok, maybe that was it. I didn’t even make it through the full day at work. I was spending more time running to the bathroom than I was working. Sorry, TMI. So instead of running I spent most of the day resting in my chair and binging Netflix. Hello, 100.

Friday- Rest I made it to work but was still feeling off, at this point was just hoping I would get in my weekend runs like planned.

Saturday- 7 miles I started the morning by filling in as a coach for the JV boys tennis team for an away match. Yeah, that was interesting. I had 4 boys show up, the opposing team had 19. The opposing team was locked out f their own courts so they were literally climbing fences to get us tennis balls. 😛

I headed out for my run late in the afternoon. After having so many unplanned days off in a row, I admit I was a little concerned how things would go. However it was a pretty good run. I was feeling decent so I decided to throw in some hills. Apparently not enough because at the end of 7 miles I had only hit 600 ft in elevation gain.

Sunday- 15 miles Longest run since last marathon training cycle. My side was hurting in the morning so I slept a little longer and headed out for my run in the afternoon. I had a route planned and I was planning on taking it slow and easy considering it had been a rough week. The first 1/3 felt pretty good but I told myself not to celebrate yet as I still had a long way to go. The second third was also the warmest section and I slowed a bit as well as had a stand-off with an off leash dog. I am not sure who was more alarmed by who.

Things went south around mile 10. I was crossing the street to get to the park with the bathrooms. I checked all 3 ways (T intersection) for oncoming traffic, I had reflective gear and I was paying attention. I DID EVERYTHING RIGHT! Yet 2/3 of the way across the street, this blue car came flying out of nowhere speeding towards me, blew through the stop sign, the cross walk and squealed it’s tires out into oncoming traffic. WTF?! I was seriously close enough to the car to touch it.

Here’s where I reacted wrong. After avoiding getting mowed down by the crazy, oblivious driver I looked around wondering if anyone else had seen that while cursing and yelling out loud. Before remembering I was still in the cross walk and therefore still in street. Move, stupid!

I had 5 more intersections and stop lights to get through on the busy side of town before I was back in the neighborhoods and side streets I run all the time. Once I was in calmer streets it was like all the adrenaline left my body and everything cramped and my brain caught up to me about the near miss. The last mile or so home were kind of rough but I could tell it was more emotional than mileage driven if that makes sense.

22 miles for the week. The weekend rescued the week but things were a little rough this week. That said, I am ok with the mileage that I did pull off.

How was your week?

Hey, Hey, San Jose

Disclaimer: I received an entry into Rock n Roll San Jose as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

There’s a bear, there’s a bear!

Ok, that was not how this post originally started but then it took me longer to type it than I planned and I received an email with the following image-

A bear!

I want it now! I have a matching hat! And dude, that’s a quick shirt reveal- the race isn’t until October 6-7.

Ok, back to what I meant to say.

Rock n Roll San Jose has been on my radar for a while now. I almost ran it last year but it conflicted with a local race I was running. Not this year!

Some race facts-

This will be the 13th year Rock n Roll has run in San Jose with more music, runner support, and community engagement every step of the way.
Known for being California’s fastest half marathon
Has one of the most spirited courses in the entire series- like all the local school cheerleaders come out and cheer you on.
A full weekend of running with a Half Marathon, 10K, 5K and KiDS ROCK, giving runners the chance to take on the Remix Challenge and earn three medals during the race weekend.

Ok, so it’s supposed to be fast- well that’s because it doesn’t have a ton of elevation gain. By my standards, it looks pretty flat. I’m not usually a fan of flat but I am going to try to be. Why is that? Because when I registered, I put down a finishing time I haven’t come near in years. People it’s time to kick that 2013 PR to the curb. The last time I was even close was 2015. It’s been way too long.

Want to join me in San Jose? Use code RNRBRP2018 to save $15 on the half.

Anyone else have a dated PR?

So Now What

Yeah, test results.

Left Kidney- normal. Small cyst on right kidney but let’s not worry about that (his words).

Lungs- yeah, inflamed but more than likely all due to asthma.

So- in other words- no kidney infection and no valley fever.

Yay?

Except it still hurts (not all the time) and the doctor has no answers. Other than to ask if I was sure the pain was internal and not muscular in nature. Grrr. I think I would know the difference! I realize I tend to ignore pain a lot and have a pretty good pain tolerance but this is not muscular.

Besides running doesn’t make it worse, running is actually one of the few things that doesn’t hurt. However the pain usually comes after eating or drinking or sitting. Sitting in my comfy chair? Not so comfy. Go figure.

So, instead I get to go back to my gastroenterologist because my primary doc thinks it might be time for another colonoscopy. Oh yay. Ok, the first one wasn’t that bad but still. Grrr.

And until then, I’ll keep running because it doesn’t hurt (and I have the all clear). But on the off chance my doc had a good idea and I have no idea what pain is, I ordered a couple new packs to test for my longish runs. My current one hasn’t really been working for me and I contort myself into weird stretches to get to my water. New running gear is always fun, right? I would like to buy a new chair but that’s not really in the finances at the moment. 😛 No, that’s going to be a washing machine.

Who else misses being a kid sometimes?

Any tips for side pain that may or may not be a thing? Haha. 🤣